Latitudinarianism and the "ideology" of the early Royal Society - Thomas Sprat's "History of the Royal Society"(1667) reconsidered; an experiment in corporate enterprise - the Royal Society's Committees of 1663-5, with a transcript of the surviving minutes of their meetings; between cabinet of curiosities and research collection - the history of the Royal Society's repository; a college for the Royal Society - the abortive plan of 1667-1668; towards Solomon's House - rival strategies for reforming the early Royal Society; promoting the new science - Henry Oldenburg and the early Royal Society; early problems in professionalizing scientific research - Nehemiah Grew and the Royal Society, with an unpublished letter to Henry Oldenburg; science, technology and patronage - Robert Hooke and the Cutlerian lectureship. Appendix: Reconstructing restoration science - problems and pitfalls in institutional history. Bibliographical essay: recent studies of the early Royal Society and its milieu.

Hunter's reputation as one of the foremost students of Restoration science in England can only be further enhanced by this volume. NATURE For anyone interested in the scientific revolution these essays are compulsory reading. Elegantly written and carefully researched, they are a welcome addition to the already extensive literature on the early years of the Royal Society. HISTORY Hunter brings a wealth of manuscript material - much of it new and some of it reproduced in the book - to bear on these often complex questions about the institutionalization of science in seventeenth-century England. Margaret J. Osler Every student of the Royal Society, of Restoration natural philosophy and of the early institutionalization of science will read with profit this work of the highest standard of historical scholarship.