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Copies of the letters of Erasmus Darwin transcribed from original manuscripts or photocopied from published versions by Desmond George King-Hele.

An artificial collection created to encompass the legal and constitutional documents of the Royal Society. The most important are the three early charters granted by Charles II (in 1662, 1663 and 1669), incorporating the Society and authorizing its rights and privileges. The Charters, together with the Statutes, were transcribed into the Charter Book. The signatures of Fellows from 1664 (when Charles II was first to sign) have been added to this volume. Also included in this series are the legal documents signed by the Society in the course of its activities, such as Trust Deeds and legal agreements.

A collection of tracts on fortification and geometry, 17th and 18th centuries: Folio 1 Della Fortificatione; Folio 53 Geometrica Prattica; Folio 83 Della sfera; Folio 104-115 Blank sheets and oddments; Folio 116 Del Misurare da Contano; Folio Il quaduarete Geometrico; Folio Aritmetica.

Papers of William Dines relating to his school years, his years at Benson, and correspondence relating to instruments and other matters with his sons.

Letters discussing family matters and work from Paul Dirac and his wife Margit Dirac to Esther and Myer Salaman. Einstein had been Esther's supervisor, and provided her with a reference to Cambridge.

Letters and papers relating to the Royal Society's administration. The first 4 volumes contain papers (in the form of legal opinions, Council decisions, committee reports, etc.) and letters on a number of topics described at the beginning of each volume (except volume 3). These range from purely internal matters, such as elections and admissions, residences of the Society, lists of property - to the Society's involvement in external information gathering, notably the management of surveys and observatories. Volumes 5-7 differ in content, period or both, from the preceding papers; they are individually titled. Volume 5 ('Miscellaneous administrative papers of the 17th and early 18th centuries'), includes minutes of the Society's earliest committees, drafts of diplomas for Foreign Members and financial information on the Society, 1662-1733. Volumes 6-7 are concerned with bequests and property, ('Papers and letters relating to bequests, trusts and matters arising from them 1840-1900'), and 'Papers and letters concerning the Acton Estate 1857-1884').

A medical tract on a new system of medicinal bathing in the form of a letter addressed to the Royal Society by Bartholomew di Dominicetti, 3 Dec 1764.

A binary-square table giving the component roots of al l numbers which are the sums of two squares up to two hundred and fifty five thousand by Solomon Moses Drach.

A complete ternary square table up to 256,000 followed by a quaternary square table by Solomon Moses Drach, 1866.

Original manuscripts of letters to the Royal Society, which are largely scientific. These papers form the raw material from which the Letter Books were compiled. There are many letters of importance, 1613; 1642; 1651-1740.

An ecclesiastical and astronomical calendar, together with the tables and figures of the zodiac: folding calendar on a sheet of parchment. Originally two rows, each of twenty four folds, but the first folds in the lower row ( lower if the sheet is looked at from the side containing art. 1) are missing and the first fold in the upper row has been sewn to the foot of the second fold. Three membranes were joined to make a sheet.

In both rows on one side, the calendar is in blue, red, green and black, four folds to a month. The second half of January is missing. Entries in red include Edwardii Regis and Translacio Edwardi Regis (20 March, 13 October); in black, Translacio Mildride (13 July). Each feast is illustrated by a conventional head, sideways, in coloured penwork: kings crowned, abbots tonsured etc. The ruling is in red and green inks.

On the other side, the other way up: (a) in the upper row, the sign of the zodiac in each month, followed by its occupation; (b) in the lower row, an astronomical calendar, 1 january to 15 June on 22 folds, four to a month.

(a) The January sign and occupation are missing. The December occupation came on the fold which was exposed when the sheet was closed and has been rubbed away.

(b) The first two folds were left blank.

Correspondence, diaries and other papers of Sir Alfred Charles Glyn Egerton, including some personal papers but largely relating to The Royal Society and particularly to wartime activities and post-war research needs in Britain. The diaries form an almost complete record of Egerton's career during the period 1943-1959. Earlier diaries date back to 1917 and the period 1929-1930, but for the most part they relate to the period 1938-1941.

