REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. xlix 



Report of the Council for the Year 1875-76, presented to the General 

 Committee at Glasgow on Wednesday, September 6th, 187G. 



The Council have much regret in announcing that Sir Robert Chriatison, 

 "who was elected President for the Glasgow Meeting, informed the Council in 

 the course of last winter that he felt himself unable to preside, in conse- 

 quence of the state of his health. Under these circumstances the Council 

 selected Dr. Andrews, of Belfast, for nomination for the office of President ; 

 and the first business of the General Committee of the Association will be to 

 confirm this nomination. The Council also recommend that Mr. J. Young, 

 P.R.S., be elected a Vice-President of the Association. 



The Council hare received Reports during the past year from the General 

 Treasurer, and his Accounts for the year will be laid before the General Com- 

 mittee this day. 



The General Committee at Bristol referi'ed the following four Resolutions 

 to the Council for their consideration, and they beg to report their action 

 thereon in each case : — 



First Resolution. — " That the Council be requested to consider the re- 

 commendations of the Reports of the Royal Commission on Scientific 

 Instruction and the Advancement of Science, and to take such action 

 thereupon as may seem to them best calculated to advance the inte- 

 rests of Natural Science." 



The Council having considered this Resolution, waited as a deputation 

 upon the Lord President of the Council and upon the Secretary of State for 

 the Home Department, and urged upon the Government the opinion of the 

 Association that it is of the highest importance to the welfare of this country 

 that the Government should without delay give systematic material aid to the 

 development of the higher Scientific Education, in the spirit of the Fifth and 

 Eighth Reports of the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and the 

 Advancement of Science ; and the Council further urged upon the Govern- 

 ment that, in the selection of Members of the proposed University Commis- 

 sion, Science should be duly represented. The Government promised to give 

 due consideration to tlie representations of the British Association ; and they 

 have increased the amount of the Grant to the Royal Society for aiding 



fScientific Investigation. 



Second Resolution. — " That the Council be requested to take such steps 

 as they think suitable for renewing their representations to the 

 Secretary of State for India, as to the importance of establishing an 

 Observatory for Solar Physics in India, in conformity with the recom- 

 mendations of the Royal Commissioners on Scientific Instruction and 

 the Advancement of Science." 



The Council having learned that steps were being taken in India in refer- 

 ence to this matter, deemed it advisable to defer any action for tlie present. 

 1876. ■ d 



