GRANT FOR SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS 281 



' Fourthly, and subordinately to the purposes above named, in aid of such 

 other scientific objects as may, from time to time, appear to be of 

 sufficient interest, although not coming under any of the foregoing 

 heads.' 



The Report, from which the foregoing sentences are quoted, was adopted 

 and a ' Committee of Recommendations ' appointed. 



The sum granted by the Government and administered by that Committee 

 was ,1,000. On January 6, 1851, Lord John Russell wrote to the President 

 informing him that he should * set apart one thousand pounds, from the fund 

 for Special Service, to be applied by the Council of the Royal Society in the 

 same manner as the Grant made for scientific purposes last year '. The same 

 sum was granted in 1852, 1853, and 1854, but, upon the President applying 

 in 1855 'for the annual Grant of 1,000', he was informed by a letter from 

 H.M. Treasury that these Grants were special, and that the limited amount of 

 the fund from which they had been made would not admit of 'an annual 

 Grant to the Royal Society ', but it was suggested that a Parliamentary vote 

 for the amount of the Grant might be taken. 



In their reply the Council, while accepting the latter suggestion, emphasized 

 the fact that the Government Grant was not ' a grant to the Royal Society ', 

 but ' a contribution on the part of the nation towards the promotion of science 

 generally in the United Kingdom ', and that the Council regarded themselves 

 ' as Trustees of the Grant, and accountable to the public for its due adminis- 

 tration as long as it should be continued '. 



From that time to the year 1881 the sum of ,1,000 was annually voted by 

 Parliament for the promotion of science in the United Kingdom, and was 

 administered by the Council of the Society upon the advice of a Committee 

 consisting of the Members of the Council, twenty-one Fellows not members of 

 the Council, and the Presidents of the Chemical, Geological, Linnean, and 

 Royal Astronomical Societies (Council Minutes, Jan. 27, 1859). This Com- 

 mittee was at first appointed triennially, but after 1862 annually. 



In July 1856 the attention of the Council was called to a motion which 

 had been made in the House of Commons for the appointment of a Committee 

 to consider the question, whether any measures could be adopted by the 

 Government or Parliament that would improve the position of science or its 

 cultivators in this country, and it was agreed that as the appointment of the 

 Committee had been deferred until the next Session of Parliament with a view 

 of permitting the question to be meanwhile maturely considered by scientific 

 men, it was expedient that the subject should receive the early attention of the 

 Council. The Government Grant Committee were, therefore, requested to 

 draw up a Report containing such suggestions as might occur to them, and 

 present it to the Council after the recess. 



This Report was presented on January 15, 1857, and contained numerous 

 suggestions, one of which was 'That the sum placed at the disposal of the 



