Some Spanish contributions to the early activities of the Royal Society of London

1988 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-132 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Young Men ◽  
Grand Tour ◽  
Foreign Travel ◽  
The World ◽  
Royal Society Of London ◽  
At Home

IN March 1664, soon after its foundation, the Royal Society of London began to publish its Philosophical Transactions , the full title of which indicates the scope of the Society’s interests: Philosophical Transactions: giving some Accompt of the present undertakings, studies and labours of the Ingenious in many considerable parts of the World. Well-educated Englishmen felt quite at home with their fellows abroad. It had long been the custom for the upper classes to send their sons on the ‘grand tour’ to complete their education, and some young men of modest birth also contrived to enjoy the advantages of foreign travel. The links thus formed between England and the continent of Europe ensured that the Royal Society received a plentiful flow of correspondence from abroad. Extracts from these letters, reviews of technical and scientific books, suggestions made by members, and accounts of their inventions and experiments, rendered the Transactions an important vehicle for the exchange and dissemination of knowledge throughout the world.

Studies in the life of Robert boyle, F. R. S. Part VII. The Grand Tour

1965 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-77 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Grand Tour ◽  
Robert Boyle ◽  
Detailed Consideration ◽  
Future Career ◽  
Foreign Travel ◽  
The World ◽  
Earl Of Essex ◽  
At Home

The seventeenth century saw the beginning of what was to become, for those who could afford it, the popular practice of continental travel. Restricted in the main to members of the nobility or wealthy class, this Grand Tour, as it came later to be called, was regarded as an indispensable part of the education of a gentleman, and essential preparation for his future career. At that time, much was written on the educative value and benefits of foreign travel. There is the letter of 1595 written by the Earl of Essex to the Earl of Rutland (1); there are the long instructions written about 1617-1618 by Henry, Earl of Northumberland, for his son, which commence thus: ‘Yow must consider, the ends of yowr travels is not to learn apishe iestures, or fashions of attyres or varieties of costely meates, but to gayne the tonges, that hereafter at yowr leisures, yow may discours with them that are dead, if they haue left any worth behind them; talke with them that are present, if yow haue occasion; and conferre with them that are absent, if they haue bestowed vpon vs any thing fitt for the view of the world; and soe, by comparing the acts of men abroade with the deeds of them at home, yowr carriage may be made cummely, yowr minde riche, yowr iudgement wyse to chuse that is best, and to eschew that is naught.’ After detailed consideration of matters worthy o f study, the instructions close with the admonition, ‘What yow obserue of worthe, takes notes of; for when yow list to take a reweu, the leues o f yowr books are easylyer turnd ouer, then the leaues of yowr memory’ (2). Francis Bacon in his Essays wrote ‘Of Travel’. James Howell in his Instructions for Forreine Travell regarded ‘the prime use of Peregrination’ to be ‘the study of living men, and a collation of his [the traveller’s] own Optique observations and judgements with’ those of others.

A Canadian table for the mace of the Royal Society

1961 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-117
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
New World ◽  
The World ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Freedom Of Thought ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Royal Society Of London ◽  
At Home

At the Tercentenary Conversazione, Dr Wilder Penfield, O.M., F.R.S., presented the President with a new table for the Mace, the Gift of the Canadian Fellows, with these words: ‘Your Royal Highness, Mr President: ‘The twenty-four Fellows of the Royal Society who live in Canada, offer you this table for the Mace. It was made for us here in England, according to the design of Professor Russell, made from Canadian walnut and capped, I am told, with leather from Canadian Caribou. ‘We have come a long way to join you in this Tercentenary Celebration. We are here because we prize, as you do, the heritage of mind and spirit that comes to us as it does to you. We are not honorary members nor foreign delegates, but ordinary Fellows, subjects of the Queen returning across the Ocean, within the Commonwealth. ‘All this would have seemed a strange and unbelievable state of affairs in the year 1660. The founding Fellows would have been shocked, I suspect, to learn how membership has spread to Cambridge! And King Charles would never have credited the prediction that one day Fellows, working in the new world, might strive to equal and sometimes hope to surpass the achievements of those at home. ‘Since that time, the Royal Society of London has become the most distinguished, as it is the oldest, learned society in the world. It is the strong citadel of the freedom of thought.

