| 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 Crookes; Sir Joseph Fayrer; Lazarus Fletcher; Michael Foster; Edward Frankland; Walter Holbrook Gaskell; William Huggins; William Thomson, Lord Kelvin; Alexander Blackie William Kennedy; Horace Lamb; Edwin Ray Lankester; 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. Deaths of Sir John Eric Erichsen, Professor Alexander Henry Green, Sir William Robert Grove, Dr. George Harley, Sir George Murray Humphry, Dr. Henry Newell Martin, Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, Mr. Henry Trimen, Sir George Frederic Verdon, Professor Hippolyte Louis Fizeau, Professor August Kekule, and Professor Hubert Anson Newton. President reported on writing a letter of condolence to the Royal Academy on the death of Sir John Millais and four invitations to the funeral, attended by himself and Sir Joseph Fayrer. Professor J. J. Thomson attended the Princeton University anniversary, replacing Sir Archibald Geikie. Materials, including the Huygens telescope object-glasses, sent to the Hague for a Huygens Exhibition. Letter of thanks sent to the Admiralty for the assistance of Captain King Hall and the crew of H.M.S. Volage during the Eclipse Expedition to Norway; and a letter to to the Foreign Office on Customs difficulties of J. Norman Lockyer. Tsetse Fly Committee had communicated with the Colonial Office on the need for funds to pursue research. Letter from the Secretary of State for the Colonies asking for assistance with the rinderpest epidemic in South Africa, the Society replying it was willing to set up a committee, but recommending that a pathologist be sent to South Africa. Manuscripts of George Boole had been returned by Miss Boole and were now collated, ready for binding, and with typewritten copies provided by Mr. H. J. Falk. Presentation of Rontgen photographs taken at the May soiree by A. A. Campbell Swinton. Senior Secretary and Herbert Rix drawing up an account of Malpighi's relationship with the Royal Society at the request of a committee for a Malpighi memorial at Crevalcore. Senior Secretary moved to limit the award of the Rumford Medal, it was concluded that the terms of the award were already sufficiently explicit. Adjudication of medals discussed and adjourned. Retiring members of Council listed and names for the new Council presented, discussion adjourned. Auditors of the Treasurer's accounts nominated. £500 received from the Paymaster-General on account of the Publication Fund. Purcase of annuities for the Scientific Relief Fund. Report of the Scientific Relief Committee, recommending that £50 be placed with Dr. John Murray for the benefit of an applicant. Seal of the Royal Society affixed to tenancy agreements on two portions of the Mablethorpe Estate. Report of the House and Soiree Committee on arrangements for the Anniversary Dinner. £30 from the Donation Fund placed with Mr. Thiselton Dyer to aid Mr. J. T. Bent with botanical researches in the East; £50 to Sir Archibald Geikie to assist in excavations at Hitchin; £15 to Dr. G. J. Stoney for calculations on the positions of the November meteors. Senior Secretary and Sir William Flower to attend the opening of the Gatty Marine Laboratory. Permission granted to the Dutch Society of Sciences to photograph an Isaac Newton letter. Senior Secretary to draft a report on Council actions for the year, to be presented to Fellows at the Anniversary Meeting. Letters from Sir Douglas Galton and from the Chairman of the Kew Committee on British Association actions with regard to a proposed National Physical Laboratory, consideration postponed. Report of the delegates to the International Catalogue Conference, entered in full into the minutes; expenditure on publishing to be authorised and a New International Catalogue Committee to be set up. Letter for the Asiatic Society of Bengal referred to the Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee. Rear-Admiral J. P. Maclear recommended to write an article on winds for Lloyd's Seaman's Almanac. Letter from Charles Piazzi Smyth offering to return a spectroscope and other apparatus in lieu of the balance of the Government Grant, accepted. Letter from Mr. Fournet on the use of F.R.S. by Professor Victor Horsley, the Society not to interfere. Nomination of Foreign Members deferred. Grant of £10 from the Publication Fund in aid of a paper by Professor Schafer and Mr. Moore; £15 to a paper by Dr. Gulland, both in the Journal of Physiology. Application by Mr. Bather deferred. Letter from Professor Rucker on the International Meteorological Conference in Paris. Letter the Foreign Office on the desirability of Great Britain joining the International Geodetic Bureau. Letter of thanks from the Royal Entomological Society on being able to recommend to the Scientific Relief Committee. Leave granted for the copying of illustrations. Bills for printing, paper, reporting on the International Catalogue Conference and other expenses. |