| 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; Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie; Charles Darwin; Warren De La Rue; Auguste Wilhelm Hofmann; Thomas Henry Huxley; John Miers; James Paget; the Reverend Baden Powell; William Sharpey; Rear-Admiral William Henry Smyth; Robert Stephenson; George Gabriel Stokes; William Tite; 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 President explained that he had postponed the Council meeting from 19 April, in consequence of the visit of the French Emperor to the City of London. Letter from Charles Richard Weld, Assistant Secretary, the Royal Society, 21 April 1855, to the President and Council of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: noting the presentation of a collection of letters by Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Priestley, and others, from Mr. Canton. Letter from Edwin Canton, 4 Montagu Street, Russell Square, 29 March 1855, to Charles Richard Weld, the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: presenting, for acceptance, a collection of letters formerly in the possession of his great-grandfather, John Canton, explaining their history and expressing regret at tearing away address and superscription information when he first received the collection as a child; he also sends a ball of 'elastic substance' mentioned in one of Sir Jospeh Banks's letters and notes that he would like the Royal Society to have the material now, rather than in his will; thanks were returned for the gift. Letter from Sir John Lubbock to General Sabine, accompanying documents from Mr. Bate, referred to the sub-committee which examined prevous communications from Mr. Bate. Letter from Sir James South, 5 April 1855, calling attention to deficiencies in manuscript corespondence from 1740 to 1830, and also to the Leeuwenhoek microscopes which are no longer in the Society's possession: a committee was appointed to examine the state of the manuscripts, and a reply was to be sent to Sir James South to inform him that these matters were being investigated. The selection of candidates for Fellowship was discussed and adjourned. List of candidates for Foreign Membership, from which four were to be selected. Letter from the Astronomer Royal applying for a copy of the Proceedings to be sent to each of the Colonies of Victoria and Adelaide, acceded to. Consideration of the award of Royal Society Medals was adjourned to the next meeting. |