Showing 12 results

Notebooks on experiments on worms, frogs and snails (chemical and electrical) 29 December 1858 to 21 July 1859, with an undated fragment of a letter concerning the health of Mrs Petrie.

The correspondence, papers and diaries of Sir Charles Blagden. Blagden's papers are interesting on several levels, generally for his close contact with European men of learning, and his relationship with Sir Joseph Banks. Blagden's professional researches are represented by medical notes in the boxed sequence. These are grouped with papers on other subject interests, including linguistics, e.g. a draft Tahitian-English dictionary, compiled from conversations with Omai, whom Blagden inoculated after Omai's voyage to England with James Cook. Blagden's interest in antiquities and travel is documented by diary entries, as is his intercourse with fellow scientists, particularly those associated with the founding of the Royal Institution.

The correspondence, papers and scientific notebooks of Sir George Lindor Brown. The majority of notebooks relate to the investigations of Brown and his co-workers (notably Feldberg, Harvey and Maycock) at the National Institute for Medical Research, Hampstead, into neuromuscular transmission. The correspondence and remaining papers cover Brown's administrative work in the decades from the 1950's. His relationships with the Royal Society and the Medical Research Council are well represented. The papers include personal files, correspondence with institutions and individuals, working scientific notes and sets of slides.

Scientific and other papers sent to the Royal Society, presented at meetings of Fellows, or commissioned by the Society. They form a complementary series to the Early Letters, both of which were superseded by the Letters and Papers. Many of these items, referred to as the 'Guard Books', are duplicated in the Register Book of the Society. The classification is a simplified form of the 'Philosophical Transactions' abridgment by John Lowthorp. This arrangement was completed in 1741 by Thomas Birch. The majority of the papers in these volumes are manuscript, but a few printed documents occur throughout the series. Some of the papers are earlier in date than the grant on 15 July 1662 of the First Charter to the Society. The Committee of Trades seems to have been associated with the earlier meetings of those philosophers who subsequently became Fellows, and produced a number of practical papers, some of which were written in 1639 and which are mostly found in Volume 3(i). There are still earlier documents, mostly in Volume 25, which may have been included in the gift, in 1667, of the Arundel Library.

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.

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.

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

The Croonean Lectures on Muscular Motion by Browne Langrish MD, read before the Royal Society in 1747, being a Supplement to the 'Philosophical Transactions' for that year.

Correspondence, papers and notebooks including the dissertation 'The excitatory and inhibatory states in reflex action' by Edward George Tandy Liddell.

The collection is particularly noteworthy for its full documentation of all aspects of Pirie's research, development and promotion of leaf protein for human comsumption. It is divided into the following sections:

Section A, Biographical. It includes obituaries, a copy of the Royal Society Biographical Memoir, a little documentation of undergraduate work, and historical material assembled by Pirie relating to J Brachel, J B S Haldane, F G Hopklins, and H H Mann. Miscellaneous material includes Pirie's philosophical notes on the nature of life the scientific method and other topics.

Section B, Research notebooks. These complete the sequence of numbered notebooks listed in the 'Catalogue of the Papers of Sir Frederick Charles Bawden including the papers of Alfred Alexander, Peter Kleczkowski and Norman Wingate Pirie' and also deposited in the Archives of the Royal Society. The sequence presented here runs from 1929-1996, with the missing notebooks to be found in the Bawden collection. The work documented includes Pirie's earliest research with A A Miles on 'Brucella abortus' and 'Brucella mellitensis', his research with F C Bawden on viruses, and the many facets of his work on leaf protein to the end of his life. There are also two numbered notebooks not included in the sequence which date from the 1940s.

Section C, Leaf Protein work. This is the largest section in the collection and documents the work for which Pirie became widely known. The material comers Pirie's own research work on leaf protein, his interest in leaf protein work worldwide, the promotion of leaf protein and the development of equipment, especially suitable for use in less developed countries, which could be used to extract it. There is documentation of Pirie's struggles within the Agricultural Research Council to find support for his work, his reports on progress and later fund raising for his reasearch. There is material relating to design and construction of leaf protein apparatus of various types. Pirie believed strongly that leaf protein could make a positive contribution to nutrition in poorer countries and trials were undertaken in India, Jamaica and other countries. Latterly he found backing for his work from the 'Find Your Feet' charity and this relationship is documented. Also of interest is Pirie's interest in promoting leaf protein, including sample recipes using the foodstuff.

Section D, Other Research interests. This focuses on Pirie's earlier research, including the work for which he was elected to the Royal Society and was awarded the Copley Medal. It is not extensive and should be consulted alongside the notebooks in Section B. It is presented by topic and includes research on tobacco mosaic and tomato bushy stunt viruses by Pirie and F C Bawden in the 1930's, work on 'Brucella abortus' in the 1930's and 1940's and bracken extraction in the 1950's. There is also material relating to various alternative sources of protein, including seafood, which relates to this interest in nutrition. Miscellaneous material includes documentation of Pirie's lobbying on behalf of 'biochemical engineering' research in the 1950's.

Section E, Drafts and Publications. This presents drafts and related material including publication on food resources and his 1987 book 'Leaf Protein and its by-products in human and animal nutrition', a small number of book reviews and a little editorial correspondence. The bulk of the section, however, comprises a sequence of Pirie's volumes of bound offprints, from 1929 to 1991 (with material for 1992-1996 unbound). This sequence is more than just a full record of Pirie's published work output, as intercalated or pasted to pages of the volumes are typescripts of unpublished work or work not published in full, reports on research, visits abroad etc, correspondence, and letters to the press on a wide variety of topics including nuclear weapons, the Communist Party, space exploration, scientific writing and world nutrition. The offprints themselves may bear later manuscript annotations and typescript notes by Pirtie, giving improved methods, corrections and later bibliographical references.

Section F, Visits and Conferences. These document a few of Pirie's visits 1946-1989. There is material relating to extended visits to the USA in 1946, to Czechoslovakia, the USSR and China in 1952, and later visits in connection with leaf protein work. The lack of coverage is partially compensated for by the quality of some of the documentation of the visits, including Pirie's manuscript and typescript notes and his official reports.

Section G, Correspondence. This is again partial in its coverage. The bulk relates to Pirie's work on leaf protein. There are also individual letters from significant correspondents, from the 1930's on, including A Szent-George, J B S Haldane, G C de Hervey, Sir Peter Medawar, T Svendberg, R L M Synge etc, which Piries appears to have kept for historical reasons. The correspondence is presented in alphabetical order by correspondent.

Papers 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.

Three letters of application for Waynflete Professorship of Physiology, two of J N Langley and Charles Scott Sherington dated 1895; one undated from Francis Gotch.