| 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: Frederick Augustus Abel; William Bowman; Frederick Joseph Bramwell; William Benjamin Carpenter; William Carruthers; William Crookes; Peter Martin Duncan; Arthur Farr; William Henry Flower; George Carey Foster; John Russell Hind; Thomas Henry Huxley; John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh; Sir George Henry Richards; Henry John Stephen Smith; William Spottiswoode; Balfour Stewart; George Gabriel Stokes; Allen Thomson; Alexander William Williamson; the President, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Letter from R.R.W. Lingen, Treasury Chambers, 9 April 1878, to the Secretary, the Royal Society, Burlington House, full text entered into the minutes: signalling approval of Sir Henry Lefroy as an interim member of the Meteorological Council. A bronze copy of the Davy Medal was tabled and thanks were tendered to C.W. Freemantle, Depury Master of the Mint. Letter from Lord Lindsay, 47 Brook Street, n.d., to the President of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: on differing values for the metre, now before the House of Commons, he asks which value should be given most weight; the Secretary to reply that the Royal Society does not usually express opinions on a scientific question, but would appoint a committee if necessary. £25 from the Donation Fund granted to Mr. Gordon, to enable him to continue researches on the specific inductive capacity of dielectrics. £50 from the Scientific Relief Fund granted to an applicant. Letter from T.J. Phillips Jodrell, 13 Stratton Street, 5 April [1878], to Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, full text entered into the minutes: the special object for which he placed £6,000 at the disposal of the Royal Society having been anticipated by Government, and no close scheme for the fund proposed, he suggests the sum to be incorporated into the Donation Fund upon his death. Treasurer reported that £1,000 for general purposes had been donated by James Young FRS, thanks to be relayed. The President thought it desirable that the question of the Presidency should be considered at the next meeting of Council. Payment ordered for a bill for lithography. List of candidates selected by ballot, to be recommeded for election to the Fellowship at the Annual Meeting on 6 June. |