| Description | Rix responds to Gilbert's note of 4 April to inform him that the two bound ocatavo volumes presented in 1863 by Sir John Lawes are still at the Royal Society, but that they do not have the quarto memoirs, which appear to be excerts from 'Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society' , aside from the volumes of 'Philosophical Transactions' themselves. Of the octavo memoirs, Rix notes they only have those on the accompanying list [not included].
Rix further explains that in the past memoirs which were extracts of journals the Society held, were not retained in their separate form, due to the policy of the Library Committee at the time. On reflection, this is noted as a pity, but 'the deeds of our predecessors cannot now be undone'. As an exception though, they do possess, five or six lectures of Gilbert's (1876-1886), but these are bound in volumes of tracts. |