431 



of the Arundelian MSS. to the British Museum, and the great 

 additions which your library received from purchases and ex- 

 changes of books, necessarily consequent upon that transaction, Mr. 

 Panizzi was employed by the Council to draw up a classed cata- 

 logue of its contents. Such a compilation it was considered would 

 be of great value, not merely to the Fellows of the Society but to 

 men of science generally, by making known to them the treasures 

 of a library singularly rich and complete in journals, and works on 

 mathematical, physical, astronomical, and anatomical science, and 

 by presenting them in such a form that persons engaged in works 

 of research, or in any specific subject of scientific inquiry, might be 

 made at once acquainted with nearly all the sources from whence 

 they could derive information. This catalogue is now printed, or 

 more correctly speaking, composed, and is undergoing such a revi- 

 sion from different Members of the Council, who have kindly un- 

 dertaken this task, as is calculated to make it as correct and complete 

 as the circumstances of the case will allow it to be. I have reason 

 to hope that this work will be shortly placed in the hands of the 

 Fellows, and that the example which it will present of what may be 

 accomplished by the exertions of a learned body with very limited 

 funds at its command, will not be without its influence in hastening 

 the completion of a similar work with respect to our great national 

 library, upon a scale proportionate to its importance, and worthy of a 

 great and wealthy people, amongst whom literature, science, and 

 the arts are duly cultivated and pursued. 



The discussions that have at different times during the last year 

 been raised upon the Minutes of your proceedings, constitute the 

 second subject which I wish especially to notice. 



I am quite sure, Gentlemen, that you will agree with me in think- 

 ing, that no one circumstance has contributed so effectually to main- 

 tain the dignity of the Royal Society, as the prohibition of per- 

 sonal debate in the transaction of its ordinary business ; and if 

 I wished for any additional confirmation of this opinion, I would 

 appeal to the very serious amount of irritation which it produced 

 amongst you in the course of the last year, though originating in 

 the most trivial causes. It was chiefly with a view to avoid incon- 

 veniences of this kind, and to provide an outlet for the proper ex- 

 pression of opinion, when any just occasion of complaint might 

 exist, or any extraordinary circumstance occur, and to terminate 

 disputes whenever unfortunately they might arise, that the Council, 

 at the last revision of our statutes, passed a by-law, as they were 

 fully authorized to do, which makes it imperative upon the President 

 and Council to call an extraordinary meeting of its Members, upon 

 the due presentation of a requisition for that purpose, signed by at 

 least six Fellows, and setting forth, in specific terms, the objects for 

 which it was required to be summoned, provided those objects be 

 not inconsistent with the charter and statutes of the Society. Such 

 extraordinary meetings being strictly domestic, and confined to the 

 Fellows of the Society only, appear to me not merely to offer a suf- 

 ficient security against any great mismanagement of the affairs of 



