ANATOMICAL STUDIES 39 



the group of men who originated the Royal Society human 

 anatomy was included. Special provision was made for the 

 prosecution of this subject by a clause in the second Charter which 

 gave the President, Council, and Fellows the same right * to 

 demand and receive the bodies of executed criminals, and to 

 anatomize them, as the College of Physicians and the Company 

 of Surgeons of London use or enjoy'. On January 20, 1663-4, 

 at a meeting of the Council, ' The general and particular Warrants 

 to demand Bodies for dissection, drawn up by S r Anthony 

 Morgan, were read and approved.' The original copy of this 

 general Warrant, signed by Lord Brouncker, is preserved in the 

 Archives of the Society. The privilege appears to have been 

 exercised for a time with considerable vigour, Dr. Charleton 

 being appointed, by a Resolution of April 20th in the same year, 

 ' to have the care of Dissecting Bodies for one year.' But 

 although there are several entries in the Council Minutes relating 

 to Anatomical Experiments, and in June, 1668, Henry Howard, 

 afterwards sixth Duke of Norfolk, gave the Society a room in 

 Arundel House for that purpose, no clear reference to the privi- 

 lege in question has been found later than the Minute of August 

 29, 1666, when it was ordered * That an Amanuensis should make 

 a Copy of the Warrant for demanding a Body for dissection, to 

 be performed in Gresham College by some of the Fellows of 

 the Society at their own charges '. Ultimately the practice fell 

 wholly into abeyance ; but the biological side of the Society's 

 operations was never lost sight of, and for many years past has 

 been in vigorous growth. 



From the beginning of its history the Royal Society has devoted 

 much attention to the publication of the communications made 

 to it by its Fellows and others. Within three years from the 

 granting of the first Charter the issue of the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions was commenced, and it is still continued. Particulars 

 regarding this part of the Society's undertakings will be found in 

 the Statutes (pp. 117-58) and in the ' Notes on the History of the 

 Statutes ' (pp. 150-73). It may be enough in this place to remark 

 that from the appearance of the first number of the Transactions 

 on Monday, March 6, 1664-5, the preparation, printing, and 

 publication of this work were for some time ' the single act of 



