| 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: John Frederic Bateman; Lionel Smith Beale; William Bowman; Commander Frederick John Owen Evans; Edward Frankland; Francis Galton; John Peter Gassiot; John Edward Gray; Thomas Archer Hirst; Sir Henry Holland; William Allen Miller; William Hallows Miller; William Odling; William Sharpey; Warington Wilkinson Smyth; William Spottiswoode; George Gabriel Stokes; Count Paul Edmund de Strzelecki; Sir William Page Wood; the President, Lieutenant-General Edward Sabine, in the Chair.
Among matters discussed or noted: minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Mr. Bateman and Mr. Warington Smyth made and subscribed to the declaration in lieu of the oath, as new Members of Council. Dr. Gladstone and Mr. Lassell were appointed members of the Government Grant Committee. Recommendation that the Zoological Society should be added to the list of chartered bodies eligible to nominate applications to the Scientific Relief Fund, adopted. Letter from Sir James Emerson Tennent, Secretary of the Board of Trade, requesting the Royal Society's opinion on a proposal to employ electric light illumination in the Pearl Fishery of Ceylon: the letter and associated documents referred to a committee convened for the purpose. Letter from the Civil Service Commission requesting to hold examinations for the Indian Service at Burlington House, granted. Letter from the Dean of Westminster requesting that the Royal Society join in recommending to the Government that the Westminster Chapter House be restored at public expense: the President indicated his willingness to serve on the associated committee but that Council does not feel warranted to take part in proceedings in the Society's name. Letter from Few and Company on the Oliveira Legacy with a copy of the decree of Vice-Chancellor Stuart: Few and Company were requested to attend in the Vice-Chancellor's Chambers on behalf of the Society. Letter from Sir Robert Kane, returning a portion of Dr. Wollaston's palladium, with which he had been supplied. Philosophical Transactions and Proceedings to be granted as an exchange with the Naturforschende Gesellschaft of Danzig. The President informed Council that the exchange of portraits of Sir John Barrow had been made and Mr. Pearce's portrait had been hung in the Meeting Room. Letters from William Bird Herapath explaining the circumstances of his non-payment of annual contributions and requesting to be readmitted to the Royal Society: in accordance with statutes, Dr. Herapath's case to be stated from the Chair at the next Ordinary Meeting and put to the vote. Bill for payment, for lithography. |