| Description | Nos 1-3 Joint Committee of Physics and Meteorology, 1840
On magnetic observations being made during Sir James Clark Ross's Antarctic Expedition.
See also CMB/284
Nos 4-5 Letters concerning the Arc of Meridian, New South Wales, 1823.
No 6 - Minutes of a meeting of the Balloon Committee, 1837.
Committee for certain observations and experiments to be made in the higher regions of the atmosphere by means of an ascent in a balloon
See CMB/1/31.
Nos 7-10 Concerning investigations into copper sheeting on ships, 1823-1830
Mostly reports forwarded to the Royal Society by the Naval Office.
See CMB/1/9.
Nos 11-16 Metropolitan Gas Works Committee, 1825.
Formation of the Committee was requested by Robert Peel, Home Secretary, to look into the workings of Gas Works in London. See also CMB/1/16.
Nos. 17-70 Reports and letters concerning the Optical Glass Committee, 1825-1829
Including drafts of minutes of the meetings and also papers on the building of a furnace at the Royal Institution for experimental use by the Committee.
"...the prolonged study with the aim of discovering how to improve glass for optical purposes. Of the active sub-committee of Faraday, George Dollond and Herschel, Faraday was to analyse chemically the glass in use and to devise experimentally a better glass, Dollond was to act as a practical optician and make lenses from the improved glass, and Herschel was to test its optical properties. Funds were supplied by the Government, much encouragement was given by the Boards of Longitude..." (M Boas Hall, 'All Scientists Now: The Royal Society in the Nineteenth Century', CUP, 1984, p32)
See also CMB/1/13, CMB/69-71
Nos 71-87 Papers related to the selection of granite to be used in the rebuilding of London Bridge, 1823
Correspondence between the Court of Common Council of the City of London, New London Bridge Committee and the Royal Society, on the establishment of a Committee of the Society to examine different types of granite and choose a suitable type to use in the rebuilding of London Bridge.
See also CMB/1/12
Nos 88-91 Papers concerning the proposed erection of a magnetical observatory in Hammerfest, Norway, 1841.
Nos 92-93 Letters concerning the building of an observatory to house the Rev Thomas John Hussey's telescope, 1831.
Nos 94-118 Meteorological Instrument Committee, 1826-1839
Committee concerned with the upkeep with the Royal Society's collection of meteorological instruments. Also general papers on meteorology, including a copy of a 'Memorandum respecting the Records to be kept of the state of the Weather in the British Colonies', and papers on magnetical observations, including a minute of a meeting of a committee established to consider Humboldt's call for worldwide magnetical observatories.
See also CMB/1/4
No 119 'Report of the Committee appointed to consider Prof Mitscherlich's Crystallographical Discoveries', 1828.
CMB/1/23
Nos 120-124 Papers concerning WE Parry's proposed Polar Expedition, 1824-1826.
"So close was the Society's connection with arctic exploration that when in 1826 Parry put forward a new plan for reaching the North Pole from Spitzbergen it was only accepted by the Admiralty on the specific approval of the Society's Council" (M Boas Hall, 'All Scientists Now: The Royal Society in the Nineteenth Century', CUP, 1984, p203).
Nos 125-144 Pendulum Committee, 1816-1829
Mostly bills and receipts for experiments carried out for the Pendulum Committee. Also some minutes for meetings of the Committee.
"The Pendulum Committee had been involved in the work by Henry Kater and others to determine the length of a second's pendulum, partly for determining standards of length, partly to determine the exact shape of the earth" (M Boas Hall, 'All Scientists Now: The Royal Society in the Nineteenth Century', CUP, 1984, p245).
See also CMB/1/1
Nos 145-149 Foster's Scientific Voyage Committee, 1828.
Committee for considering and resolving on the most advantageous objects to be attained by Captain Foster in the course of his intended scientific voyage.
"On 12 December 1827 Henry Foster was appointed to command the sloop 'Chanticleer', sent out by the government to the South Atlantic to determine longitudes, take gravity pendulum measurements to determine the ellipticity of the earth, and make other measurements connected with nautical astronomy, according to instructions drawn up by a committee of the Royal Society" (DNB).
See also CMB/1/25
Nos 150-151 Correspondence concerning Edward Sabine's suggested plan for the measurement of an Arc of the Meridian in Spitzbergen, 1825-1826
Nos 152-153 Peruvian Bark Committee, 1782
"The Committee...having made severall experiments with the Peruvian Bark as to be of little or no use in medicine and therefore highly improper to be admitted into the materia medica".
Nos 154-161 Telescope Committee (later incorporated with the Barlow Telescope Committee), 1830-1831
The Committee was appointed to consider the construction of telescopes developed by Peter Barlow and the practicability of making one of large dimensions.
Also Including reports on telescopes with lenses by Michael Faraday.
Nos 162 Letter from Edward Sabine to J F W Herschel describing possible areas of scientific research which could be carried out in Teneriffe, 1825.
No 163 Memorandum on the construction of the Royal Society's Barometer, 1822. |