2 
ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 
ment among the scientific institutions of our kingdom, we have been 
besought to grant to James Glashier, Fellow of the Royal Society, 
the present President of the said Society, and to those who now are 
or shall hereafter become members of the said Society, our Royal 
Charter of Incorporation for the purposes aforesaid : 
Now know ye that We, being desirous of encouraging a design 
so laudable and salutary, of our especial grace, certain knowledge, and 
mere motion, have willed, granted, and declared, and do by these 
presents, for us, our heirs and successors, will, grant and declare that 
the said James Glaisher, and such other of our loving subjects as 
now are members of the said Society, or shall from time to time be 
elected Fellows thereof, according to such regulations or by-laws as 
shall be hereafter framed or enacted, and their successors shall for 
ever hereafter be by virtue of these presents one body politic and 
corporate, by the name of “ The Microscopical Society of London ” ; * 
and for the purposes aforesaid, and by the name aforesaid, shall have 
perpetual succession and a common seal, with full power and authority 
to alter, vary, break, and renew the same at their discretion, and by 
the same name to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, answer 
and be answered, unto and in every court of us, our heirs and suc- 
cessors, and be for ever able and capable in the law to purchase, 
receive, possess, hold and enjoy, to them and their successors, any 
goods and chattels whatsoever, and also to be able and capable in the 
law (notwithstanding the Statute of Mortmain) to take, purchase, 
hold, and enjoy to them and their successors a hall or house, and any 
such messuages, lands, tenements, or hereditaments whatsoever as may 
be necessary or expedient for carrying out the purposes of the Society, 
the yearly value of which, including the site of the said hall or house, 
shall not exceed in the whole the sum of 1000Z., computing the same 
respectively at the time of the purchase or acquisition thereof, and to 
act in all the concerns of the said body politic and corporate as 
effectually, to all intents and purposes, as any other of our liege sub- 
jects, or any other body politic or corporate in our said kingdom, not 
being under any disability, might do in their respective concerns. 
And we do hereby grant our special licence and authority unto all 
and every person and persons, bodies politic and corporate (otherwise 
competent), to grant, sell, alien and convey in mortmain unto and to 
the use of the said body politic and corporate and their successors any 
messuages, lands, tenements, or hereditaments not exceeding such 
annual value as aforesaid. 
And our will and pleasure is, and we further grant and declare, 
that there shall be a General Meeting or General Meetings of the 
* On the 1st November, 1866, Mr. Secretary Walpole notified to the President that 
Her Majesty had been graciously pleased “ to command that the Society shall be 
styled the Royal Microscopical Society.” 
