| 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; Andrew Ainslie Common; William Crookes; Michael Foster; Sir Douglas Galton; Horace Lamb; Edwin Ray Lankester; Sir Joseph Lister; John Henry Poynting; John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh; Arthur William Rucker; Osbert Salvin; Thomas Edward Thorpe; the Treasurer, Sir John Evans; the President, William Henry White; William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Deaths of Thomas Henry Huxley and William Crawford Williamson. Draft letter from Michael Foster to Mrs. [Henrietta] Huxley, full text entered into the minutes: expressing condolences on the death of T. H. Huxley. List of proposers and seconders for candidates for Royal Society medals. Letter from Francis Mowat, Treasury Chambers, July 1895, to the Secretary, the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: offering a grant of £1,000 to support scientific publications, a suitable reply to be drafted and regulations drawn up. £75 from this grant to be allocated for the publication of a paper by Mr. E. W. MacBride. Opinion by Mr. A. B. Kempe that the Committee of Papers acted against statutes. Draft letter from Michael Foster, 5 July 1895, to Dr. Pavy, 35 Grosvenor Street, full text entered into the minutes: noting that the publication of Dr. Noel Paton's paper was dictated by custom on the responsibility of President and Council; that if Dr. Pavy is correct, they would seek a change in statutes; and that Noel Paton's footnote should not have been published. Letter from Herbert Rix, 4 July 1895, to Lord Kelvin, tendering his resignation as Assistant Secretary, but wishing to retain duties in secretarial work for the Government Grant; a pension of £100 granted to Rix on leaving his post in December with an appointment as Clerk to the Government Grant Committee. A committee appointed to find a successor to Rix at a salary not exceeding £300 with apartments attached. New Standing Orders deferred until after recess. Replies to a circular letter to the Fellowship reported, the present quarto size format of Philosophical Transactions to be retained. Report of the Challenger Committee presented with the draft of a letter, Michael Foster, 6 July 1895, to the Secretary of H.M. Treasury, full text entered into the minutes: with an enclosed list recommending international institutions to be presented with sets of Challenger publications. Report of the International Catalogue Committee and adopted. Report of the Government Grant Committee resumed, with recommendations revised and adopted. Letter from Professor Rucker covering a report by Captain Lyons on the use of magnetic instruments on loan, these to be retained by him for the present. Report of the Sollas Application Committee recommending that the Admiralty be asked for the use of a surveying vessel to be tolled off in 1896. Soiree Committee suggestion that informal receptions for Fellows be held each session, adopted. Letters from the Society of Arts, and the Federated Institution of MIning Engineers, deferred. Letter from the Electrophone Company to connect the meeting room of the Society with their system, offer declined. Letter from the India Office forwarding copies of the Trevandrum Observations; and a letter from R. H. Scott on these. Arthur Crick, whose service with the Society had been interrupted by illness, to receive an allowance of 7s. 6d., for three months. An allowance of 3s. per week for one year to be made to Mary Brookes. Leave for photography of the Lord Brouncker portrait granted to H. B. Wheatley. Omissions of some Council Meeting dates. £100 from the £500 reserve of the Government Grant awarded to Mr. Buchan; £100 granted to Professor Hartley. Leave granted for electrotypes of illustrations. Leave granted to the International Geographical Congress to borrow three books. Leave granted to Professor Edgeworth to copy his paper. Annual report of the Meteorological Council presented. Treasurer authorised to pay bills and awards from the Scientific Relief Fund during recess. All books to be returned to the Library by 31 July. Leave of absence granted to the Assistant Secretary. Bill for fire insurance. |