| 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: Sir George Back; the Reverend John Barlow; Thomas Bell; Edward Frankland; John Peter Gassiot; Philip Hardwick; William Hallows Miller; Sir Roderick Impey Murchison; John Percy; William Sharpey; Archibald Smith; George Gabriel Stokes; Charles Wheatstone; John Wrottesley, 2nd Baron Wrottesley; the President, Benjamin Collins Brodie in the Chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Letter from William Sharpey, Burlington House, 20 May 1859, to T.F. Ellot, Colonial Office, full text entered into the minutes: a reply on behalf of the committee to consider a Collonial Office communication on the production of a natural history of the colonies; following wider consultation it is calculated that the project would be of great importance and they have divided into groups or regions, excluding India, which is not under Colonial Department administration, and where much work has already been done; further suggestions are given for the form, administration and publication of this projected work. The President reported that he had complied with an application from the Microscopal Society for use of the meeting room. Lists of nominations for Copley and Royal Medals. The Foreign Secretary noted vacancies in the list of Foreign Member created by the deaths of Alexander von Humboldt and Gusatav Lejeune Dirichlet. Statement by Mr. Gassiot was read, full text entered into the minutes: indicating the intention of several Fellows to contribute to a permanent fund for the relief of scientific men or their families [the Scientific Relief Fund] and making suggestions for its continuance, signed by eight contributors, including Charles Darwin; with a list of Fellows expressing their intention to promote the scheme. It was moved by Mr. Gassiot that Sir Sir J.W. Lubbock and Company be authorized to receive donations on behalf of the proposed Scientific Relief Fund, to be invested once the total reached £2,000, the motion carried. Dr. Frankland's paper on researches into organo-metallic bodies to be the Bakerian Lecture. List of bills for payment, for printing, engraving and binding. |