| 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 Grylls Adams; John Ball; Thomas Lauder Brunton; John Evans (Treasurer); Michael Foster; Francis Galton; Thomas Henry Huxley; Edwin Ray Lankester; Joseph Lister; Joseph Prestwich; Osborne Reynolds; Henry Enfield Roscoe; Osbert Salvin; Warington Wilkinson Smyth; George Gabriel Stokes; Edward James Stone; Alexander William Williamson; the President, William Spottiswoode, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Letter from the Right Honorable Joseph Chamberlain expressing thanks for his election to the Fellowship and requesting an extension of time for admission, granted. Letter from the Science and Art Department enclosing the report of the Conference on Electrical Units held in Paris. Letter from R.R.W. Lingen, Treasury Chambers, 1 January 1883, to the President of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: on the question of a total eclipse expedition to Caroline Island, the Treasury will include a sum of £1,500 in the estimates for 1883-1884 on the understanding that the Royal Society will dedicate £500 of the Government Grant for the same purpose; this and a vessel provided by the Admiralty should cover all expenses, and advances of £2,000 ahead of the proposed vote would be possible; an account should be kept. The President reported that an adequate observer had not yet been found and therefore the expedition should be abandoned: an application is to be made to the American Eclipse Expedition to ascertain on what terms a photographer and assistant might be allowed to accompany that expedition; if the answer was unsatisfactory, a similar appeal was to be made to the French expedition. Letter from George Gabriel Stokes, the Royal Society, Burlington House, 19 January 1883, to R.R.W. Lingen, Treasury Chambers, full text entered into the minutes: thanking the Treasury for its readiness to assist with the proposed eclipse expedition and explaining the lack of a British observer; if further information was obtained from the American Eclipse Expedition, Council would address the Treasury on the subject. Letter from William Turner Thiselton-Dyer, Royal Gardens, Kew, 10 January 1883, to William Spottiswoode, Royal Society, Burlington House, full text entered into the minutes: on the inconvenience of the meteorological observatory in the Old Deer Park bearing the name of Kew, leading to deliveries of letters and instruments being confused; Sir Joseph Hooker would wish the establishment to be renamed Richmond Observatory, being in that parish; the letter and a copy of the Kew license referred to the Kew Committee. Letter from the Kew Committee on the establishment of an observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. Leave granted to Professor J.C. Adams to have access to letter books in the Society's archives. Report of the Library Committee, on the Catalogue of Scientific Papers, the Library Catalogue, and donations and exchanges of journals, its recommendations accepted. Authority given to the Soiree Committee to proceed with preparations with £100 for expenses. The Treasurer reported on the purchase of six more of the houses on Wharton Road, payment being £1,683; and on the sum received for the Lewes fee farm rent. License for the occupation of Kew Observatory received from the Treasury Solicitor, ful text entered into the minutes. Bill for payment, for lithography.
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