| 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: Thomas Bell; James Booth; Charles Brooke; Samuel Hunter Christie; John Peter Gassiot; Thomas Graham; Joseph Dalton Hooker; William Hopkins; Henry Bence Jones; George Newport; Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Ellison Portlock; Colonel Edward Sabine; William Sharpey; Captain William Henry Smyth; William Spence; Nathaniel Wallich; John Wrottesley, 2nd BaronWrottesley; the President, William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. Read a minute of the Proceedings of the Council of the Borough of Grantham, signed by Frederic Maline, Mayor, full text entered into the minutes: on a site granted on St. Peter's Hill for the construction of a monument to Sir Isaac Newton, with Mr. Winter, the ex-Mayor, to lay the matter before Council of the Royal Society for measures in the promotion of the memorial. Mr. Thomas Winter was introduced to Council and explained the wishes of Grantham Council. Resolved that President and Council of the Royal Society expressed warm sympathy with the object of raising a memorial to Newton in Grantham and would be happy to be kept informed of progress. Mr. Winter was reintroduced to the meeting and the resolution was communicated to him. Letter from James C. Melvill, East India House, 18 May 1853, to Samuel Hunter Christie, full text entered into the minutes: on the President's letter relaying that of Chevalier Bunsen regarding magnetic observations interrupted by the death of Captain Elliott; the Court of the East India Company would recommend to the Government of Madras, where Elliott's instruments are deposited, that the work should be carried out as soon as a competent officer is available, or if not, that application should be made to the Messrs. Schlagentweit to acsertain if one of them could undertake the duty; this to be communicated to Bunsen. Statement from Dr. Thomas Romney Robinson, full text entered into the minutes: on Otto Struve's recent memoir discussing the permanence of Saturn's rings, and the measurement of any changes in the rings, which depend upon observations made by Pound and Bradley using the 123-feet focal length Huygens object glass; he proposes to repeat the measurements with the original object glass, and perhaps the micrometer employed, with the mounting to be done by Warren De La Rue; authorisation to proceed was given. List of individuals and institutions to receive copies of Mr. Cooper's work on cometic orbits. Mr. Bell stated that in consequence of his nomination as President of the Linnean Society, he did not wish to be proposed as Secretary at the Anniversary Meeting: resolved that William Sharpey would be nominated as Secretary. Letter from Cyrus R. Edmonds, Mansion House, 26 May 1853, to the Secretary of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: with an accompanying invitation from the Lord Mayor, requesting the loan of the Newtonian Collection: resolved to express regret that Council could not comply. |