| 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: Lazarus Fletcher; Michael Foster; Edward Frankland; Walter Holbrook Gaskell; William Huggins; Alexander Blackie William Kennedy; Horace Lamb; Charles Lapworth; Major Percy Alexander MacMahon; John Henry Poynting; John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh; Arthur William Rucker; Osbert Salvin; the Treasurer, Sir John Evans; Harry Marshall Ward; Admiral William James Lloyd Wharton; the President, Sir Joseph Lister, in the chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. New members of Council subscribed to the declaration in lieu of the oath. Appointment of Vice-Presidents. Lists of committees appointed, with membership and chairs: Library Committee; Soiree and House Committee; Catalogue of Scientific Papers Committee; Challenger Committee; Water Research Committee; Scientific Relief Committee; International Catalogue Committee; Instrument Room Committee; Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee; Coral Reef Committee; Presidents and Officers considered to be ex officio members of each, with the exception of the Scientific Relief Committee. Consideration of Standing Orders resumed, re-sizing of Proceedings not to be affected and Sectional Committees to be appointed next meeting, with lists of persons to be elected to them. Discussion of Bakerian and Croonian Lectures postponed. Application from the West India Exploration Committee (Government Grant) for £50 from the Publication Fund to print Professor Williston's memoir on Diptera, agreed, conditional on the work being adequately published. Letter from Francis Mowatt, Treasury, 3 December 1895, to Michael Foster, full text entered into the minutes: on estimates for the £1,000 Publication Grant, the first half to be paid in May, and half-yearly; the Treasurer authorised to make payments in advance of this. Letter from A. Aislie Common and H. H. Turner, Permanent Eclipse Committee, 23 November 1895, to the Secretary, full text entered into the minutes: on arrangements for the total solar eclipse of 8-9 August 1896, a sub-committee formed to supervise Expedition observations in Japan, near Kusuro; and a list of observers for the Norwegian Expedition; requesting the Society to approach the Foreign Office to obtain facilities assitance with each and the Admiralty for a vessel to transport Japan observers from Yokohama and back. £15 from the Government Grant reserve of £500 awarded to Professor J. R. Green for the purchase of a quartz prism and adjuncts. Report of the International Catalogue Committee re-considered, Council agreeing that authors of papers should compile summaries to aid in compiling subject index terms. Letter from the Federated Institution of Mining Engineers considered again, President and Officers to approach the postal authorities for facilities to circulate scientific papers and parcels. Letter of thanks from Ambrose Thomas and Henri Delaborde, Institut de France, 18 November 1895 to Lord Kelvin, full text entered into the minutes. Application of Sir Henry Roscoe for copies of Philosophical Transactions to be allowed to Eton College referred to the Library Committee. Informal gathering of Fellows to be held on 30 January 1896. Letter from the India Office, presenting copies of Trevandrum Observations part 4, for distribution. Letter from the Director of the Geological Survey noting that 100 copies of Livraison I of the International Geological Map of Europe had been received for distribution, offering to do this for the Royal Society, accepted. Re-appointment of the Earl of Rosse and Professor Macalister to the Government Grant Committee. Purchase of stock for the Darwin Medal Fund and the Joule Memorial Fund. £2,000 of the Government Grant received by the Society's bankers. Salary of Mr. Chapman to be increased by £5 to £120 per annum. Leave granted to Sir Joseph Hooker to photograph the Society's portrait of Sir Joseph Banks. Leave granted to Karl Pearson to borrow Dr. Korosi's birth statistics deposited in the archives. Bills from Johnson Matthey & Company for medals, and for lithography. |