PUBLICATION GRANT 287 



D. Applications relating to Geology, Palaeontology, Mineralogy, and 

 Geography. 



E. Applications relating to Botany. 



F. Applications relating to Zoology and Comparative Anatomy. 



G. Applications relating to Animal Physiology and Medical Subjects. 

 The Boards, each of which consists of eight members, having previously 



received printed lists of all the applications for the year, meet simultaneously 

 at the rooms of the Royal Society to consider the several applications and 

 decide which should be recommended for approval by the General Committee. 

 This Committee meets as early as possible after the simultaneous meetings of 

 the Boards and its decisions are reported to the Council for approval. 



II. PUBLICATION GRANT. 



In 1895 the heavy burden of the expense falling upon the Royal Society 

 in respect of its scientific publications led the Council to memorialize the 

 Government with the view of obtaining assistance from the Treasury towards 

 the cost of the publications of the Society and of other scientific publications. 

 In response to this application the Government agreed to make a grant in 

 aid, amounting to <* 1,000 per annum, to the Royal Society, on the under- 

 standing that it would, by means of the grant, assist not merely the Society's 

 own publications but also the adequate publication of scientific matter 

 through other channels and in other ways. 



The Regulations under which this Grant is at present administered were 

 adopted by the Council on November 7, 1901. They will be found in the 

 Society's ' Year-Book '. 



III. THE NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY. 



The earlier efforts of individuals towards the foundation in this 

 country of a National Physical Laboratory led in 1897 to the appointment by 

 H.M. Treasury of a Committee, with Lord Rayleigh as Chairman, to consider 

 and report upon the desirability of the project. This Committee reported on 

 July 6, 1898, and recommended that a Public Institution should be founded 

 for standardizing and verifying instruments, for testing materials, and for the 

 determination of physical constants ; and that the proposed Institution 

 should be under the control of the Royal Society. The Committee further 

 suggested that the Institution should be established by extending the Kew 

 Observatory. 



The recommendations of the Committee were accepted by the Treasury, and 

 the Royal Society was invited to carry them into effect. A scheme of 

 organization was accordingly drawn up early in 1899 and agreed upon by 

 the Treasury and the Royal Society. This provided that the name of the 

 institution should be the National Physical Laboratory, and that its ultimate 



