| 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: Lionel Smith Beale; Commander Frederick John Owen Evans; Edward Frankland; John Hall Gladstone; William Robert Grove; William Huggins; Thomas Henry Huxley; William Allen Miller; William Hallows Miller; William Sharpey; Colonel William James Smythe; William Spottiswoode; George Gabriel Stokes; Thomas Thomson; William Tite; John Wrottesley, 2nd Baron Wrottesley; the President, Lieutenant-General Edward Sabine, in the Chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Lord Wrottesley made and subscribed to the declaration in lieu of the oath as a new Member of Council. Letter from Edward Sabine, Burlington House, 15 February 1867, to Sir Frederic Rogers, full text entered into the minutes: endorsing Mr. Meldrum's views on instruments and a building for the proposed Mauritius Observatory, detailed in succeeding letters. Letter from Charles Meldrum, Kew Observatory, Richmond, 2 February 1867, to Edward Sabine, President of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: lists of magnetical and meteorological instrments recommended for the Mauritius Observatory, with costs estimated by Balfour Stewart; with accompanying plans [not present] drawn up by Mr. Whipple of Kew Observatory, for the Mauritius Observatory buildings, with comments and costs. Letter from Charles Meldrum, Kew Observatory, Richmond, 9 February 1867, to Edward Sabine, President of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: an additional estimate for a photoheliograph and chemicals for the Mauritius Observatory. The Treasurer reported on the receipt of £100 for land at Acton purchased by the London and South Western Railway Company. Report of the Government Grant Committee in the form of minutes of a meeting of 20 February 1867, full text entered into the minutes: list of applications for grants, considered and a provisonal list of successful drawn up; the report accepted by Council and the committee's recommendations endorsed. £50 from the Scientific Relief Fund granted to an applicant recommended by the President of the Geological Society. Dr. J. Burdon Sanderson appointed to deliver the Croonian Lecture on respiration movements and the circulation of blood. Letter from Professor Plucker acknowledging the award of the Copley Medal. Letter from Mr. Capel H. Berger requesting to compare a glass measure of length with the platinum metre in the Royal Society's possession, with a letter of support from the International Decimal Association; declined, since the matter is likely to come under the consideration of a Government Commission. Request from the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University to use the Royal Society's Meeting Room for Oxford Local Examinations, acceded to. Letter from J. Alfred Wanklyn, Oak Cottage, Hanwell, 23 January 1867, to the President and Council of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: requesting a grant of £20 for the purchase of a delicate balance to conduct work on analysis of organic compounds; granted from the Donation Fund. Professor Huxley applied for £100 from the Donation Fund to produce illustrations for a memoir on the fossils of the Kilkenny coal-fields, granted. |