| Description | Printed minutes containing matters laid before Council, the Royal Society's governing body of Fellows, with records of decisions taken. Individual minutes are numbered.
Commencing with a list of Council members present: George Albert Boulenger; John Rose Bradford; Hugh Longbourne Callendar; Francis Darwin (Foreign Secretary); Frank Watson Dyson; Harold Bailey Dixon; Sir Michael Foster; Percy Faraday Frankland; Sir Archibald Geikie (Secretary); Sir Robert Giffen; William Dobinson Halliburton; Ernest William Hobson; John Wesley Judd; Alfred Bray Kempe (Treasurer); Joseph Larmor (Secretary); George Downing Liveing; Augustus Edward Hough Love; Adam Sedgwick; William Napier Shaw; Thomas Henry Tizard; the President, Sir William Huggins, in the chair. The Assistant Secretary [Robert Harrison] attended.
Among matters discussed or noted:
1. New Members of Council made and subscribed to the declaration in lieu of the oath.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting were read and signed. Minutes of the meeting of 19 November, amended according to the resolution at last Council, were signed as correct.
3. Appointment of Vice-Presidents for the ensuing year.
4. Appointment of committees for the ensuing year: Antarctic Observations Committee; Astrographic Chart Committee; Catalogue of Scientific Papers Committee; Challenger Committee; Coral Reef Committee; Evolution Committee; Finance Committee; Government Grant Review Committee; House Committee; Indian Government Advisory Committee; International Association of Academies Committee; Joint Antarctic Committee; Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee; Library Committee; Obsevatories Committee; Radium Committee; Science in Schools Committee; Scientific Relief Committee; Seismology Committee; Soiree Committee; Tropical Diseases Committee.
5. Resolved that new members joining Boards of the Government Grant Committee would do so on 1 January and retire on 3 December. List of Boards: Board A Mathematics, Mathematical Physics, Crystallography and Mathematical Astronomy; Board B Experimental Physics, Observational Astronomy, and Meteorology; Board C Chemistry and Metallurgy; Board D Geology, Palaeontology, Mineralogy and Geography; Board E Botany; Board F Zoology and Compatative Anatomy; Board G Animal Physiology and Medical Subjects.
6. Appointments to the Governing Body and General Board of the National Physical Laboratory.
7. Letter from the Director of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine requesting a representative on the Board in place of Lord Lister; Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce appointed.
8. Professor Perry re-appointed as representative on the Joint Scholarships Board.
9. Interim report of the Indian Government Advisory Committee, full text entered into the minutes: includign a request to appoint non-Fellows to the committee, approved.
10. Read a letter from the Royal Geographical Society enclosing a letter to Commander Scott of the Discovery. Draft of a letter of reply, Secretaries of the Royal Society, 12 December 1903, to the Honorary Secretaries, Royal Geographical Society, full text entered into the minutes: on the small balance remaining of the National Antarctic Committee funds and the possibilty of the Admiralty acting to refit and re-provision Discovery for the return to England.
11. Report of the Antarctic Observations Committee considering the reduction and publication of results of the National Antarctic Expedition, full text entered into the minutes: containing recommendations. With a resulting letter, Secretaries of the Royal Society, 12 December 1903, to the Honorary Secretaries, Royal Geographical Society, full text entered into the minutes: on the Royal Society taking responsibility for magnetic observations and asking for suggestions for dealign with meteorological observations.
12. Report of the Magnetic Sites Committee of the National Physical Laboratory: with a letter, Secretaries of the Royal Society, 19 December 1903, to the Secretary, H.M. Treasury, full text entered into the minutes: on the esablishment and construction of a new observatory at Eskdalemuir.
13. Report of the International Astrographic Chart Committee, full text entered into the minutes: on methods of funding work being done at Perth Observatory; resolved that Oxford University Press should be approached to publish results and that a proposal be sent to the Ministry of the Coomonwealth of Australia asking for work to be completed on Perth's plates by Sydney and Melbourne.
14. Letter from Professor H.E. Armstrong on the neglect of scientific teaching for candidates for Army commissions; referred to Sir William Abney.
15. Application from Professor McKenny Hughes for a grant on behalf of Miss [Gertrude Lilian] Elles to complete her work on Rhapdophora; the application to wait for the regular Government Grant Committee.
16. Letter from the Secretary of State for India stating that J. Stanley Gardiner's investigations of the Indian Ocean do not justify assistance: the committee to request assistance for Gardiner from the Admiralty.
17. Sectional Committees on Physiology, Botany and Zoology to jointly consider the award of the Croonian Lecture.
18. Physics and Chemistry Committees to make recommendions for the Bakerian Lecture.
19. Letter from the Director of the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature on the failure of the Zoological Society to provide slips: a joint committee of the Royal and Zoological Societies to find a solution.
20. Treasurer empowered to advance sums to the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature.
21. Report of the Meteorological Council tables and ordered to be forwarded to the Treasury.
22. Letter from the Keeper of the King's Privy Purse signalling the King's approval on the award of Royal Medals.
23. Letters of thanks from medallists tabled.
24. Letter from the Italian Ambassador relaying his King's thanks for the Society's address of welcome.
25. Read Admiralty letters relaying copies of telgrams sent on the departure of Terra Nova and Morning from Hobart, full text entered into the minutes.
26. List of bills for payment for engravings and for accountants' fees.
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