| Authorised form of name | Croone; William (1633 - 1684); physician |
| Other forms of surname | Crowne |
| Croune |
| Dates | 1633 - 1684 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | London, England, Europe |
| Date of birth | 15 September 1633 |
| Place of death | London, England, Europe |
| Date of death | 12 October 1684 |
| Dates and places | Burial:
St Mildred's Church in the Poultry, London, England, Europe |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Research field | Physiology |
| Activity | Education:
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 category | Original Fellow |
| Date of election | 20/05/1663 |
| Royal Society activity | Royal 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) |
| Relationships | Married: Mary Lorimer [Lorymer] |
| Published works | RCN: 34615 |
| General context | Croone 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. |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Sources | Sources:
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 File | http://viaf.org/viaf/22469858 |
| Royal Society code | NA8189 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| DM/5/63 | Minutes of meetings of the Committee for Agriculture | June-September 1664 |
| EL/I1/180 | Letter, from unknown author to Dr [William] Croon, dated at Rome | April 1682 |
| RBC/2/4 | 'Some of Experiments of Dr Croon' | 22 Aprill 1663 |
| DM/5/95 | A list of 6 books, given to the Royal Society by Dr Croone in 1682 | c.1682 |
| RBC/1/28 | 'An Experimental Account of the Raising up of all weight hung at the Bottome of an empty Bladder' by William Croone | nd |
| RBO/4/12 | 'Hypothesis of Motion' by William Croone | 1668 |
| 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/1/12 | An Exact Relation of the Pico Tenarife taken from Mr Clappham | 29 June 1661 |
| RBC/2/82 | 'Of Alkermes' from Monsieur Verny an Apothecary of Montpellier | 1666 |
| 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 Croone | 27 February 1684 |
| RBC/1/34 | 'An Account of the weight of a Carpe given in by Mr Croone' | 1661 |
| DM/5/51 | Fair copy of a latin 'Diploma Regium', drawn up by Dr Croon | 17th century |
| DM/5/50 | Form 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 Croone | 20 May 1663 |
| DM/5/75 | 'Recommended to Dr Croon' | c.1660s |
| LBO/8/77 | Copy letter from executor of Johannes Alpheus Borelli, Rome, to William Croone | 26 April 1681 |
| LBO/9/130 | Copy letter from J Ciampinus to William Croone | 14 September 1684 |
| RBO/2i/44 | 'An Account brought in by Dr Croon Of a Tench tryed in the Exhausting Engine' | 20 May 1663 |
| MS/390/33 | Bond of William Croone to the Treasurer of the Royal Society | 30 November 1674 |
| CLP/4i/2/1 | Manuscript, 'Experiments in capillary tubes and syphons made this December (1661)' from H [Henry] Power to William Croone | 1661 |
| CLP/4i/2 | Paper, 'Experiments in capillary tubes and syphons made this December (1661)' from H [Henry] Power to William Croone | 1661 |
| CLP/3i/44/2 | Diagram, hypothesis on moving bodies by [William] Croone | [1668] |
| CLP/3i/44/1 | Manuscript, on motion by [William] Croone | [1668] |
| DM/5/71 | Recommendation 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/P1/10 | Letter, from Henry Power to William Croone | 24 March |
| MM/16/39 | Minutes of a committee 'for taking care of the repository of the Royal Society' | 3 February 1676 |
| CLP/6/4 | Paper, regarding details of a carp and roach by William Croone | 10 January 1662 |
| DM/5/64 | Minutes of meetings of the Committee for Agriculture (endorsed as 'Transactions of the Georgicall Committee') | October 1664-February 1665 |
| CLP/4i/45 | Paper, 'Of the dilatation of water' by William Croone | 27 February 1684 |
| RBO/2i/41 | 'Some experiments of Dr Croone' | 22 April 1663 |
| CLP/4i/6 | Paper, 'An account of a tench tryed in the exhausting engine' by Dr [William] Croon [Croone] | [1663] |
| CLP/17/2 | Paper, 'Some experiments' by William Croone | [1663] |
| EL/N1/1 | Letter, from John Newburg to Dr [William] Croon | October 1663 |
| CLP/3i/3 | Paper, '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/2/2 | Drawing, capillary tubes and siphons by H [Henry] Power | 1661 |
| CLP/3i/44 | Paper, on motion by [William] Croone | [1668] |
| RBO/1/31 | 'An Account of the Weight of a Carpe' by William Croone | nd |
| EL/S1/92 | Letter, from Mr Steno [Niels Stensen] to Dr [William] Croon | nd |
| CLP/22i/6 | Paper, Discussion of Jan Swammerdam's work by William Croone, Walter Needham and Edmund [Edmond] King | 17 August 1673 |
| CLP/10i/5 | Paper, 'Of alkermes, in French' by Monsieur Verny | [1666] |
| RBO/2ii/37 | 'An Account of a Tench tryed in the exhausting Engine' by Dr William Croone | 20 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 Croone | nd |
| MC/14/60 | Letter from Dyce Duckworth, Treasurer of the Royal College of Physicians, London, to the Secretary of the Royal Society | 4 July 1885 |
| RBO/3/43 | 'Of Alkermes - Communicated in French' by Monsieur Verny | 17 October 1666 |
| MC/14 | Volume 14 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1885-1888 |