Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

39
ROYAL SOCIETY
to the purchase of scientific books. These MSS. are still
kept in the museum as a separate collection.
Under date December 21,1671, the journal-book records
that “the lord bishop of Sarum proposed for candidate
Mr Isaac Newton, professor of the mathematicks at Cam¬
bridge.” Newton was elected a fellow January 11,
1671-2, and in 1703 he was appointed president, a post
which he held till his death in 1727. During his pre¬
sidency the society moved to Crane Court, their first
meeting in the new quarters being held November 8,
1710. In the same year they were appointed visitors and
directors of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, a func¬
tion which they continued to perform until the accession
of William IV., when by the new warrant then issued
the president and six of the fellows of the Royal Astrono¬
mical Society were added to the list of visitors.
In 1780, under the presidency of Sir Joseph Banks, the
Royal Society removed from Crane Court to the apart¬
ments assigned to them by the Government in the new
Somerset House, where they remained until they removed
to Burlington House in 1857. The policy of Sir Joseph
Banks was to render the fellowship more difficult _ of
attainment than it had been, and the measures which
he took for this purpose, combined with other circum¬
stances, led to the rise of a faction headed by Dr Horsley.
Throughout the years 1783 and 1784 feeling ran exceed¬
ingly high, but in the end the president was supported by
the majority of the society. An account of the contro¬
versy will be found in a tract entitled An Authentic Narra¬
tive of the Dissensions and Debates in the Royal Society.
In connexion with this policy of Sir Joseph Banks may
be mentioned a further step in the same direction taken
in the year 1847, when the number of candidates recom¬
mended for election by the council was limited to fifteen,
and the election was made annual. Concurrently, how¬
ever, with this gradual narrowing of the Royal Society’s
boundaries was the successive establishment of other
scientific bodies. The founding of the Linnean Society
in 1788 under the auspices of several fellows of the
Royal Society was the first instance of the establishment
of a distinct scientific association under royal charter.
The Geological Society followed in 1807, and the Royal
Astronomical Society in 1820. The Chemical, the Royal
Geographical, and the Entomological are the remaining
chartered scientific societies existing in London at the
present time. The Royal Society continues, however, to
hold the foremost place among the scientific bodies of
England, not only from the number of eminent men in¬
cluded in its fellowship, but also from its close official con¬
nexion with the Government.
The following will serve as some indication of the variety and
importance of the scientific matters upon which they have been
consulted by or have memorialized the Government during the
last seventy years :—1816, standard measures of length ; 1817,
expedition in search of North-West Passage ; 1822, use of coal-tar
in vessels of war ; best manner of measuring tonnage of ships;
1823, corrosion of copper sheathing by sea-water ; Babbage s cal¬
culating-machine ; lightning-conductors for vessels of war ; 1825,
supervision of gas-works ; 1826, Parry’s North Polar expedition ;
1832, tidal observations ; 1835, instruments and tables for testing
the strength of spirits; 1839, Antarctic expedition ; magnetic
observatories in the colonies ; 1845, Franklin s Arctic expedition;
1849-55, Government grant for scientific research ; 1862, the great
Melbourne telescope ; 1865, pendulum observations in India ; 1866,
reorganization of the meteorological department; 1868,. deep sea
research; 1872, “Challenger” expedition; 1874, Arctic expedi¬
tion ; 1875, eclipse expedition; 1876, Vivisection Bill; 1877,
transit of Venus expedition ; 1879, prevention of accidents in
mines; 1881, pendulum observations; 1882, transit of Venus;
cruise of the “Triton” in Faroe Channel; 1883, borings in delta of
Nile ; 1884, Bureau des Poids et Mesures ; prime meridian confer¬
ence, &c. One of the most important duties .which the. Royal
Society performs on behalf of the Government is the administra¬
tion of the annual grant of £4000 for the promotion of scientific
research. This grant originated in a proposal by Lord John
Russell in 1849 that at the close of the year the president and
council should point out to the first lord of the trcnsuiy h limited
number of persons to whom the grant of a reward or of. a sum to
defray the cost of experiments might be of essential service. This
grant of £1000 afterwards became annual, and was continued until
1876. In that year an additional sum of £4000 for similar pur¬
poses was granted, and the two funds of £1000 and £4000 were
administered concurrently until 1881, in which year the two were
combined in a single annual grant of £4000 under new regulations.
