172 RECORD OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY 



exist. On May 31, 1838, 'Scientific Committees 1 to assist the Council were 

 again established, but these were found not to work satisfactorily, and on 

 December 20, 1849, were abolished. 



In 1902 that part of Statute iv of Chapter I which provided for the elec- 

 tion at any time of Privy Councillors was repealed, and a new Statute, now 

 Chapter I, Statute xiii, was passed which provided that in cases in which the 

 Council is of opinion that in the interests of the Advancement of Natural 

 Knowledge it is desirable to do so, they may, once in every two years recom- 

 mend for election not more than two persons who either have rendered con- 

 spicuous service to the cause of science, or are such that their election would 

 be of signal benefit to the Society '. This change was accompanied by some 

 small alterations in the order of the Statutes of Chapter I. 



In 1903 new Statutes were substituted for those Statutes of Chapter I which 

 regulated the date of election of Ordinary Fellows. They provided that the 

 names of candidates for election should be read out at the first ordinary meet- 

 ing of the Society in January, instead of in March as theretofore ; and that 

 the election should take place on the first Thursday in May instead of the first 

 Thursday in June. 



VIII. THE STATUTES OF 1905. 



In 1902, a Committee appointed to consider the duties of the Assistant 

 Secretary, and the organization of the Society, recommended that the whole 

 body of Statutes should be revised. In 1905 a Committee was appointed to 

 consider the question ; and, in accordance with their recommendations, exten- 

 sive alterations were effected by the Council on November 2nd, 1905. These 

 included the removal from the Statute-book of a number of Statutes, on the 

 ground that they dealt with matters of detail which would be more suitably 

 regulated by Standing Orders, some rearrangement of the order of the Statutes, 

 and a number of necessary verbal amendments. 



There were, however, also several alterations of substance, viz. : 



(1) The majority in the Council required to empower the recommendation 

 of privileged persons for election as Fellows was altered, from four-fifths of 

 the members present, to two-thirds of the whole Council (Statute xiii of 

 Chapter I). 



(2) It was specifically enacted that the Council should appoint the Chair- 

 men of Committees other than the Committee of Papers (Chapter VII, 

 Statute iii). 



(3) Changes were made in the Statutes specifying the duties of the Treasurer 

 (Chapter VIII), and of the Secretaries (Chapter IX). The changes with regard 

 to the latter were necessitated mainly by the fact that 



(4) The Statutes as to the Assistant Secretary were recast, and it was ordered 

 that he should attend at meetings of the Council and take the minutes 

 (Chapter XI). 



