Some letters of Sir Charles Blagden

1951 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-260
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
British Museum ◽  
State Of Health ◽  
Kind Permission ◽  
The One

In a footnote to the extract from the Diary of Sir Charles Blagden which appeared in previous pages of this volume, 1 it was explained that the portion of the Diary for the year 1788 in the Society’s possession is incomplete, and it was surmised that Blagden had been to Geneva in that year. The gap can fortunately be filled, however, and the story of Blagden’s relations with the men of science at Geneva can be completed, by means of the copies of the correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks in the Library of the British Museum (Natural History). The original autograph letters of the Banksian correspondence were dispersed many years ago, but the manuscript copies preserved in the Museum provide a precious guide to the activities and interests not only of Sir Joseph Banks, P.R.S., but also of Sir Charles Blagden, Sec.R.S., whose many letters almost take the form of reports from the Secretary to the President of the Royal Society. By way of confirmation of what was surmised in the previous notes, and by kind permission of the Trustees, extracts are given below of some letters from Blagden to Banks, dated 9 August and 14 September 1788. They will be found to contain unexpected information about Queen Victoria’s father, Mr Woodley, and Charles James Fox. In addition, the transcription is given of a letter from Blagden to Banks of 5 September 1792, written during the course of the journey described in the extract from the Diary that appears above. This letter is the one referred to on page 83 : ‘ Sent letter to Sir Joseph Banks.’ Its interest lies not only in the account of the dangers through which Blagden passed on leaving Paris, but also in the information which it contains to the effect that Schmuck’s experiments were, after all, inspired by those of Galvani, as suspected in footnote 32, page 71. There are also interesting references to Huber’s work on Bees, Charles Bonnet’s state of health and Thomas Whaley’s accident.

Richard Bradley's Relationship With Sir Hans Sloane

1970 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-77 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Prolific Author ◽  
Good Picture ◽  
Adverse Conditions ◽  
University Of Cambridge ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University

Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) is remembered more for his activities in the spheres of science and medicine than for his original contributions to these fields. His large treatise on the natural history of Jamaica (2 vols., 1707- 1725) and other writings were useful additions to the scientific literature, but they were overshadowed by his activities as President of both the Royal Society (1727-1741) and the Royal College of Physicians (1719-1735) and by his having provided the collections which became the foundation of the British Museum. There is no definitive study on him, but the two recent biographies by De Beer and Brooks provide a good picture of his life and work (1). Sloane carried on a voluminous correspondence, and most of the letters written to him are preserved in the British Museum—largely unpublished (2). Among them are a dozen letters from Richard Bradley (1688?—5 November 1732), which throw somewhat more light on Bradley than on Sloane. They also illustrate the adverse conditions under which men without wealth have sometimes worked when pursuing scientific activities. Bradley was a prolific author of books on agriculture, horticulture, biology, and medicine. As will appear from his letters, he was often the pawn of booksellers, and John Martyn (1699-1768), his malicious rival, commented shortly after his death that ‘The booksellers have lost a good easy pad’ (3). Bradley was at times only a popularizer or a hack, but he also produced writings having scientific merit (4). Furthermore, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and the first Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge. His correspondence with Sloane is therefore of interest for adding to our knowledge of both men and the scientific activities of their time.

Societas Scientiarum Fennica

1938 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-62
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
General Information ◽  
The Other ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Académie Des Sciences ◽  
The One ◽  
Large Output

An important event of the present year has been the attainment of its centenary by the Societas Scientiarum Fennica, the Finnish equivalent of the Royal Society or the Académie des Sciences—though indeed of wider scope than these, including as it does a Humanistic section in addition to those concerned with Mathematics and Physical Sciences on the one hand and Natural History on the other. The Society, during the century of its existence, has been responsible for a large output of scientific literature, its main publications being subdivided, on very much the same plan as those of the Royal Society, into (1) Transactions (Acta), which of recent years (1930-38) have been arranged in separate volumes for the physico-mathematical and biological subjects; (2) Proceedings (Ofversigt), which from 1923 onwards are arranged in three parallel series of 'Commentationes’ corresponding to the main sections of the Society’s activities, and (3) an annual 'Arsbok' containing general information, reports of lectures, and obituary notices. The pages of these several publications provide impressive testimony to the importance of the Societas Scientiarum Fennica in the march of modern science.

XII. An account of some experiments and observations on the torpedo (Raia torpedo, linn.)

1832 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. 259-278
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Summer Season ◽  
Anatomical Structure ◽  
Great Activity ◽  
State Of Health ◽  
Severe Attack ◽  
Fish Market ◽  
Humphry Davy

In a paper published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1829, my brother, the late Sir Humphry Davy, has given an account of some experiments which he made on the torpedo for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of its electricity, whether it is of a peculiar kind or analogous to kinds already known. The results he obtained were altogether negative, and seemed to lead to the former conclusion. But that conclusion was so novel and important, that he did not consider himself justified in adopting it without further investigation. At the time he wrote the paper referred to, namely, in the autumn of 1828, in a very feeble state of health, he was on his way from southern Austria to Italy, where, if his health permitted, he intended renewing the inquiry. He arrived at Rome on the 19th of November, and, with his usual ardour of pursuit, immediately began his observations on the torpedo; but they were directed chiefly to its anatomical structure and natural history, rather than to its electricity; for, though this fish is to be had in abundance in the fish-market of that city, being brought from a distance, it is very difficult to obtain it alive. To make experiments on the living fish, he proposed going either to Civita Vecchia or Tormicina, where it is caught; but before he could accomplish this intention he suddenly experienced another and very severe attack of his complaint. This attack occurred on the 20th of February; and in a letter written from his dictation, five days after, when he considered himself dying, he particularly requested me to carry on the investigation; and such was his zeal for science, that, excepting in a postscript, no mention was made of the alarming state in which he then was. On my joining him from Malta, on the 16th of March, he was still dangerously ill, and had the same feeling of being near his end; but his mind was wonderfully clear and active, and his love of research as great as at any former period of his life. At his request, the following morning torpedos were obtained from the fish-market, and I amused him, day after day, with the results of my dissections, till his complaint acquiring an aggravated form, and threatening speedy dissolution, he was unable to attend to them. I then discontinued the inquiry, and till a few months ago, I have not had an opportunity of renewing it. The results which I have obtained I shall now have the honour of submitting to the Royal Society. The experiments which I shall first detail on the living fish have been made entirely at Malta, and under very advantageous circumstances; for, residing during the summer season close to the sea, I have been able to obtain torpedos fresh from the water, and in a state of great activity.

