| Description | This folder contains 11 letters to Smith from Sir William Aitken, Professor of Pathology at the Royal Victoria Military Hospital, Netley and Sir Michael Foster, Chair of Physiology at the University of Cambridge, and Secretary of the Royal Society. Enclosed with the letters is a manuscript note by Smith, dated 1927, in which he provides context for the letters, and states that he met Aitken whilst working at Netley, and was introduced to Foster by Aitken.
The letters originally relate to a paper written by Smith on the subject of the chemistry of the urine of the horse, submitted to the Royal Society in 1889. Aitken forwards a letter from Foster in which he states that Smith's paper will need to be reworked before being put before the Royal Society Committee of Papers. Foster makes some suggestions for improvement, and recommends that Smith learn the German language so that he can include sources from German writers. At a later date, Foster writes to Smith that the paper has been received by the Committee and will be read by Aitken at the Royal Society. Smith's communication with Foster continues after this date, and there are four further letters, dating between 1889 and 1900, in which Foster offers help and advice to Smith, and supports his call for reform during the Second Anglo-Boer War.
Also enclosed are three newspaper cuttings relating to the death and funeral of Sir Michael Foster in 1907, and three newspaper cuttings about the Royal Society, dated c.1920.
[The original envelope in which the letters were found at time of cataloguing is kept at the back of the folder.] |