The Journal Books exist in Original and Copy versions. The Journal Books contain minutes of the ordinary minutes of the Royal Society, setting out the following information: person in the chair, news of elections to the Fellowship and Council, non-Fellows given leave to be present, and books and rarities presented to the Society. Letters and papers read before the Society are given in abstract with any subsequent discussion. By the 19th century much of this earlier detail is lost, so that , for example, only titles of papers are recorded.
Sans titreWritten in England. Contains the curious characters known as the Boetian contractions, and is a valuable document for the history of arithmetic. The treatise commences on the Roman abacal system, and afterwards proceeds to give an explanation of the Eastern Boetian system with altered characters, and with a complete adoption of the advantages of local position. In Folio 2, recto, line 5, the author says that he will expound 'quaedam de numerorum scientia. regulis uidelicet algorismi' and on Folio 3, verso, he refers to Pithagoras, Nicomachus, Apuleius and Boethius. The text ends on the first line of Folio 34, recto, and is followed by eight lines in a semi-current 13th century hand.
Folio 1, recto ' Prefatio sequentis operis. Vt ait salomon.. punge oculum. et profert lacrimam. punge cor' et profert sensum.....'
Folio 4, verso ' De impari numero..'
Folio 6, verso, line 6, ' Divisio algorismi '. The divisions are given as folows; ' digitus, mediato, multiplicatio, divisio '
Folio 8, recto, title in red in margin, ' Qualiter digitus multiplicat digitum '
Folio 9, recto, line 15 ' Qualiter articulus multiplicatur per articulum '
Folio 9, verso, line 13, heading in red, ' Qualiter digitus multiplicat articulum '
Folio 10, recto, line 10, heading in red, ' Qualiter compositus per compositum multiplicatur '
Folio 10, verso, heading in margin, ' Qualiter compositus multiplicat compositum non eundem habens articulum '
Folio 11, recto, bottom line, heading in red ' Regulo ab uno inequalibus '
Folio 12, recto, line 6, heading in red, ' Regula ab uno in equalibus binario adjecto '
Folio 12, verso, line 8, heading in red ' De duplicatione '
Folio 13, recto, line 5, heading in red, ' De pari adjecto '
Folio 13, verso, line 6, heading in red, ' De impari adjecto '
Folio 14, verso, heading in margin, ' De proposito secundum novenarium dispositum '
Folio 15, recto, line 7-8, heading in red, ' De significationibus et nominibus figarum et locorum '
Transcript extract from line 14 ' Prima itaque omnium est igin. 1. id est unitas. Secunda andras. 2. id est binarius. Tercia ormis. 3. id est ternarius. Quarta arbas. 4. id est quaternarius. Quinta quimas. 5. id est quinarius. Sexta caltis. 6. id est senarius. Septima zemis. 7. id est septenarius. octava celentis. 8. id est octonarius. Nona cemenias. 9. id est novenarius. Singule ataque figure in quocumque loco sint sui ipsius exprimunt significationem. Nunquam enim figura unitatis officium binarii sibi usurpabit, nec binarius ternarii, nec ternarius quaternarii, nec quelibet ceterarum quod alter significare poterit. Ad majorem itaque evidentiam significationes locorum ponamus. primo ita loco posita igin seipsam, id es unitatem, significat. Secundo denarium. Tercio centenarium. Quarto millenarium. Quinto decem milia. Sexto centum milia. Septimo mille milia. Decimo mille mille milia. Undecimo decies milies mille milia. Duodecimo centies milies mille milia. Terciodecimo milies milies mille milia, et sic usque in infinitam singulorum decuplationem locorum extenditur. Similiter autem et andras rimo loco seipsam, id est binarium, significat. Secundo xx. Tercio cc. Quarto duo milia. Quinto xx. Sexto cc. Septima mm. et sic per cetera loca eodem cemate et cetere figure secundum propriam differentiam decuplabutn singulos articulos per loca singula. Est adhucet decima figura cujus nulla significatio est, sed tamen per loca disposita ceterarum significationes auget vel minuit. Dicitur autemzifera, et taliter depingitur 0. Sciendum autem quod omnes figure versus sinistram scribi debent, quia sic vim extendunt. Sed e converso literali ordine legi. '
Folio 17, verso, line 6, heading in red, ' De subtractione'
Folio 18, verso, line 8, heading in red, 'De dupli``catione'.
Sans titreCopies of the outgoing letters written by the Foreign Secretaries of the Royal Society.
Sans titrePapers of William Sharpey including copy letters, correspondence including from Neil Arnott, George Gabriel Stokes and James Newton Heale and notes by Sharpey, some on Royal Society business.
Sans titrePapers concerning Jean Anisson and his improvements in printing including a memorandum by Anisson on his new press; an extract from the register of the Academie Royale des Sciences and another memorandum by Anisson, 1783.
Sans titreBiographical 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).
Sans titreThe manuscript versions of papers published by the Royal Society in the 'Philosophical Transactions'. The series has many points of interest, which include authors' corrections to manuscripts, and the presence of original illustrations in various media (drawings, watercolours and photographs) bound in the volumes. Not all of the material printed in the 'Philosophical Transactions' relating to Society business survives, but manuscript examples of meteorological observations, lists of presents and annual indexing may be found in volumes 8, 9 and 12.
Papers are usually bound into vellum-covered volumes by year of publication, although a few (volumes 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 17, 73-75) are loose, boxed items. Several gaps appear in the collection, notably for the period 1825-1839 (volumes 18-22) and any year may lack one or more papers; these omissions are noted at the beginning of each part. Despite this, the series constitutes a large, relatively complete run.
Letters sent to the Royal Society, its President or Officers. Subject matter is both domestic and scientific. Domestic concerns include such matters as instructions from authors on the publication of papers. The letters on scientific topics appear to be those which were considered of small significance, e.g. giving notice of minor inventions, or appealing to the Society for recognition.
Sans titrePapers of Brian S Dyde relating to the Hydrographic Office of the Admiralty and to the hydrographic survey work of the Royal Navy, including surveyor's workbooks, 1959-1973, including astronomical observations for the position of a geodetic station on the Island of Arorae, Jun 1962; and papers relating to the history of the Hydrographic Department.
Sans titrePapers, 1930-1962, concerning lectures and publications by Hart, notably correspondence, 1951-1961, mainly relating to lectures on Leonardo da Vinci, aeronautical engineering and other subjects; correspondence relating to the writing and publication of his work, including James Watt and the history of steam power (Henry Schuman, New York, [1949]), 1948, and The world of Leonard da Vinci, man of science, engineer and dreamer of flight (Macdonald, London, 1961), 1960-1962; typescripts of lectures on textile education, 1951, the scientific basis for Leonardo da Vinci's work in technology, 1952, and handicraft instruction; typescript of The world of Leonard da Vinci, man of science, engineer and dreamer of flight (Macdonald, London, 1961), 1960; copies of published articles by Hart on medieval and modern science, 1930-1955.
Sans titre