Royal Medico-Botanical Society of London

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].

We find further evidence at the Wellcome Library in an online document (http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/assets/wtl039783.pdf), entitled "ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE"; at the end of this document is the following indication of archival holdings (evidently at the Royal Society of Medicine): Medico-Botanical Society of London, minutes: General Meetings 1821-1852, Council Meetings 1828-1849 (MSS L9/C/1-9). The latter suggests that the archival holdings are at the official archival site for the Society and are hence likely to be as complete as possible. We shall therefore take 1852 as the date of termination of the Society.

Its name establishes the seat as 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..

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 Farre.

A note at the end of an online document in the Wellcome Library (http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/assets/wtl039783.pdf), entitled "ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE" establishes the likely end date of the Society.

A

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 Brit. Lib. cat. gives the holdings statement as Vol. 1, pts. 1-4 [1829-39].