A system of mathematical tables inscribed on title page ' James Elgar May 8th 1756'. Originally entitled 'A system of mathematical tables by James Elgar and John Newton' and bound with 'Tabulae Mathematicae' by John Newton.

Professor H J Emeleus 90th birthday presentation volume containing reminiscences, acknowledgements and congratulations by 95 friends and colleagues put together into one volume and presented to Professor H J Emeleus on the occasion of his 90th birthday, 22 June 1993.

Papers of Sir George Ent, chiefly of legal and political interest including verses, letters, speeches and other papers.

Papers relating to Neil Hamilton Fairley including obituaries, personal reminiscences of him and correspondence relating to the erection of a memorial in Australia.

Notebook entitled 'Glass Furnace Notebook. Royal Institution' in Michael Faraday's hand.

A commentary on Newton's 'Principia' by Nicholas Fatio, with an introductory note in English by Dr Johnstone about Fatio, his life, religious beliefs, death and dispersal of his books.

Originals of the Fellows bonds for payment of fees to the Royal Society: Volume 1 covers 1674-1729, and Volume 2 covers 1729-1809.

Correspondence and documents relating to the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of X-rays, 1945 with the British Institute of Radiology.

Extensive papers of Howard Walter Florey, Baron Florey, relating to almost every aspect of his career in science and public life. The scientific materials include a complete run of laboratory notebooks, 1924-1968, files on the work for which Florey is best known, penicillin and antibiotics, 1940-1962, together with papers, research notes and photographs on mucus secretion, traumatic shock and electron microscopy. Florey's writings are preserved in the form of drafts and proofs of published items, together with relevant correspondence. His correspondence indicates the depth of his involvement in the affairs of particular organisations, notably the Oxford University School of Pathology and the Royal Society. The work of Ethel Florey (née Hayter) and Margaret Augusta Florey (née Fremantle) is also present.

Copy of 'The radix; a new way of looking at logarithms...in five problems by Robert Flower' made in 1877 by Alexander John Ellis with supplementary notes by Ellis including biographical information on Flower.

Correspondence, mainly to Martin Folkes on a large variety of subjects, including administrative matters for the Royal Society.

Correspondence, agendas, memos, drafts and printed reports on topics investigated by the Food (War) Committee of the Royal Society, and the day to day committee business.

Biographical Memoirs notes and papers accumulated by Professor Bryan C Clarke in the process of compiling two Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society: Edmund Brisco Ford FRS (1901-1988); and Arthur James Cain FRS (1921-1999).

Letters of Robert Were Fox to the Fox family.

Working papers and correspondence of Sir John Henry Gaddum. The scientific material in the collection centres on a run of student and laboratory notebooks for 1922-1965, together with files of notes and calculations on biological assay and other topics. Further papers concentrate on Gaddum's teaching and publications in the form of lecture scripts, typescripts of articles and related correspondence. Material on his administrative work includes correspondence on conferences and organizations, with some Royal Society papers, but also Physiological Society letters, 1936-1941. Non-paper records such as slides and personal souvenirs are also preserved.

General Index to the Papers published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, volumes 1-75. 1800-1905 volume I Authors, by H W Robinson. Printed in 1913.

Papers of John Hall Gladstone including correspondence, essays and papers associated with the Gun Cotton Committee.

The correspondence and papers of Thomas Gold, astrophysicist, 1920-2004. The papers that comprise this collection provide a fascinating insight into Thomas Gold's research, views and life as an academic. They relate to almost very aspect of his career from his work at the Admiralty Signal Establishment, research into the theory of hearing and controversy over his proposal that the surface of the moon would be covered with a layer of fine-grained rock powder, to his advocacy of the contentious theory that oil and gas deposits are non-biological (abiogenic) in origin and his proposal, proved correct, that microbial life exists deep beneath the earth's surface.

Expedition papers of James Andrew Grant relating to the Royal Society expedition to the Solomon Islands in 1965 and to subsequent work in Australia. Includes a large number of photographic slides.

