| 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: Neil Arnott; Rear-Admiral Frederick William Beechey; Thomas Bell; Warren De La Rue; John Miers; James Paget; Colonel Edward Sabine; William Sharpey; Rear-Admiral William Henry Smyth; Robert Stephenson; George Gabriel Stokes; Charles Wheatstone; the President, John Wrottesley, 2nd Baron Wrottesley, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. The Secretary reported that the draft letter to the Board of Trade on meteorological observations had been printed and circulated: with a list of answers received and after these had been duly considered by Officers, it was resolved that the letter should be sent in its present form and communicated to the Royal Society at an ordinary meeting. Letter from Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 35 Bedford Place, Russell Square, 6 Febreuary 1855, to William Sharpey, full text entered into the minutes: on the proposal to fit up the Huygens object glass as an aerial telescope by Warren De la Rue; Herschel is not convinced that the original drawings were made with careful attention to proportion, so a comparison with renewed observations may not provide positive evidence for changes in Saturn's rings; he is positive about making a trial if the cost were £100 or £200, but at perhaps £1,008 he cannot advise the Society to make such an outlay; he suggests an alternative to building a tower, by employing the lens horizontally and reflecting light through it by a metallic plane reflector; Professor Stokes's suggestion might also be worth a cheaper trial. Letter from Warren De la Rue, 7 St. Mary's Road, Canonbury, 19 February 1855, to George Gabriel Stokes, full text entered into the minutes: commenting upon Sir John Herschel's letter and clarifying the cost of the tower proposal in his report, but agreeing with Herschel on the minor results of the exercise being out of proportion with the likely financial outlay; noting the difficulties of obtaining a large flat mirror to carry out Herschel's alternative idea, and a further proposal suggested by Professor Wheatstone placing the telescope parallel to the Earth's axis; and on the effects of irradiation noted by Herschel. Resolved that the whole correspondence be referred to a committee created for the purpose, to state the best means of carrying out the suggestion which originally eminated from the British Association; and that Mr. De la Rue might use the balance in his hands to make any preliminary experiments he thought desirable. Resolved that the Philosophical Transactions from 1830 and future volumes were to be presented to the Physico-Medical Society of Wurzburg. Resolved that Dr. Arnott be requested to superintend any alterations he thought advisable in warming and ventilating the Council Room. |