| 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: Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie; George Busk; Robert Bellamy Clifton; James Fergusson; Thomas Archer Hirst; Joseph Dalton Hooker; Thomas Henry Huxley; William Hallowes Miller; Joseph Prestwich; Rear-Admiral George Henry Richards; Henry Enfield Roscoe; Philip Lutley Sclater; William Sharpey; Francis Sibson; George Gabriel Stokes; Isaac Todhunter; Sir Charles Wheatstone; the Treasurer and Vice-President, William Spottiswoode, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Death of Christopher Hansteen reported. Resolved that five candidates for Foreign Membership, instead of four, would be selected. Names of candidates for Foreign Membership added to the list for consideration. Corporate seal of the Royal Society added in the matter of the Handley Bequest, to an answer drawn up by Counsel. Loan of one of Sir William Jones's sanskrit manuscripts to Dr. Rost, approved. List of candidates for Fellowship selected by ballot to be recommended to the Society for election at the Annual Meeting on 12 June. Report of the House Committee, full text entered into the minutes: on works carried out in the Society's new house, including heating apparatus, painting, book-cases, and furniture; £500 placed in the hands of the Committee for the purchase of furniture and fittings. Letter from Edward Clifton, 7 East India Avenue, 30 April 1873, to William Spottiswoode, full text entered into the minutes: on land at Acton, which has ceased to have value as agricultural land, recommending that it is let for building purposes, and sketching a mode of laying this out; Mr. Clifton to be instructed to advise Council on the details in his letter and a draft lease prepared in accordance with his suggestions. Mr. J. Fergusson to be added to the Acton Committee. Read a letter from Dr. Ferrier, £50 to be granted to him from the Donation Fund, to enable the continuation of his investigations into brain function. Letter from Francis Galton, £25 from the Donation Fund to be guaranteed to him for the construction of an instrument to compute the mean distance of a ship's sailing in each point of the compass where statistics of wind and weather are known. List of bills for payment, for printing and lithography. |