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Authorised form of nameCroone; William (1633 - 1684); physician
Other forms of surnameCrowne
Croune
Dates1633 - 1684
NationalityBritish
Place of birthLondon, England, Europe
Date of birth15 September 1633
Place of deathLondon, England, Europe
Date of death12 October 1684
DatesAndPlacesBurial:
St Mildred's Church in the Poultry, London, England, Europe
OccupationPhysician
Research fieldPhysiology
ActivityEducation:
Merchant Taylors School, London (1642); Emmanuel College, Cambridge, BA (1650/1), MA (1654); MD (Lit. Reg. 1663); Incorporated at Oxford (1654);
Career:
Fellow of Emmanuel (1651); Professor of Rhetoric, Gresham College, London (1659-1670); Gray's Inn (admitted 1670); candidate for College of Physicians (1660), Fellow (1675), and censor (1679); published 'De ratione motus musculorum' (London 1664); appointed by Barber-Surgeons' Company anatomy lecturer on muscles (1670-1684); maintained active experimental interests, and developed a lucrative medical practice in London in his later years, with a particular interest in respiration, muscular motion, and generation; noted for his experiment on establishing the importance of air in respiration by an experiment at the Royal Society, when he choked chicken until it appeared dead and then revived it by blowing air into its lungs through a glass pipe inserted down its throat (1664)
Memberships:
FRCP (1675)
Membership categoryOriginal Fellow
Date of election20/05/1663
RSActivityRoyal Society roles:
Appointed 'Register' 28/11/1660; 1664, 1666, 1668, 1670, 1672, 1675-1676, 1678-1681, 1683
Committee and panels:
Committee to 'view Mersennnus concerning the tenacity of [bodies]' (25 June 1662) ; Committee on the Histories of Trades (30 March 1664) ; Committee for 'taking care of the repository of the Royal Society' (3 February 1676)
RelationshipsMarried: Mary Lorimer [Lorymer]
PublishedWorksRCN: 34615
OtherInfoCroone left plans, but no money for two lectureships. One was to be delivered annually at the Royal College of Physicians, the other, on the nature and laws of muscular motion, was to be delivered before the Royal Society. His widow provided the money for the lecture in her will in 1701. The lecture is now known as the Croone [Croonian] Lecture, and is the Society's premier lecture on biology, the first one being delivered in 1738. Lady Sadleir also founded the Croonian Lectures at the Royal College of Physicians and the Sadlerian Lectures on algebra at Emmanuel, King's, St. John's, Sidney, Trinity, Jesus, Pembroke, Queen's and St. Peter's colleges at Cambridge.
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SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; Venn; Foster; Hunter; ODNB
References:
Kathleen H Ochs, 'The Royal Society of London's History of Trades Programme: An Early Episode in Applied Science' in NR 1984-85 vol 39 pp 129-158
L G Wilson, 'William Croone's Theory of Muscular Contraction' in NR 1961 vol 16 pp 158-178
L M Payne, Leonard G Wilson and Sir Harold Hartley, 'William Croone, FRS (1633-1684)' in NR 1960 vol 15 pp 211-219, plate
G H Turnbull, 'Samuel Hartlib's Influence on the Early History of the Royal Society' in NR 1953 vol 10 pp 101-130
J Gribbin, 'The Fellowship', 2005, pp172-174
Notes:
The election date is Croone's re-election date into the Society after the grant of the second charter in April 1663. All Fellows admitted in a two-month window after this charter, until 22 June 1663, are considered Original Fellows. He was previously named as 'register' at the initial meeting on 28 November 1660, although he was not present.
Name spelt 'Croune' in Birch and DNB, 'Croone or Crowne' in Venn.
