Scholarly Societies Project

Royal Medico-Botanical Society of London

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Royal Medico-Botanical Society of London
Founding of the Society
Year
Authority / Notes
1821

According to the entry for John Frost (1803-1840) in the Oxford Dict. Nat. Biog., the Society was founded in 1821 by Frost, a flamboyant medical entrepreneur. In the latter entry we read that the Society "... had for its objects the investigation of the medicinal properties of plants, the study of the materia medica of all countries, and the making of awards for original research on the subject."

A question of interest is the date when the Society was granted the use of the designation "Royal". The Natural Hist. Mus. Lib. cat. has a record for a 1823-36 serial publication entitled Register Book of the Medico-Botanical Society of London. Confirmation that the "Royal" designation had not yet been added in early 1837 is found in the Oxford Univ. cat. in a record for Address of earl Stanhope, president of the Medico-botanical society, for the anniversary meeting, January 16th, 1837. On the other hand we find in the Wellcome Lib. cat. a record for an 1840 publication entitled The Ceylon moss. Communications read to the Royal Medico-Botanical Society of London / And pub. with its permission, by George G. Sigmond, and by Frederic Farre. The foregoing information suggests that the "Royal" designation was already in use by 1840, and must have been granted at some point between 1837 and 1840.

It is not absolutely clear how long the Society lasted. We may be confident that it existed until at least 1848, since the Wellcome Lib. cat. lists the following 1848 publication: Lecture on chloroform, and other narcotic vapours, delivered at the Royal Medico-Botanical Society, March 16, 1848 / [John Snow].

According to a Wikipedia entry, "The 4th Earl Stanhope was one of the main supporters of the Society, and it ceased to exist soon after his death in 1855." This statement is supported by a reference to a journal article by James Blake Bailey published on July 13, 1895 in the British Medical Journal.

Seat of the Society
City
Authority / Notes
London
England
Its name establishes the seat as London.
Name of the Society
Dates
Name
Authority
1821 - 1837 Medico-Botanical Society of London

The entry for John Frost (1803-1840) in the Oxford Dict. Nat. Biog. establishes this name and start date for the Society.

Confirmation that the "Royal" designation had not yet been added in early 1837 is found in the Oxford Univ. cat. in a record for Address of earl Stanhope, president of the Medico-botanical society, for the anniversary meeting, January 16th, 1837.

1840 - 1855 Royal Medico-Botanical Society of London

The Wellcome Lib. cat. contains a record for an 1840 publication entitled The Ceylon moss. Communications read to the Royal Medico-Botanical Society of London / And pub. with its permission, by George G. Sigmond, and by Frederic Farrecome Lib. cat. contains a record for an 1840 publication entitled . This establishes the use of the "Royal" designation as early as 1840.

According to a Wikipedia entry, "The 4th Earl Stanhope was one of the main supporters of the Society, and it ceased to exist soon after his death in 1855." This statement is supported by a reference to a journal article by James Blake Bailey published on July 13, 1895 in the British Medical Journal. This establishes the existence of the Society as late as 1855 - with no suggestion of a name change.

Journals of the Society
Years
Full Journal Title
Abbrev.
Indexed
1828; 1829 - 1834/37[?]; 1839
 
A

Transactions of the Royal Medico-Botanical Society of London

The record in the Zeitschriftendatenbank(ZDB) gives the holdings statement as 1828,1; 1.1829 - 1834/37[?]; 1.1839.

The record in the Wellcome Lib. cat. gives the holdings statement as [1-4], 1821-37. The record also indicates that the title was sometimes Transactions of the Medico-Botanical Society of London.

The record in the British Lib. cat. gives the holdings statement as Vol. 1, pts. 1-4 [1829-39].

[Zeitschriftendatenbank(ZDB); Wellcome Lib. cat.; British Lib. cat.]

Trans. Med.-Bot. Soc. Lond.
[Taxon, Vol. 26, No. 5/6 (Nov., 1977), p.536 cites 1 (1829).]
Trans. Med. Bot. Soc. London
[Kew Bulletin, Vol. 53, No. 2 (1998), p.266 cites 1 (1829).]
Trans. R. Med. Bot. Soc. Lond.
[Notes Rec. Roy. Soc., Vol. 53, No. 2 (May, 1999), p.229 cites 1834-37.]
Trans. Roy. Med.-bot. Soc.
[Taxon, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Feb., 1981), p.10 cites 1(4) (1839).]
 

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