Description | Printed minutes containing matters laid before Council, the Royal Society's governing body of Fellows, with records of decisions taken.
Commencing with a list of Council members present: Major-General Henry Clerk; Edwin Dunkin; John Evans (Treasurer); Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker; John Whitaker Hulke; Thomas Henry Huxley; William Newmarch; Alfred Newton; William Odling; Sir James Paget; William Henry Perkin; John Simon; George Gabriel Stokes; Alexander William Williamson; the President, William Spottiswoode, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. New members of Council made and subscribed to the declaration in lieu of the oath. Appointment of Vice-Presidents. Report of the Library Committee: methods of sending Proceedings and Philosophical Transactions to Foreign Members, donations of the Catalogue of Scientific Papers, Proceedings and Philosophical Transactions to overseas institutions and libraries; an imperfect copy of Fischer de Waldheim's Entomographia to be offered to the Linnean Society or Zoological Society; priority in book acquisition to be on the basis of making scientific journals collections as complete as possible. A circular to be sent to Fellows soliciting views on moving Ordinary Meeting times from 8.30pm to 4 or 5.00pm. The President's gas engine, offered at the last meeting, now being installed with two dynamo-electric machines presented by Charles William Siemens: thanks given and up to £50 to be spent on fittings for the new electrical system. Letter from Mr. Janssen, announcing a gift of large glass photographs of the Sun. Letter from Mr. F.H. Bowman of Halifax, describing a chemical balance belonging to John Waterhouse being presented by Major Waterhouse. Letter from the Society's solicitors stating that consent to move a footpath at Acton was required: the seal of the Royal Society affixed to a formal document. Notices received from railway companies on the compulsary purchase of land at Acton, the Treasurer gave notice he would oppose them. A plot of land abutting Palmerston Road, Acton, affording access to the new railway station to be purchased for a sum not exceeding £330. Letter from George Palmer M.P., offering £200 to the Society's capital, the amount lodged with the Society's bankers. Investments in annuities for the Royal Society: consols for the Gassiot Trust; debenture stock for the Fee Reduction Fund. £250 placed at the disposal of the Library Committee to meet expenses of the Library Catalogue and the Catalogue of Scientific Papers. Captain Abney appointed Bakerian Lecturer on the subject of photographic method of mapping...the solar spectrum. Appointment of committees with lists of members: Library Committee, Soiree and House Committee, Estates Committee and the Government Grant Committee. List of bills for payment, for printing, proofs and lithography. |