| 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: George Bowdler Buckton; William Benjamin Carpenter; Captain Douglas Galton; John Lubbock; William Allen Miller; William Hallows Miller; Joseph Prestwich; William Sharpey; William Spottiswoode; George Gabriel Stokes; John Tyndall; the President, Major-General Edward Sabine, in the Chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. The Treasurer reported that an iron safe had been purchased to house the national standards, Mace, Charter Book and other muniments: pictures and picture frames had been cleaned and revarnished. Letter from T.F. Elliot, Downing Street, 10 October 1862, to the Secretary of the Royal Society, full text entered into the minutes: forwarding a despatch from the Governor of Victoria, concerning the erection of a powerful telescope at Melbourne and requesting the co-operation of the Royal Society. Copy letter from Henry Barkly, Government Offices, Melbourne, 23 July 1862, to the Duke of Newcastle, full text entered into the minutes: the Board of Visitors to the Melbourne Observatory hope to erect a telescope of greater power than that used by Sir John Herschel at the Cape of Good Hope, forwarding minutes and an accompanying letter by Professor Wilson; a commencement has been made on observatory buildings with a sum of £4,500 voted by the legislature and it is hoped to add an equatorial mounted telescope. Copy letter from W.P. Wilson, the University, Melbourne, 16 July 1862, to His Excellency the Governor, full text entered into the minutes: noting that the Board desired to obtain the opinion of men of science in England, to obtain the best possible telescope for Melbourne and to influence private contributions or a grant towards its construction. Extract from the minutes of a meeting of the Board of Visitors to the Observatories, 15 July 1862, full text entered into the minutes: noting the importance of Lord Rosse's telescope in discoveries in the northern hemisphere and solicting opinions on the erection of a telescope at Melbourne, with reasoning. The President and Officers to prepare a reply to the Colonial Office communication. Letter from Sir John Herschel stating that a further grant of a small sum would be required to carry out the reduction of the Catalogue of Nebulae: £20 from the Donation Fund placed at his disposal. Applications were read from the Royal Geographical Society and from the Geological Society for permission to hold meetings at Burlington House, granted. A donation of two guineas was made to the Parochial Schools at Mablethorpe. Letter from the Reverend Alfred Povah, requesting a contribution towards erecting a memorial to Samuel Pepys at St. Olave's Church: the reply to be that Council did not have funds for the purpose. Mr. Stokes presented a letter from M. Johannes von Gumbach requesting the Society's aid in mounting an expedition to the equator for the purpose of measuring 'the true figure and dimensions of the Earth': Council were not prepared to recommend support from the Government and Mr. Stokes was requested to reply to that effect. List of organisations to receive copies of the Proceedings and Philsophical Transactions. List of bills for payment, for lithography and for books. |