| 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: Dr. Shelford Bidwell; Sir Thomas Launder Brunton; John Norman Collie; Francis Darwin (Foreign Secretary); Wyndham Rowland Dunstan; John Bretland Farmer; Sir Archibald Geikie (Secretary); Francis Gotch; Dr. Sydney Frederic Harmer; Sir William Huggins; Alfred Bray Kempe (Treasurer); Edwin Ray Lankester; Joseph Larmor (Secretary); Dr. John Edward Marr; George Ballard Mathews; Hugh Frank Newall; Sir William Davidson Niven; John Perry; Ernest Henry Starling; William Augustus Tilden; the President, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, in the chair. The Assistant Secretary [Robert Harrison] attended.
Among matters discussed or noted:
1. Minutes of the previous meeting were read and signed as correct.
2. Letter from G.H. Murray, Treasury Chambers, 25 January 1906, to the Secretaries of the Royal Society, Burlington House, full text entered into the minutes: on a proposal for the revision of the primary triangulation of Great Britain, requesting the views of the Royal Society on a possible expenditure of £20,000. With a draft letter of reply, the Secretaries of the Royal Society, n.d., to the Secretary, H.M. Treasury, full text entered into the minutes: stating the desirability of revising the main triangulation, but noting that the cost might be reduced, according to an estimate by Majors Close and Hills.
3. Letter from the Secretary of State for India, asking if the Royal Society would assist in nominating a Director for an Indian Institute of Science proposed by J.N. Tata, decision deferred while additional details were sought.
4. Letter from the American Embassy with an invitation to send a representation to the 200th anniversary celebrations of the birth of Benjamin Franklin organised by the American Philosophical Society: four representatives suggested.
5. Application from the Secretary of the Clarendon Press seeking permission to publish a new edition of John Evelyn's Sculptura, including the second part of the work deposited in the Society's archives: Professor A.H. Church's offer to transcribe the manuscript accepted and permission granted.
6. Professor Larmor's notice to limit the number of author's copies of papers to 100.
7. Report of Dr. W.N. Shaw on meeting room ventilation referred to a committee created for the purpose.
8. £75 from the sum dedicated to the publication of results from the National Antarctic Expedition granted to the National Physical Laboratory to purchase an instrument for the reduction of magnetic curves.
9. Application from Mr. A.R. Brown for a sum of £200 for research into the ethnology, psychology and sociology of the Veddas of Ceylon, referred to Government Grant Board F.
10. Treasurer presented a deed winding up the Meteorological Council's property and liabilities, draft approved.
11. Seal of the Royal Society affixed to an agreement with Harrison and Sons, for the publication of the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature.
12. Dates for the Croonian and Bakerian Lectures.
13. Obituary Notices to be published as an appendix to volumes of the Proceedings in future.
14. Report of the Catalogue of Scientific Papers Committee, including financial accounts, approved.
15. Government Grant Committee to meet on 16 May, with meetings of Boards on 2 May.
16. Report of the Scientific Relief Committee,on sums to be granted for the benefit of applicants.
17. Letter from the Challenger Society requesting the renewal of leave to use the Society's rooms, granted.
18. Letter from Stanley Gardiner expressing gratitude for the Society's help in securing the services of the vessel Sealark for investigating the oceanography and biology of the Indian Ocean.
19. Donation of £5 from Edward Saunders to the fund for the Catalogue of Scientific Papers.
20. Letters from Few and Company, noting the completion of the purchase of plots of land at Mablethorpe by Lindsey County Council and Mr. Lee.
21. Leave of absence granted to the Assistant Secretary on the grounds of ill-health.
22. Leave granted for copies of illustrations and for the reproduction of portraits.
23. Selection of candidates for election to the Fellowship was considered and adjourned.
24. List of bills for payment for engraving, library books and paper. |