| 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: Benjamin Guy Babington; George Bowdler Buckton; William Benjamin Carpenter; Warren De La Rue; Sir Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton; Captain Douglas Galton; Robert Godwin-Austen; Joseph Dalton Hooker; James Clerk Maxwell; William Hallows Miller; Richard Owen; William Sharpey; Henry John Stephen Smith; George Gabriel Stokes; James Joseph Sylvester; the Reverend Robert Willis; the President, Major-General Edward Sabine, in the Chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Letter from Mr. Bowerbank concerning the publication of the second part of his paper on Spongiadae, now being printed in Philosophical Transactions.: a draft reply was approved for transmission by Mr. Stokes on behalf of Council. Letter from Mr. James Yates recommending that the platinum metre should be exhibited at the ensung soirees in order to be seen by members of the House of Commons, as it is referred to in a bill on weights and measures: Conucil judged it not to be expedient to take the risk of accidental damage but Mr. Yares to be informed that any Member of Parliament accompanied by a Fellow might see the standards at any time on application to the Assistant Secretary. Letter from Mr. Mallet requesting permission to spend a portion of the £100 from the Government Grant in procuring pyrometers for proposed observations on Vesuvius: Council have no objection but it remains uncertain that the full sum for the proposed expedition would be obtained. Letter from William Thomson applying for a grant of £10 from the Donation Fund for the reduction of observations on atmospheric electricity made at Kew Observatory, granted. Bill for payment for lithography. |