iv PREFACE 



co-operated. The Treasurer, Sir Alfred B. Kempe, has revised and 

 brought up to date the ' Notes on the History of the Statutes ' 

 in Chapter III, and the account of the history and objects of 

 the various Trusts of the Society forming Chapter IV. The 

 Secretaries, Sir Joseph Larmor, M.P., and Sir John Rose Bradford, 

 K.C.M.G., have likewise assisted in the various matters referred 

 to them. The Assistant Secretary, Mr. Robert Harrison, be- 

 sides rendering general assistance, has revised the list of Portraits. 

 The Clerk, Mr. T. E. James, has revised and completed the list of 

 the Medals and Medallions. The Assistant Librarian, Mr. A. H. 

 White, has supplied the account of the Library. Mr. James 

 and Mr. White have gone through the earlier pages of the 

 Charter-book, the Journal-books, and other documents, for the 

 purpose of making the Chronological Register and Alphabetical 

 List of Fellows more complete and accurate. In this laborious 

 task they have been greatly assisted by Sir Arthur Church, whose 

 minute acquaintance with the early Archives has been freely 

 placed at the Society's service. The President, Sir Archibald 

 Geikie, K.C.B., has rewritten the first chapter giving a narrative 

 of the Foundation and Early History of the Society, and has 

 supervised and edited the whole work. 



The late Sir William Huggins, President in the years from 1900 

 to 1905, presented to the Society the blocks of the Plates which 

 illustrated his volume on * The Royal Society ', which was pub- 

 lished in 1906. Most of these Plates, consisting chiefly of re- 

 productions of portraits of former Fellows in the Society's 

 possession, have been made use of in the present volume, but the 

 portraits of Robert Boyle, John Evelyn, Christopher Wren, and 

 Hans Sloane have been re-photographed and the impressions are 

 printed from fresh plates. A few additions have been made com- 

 prising the portraits of Lord Kelvin, Lord Lister, and Charles 

 Darwin, and the view of the Interior Court of Gresham College 

 and of the Society's house in Crane Court, Fleet Street. 



Burlington House, 

 May 15, 1912. 



