| 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: Major-General John Theophilus Boileau; Warren De La Rue; Peter Martin Duncan; Willam Henry Flower; Michael Foster; Edward Frankland; Francis Galton; John Russell Hind; Thomas Henry Huxley; Reverend Robert Main; William Pole; Admiral George Henry Richards; Henry John Stephen Smith; Henry Clifton Sorby; William Spottiswoode; Balfour Stewart; 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 Julius Jeffreys and John Russell Reeves. Sir Bartle Frere granted an extension for admission to the Fellowship. Report of the Soiree Committee, noting 81 names in the list of visitors at the 7 March reception and 466 names at the 25 April soiree with notices of the events in newspapers; note of the expenses and a recommendation to hold a Ladies' conversazione on 13 June, report approved. Report from the Library Committee on progress with the Catalogue of Scientific Papers, including sales; and grants of Royal Society journals and publications to other organisations. Report of the Finance Committee, predicting a deficit of £200 in the coming year and setting out the reasons for this: recommending that some expenses for the Catalogue of Scientific Papers should be met by the Government Fund Committee; and that the differential rate of life composition for Fellows who had contributed to Philosophical Transactions should be discontinued, with recommendations on stock investments. Letter from Alexander William Williamson, University College, Gower Street, London, 30 April 1877, to Joseph Dalton Hooker, full text entered into the minutes: on the financial position of the Royal Society and Williamson's proposal to alter the Foreign Secretary post from a paid position, to an honorary one; resolved that at the Anniversary Meeting, the Foreign Secretary role would revert to the same position as before 1860. The question of full life composition referred to the Finance Committee. Lists of candidates for the award of Royal Society medals. List of candidates for Foreign Membership of the Royal Society, five of whom to be nominated at a future meeting of Council. Letter from Thomas Henry Huxley, the Royal Society, Burlington House, 26 April 1877, to the Secretary, Science and Art Department, full text entered into the minutes: in response to the request for information on the allocation of the remaining £4,000 of grant funding, all new applications will be considered at a meeting of the Government Fund Committee, to be held in February 1878, and a report will be sent to the Department; it is proposed to make non-personal payments, with any personal payments to be sanctioned from the 1878-1879 funding allocation. Letter from Norman MacLeod, Science and Art Department, South Kensington, 5 May 1877, to the Secretary, Royal Society, Burlington House, full text entered into the minutes: briefly acknowledging receipt of the 26 April letter. Letter from the Foreign Office stating that payment of charges for Professor Tacchini's return voyage from India had been accepted against their claim on the Eclipse Expedition of 1875. The Reverend A.H. Dunn's application to the Donation Fund for a peal of bells at Acton church refused. Application from Sir Henry Barkly for arrears of the Philosophical Transactions. The Foreign Secretary was requested to acknowledge receipt of a letter from the University of Upsal and offer congratulations on the University's 400th anniversary. List of bills for payment, for printing, binding and for other expenses. |