| 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 George Bonney; Edwin Dunkin; Alexander John Ellis; John Evans (Treasurer); Thomas Archer Hirst; William Huggins; Thomas Henry Huxley; John Marshall; William Odling; Daniel Oliver; Sir James Paget; Henry Tibbats Stainton; George Gabriel Stokes; Lieutenant-General Richard Strachey; Alexander William Williamson; the President, William Spottiswoode, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Deaths of Dr. William Addison, Dr. Archibald Billing, Frederick Currey, Reverend Richard Greswell, Lord Hatherley, James Luke, Professor George Rolleston, and the Very Reverend Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of Westminster. The Treasurer reported that £1,000 of the Government Grant had ben received and that the Charitable Trusts Bill had been withdrawn from the House of Commons: the balance of the purchase money from Mr. Scruby for part of the Acton Estate was received and invested, although Mr. Thompson had not yet completed purchase of the remainder, applying for an extension of time. Mr. Eve, the tenant at Mablethorpe, had given notice of his intention to quit; recommndation that the rent be reduced to £110 per annum with Mr. Eve paying all rates and taxes. Report of the Pendulum Committee, full text entered into the minutes: recommending the extension of pendulum operation of the Indian Survey, and connecting pendulum swings with Washington and a chain of stations in the Americas and elsewhere. Report of the Meteorological Council to be forwarded to the Treasury and the financial arrangement entered into in 1877 to be terminated. Thursday 8 June appointed as the day for the Annual Meeting for Fellowship elections. The first three volumes of the Voyage of HMS Challenger were tabled. The Treasurer was authorised to lend the Parliamentary Standard to the Warden of Standards when applied for. Adjudication of the award of Royal Society medals discussed and adjourned. Nominations of Fellows to be recommended for election to the next Council, with a list of retiring members. Letter from Professor Huxley expressing the wish to retire as Secretary at the next Anniversary Meeting. Report by the President and Council on the application of the grant of £4,000 a year, for submission to the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education: excerpts of sixteen Council Minutes relating to the administration of the Government Fund, with statistics on applications, including a table of applicant numbers 1877-1881, and some measures of outcomes by publication in Philosophical Transactions and elsewhere; with remarks on the funding from the Presidential address. Letter from Lyon Playfair resigning from the governing body of Westminster School, Professor Bonney to be appointed in his place. Letter from Mr. R.H. Scott on the Society's standard barometer, this to be entrusted to the Kew Committee. Letter from Major John Herschel, London, 4 June 1881, to the Secretary, the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: requesting permission to examine the Royal Society's records for information on the history of pendulum experiments, believing that the Captain Kater's original convertible pendulum may have been loaned to the Austrian Government, giving reasons; noting the importance of Stockholm observations. Letter from W.D Donnelly, Science and Art Department, London, 21 October 1881, to the Secretaries, the Royal Society, Burlington House, full text entered into the minutes: the names of Sir William Thomson, Professor Carey Foster and Lord Rayleigh had been suggested as delegates to an International Commission on Electrical Units to be held in Paris; asking Council's opinion and reproducing a letter from D'Aunoy, Embassy of France, London, 30 September 1881, to Lord Granville, full text [in French]; entered into the minutes, with a copy of resolutions from the Congress of Electricians. Letters from R.R.W. Lingen, Treasury Chambers, 6 October 1881, to the Secretary of the Royal Society, and to the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education, full text of both entered into the minutes: on a proposed special grant of £500 for the observation of the Transit of Venus at Thebes in Egypt. Letter from Lieutenant-Colonel W.D. Donnelly, Science and Art Department, London, 14 October 1881, full text entered into the minutes: forwarding a letter from the British Association. Letter from seventeen signatories, British Association, York, 6 September 1881, to the Lord President of the Privy Council, full text entered into the minutes: drawing attention to a proposal for an international geological atlas of Europe and asking for support; the Secretary directed to reply that an application should be made to the Government Fund before December next. Letter from William Huggins, Upper Tulse Hill, 17 October 1881, to William Spottiswoode, full text entered into the minutes: on a plan to mount his 18-inch reflector and 15-inch achromatic telescope on a stand at the same time, aftre a consultation with Mr. Grubb, who would see to these improvements; the cost would probably not exceed £225 and Huggins asks if the Society would give a grant for this purpose; resolved that a sum not exceeding £225 should be offered. List of bills for payment for printing, binding lithography and for other expenses. |