| 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: George Burrows; Heinrich Debus; Peter Martin Duncan; Sir Philip de Malpas Grey-Egerton; George Carey Foster; Francis Galton; John Peter Gassiot; William Huggins; George Murray Humphry; John Gwyn Jeffreys; Sir John Lubbock; William Hallowes Miller; William Sharpey; Charles William Siemens; Henry John Stephen Smith; George Gabriel Stokes; John Tyndall; Alexander William Williamson; the President, General Sir Edward Sabine, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Letter from Sir William Thomson, Glasgow College, 20 March 1871, to John Peter Gassiuot, full text entered into the minutes: hoping that the proposed disestablishment of Kew Observatory would be warded off. The Treasurer stated that he and Mr. Stokes had communicated with George Biddell Airy, who had consented to be nominated as President. Letter from George Biddell Airy, Flamsteed House, Greenwich, 20 March 1871, to William Spottiswoode, Treasurer of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: on consenting to nomination as President of the Royal Society, but noting distances, hotel expenses and secretarial support, suggesting that the office of President should have a complimentary salary of £100. Letter from Principal Dawson of Montreal, requesting that his paper and illustrations on precarboniferous flora be returned to him on loan, agreed. The Foreign Secretary announced the death of Dr. Wilhelm Ritter von Haidinger. Grants of £25 and £50 for applicants to the Scientific Relief Fund authorised. The seal of the Royal Society affixed to an agreement for letting the land at Mablethorpe to Mr. William Kelk. The seal affixed to a Deed of Arrangement between the Royal Society and William Huggins om the use of a telescope, stand and mounting. Letter from J.N. Lockyer requesting the loan of the Society's Huyghens object glass, refused on the grounds that the loan served no scientific purpose and would injury to the object. Selection of candidates for Fellowship considered and adjourned. Sir Charles Wheatstone nominated to the Meteorological Committee in place of the late Dr. Miller. |