| 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: the Reverend John Barlow; Thomas Bell; Edward Frankland; John Peter Gassiot; William Hallows Miller; Sir Roderick Impey Murchison; John Percy; William Sharpey; George Gabriel Stokes; the President, Benjamin Collins Brodie in the Chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. The President and new Members of Council made and subscribed to the declaration in lieu of the oath. Reappointment of committees with lists of members and terms of reference: the Library Committee and the Government Grant Committee. Letter from Charles Trevelyan, Treasury Chambers, 6 December 1858, to Lord Wrottesley and Professor Owen, full text entered into the minutes: on the joint proposal from the Royal Society and the British Association for the establishment of magnetic and meteorological stations at Vancouver's Island, Newfoundland, the Falkland Islands, Pekin or some adjacent station; whatever the advantages, the object would not be sacrificed by postponement; the previous stations established at Toronto, St. Helena and the Cape of Good Hope from 1839 were sanctioned at £3,000, although the cost was £11,000 in three years and £50,000 to date, and despite only one observatory having been maintained. Mr. Stokes made a proposal for aiding the Committee of Papers: after discussion it was considered that the object might be attained without a formal resolution of Council. |