| 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 (Foreign Secretary); Francis Gotch; Dr. Sydney Frederic Harmer; Sir William Huggins; Alfred Bray Kempe (Treasurer); Edwin Ray Lankester; Joseph Larmor (Secretary); Dr. John Edward Marr; Hugh Frank Newall; 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. Deaths of Sir W.L. Buller, Mr. C.B. Clarke, Colonel Sir A. Moncrieff, Professor H. Marshall Ward, and Professor L. Boltzmann. Professor A. Newton, Professor D. Oliver, Lieutenant-Colonel H.C.L. Holden, Sir William Thiselton-Dyer and Professor G.H. Bryan requested to write Obitaury Notices.
3. The Treasurer announced the death of Herbert Rix, former Assistant Secretary, Council recorded their regret.
4. Professor Rose Bradford re-elected as the Society's representative on the Executive Committee of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.
5. Statement from the Liverpool solicitors dealing with the Henry Dircks bequest, a share of £33 12s. 3d. credited to the General Purposes account.
6. Treasurer reported a gift of £100 from Miss Wolfe, for scientific purposes in combating disease; referred to the Sectional Committee for Physiology.
7. The Treasurer noted the cost over-runs on the publication of Professor Herdman's Report on the Ceylon Pearl Fisheries and an additional £150 allocated from the Publication Grant.
8. Treasurer reported on the increased expenditure on the Proceedings, more than double the previous year because of increased content and greater expedition of payment: a grant of £375 made from the Donation Fund to cover costs.
9. Treasurer authorised to use the £1,000 gift from Mrs. Tyndall as a loan made to the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature, in lieiu of selling stock, on the understanding that the fund would be kept intact in the Society's accounts.
10. Application from Professor Haswell for a grant of £50 towards the cost of dredging fauna in the Tasman Sea: granted from the Reserve Fund of the Government Grant, on the understanding that materials obtained would be presented to the British Museum.
11. £60 voted from the Donation Fund to meet expenses of the opening ceremony for the new laboratories of the National Physical Laboratory.
12. Letter from the Director of the National Physical Laboratory expressing hope that the Royal Society would request that the Treasury provide an additional £5,000 for the completion and equipping of building for Metrology, Engineering and Chemical Metallurgy: a letter to the Treasury to be drafted accordingly.
13. Letter from Professor Starling requesting that the Royal Society give evidence to the Royal Commission on Vivisection: resolved that the Royal Society should request that the Chairman of the Royal Commission receive evidence from the Royal Society and that the Secretaries should draw up a sttement for the Royal Commission, for consideration at next Council.
14. List of members of Council retiring at the end of the session and names of candidates for the ten positions submitted.
15. Adjudication of Royal Society medals: no new names submitted, decisions deferred until the next meeting.
16. News received of the death of Professor Beilstein, the only candidate for the Davy Medal: in these exceptional circumstances, additional candidates for the medal would be considered.
17. Letter from Reginald McKenna, Treasury Chambers, 17 July 1906, to the Secretaries of the Royal Society, Burlingon House, full text entered into the minutes: on complaints against the National Physical Laboratory because of tests being conducted, apparently in competition with commercial companies; some ambiguity arises from conflicting recommendations and McKenna requests that the Laboratory's work might be defined more precisely, perhaps by a small committee. Letter from Joseph Larmor, the Royal Society, Burlington House, 26 July 1906, to the Secretary, H.M. Treasury, full text entered into the minutes: the Society would welcome an official inquiry into the operations of the National Physical Laboratory, although this should not be conducted by a small committee, rather one with suitable authority.
18. A congratulatory letter sent to Dr. Perkin on the anniversary of the discovery of coal tar colours.
19. Notes on correspondence between the Royal Society, the Treasury, the Foreign Office and others on participation in the first Congress of the International Seiemological Association inaugurated in Rome.
20. Request from the Library of Glasgow University for the loan of the Society's portrait of George Buchanan, agreed, subject to proper insurance.
21. Letter from the Treasury noting that the International Geodetic Association had been informed that Sir G.H. Darwin would represent H.M. Government at the Association's conference in Budapest.
22. List of dates fixed for Council meetings for the next session.
23. Draft of the annual report of Council to the Fellowship tabled and directed to be circulated for consideration at the next meeting.
24. Report of the Scientific Relief Committee on sums allocated to applicants, approved.
25. Treasurer reported the receipt of £5,000 from H.M. Treasury, the first part of the allocation for new buildings at the National Physical Laboratory: and £2,000 as the second part of the Government Grant for Scientific Investigations.
26. Leave granted to the Committee of the Egypt Exploration Fund for the use of the Royal Society's rooms.
27. Treasurer reported on investments for the Darwin Medal Fund and the Mackinnon Studentship Trust.
28. Leave granted for copies of illustrations for reproduction.
29. List of bills for payment for printing, engraving, and for other expenses. |