One of the most useful of the society’s undertakings of late years
is the great catalogue of scientific papers,—an index, in eight quaito
volumes, under authors’ names, of all the memoirs of importance
in the chief English and foreign scientific serials from the year
1800 to the year 1873. The work was prepared under the direc¬
tion and at the expense of the Royal Society, and was printed by
H. M. Stationery Office. ^ .
A statement of the trust funds administered by the Royal
Society will be found in their published Proceedings under date
November 30th of each year, and the origin and history of these
funds will be found in Weld’s History of the Royal Society, and m
the late William Spottiswoode’s “Anniversary Address for .1874
(Proc. Roy. Soc., xxiii. p. 49). The income of the society is
derived from the annual contributions and composition fees of
fellows, from rents, and from interest on various investments. The
balance-sheet and an account of the estates and property are pub"
lished in the Proceedings at each anniversary. Four medals (a
Copley, two Royal, and a Davy) are awarded by the society every
year, and the Rumford medal in alternate years. The first of these
originated in a bequest by Sir Godfrey Copley (1709), and is awarded
“to the living author of such philosophical research, either pub¬
lished or communicated to the society, as may appear to the council
to be deserving of that honour”; the author may be an Englishman
or a foreigner. The Rumford medal originated in a gift from Count
Rumford in 1796 of £1000 3 per cent, consols, for the most
important discoveries in heat or light made during the preceding
two years. The Royal medals were instituted by George IV., and
are awarded annually for the two most important contributions to
science published in the British dominions not more than ten years
nor less than one year from the date of the award. The Davy
medal was founded by the will of Dr John Davy, F.R.S., the
brother of Sir Humphry Davy, and is given annually for the most
important discovery in chemistry made in Europe or Anglo-Amenca.
An enumeration of the awards of each of the medals will be found
at the end of the list of fellows which is published annually by the
Under the existing statutes of the Royal Society every candidate
for election must be recommended by a certificate in writing signed
by six or more fellows, of whom three at least must sign Irom
personal knowledge. From the candidates so recommended the
council annually select fifteen by ballot, and on the first Thursday
in June the names so selected are submitted to the society m the
form of a printed balloting-sheet with space left for erasure and
substitution of names. Princes of the blood may, however, be
proposed at any ordinary meeting and put to the vote on the same
day, and any member of H. M. privy council may be balloted tor
on the third ordinary meeting from the day upon, which his
certificate is read. Foreign members, not exceeding fifty, may be
selected by the council from among men of the greatest scientific
eminence, and proposed to the society for election. Every member
of the privileged class is liable to an admission fee of £10 and an
annual payment of £4 ; other fellows pay £3 per annum. The
composition for annual payments is £60.
The anniversary meeting for the election of the council and
officers is held on St Andrew’s Day. The council for the ensuing
year, out of which are chosen the president, treasurer, principal
secretaries, and foreign secretary, must consist of eleven members
of the existing council and ten fellows who are not members of
the existing council. These are nominated by the president and
council previously to the anniversary meeting. The session of
the society is from November to June ; the ordinary meetings are
held every Thursday during the session, at 4.30 p.m. . The
selection for publication from the papers read before the society is
made by the “Committee of Papers,” which consists of the
members of the council for the time being aided by referees. The
papers so selected are published either in the Philosophical
Transactions (4to) or the Proceedings of the Royal Society (8vo),
and one copy of each of these publications is presented gratis to
every fellow of the society and to the chief scientific societies
throughout the world. , . , .. ■,
The making and repealing of laws is vested in the council, and
in every case the question must be put to the vote on two several
days of their meeting
The text of the charters of the Royal Society is given in the appendix to Weld s
History of the Royal Society, and in the same work will he found lists of the pre¬
sidents, treasurers, secretaries, and assistant-secretaries from the foundation to
the year 1845. Appendix IY. to Thomson's History of the Royal Society (181i)
gives a chronological list of all the fellows down to the year 1812 with dates of
hirth, election, admission, and death, and an alphabetical index to the same.