Colonial fellows of the Royal Society of London, 1661-1788

1951 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-246 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
New World ◽  
Experimental Philosophy ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Arts And Sciences ◽  
Corporate Body ◽  
The World ◽  
Charles Ii ◽  
British Colonies ◽  
Royal Society Of London

I. Statutes relating to the admission of Fellows of the Royal Society. That inhabitants of the British colonies in America were sometimes elected Fellows of the Royal Society of London has been known since the foundation of the Society, but no one has attempted to prepare from the Society’s original records a complete list of colonial Fellows. 2 Such a list, as it may indicate the names of those colonial scientists, both amateur and professional, who, by constant intercourse with Fellows of the Royal Society in England and with the Society itself as a corporate body, contributed most to the introduction and development of * 34 experimental philosophy ’ in the New World, it is the purpose of this paper to supply. From the aims and practices both of its immediate predecessors, the groups that met in Oxford and in London, and of a number of its earliest Fellows, the Royal Society inherited as a prime motive of its existence the accurate collection, classification, and interpretation of scientific data from all parts of the world. Such an undertaking required collaborators in remote places, and in the first charter of the Society (15 July 1662),4 for the improvement of the experiments, arts, and sciences of the aforesaid Royal Society/ Charles II granted to the President, Council, and Fellows of the Society, and to their successors, the privilege `. . . to enjoy mutual intelligence and knowledge with all and all manner of strangers and foreigners, whether private or collegiate, corporate or politic, without any molestation, interruption, or disturbance whatsoever: Provided nevertheless, that this our indulgence, so granted as it is aforesaid, be not extended to further use than the particular benefit and interest of the aforesaid Royal Society in matters or things philosophical, mathematical, or mechanical.’ 3

scholarly journals Anniversary Dinner 1955

1956 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Know How ◽  
The World ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Royal Society Of London

The Anniversary Dinner for 1955 was held at the Dorchester Hotel on St Andrew’s Day, 30 November 1955. The Toast of ‘The Royal Society of London’ was proposed by His Excellency the American Ambassador to the Court of St James, the Honourable Winthrop W. Aldrich, who said: ‘It is indeed an honour and a privilege to be chosen to propose the toast of the Royal Society, a society which for three centuries has exerted a vast and beneficent influence in the life not only of Britain but of the world. ‘In America, even as a child at school, I became familiar with many of the great names which are inscribed on the rolls of this Society, and I was taught to venerate their achievements. We Americans know how indebted we are in our own progress in science and technology to the inductive principle which was expounded by Francis Bacon and which has since, in every generation, been so brilliantly applied by the great experimentalists of this nation. ‘Restless curiosity about the secrets of the universe, and the irresistible instinct to ferret them out, are just as lusty in Britain today as they were at the birth of this Society three hundred years ago. I am told that when Sir Edmund Hillary was asked why he climbed Mt Everest, he replied “Because it was there”. For this body of scientists, Sir Edmund undoubtedly said all that needs to be said. I venture to prophesy that so long as any Everest, in the laboratory, in nature, or in the conceptual realm, remains unconquered, the Fellows of this Society, the blood brothers of Hillary, will be found assaulting its most forbidding slopes.

“A Dissertation on Swallows” with comments on their migration by the eighteenth-century Maryland naturalist, Henry Callister

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 280-293
Author(s):  
Ellen M. Lawler ◽  
Sarah A. Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Tachycineta Bicolor ◽  
Tree Swallow ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Human Species ◽  
The World ◽  
Chaetura Pelagica ◽  
Intended Destination ◽  
Royal Society Of London

In 1761, Maryland merchant and amateur naturalist, Henry Callister wrote “A Dissertation on Swallows” in response to five questions posed by a Dr Chandler. His accounts of eight Maryland species include accurate descriptions of behaviour as well as external anatomy. His brief description of the tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) may be one of the earliest accounts of this species. On the disappearance of swallows in winter, a topic of debate in the eighteenth century, Callister cited a number of reasons why he concluded that migration rather than hibernation was the explanation for this phenomenon. He noted differences in the habits of similar species in America and Europe and commented on the use of chimneys for nesting by chimney swifts (Chaetura pelagica), and the fact that some birds incorporated human-made fibres in their nests. These observations led him to conclude that, similar to humans, non-human species are capable of adapting to their environment, an idea remarkably advanced for his time. There is no evidence that Callister's dissertation reached its intended destination which may have been Reverend Dr Samuel Chandler, a Fellow of the Royal Society of London at that time. But this document demonstrates that Henry Callister was an enthusiastic and perceptive observer of nature and that he had the ability to use his observations to develop general concepts and a deeper understanding of the world around him.

