From the time of its royal founder onwards the Royal Society has constantly been appealed to by the government for advice in connection with scientific undertakings of national The following are some of the principal matters of this character upon which the society has been consulted by, or which it has successfully urged upon the attention of, the government : the improvement and equipment of the Royal Observatory, Green wich, in 171o, when it was placed in the sole charge of the society; the change of the calendar in 1752; ventilation of prisons ; pro tection of buildings and ships from lightning; measurement of a degree of latitude ; determination of the length of a pendulum vibrating seconds; comparison of the British and French standards of length; the Geodetic Survey in 1784, and the General Trigono metrical Survey begun in 1791; expeditions to observe the transits of Venus in 1761, 1769 (commanded by Captain Cook), 1877 and 1882; the Antarctic expeditions of 1772 (under Captain Cook, whose voyage extended to the circumnavigation of the globe), of 1839 (under Ross), and 19oo; help with the reports of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-13 ; observations for determining the density of the earth; Arctic expeditions of 1817 (in search of the North-West Passage), of 1819 (under Parry), of 1827 (Parry and Ross), of 1845 (Franklin) of 1874 (under Nares) ; numerous expeditions for observing eclipses of the sun; 1822, use of coal tar in vessels of war ; best manner of measuring tonnage of ships; 1823, corrosion of copper sheathing by seawater; Babbage's calculating machine ; lightning-conductors for vessels of war; 1825, supervision of gas-works; 1832, tidal observations; 1835, instruments and tables for testing the strength of spirits; magnetic observatories in the colonies; 1862, the great Melbourne tele graph; 1865, pendulum observations in India; 1866, reorganization of the meteorological department ; 1868, deep-sea research; 1872, "Challenger" expedition ; 1879, prevention of accidents in mines ; 1881, pendulum observations; cruise of the "Triton" in Faroe Channel; 1883, borings in delta of Nile; 1884, Bureau des Poids et Mesures; international conference on a prime meridian; 1888, inquiry into lighthouse illuminants; 189o, the investigation of colour-blindness; 1895, examination of the structure of a coral reef by boring; 1896, inquiry into cylinders for compressed gases; the establishment of an International Geodetic Bureau; 1897, determination of the relations between the metric and imperial units of weights and measures ; and, more recently, an inquiry into the volcanic eruptions in the West Indies; international seis mological investigation ; international exploration of the upper atmosphere ; measurement of an arc of the meridian across Africa. During 1913-17 the society completed a magnetic survey of the British Isles. In 1920 it sent two expeditions to observe the total solar eclipse of May 29th, and to note any deflection of rays of light by the sun's gravitational field, as required by Einstein's general theory of relativity. In recent years also the society, acting at the request of the government, has taken the leading part in investigations, in the course of which important discoveries have been made, in relation to various tropical diseases, beginning with the tsetse-fly disease of cattle in Africa, followed by investi gations into malaria, Mediterranean fever and sleeping-sickness. In 1924 the society received a bequest of Ito,000 for medical research on tropical diseases, etc., and sent an expedition to Kala Azar in North China. The society has also shown an active interest in problems of respiration and circulation in high alti tudes (Peru expedition, 1921), and in investigations into glass workers' cataract. The society has standing committees which advise the Indian government on matters connected with scientific inquiry in India and on the observatories of India. The society has taken a leading part in the promotion of the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature, and of the International As sociation of Academies.
In addition to the occasional services enumerated above, the Royal Society has exercised, and still exercises, a variety of im portant public functions of a more permanent nature. It still provides seven of the board of visitors of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, has eleven representatives on the Joint Permanent Eclipse committee, and has a Solar Research committee of its own. From 1877 until the reconstitution of the Meteorological Office in 1906 the society nominated the meteorological council, which had the control of that office. The Gassiot and other com mittees of the society continued to co-operate with the Meteoro logical Office. Since 1919, when the Meteorological Office was attached to the Air Ministry, the society has two representatives on the Meteorological Committee. The society has the custody of standard copies of the imperial standard yard and pound. The
president and council have the scientific control of the National Physical Laboratory, an institution established in 1899 in pur suance of the recommendations of a treasury committee appointed by H.M. government in response to representations from the Royal Society (the financial control was transferred to the De partment of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1918). It also appoints the British delegates to the meetings of the International Research Council.
One of the most important duties which the Royal Society per forms on behalf of the government is the administration of the annual grant of L6,000 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 treasury a 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 r,000 afterwards became annual, and was continued until 1876. In that year an additional sum of £4,0oo for similar purposes was granted, and the two funds of I I ,000 and £4,000 were ad ministered concurrently until 1881, in which year the two were combined in a single annual grant of £4,00o under new regula tions. In 1920 the annual grant was increased to L6,000. Since 1896 parliament has also voted annually a grant of Ir,000 to be administered by the Royal Society in aid of scientific publica tions, not only those issued by itself, but also scientific matter published through other channels. This grant was raised to £2,500 in 1925. One of the most useful of the society's publications is the great catalogue of scientific papers—an index now in twelve quarto 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 1883.
A statement of the trust funds administered by the Royal Society will be found in the Year Book published annually, and the origin and history of these funds will be found in the Record of the Royal Society.
Five medals (the Copley medal, two Royal, the Davy and the Hughes) are awarded by the society every year ; the Rumford and the Darwin medals biennially, the Sylvester triennially and the Buchanan quinquennially. 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 published 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 Li,000 3% 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 pub lished in the British dominions not more than ten years nor less than one year before the date of the award. The Davy medal was founded by the will of Mr. 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-America. An enumeration of the awards of each of the medals and the con ditions of the awards are published in the Year Book.
Under the existing statutes of the Royal Society every candidate for election into the society must be recommended by a certificate in writing signed by six or more Fellows, of whom three at least must sign from personal knowledge. From the candidates so rec ommended the council annually select fifteen by ballot, and the names so selected are submitted to the society for election by ballot. Princes of the blood, howeveit, and not more than two persons selected by the council on special grounds once in two years, may be elected by a more summary procedure. Foreign members, not exceeding fifty, may be selected by the council from among men of the greatest scientific eminence abroad, and proposed to the society for election.
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 on Thursdays during the session, at 4.3o 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 committees appointed for the purpose. The papers so selected are published either in the Society's Philosophical Transactions (4to) or Proceedings (8V0).