| 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: John George Children; Samuel Hunter Christie; John Frederick Daniell; Charles Konig; Spencer Joshua Alwyn Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton; William Haseldine Pepys; Peter Mark Roget; John Forbes Royle; James Walker; Charles Wheatstone; Reverend William Whewell; the Treasurer, Francis Baily, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. Treasurer reported that Mr. Cross had paid £55 13s. 3d., expenses in a lawsuit respecting tithes at Mablethorpe and was applying for this to be deducted from his rent: Mr. Few had sanctioned the claim's validity and the request was acceeded to. Various documents on meteorology to be placed at the disposal of Sir John Herschel. Salaries for Officers and staff listed for payment. List of bills to be paid for various services, with one for Bailliere's books to be paid from the British Museum fund. A committee to be appointed to consider a new plate to be engraved for the Society's diplomas. A gratuity of £10 to be paid to Mrs. Coppard. A copy of Philosophical Transactions to be presented to the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna, from the present year. Mr. Collier applied for permission to copy drawings from a paper on mollusca, granted. Letter from J. Clayton Freeling, Excise Office, 27 July 1838, to the Secretary of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: on points raised the Society's report on the value of spirits, Freeling notes that table M is only calculated to 66.2 percent overproof, whereas improved distillation can result in 70 percent spirits and asks if this table might be extended; with other queries on table M. Letter of response by John William Lubbock, Mitcham Grove, 7 August 1838, to J. Clayton Freeling, full text entered into the minutes. Secretary reported receiving papers from Mr. Demonville and Mr. Bardel: these would be returned to them on request. Resolved that the Rumford Medal should go to Professor Forbes for his experiments on the polarization of heat. The Committees on Mathematics and Chemistry to be summoned to report to Council on the award of Royal Medals. Professors Gauss and Faraday proposed for the award of the Copley Medal. The third volume of the Society's Proceedings to be presented to the Royal Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg. Letter from Dr. Martin Barry requesting to make changes to the paper on oology ordered for publication in the Philosophical Transactions, to withdraw the third part of the paper and to be permitted to take 200 copies at his own expense, granted. |