Anniversary Dinner 1960

1961 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-150
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The World ◽  
Royal Society Of London

May I begin, Mr President, by offering you from all of us our warmest congratulations on receiving the highest honour that the oldest and most famous scientific body in the world can confer, the Presidency of the Royal Society of London. That honour comes to you, Sir, not only as a recognition of your outstanding contributions to knowledge and to the welfare of mankind, as a scientist, but as a tribute to your integrity and character as a man. It must be very satisfying, even to one as already distinguished as you, to find your work so signally recognized and acclaimed by those who, more than anyone else, are really able to appreciate its worth. To me, who have so recently returned from Australia, and I know to all your countrymen, the election of an Australian to the Presidency of the Royal Society gives especial pleasure and pride. There can be few, if any, countries in the world with a population of only 10 million which have produced so many outstanding men of science, and it is fitting that in your election this has been recognized so effectively

Service at St. Paul's Cathedral

1961 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-99
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
Select Group ◽  
Future Success ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Founder Member ◽  
Christopher Wren ◽  
Royal Society Of London

On Sunday 24 July 1960, Fellows of die Royal Society and guests attending the Tercentenary Celebrations were present at 10.30 at the Morning Service in St Paul’s Cathedral. The congregation was approximately 1500 and 400 seats under the Dome were reserved for the President and other Officers together with Fellows, their friends and Tercentenary guests. The service was Mattins which was sung by the Minor Canons and the Cathedral Choir. A prayer for the Royal Society was included in the order of service, and the hymn before the sermon was, ‘From thee all skill and science flow’ (English Hymnal 525), and the Psalm was VIII ‘O, Lord our Governor how excellent is thy Name in all the world’. For his sermon the Dean, the Very Reverend W. R. Matthews, took as his text the third verse of the forty-third psalm: O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. and said: ‘We welcome today members of the Royal Society of London and many distinguished friends and visitors who are attending the celebration of 300 years of work in the cause of science. Nowhere could they be more welcome, and no church could be more appropriate as the place where thanksgivings should be offered for the past and prayers for the future success of this world renowned learned society. For we remember with pride that Christopher Wren, the architect of this Cathedral in whose masterpiece we are assembled today, was a founder member of the Royal Society. In a lecture at Gresham College, not far from here, he suggested the formation of a select group of learned men to pursue the quest of the knowledge of nature by experiment.

Notices of publications relating to the history of the Society

1950 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-271
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society ◽  
Royal Society Of London ◽  
Sir William Jones

IN the Notes and Records of this Society for April 1946 (Vol. 4,No. 1, pp. 58-62), a brief account is given of* The Bicentenary of the Birth of Sir William Jones, F.R.S., Founder of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal.' The Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal has now published a Commemorative Volume of this event.1 This well-printed volume contains in Section I the text of the addresses from many parts of the world that were presented to the Society on the anniversary date (15 January 1946), some of them being in Sanskrit, one in Urdu, that from Oxford University in Latin, and several in French. The writer of this note was present in Calcutta on this occasion, having had the honour of being sent out specially by the Royal Society of London to act as their representative.

Hertha Ayrton (1854-1923) and the admission of women to the Royal Society of London

1991 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-220 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Electric Arc ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Sand Ripples ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Royal Society Of London

A notable incident in the history of women and the Royal Society was the proposal in 1902 of the physicist, Hertha Ayrton, as a candidate for the Fellowship. Her certificate seems to have been the first in the history of the Society to be submitted in favour of a woman, and 41 years were to elapse before the next. In 1906 she received the Society’s Hughes medal, which is awarded annually for original discovery in the physical sciences, for her work on the electric arc, and on sand ripples, and she is still the only woman to have received this medal. Hertha Ayrton 1-5 was born as Phoebe Sarah Marks, the third of eight children of a Jewish watchmaker and jeweller of Petworth, Sussex, who had emigrated from Poland to escape the pogroms. He died when she was seven, leaving his pregnant wife and seven children (six sons) in poverty. Mrs Marks held that women needed a better not worse education than men, because ‘women have the harder battle to fight in the world’. With some self-sacrifice she allowed the nine-year-old Sarah to go to London to live with her aunt Marion Hartog, who ran a school.

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