| Description | Committee of Papers established in 1752 to decide on the publication of papers in 'Philosophical Transactions'. The Committee was comprised of the entire Council of the Royal Society
It appears the paper of relevance to the Excise Committee is 'An Account of an improvement in the machine for producing engravings of Medals, Busts etc...', by RB Bate. Bate would later carry out work on hydrometers for the Excise Committee.
"The Excise Committee worked in response to a request from the Treasury: its task was to devise a simple and practicable form of hydrometer to be used by excisemen in assesing the duty on spirits, wine and beer, and thus it duly did, to the complete satisfaction of the Treasury", M Boas-Hall, 'All Scientists Now: The Royal Society in the Nineteenth Century', Cambridge: CUP, 1984, pp168. |