i;<; KKCOKI) OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY 



Metropolitan o per cent. Stock, producing rather less than ^8 



Hum The medal, which is of gold, and of the value of about twenty 



raided every five years tor distinguished service in Hygienic 



,-,., in tin- direction either of original research or of pro- 



nal. administrative, or constructive work. The balance in hand accom- 



p.-mic- the medal, which lias no limit as to nationality. The first medal was 



Huchanan by the subscribers to the fund (see p. 216). 



No. 1. TIIK CKOOMAX LKC-ITKE FUND. 



Thi- ifl one of the- earliest institutions connected with the Society, and, 



in name at lea>t, carries us back to the days of its foundation. At the 



meeting held on November 28, 1660, (ante, p. 8), when the design for 



founding the Societv was discussed, Mr. Croone, though absent, was nominated 



a- the Renter, or as we should now call him Registrar, of the small band 



of learned men who met weekly at Gresham College. Dr. Croone, as he 



.jiientlv became, was from the beginning an active Fellow of the Society, 



and on his death, in 1684, left a scheme for two lectureships which he 



intended to found, one of which was for the Royal Society. In his will, 



houever. he made no provision for carrying out this purpose, but his widow, 



uho Mil>e<|iiently became Lady Sadleir, remedied the omission, and in her 



will, dated September 25, 1701, bequeathed to the Society one-fifth of the 



it-iit of the King's Head Tavern, in or near Old Fish Street, London, at 



the corner of Lambeth Hill, 'for the support of a lecture and illustrative 



ri ine-nt for the advancement of natural knowledge on local motion, or 



(conditionally) on such other subjects as, in the opinion of the President for 



the time being, should be most useful in promoting the objects for which the 



I Society was instituted, 1 the remainder being paid to the Royal College 



of IMn^ician^, al>o for the support of a lecture to be delivered before them; 



in Chancery, in 1728, empowered the Society to devote the whole 



annual profits of the legacy to the payment for a single lecture and its 



l.nit expense*. The proper subject for the lecture is the nature or laws 



of miiM nlar motion, to be accompanied by some anatomical demonstration. 



Tin- first Croonian Lecture was delivered in 1738 by Dr. Stuart, the subject 



The Motion of the Heart 1 . From 1786 to 1885 the property was let 



iinunu so that the share of the Society was only about 3, but 



nt. of the estate has been materially increased, and the 



sum of about, X'56 yearly as its share, which is paid 



be Royal College of Physicians, which deals with the whole property. 



Tli. uliole of the available balance is in each year paid to the lecturer or for 



A li-t of the Croonian Lectures from the beginning in 1738, together with 

 MM- - their lectures, will be found in Chapter VII. 



