royal grant

A grant of letters patent from the crown. Royal Humane Society, s. [HUMANE.] Royal Institution, s. An institution founded in London by Count Rumford, Sir Joseph Banks, and others, March 9, 1799, and incorporated Jan. 13, 1800. It is designed to diffuse knowledge, to facilitate the general introduction of mechanical inventions, and teach by lectures and experiments the application of science to the common purposes of life. It has, as a rule, had for its lecturers some of the first scientific men of the age.