Gideon Mantell and the Maidstone Iguanodon

1951 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-276 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Original Description ◽  
The South ◽  
Gideon Mantell

The name Iguanodon was first given publication in a letter from Gideon Mantell, F.R.S., to his friend Davies Gilbert, M.P., V.P.R.S., 1 printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1825. 2 The specimens upon which this name was founded were more or less worn teeth which Mrs Mantell had collected in the spring of 1822. Some of these teeth are referred to in The Fossils o f the South Downs , 3 published in May 1822, as being of ‘unknown animals.’ This suggests that the teeth were found early in the year as stated by Mantell and not in the summer as has been published by Sidney Spokes. 4 Most of the teeth found by Mrs Mantell and figured in 1825 have been reddentified in the collections of the British Museum (Natural History) and are now on exhibition in the Geological Department of the Museum. Examination shows that those which are specifically identifiable are all referable to the species subsequently named Iguanodon mantelli . A t their original description no specific name was, however, applied, and it is open to serious question whether the name , derived from the similarity of the teeth and those of the living Iguana , was ever valid. This would seem an instance in which the mercies of the International Commission’s rule 46 might well be held to apply, to keep in use an ancient and much-used name.

scholarly journals VII. On parts of the skeleton of meiolania platyceps (Ow.)

1888 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 181-191 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
British Museum ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Fossil Bones ◽  
Extinct Genus ◽  
Osseous Structure

Since my last communication to the Royal Society (March 15, 1886) of the characters of some fossil bones of a Meiolania from Lord Howe’s Island, I have been favoured with the opportunity of inspecting a second and richer series of remains of the same extinct genus of Reptile from the same island and formation. These fossils have been liberally transmitted by Charles Wilkinson, Esq., F. G. S., F. L. S., Government Geologist of the Department of Mines, Sydney, to the Geological Department of the British Museum of Natural History, and have been confided by the Keeper, Dr. Woodward, F. R. S., for their development from the matrix, to Mr. Richard Hall, Assistant Mason in that Department, whose name deserves to be recorded for the patient devotion and admirable skill with which he has brought to light the manifold and complex evidences of osseous structure, especially of the cranial and some vertebral parts of the petrified skeletons of the present singular genus of extinct Reptile.

scholarly journals XIV. Description of fossil remains of two species of a genus (Meiolania) from "Lord Howe's Island."

1886 ◽  
Vol 177 ◽  
pp. 471-480 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Fossil Remains ◽  
South Wales ◽  
The Government

In 1884 I was favoured by Dr. Woodward, F. R. S., F. G. S., with the inspection of a series of fossil remains from “Lord Howe’s Island,” which had been transmitted by the Government of New South Wales (Department of Mines) to the Department of Geology in the British Museum of Natural History. These fossils indicated a Saurian Reptile allied to the genus, characters of which are described and figured in the 'Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society’ for the years 1858, 1880, and 1881.

A New Tapeworm, Diphyllobothrium salvelini sp. nov., from a Salmon, Salvelinus alpinus, in Greenland

1955 ◽  
Vol 29 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 37-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeh Liang-Sheng
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Salvelinus Alpinus ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Kind Permission ◽  
East Greenland

By kind permission of the Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) the writer has had the opportunity of studying some tapeworms collected from a Greenland Salmon (Salvelinus alpinus subsp. ?) from Ottostrand, East Greenland, in August 1948 by Hjalmar Fleischer of Oslo. The material was found in the “gut” and contained about thirty specimens of an adult Diphyllobothrium, which appears to be new, along with specimens of Diplocotyle olrikii Krabbe, 1874 and Eubothrium crassum (Schrank, 1790).

scholarly journals X. The hyoid and larynx of the Anura

1932 ◽  
Vol 222 (483-493) ◽  
pp. 401-527 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
British Museum ◽  
King's College ◽  
Spare Time ◽  
Research Scholar ◽  
Government Grant ◽  
First Time

FOREWORD. Some years ago Dr. Tate Regan suggested to me that a study of the hyoid region of the tailless Amphibia would be of value. This paper is the outcome of that suggestion. It was begun when I was Gilchrist Research Scholar in Zoology at King’s College of Household and Social Science (1 9 2 5 -2 6 and 1 9 2 7 -2 8 ), working under Dr. P . C. Esdaile, to whom I am very grateful for her help during my two and a half years in her department. At this time I was also assisted by a Government Grant from the Royal Society. Since March, 1 9 2 8 ,1 have held a post at the British Museum (Natural History), and the work on frogs has been relegated to spare time. My main purpose has been to discover and make known the structures of the hyolaryngeal apparatus in a large and representative series of the Anura, in order that an idea may be gained of the range of diversity of these organs in the group, and of the extent to which resemblances in their structure are indicative of relationship. In all, I have studied sixty species, belonging to thirty-six genera ; in fifty of these species and twenty-three of the genera the larynx is now described for the first time.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document