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/22469858
CodeNA8189
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
EL/I1/180Letter, from unknown author to Dr [William] Croon, dated at RomeApril 1682
RBC/2/4'Some of Experiments of Dr Croon'22 Aprill 1663
DM/5/95A list of 6 books, given to the Royal Society by Dr Croone in 1682c.1682
RBC/1/28'An Experimental Account of the Raising up of all weight hung at the Bottome of an empty Bladder' by William Croonend
RBO/4/12'Hypothesis of Motion' by William Croone1668
RBO/4/46'Doctor Croon's Discourse of The conformation of a Chick in an Egge Produced at the Royal Society March 28 1672'1672
RBC/1/12An Exact Relation of the Pico Tenarife taken from Mr Clappham 29 June 1661
RBC/2/82'Of Alkermes' from Monsieur Verny an Apothecary of Montpellier1666
RBO/2ii/34'Some Experiments of Dr Croone'22 April 1663
RBO/6/6'Of the Dilatation of Water by Cold before it becomes Ice and is yett all Fluid, at least as to Sense: And that Glass does not shrink with Cold' by William Croone27 February 1684
RBC/1/34'An Account of the weight of a Carpe given in by Mr Croone'1661
DM/5/51Fair copy of a latin 'Diploma Regium', drawn up by Dr Croon 17th century
DM/5/50Form of a latin 'Diploma Regium', drawn up by Dr Croon 17th century
RBC/2/7'An Account of a Tench tryed in the Exhausting Engine' brought in by Dr Croone20 May 1663
DM/5/75'Recommended to Dr Croon'c.1660s
LBO/8/77Copy letter from executor of Johannes Alpheus Borelli, Rome, to William Croone26 April 1681
LBO/9/130Copy letter from J Ciampinus to William Croone14 September 1684
RBO/2i/44'An Account brought in by Dr Croon Of a Tench tryed in the Exhausting Engine'20 May 1663
MS/390/33Bond of William Croone to the Treasurer of the Royal Society30 November 1674
CLP/4i/2/1Manuscript, 'Experiments in capillary tubes and syphons made this December (1661)' from H [Henry] Power to William Croone1661
CLP/4i/2Paper, 'Experiments in capillary tubes and syphons made this December (1661)' from H [Henry] Power to William Croone1661
CLP/3i/44/2Diagram, hypothesis on moving bodies by [William] Croone[1668]
CLP/3i/44/1Manuscript, on motion by [William] Croone[1668]
DM/5/71Recommendation that seven persons (named) 'do take into their Custody all the Rarities, bookes and other goods and chattells belonging to the Royall Society'17th century
EL/P1/10Letter, from Henry Power to William Croone24 March
MM/16/39Minutes of a committee 'for taking care of the repository of the Royal Society'3 February 1676
CLP/6/4Paper, regarding details of a carp and roach by William Croone10 January 1662
DM/5/64Minutes of meetings of the Committee for Agriculture (endorsed as 'Transactions of the Georgicall Committee')October 1664-February 1665
CLP/4i/45Paper, 'Of the dilatation of water' by William Croone27 February 1684
RBO/2i/41'Some experiments of Dr Croone'22 April 1663
CLP/4i/6Paper, 'An account of a tench tryed in the exhausting engine' by Dr [William] Croon [Croone][1663]
CLP/17/2Paper, 'Some experiments' by William Croone[1663]
EL/N1/1Letter, from John Newburg to Dr [William] CroonOctober 1663
CLP/3i/3Paper, 'Enarratio experimenti cujusdam de pondere quodem elevato, quod ad extremam vesica vacua partem appearum erat aper' ['An experimental account of the raising up of a weight hung at the bottom of an empty bladder'] by [William] Croone[1661]
CLP/4i/2/2Drawing, capillary tubes and siphons by H [Henry] Power1661
CLP/3i/44Paper, on motion by [William] Croone[1668]
RBO/1/31'An Account of the Weight of a Carpe' by William Croonend
CLP/22i/6Paper, Discussion of Jan Swammerdam's work by William Croone, Walter Needham and Edmund [Edmond] King17 August 1673
CLP/10i/5Paper, 'Of alkermes, in French' by Monsieur Verny[1666]
RBO/2ii/37'An Account of a Tench tryed in the exhausting Engine' by Dr William Croone20 May 1663
RBO/1/25'An Experimentall Account of the raising up of a weight hung at the bottome of an emptie Bladder' by William Croonend
MC/14/60Letter from Dyce Duckworth, Treasurer of the Royal College of Physicians, London, to the Secretary of the Royal Society4 July 1885
RBO/3/43'Of Alkermes - Communicated in French' by Monsieur Verny17 October 1666
MC/14Volume 14 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1885-1888
EL/S1/92Letter, from Mr Steno [Niels Stensen] to Dr [William] Croonnd
DM/5/63Minutes of meetings of the Committee for Agriculture June-September 1664
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