Letters and papers about the affairs of the Greenwich Observatory in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Papers of the Gregory family. Volume One includes writings by Sir Isaac Newton, entitled 'Notae in Newtonii Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis' and his 'Theory of the Moon', which was incorporated in the Astronomia Physica published by the Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford. Volume Two contains letters and papers of the Gregory family: David Gregory of Kinnairdie; James Gregorie; David Gregorie; and Charles Gregory (Professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh University); also including some papers of Sir Isaac Newton.

'A treatise of the Spirit of man of its Facultys and Functions and of its union to the body according to the principles of Renes Descartes by Louis De La Forge'. A translation of a French original, published in Paris 1666. A note at the end of this volume states that the writer (Samuel Griffith) of this manuscript finished his work on 1 January 1673/4, in Formosa.

Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ion the University of London, 1940, 'The glacial deposits west of the Taff, South Wales' by John Cedric Griffiths.

Correspondence of John Burdon Sanderson Haldane and E C Richardson in March-June 1934 relating to the Genetical Society's response to reports of anti-Jewish Nazi propaganda in The Times; with related newspaper cuttings (7 manuscript letters, copy typescript and 3 newpaper cuttings).

Manuscript of the work 'Philosophical Experiments, containing Usefull and necessary Instructions for such as undertake long Voyages at Sea', by Stephen Hales, printed by and at the expense of the Royal Society in 1739.

'A method in spectrometry' by Hamilton Hartridge with biographical and career details of Hartridge in the front of volume.

Catalogue of nebulae of Sir John Herschel: A bundle of working sheets with the title 'Sir J F W Herschel's Catalogue of Nebulae'.

The correspondence of Sir John Frederick William Herschel, comprising three main groups of documents:
The first series comprises 19 volumes of manuscript letters sent to Herschel, with drafts of his replies (Ref: HS 1-19).

The second series comprises 16 volumes of copy letters from Herschel (Ref: HS 20-25). These are arranged in chronological order and are apparently constructed from Herschel's original letters brought together by a son, Col. John Herschel R.E., for a proposed biography and then returned to their original owners. The biography was never produced. There is some duplication between these versions of finished letters and the rough versions of the same in HS 1-19.
The third series comprises five boxes of unbound manuscript letters, copy books and listings (Ref: HS 25-28) in which there appears information on the copying project, and groups of original letters on particular topics, such as Herschel's involvement in W H F Talbot's photography patent disputes.

Copy of the diary of Sir John Herschel 1834-1870.

General Catalogue of new Nebulae and Clusters of Stars by Sir William Herschel.

General Index of the 2500 Nebulae of Sir William Herschel drawn up by Sir John Herschel.

'The Right ascension and Polar distance brought to January 1800 of the 2500 Nebulae and Clusters of Stars', printed in the Philosophical Transactions by Sir William Herschel.

The papers are not extensive and consist almost entirely of laboratory notebooks and working papers relating to his early work on molecular reactions and gas reactions, 1919-1938. There are also notes and reports of work on respirator design undertaken by Hinshelwood and his team for the Chemical Defence Board, Ministry of Supply, during the Second World War.

Papers relating to Thomas Henry Holland's relations with Russia and visit to the 220th anniversary of the Academy of Sciences of USSR in 1945. Also papers relating to a National Trust visit where Lady Holland was a member of the group in 1966.

'Journal of Samuel Holmes of a Voyage to China and Tartary, 1792-1793, during his attendance, as one of the guard, on Lord Macartney's Embassy to China'. The original manuscript of the book published in 1795. Also a letter dated Reading 7 December 1799 from Holmes to Sir William Young.

Draft and copy minutes of Royal Society meetings taken by Robert Hooke, the first 120 pages consist of notes taken by Robert Hooke after going through the draft notes of his predecessor, Henry Oldenburg, as Secretary. Remaining pages are notes taken by Hooke as Secretary attending the Society meetings. Includes a folder of loose material which was removed from the folio without noting where they came from before it was acquired by the Society.

Corrected page proof of 'Interneurons; their origin, action, specificity, growth and plasticity' by George Adrian Horridge, published in London by Freeman.

Papers on mathematics and physics collected by the Reverend Samuel Horsley DD, FRS.