| 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: Francis Baily; William Thomas Brande; Dr. Richard Bright; Samuel Hunter Christie; John Frederic Daniell; William Henry Fitton; William Hopkins; William Lawrence; Sir John William Lubbock; Dr. Gideon Algernon Mantell; William Haseldine Pepys; Peter Mark Roget; Lieutenant-Colonel William Henry Sykes; Charles Wheatstone; the President, Spencer Joshua Alwyn Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. The Royal Society seal was affixed to the adresses to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Letter from J. H. Pelly, Hudson's Bay Room, 7 June 1842, to the Marquess of Northampton, full text entered into the minutes: the Board of Directors has considered the request relating to Lieutenant Lefroy and he will be given every assistance in magnetic survey work in North America. Letter from George Biddell Airy, Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 6 June 1842, to the Marquess of Northampton, full text entered into the minutes: enquiring whether the magnetic observatory at Greenwich should be continued in the light of the wider extension of observatories under the Board of Ordnance, noting costs and the staffing difficulties; he suggests submitting a matching bid to the Treasury to continue Greenwich magnetic observations at £670 per annum, instead of the currently sanctioned £550; Council resolved to lay the matter before the Government, recommending the adoption of the Astronomer Royal's proposals. Resolved that the President write to the Directors of the East India Company for an extension of time for magnetic obsrevatories, until 1845. 250 copies of the Report on the Donation Fund to be printed. A committee appointed to report on any alterations necessary to the book of the medals, relating to the Donation Fund. The Treasurer reported on Sir James South's statement that the Society's copy of Philosophical Transactions was imperfect, as was the British Museum's and those elsewhere; also that an eyepiece to Newton's telescope was no longer to be found: statements taken from South and Mr. Roberton, Roberton to consult Mr. Hudson about his memory of an eyepiece. Letter from George Dollond, St. Paul's Churchyard, 6 June 1842, to President and Council, full text entered into the minutes: presenting a portrait of John Dollond to the Society, thanks given. Letter from Humphrey Lloyd, Trinity College, Dublin, to the Secretary of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: returning magnetic observations with a brief report on their contents, noting that he had not received any observations from India; letter referred to the Committee of Physics. Application from the Reverend J. Challis for Greenwich Observations, granted. Reports received from the Committee to consider grants for scientific enquiries, making no recommendations at present. Resolved that the sum of £100 be offered for the best microscope submitted to the Royal Society, the instrument to remain with the Society. Bailliere's bill for books to be paid. Letter from Professor Von Martius requesting the donation of the last and future volumes of Philosophical Transactions for the Royal Academy of Sciences, Munich, granted. |