| 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; William Bowman; Charles Brooke; John Peter Gassiot; Sir John Frederick William Herschel; William Hallowes Miller; Edward Solly; William Spence; Colonel Edward Sabine; Nathaniel Wallich; 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. Letter from Charles Richard Weld, Assistant Secretary, 29 October 1852, to the Duke of Norfolk, full text entered into the minutes: requesting seats for Officers and Council at St. Pauls' Cathedral for the funeral of the Duke of Wellington. Letter from Charles George Young, Garter, Earl Marshal's Office, 1 Parliament Street, 30 October 1852, to Charles Richerd Weld, full text entered into the minutes: regretting that he is unable to meet Weld's request with regard to the Duke of Wellington's funeral; the private distribution of tickets is in the hands of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's. Letter from Edward Sabine, President of the British Association, Woolwich, 7 November 1852, to the Earl of Rosse, full text entered into the minutes: transmitting a resolution from the meeting in Belfast, proposed by Dr. Robinson; on the importance attached by Otto Struve to the determination of the constant of irradiation for the Huygens object glass of 123 feet focal length; a committee established to carry out the object of the resolution. Letter from Edward Sabine, President of the British Association, Woolwich, 7 November 1852, to the Earl of Rosse, full text entered into the minutes: transmitting a second resolution of the British Association on the expediency of establishing a southern hemisphere telescope; resolved that President and Council agreed with the British Association on the need for a powerful optical instrument for the observation of nebulae in the southern hemisphere and a committee was established to carry out the resolution. The President was requested to renew the application to Government for the sum of £300 to be granted to Mr. Huxley for the publication of his researches. The President communicated another resolution from the British Association on the importance of meteorological data gathered by ballooon ascents: Sir John Herschel reported on four ascents that had been effected and moved that £300 from the Donation Fund be paid for the purpose; Council resolved that the balance of the Fund, £261 2s. 5d. should be used in that way. Letter from James C. Melvill, East India House, 19 November 1852, to Samuel Hunter Christie, full text entered into the minutes: informing the Society that following the death of Captain Elliott, no further measures would be taken to extend the Magnetic Survey of India to include and connect the different observatories there. Letter [in translation] from Alexander von Humboldt, Potsdam, 9 November 1852, to William Henry Smyth, full text entered into the minutes: in thanks for the award of the Copley Medal. |