

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES. 531 



Newton, and that the printing of his book be 

 referred to the consideration of the Council ; and 

 that in the meantime the book be put into the 

 hands of Mr. Halley, to make a report thereof to 

 the Council." On the iQth of May following, the 

 Society resolved that " Mr. Newton's Philosophic 

 Naturalis Principia Mathematica be printed 

 forthwith in quarto, in a fair letter ; and that a 

 letter be written to him to signify the Society's 

 resolution, and to desire his opinion as to the 

 volume, cuts, &c." An exceedingly interesting 

 letter was accordingly written to Newton by 

 Halley, dated London, May 22, 1686, which we 

 find printed in full in Weld's History of the 

 Royal Society (vol. I, pp. 308 309). But the 

 Council knew more than the Royal Society at 

 large of its power to do what it wished to do. 

 Biology was much to the front then, as now, and 

 the publication of Willughby's book, De Historia 

 Piscium, had exhausted the Society's finances to 

 such an extent that the salaries even of its officers 

 were in arrears. Accordingly, at the Council 

 meeting of the 2nd of June, it was ordered that 



M M 2 



