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: Heinrich Debus; Peter Martin Duncan; George Carey Foster; Francis Galton; Joseph Dalton Hooker; William Huggins; John Gwyn Jeffreys; William Hallowes Miller; William Sharpey; George Gabriel Stokes; Alexander William Williamson; the Treasurer, William Spottiswoode, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Report of the auditors for the Treasurer's accounts. The Reverend Dr. Stebbing appointed Fairchild Lecturer for the ensuing year. Mr. F. Curry appointed to the Scientific Relief Committee, in place of Dr. Hooker. Report of the Committee on the Scheme of a Scientific Circumnavigation Expedition, full text entered into the minutes: recommending immediate application to H.M. Government, with a list of stated objects in research on the physical conditions of the sea, the chemical composition of salt water, the characteristics of sea-bed deposits and the distribution of life, with additional recommendations on the equipping of the expedition; the report to be considered at next Council. Letter from Lord Stanhope, Chevening, 20 November 1871, to William Sharpey, full text entered into the minutes: offering to donate sculpture busts of Martin Folkes and Bejamin Franklin, packing them and paying for carriage to Burlington House; resolved that the busts be received and placed in the Society's apartments, with thanks returned to Lord Stanhope. Letter from Lord Enfield, Foreign Office, 15 November 1871, to the Secretary of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: forwarding papers including a letter from the Austrian Ambassador, requesting co-operation in observations on Heliogoland, with enclosures from Walkenstein, Adolphe Hirsch and August von Fligeley; with a letter from Vernon Lushington, Admiralty, 8 November 1871, to the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, referring the subject to the Royal Society for advice; the matter to be discussed at the next meeting of Council. |