26 
NATURE 
[May 11, 1899 
President and Council of the Royal Society, but one- 
half shall be chosen from among those members of the 
General Board who have been nominated as fitted to 
represent commercial interests on that Board. 
Those members of the Executive Committee who are 
Fellows of the Royal Society, shall be appointed by the 
President and Council to be the Gassiot Committee of 
the Royal Society. 
6. The Vice-Chairman of the General Board shall be 
appointed by the President and Council of the Royal 
Society, and shall also be Vice-Chairman of the Execu- 
tive Committee. He shall hold office for six years, and 
shall be eligible for reappointment, but shall not hold 
office for more than twelve years. 
7. At least one-sixth of the ordinary members of the 
General Board and of the Executive Committee shall 
retire annually. 
In the case of the General Board, the retiring ordinary 
members shall be those who have not attended a meet- 
ing of the Board for two years, together with so many 
other members of the Board, selected by seniority, as 
may be necessary to bring the number of retiring mem- 
bers up to one-sixth of the whole number of ordinary 
members of the Board. 
In the case of the Executive Committee, the retiring 
ordinary members shall be those who have not attended 
one-half of the meetings of the Committee during the 
previous year, together with so many other members of 
the Board, selected by seniority, as may be necessary to 
bring the number of retiring members up to one-sixth of 
the whole number of ordinary members of the Board. 
No retiring member of the General Board or of the 
Executive Committee shall be eligible for reappointment 
until at least one year has elapsed from the date of his 
retirement. 
The President and Council shall have power to remove 
from the General Board and from the Executive Com- 
mittee any member of either whom they may judge to be 
disqualified. 
Vacancies on the General Board or on the Executive 
Committee due to death, resignation, or removal by the 
President and Council of the Royal Society, shall be 
filled by the President and Council of the Royal Society, 
provided always that— 
(1) Any person so appointed shall, for the purposes 
of the regulations for retirement from the Board 
or Committee, be regarded at the time of his 
appointment as having served for the same 
period as the member to whose place he 
succeeds. 
(2) If the vacancy on the General Board be 
caused by one of the persons nominated as fitted 
to represent commercial interests ceasing to be 
a member of the Board, the President and 
Council of the Royal Society shall choose his 
successor from among a list of names recom- 
mended by the Councils of the Institutions 
named in Section 4. 
(3) If a vacancy on the Executive Committee be 
caused by one of the persons nominated as fitted 
to represent commercial interests ceasing to be 
a member of the Committee, his successor shall 
either be selected from among those members 
of the General Board who were nominated as 
fitted to represent commercial interests, or shall 
be nominated by the President and Council of 
the Royal Society after consultation with the 
Councils of the Institutions named in Section 4. 
The President and Council of the Royal Society shall 
determine the order of the seniority of the members of 
the first General Board and of the first Executive Com- 
mittee for the purposes of the regulations for retirement. 
NO. 1541, VOL. 60] 
The Executive Committee. 
_8. The Executive Committee shall have the imme- 
diate management of the National Physical Laboratory ; 
shall appoint and dismiss the officials, except the 
Director ; and shall determine the nature of the work to- 
be undertaken from time to time. 
The General Board. 
g. A meeting of the General Board shall be held in 
October, at which the Executive Committee shall present 
a report on the work and finances of the National 
Physical Laboratory during the year ending on the 
preceding September 30. Copies of this report shall be 
circulated among the Members of the General Board at 
least one week before the meeting, and after the meeting 
shall be forwarded to the President and Council of the 
Royal Society, together with any further report, resolu- 
tions, or recommendations which may be added by the 
General Board. 
The Executive Committee shall also lay before the ° 
General Board at its meeting in October a statement as 
to the work which it is proposed to undertake in the 
Laboratory during the ensuing year. This statement 
shall be circulated among members of the Board at least 
a week before the meeting ; and the General Board may 
make such recommendations relative to the statement, 
or to the future work of the National Physical Laboratory, 
as they may think fit. 
These recommendations shall be laid before the Ex- 
ecutive Committee for their consideration. 
Sub-Committees. 
10. The Executive Committee may from time to time 
appoint Sub-Committees, of which the members shall not 
necessarily be members of the Executive Committee or 
of the General Board, either to superintend or to assist 
in certain specified investigations, or to superintend 
some department of the National Physical Laboratory. 
The Director. 
11. The Director of the National Physical Laboratory 
shall be appointed by the President and Council of the 
Royal Society after consultation with the Executive 
Committee, on such terms as the President and Council 
may determine, and shall be removable by the President 
and Council. He shall be responsible to, and shall take 
instructions from, the Executive Committee, but, subject 
to such instructions, he shall have the sole direction and 
control of the officials of the National Physical Labora- 
tory and of the work done within it. 
The Executive Committee may delegate its power of 
appointing and dismissing the officials of the Institution 
to the Director in such cases as it may think fit. 
The Director shall neither be allowed nor be called 
upon to undertake work not connected with the National 
Physical Laboratory, except with the consent of the 
Executive Committee. 
Finance. 
The Royal Society shall open a banking account, to 
be called “‘The National Physical Laboratory Account 
of the Royal Society,” into which all sums received by 
the Executive Committee for the purposes of the 
Institution shall be paid. The Treasurer of the Royal 
Society shall also pay into this account all sums received 
by him for the said purposes, after deducting therefrom 
such amounts as he shall be directed by the President 
and Council, with the approval of the Treasury, to retain 
for the purpose of defraying any expenses which the 
Royal Society may incur in the exercise of its control of 
the Institution. 
The Executive Committee shall be empowered to draw 
on this account for the purposes of the Institution by 
