| 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; Charles Darwin; Warren De la Rue; the Reverend Baden Powell; Colonel Edward Sabine; William Sharpey; Rear-Admiral William Henry Smyth; 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. In conformity with resolutions of 2 June 1853, additional names might be added to the list of candidates for Royal Society Medals, but no further names were received and discussion was adjourned until the next meeting. Letter from James Wilson, Treasury Chambers, 28 June 1855, to Lord Wrottesley, full text entered into the minutes: on the Society's application for the £1,000 for scientific purposes, the Lords Commissioners were not aware of any arrangement for an annual grant, having previously granted from a special fund which now has more urgent and legitimate demands; any representation from the Society for a grant of public money would be considered. Letter from John Wrottesley, 2nd Baron Wrottesley, the Royal Society, Somerset House, 28 July 1855, to James Wilson, full text entered into the minutes: noting that the Treasury was not prepared to place £1,000 at the Society and stating that the Royal Society were ignorant of the source of the funds and would prefer in future to have funds voted by Parliament; he refers Wilson to the original letter from Lord Russell as evidence and explains that the Royal Society has its own funds, and that the Government Grant was considered a resource held in trust by the Royal Society and distributed for the advancement of science in the United Kingdom; a committee of forty eminent men had been created for its award, and an enclosed paper describes the distribution of the previous £5,000. Letter from Granville D. Hill, 3 Lara Place, Bath, 13 September 1855, to the Treasurer of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: noting the death of Henry Lawson and a bequest of £200 in his will. Letter from Sir James South in reply to the Leeuwenhoek microscopes enquiry of 28 June: thanks were returned and a promise of further enquiries was made. Letter from the Reverend C. Bourne applying for an annual subscription for the Parochial Schools of Mablethorpe: two guineas granted, with a note that Council cannot undertake to continue in future years. Letter from the Astronomer Royal noting that the Royal Society as a place of deposit for the standard yard and pound had been legally recognised by Act of Parliament, with a copy enclosed and a copy report from the Commmissioners superintending natonal standards, thanks given. Application from Thomas Thompson of Calcutta for an extension of time for his admission to the Fellowship, granted. Letter from Joseph B. Yates, Chair of the Liverpool Compass Committee, to the Treasurer, requesting copies of papers published by the Royal Society on compass errors caused by iron in ships, granted. Letter from Mr. Few on the proposed purchase of part of the Society's estate at Acton, referred to Mr. Tite. Letters on grants of publications to the Library of Kenyan College, Ohio; the Royal Society of Sciences in Saxony; the American Geographical and Statistical Society, the Royal Geographical Society; the Historic Society of Lancashire and Chester; the Library of the Russell Institute; and the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford. Letter from the Reverend Richard Carleton requesting the first six volumes of Proceedings, refused; and from Joshua Field requesting two parts of Philosophical Transactions, granted. Application from A.C. Ramsay for five years' arrears of Philosophical Transactions, granted. |