| 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: William Cavendish, the Duke of Devonshire; Captain Frederick John Owen Evans; Thomas Henry Huxley; Joseph Norman Lockyer; Robert Mallet; Nevil Story Maskelyne; Charles Watkins Merrifield; Andrew Crombie Ramsay; William Spottiswoode; George Gabriel Stokes; Alexander William Williamson; the President, Joseph Dalton Hooker, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Deaths of General Briggs, Admiral Sherard Osborn, the Reverend Canon Selwyn, and Samuel Heinrich Schwabe. The seal of the Royal Society was affixed to diplomas of new Foreign Members. The Earl of Carnarvon was granted an extension of time for admission to the Fellowship. Report of the Soiree Committee stating that around 500 visitors attended the 7 April conversazione, expenditure was £53 6s. 7d. Letter from Vernon Lushington, Admiralty, 28 April 1875, to the Secretary of the Royal Society, Burlington House, full text entered into the minutes: there would be no objection to a naturalist and assistant to travel to Disko with H.M.S. Valorous and the cost of naval rations had been sanctioned; all other expenses would be borne by the gentlemen and duplicate natural history specimens should be at the disposal of the Admiralty for transmission to the British Museum. Read a letter by Professor Stokes to the Admiralty explaining how the instructions for the Arctic Expedition had been completed and sent to press. Letter from D.K. Mason, Consulate of Siam, 5 Great Winchester Street Buildings, London, 11 May 1875, to A Williamson, Foreign Secretary, the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: expressing the King's pleasure in entertaining scientific delegates. Claims for copies of Philosophical Transactions, including from Captain Feilden of the Arctic Expedition. Lists of candidates for the award of Royal Society medals. Letter from William Benjamin Carpenter, University of London, 27 May 1875, to the President of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: on the frustration of the scientific objectives of the Gilchrist Educational Trustees caused by a judicial decision of the House of Lords and an alternative outline for the use of a single grant of £1,000. Severe illness of the Society's porter, T. Tunstall, resulting in the appointment of George Kennedy and his wife as porter and housekeeper respectively. List of bills for payment, for printing, lithography and law expenses. |