Meetings of the Society. 
211 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE STATUTORY GENERAL 
Beginning the 138th Session, 1920-1921. 
MEETING 
At the Statutory Meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, held in the Society’s Lecture 
Room, 24 George Street, on Monday, October 25, 1920, at 4.30 p.m., 
Professor Frederick 0. Bower, President, in the Chair, 
the Minutes of Meeting of October 27, 1919, were read, approved, and signed. 
The Chairman nominated as Scrutineers, Dr Inglis Clark and Mr Gall Inglis. 
The ballot for the election of Office-Bearers and Members of Council was then taken. 
The Secretary submitted the following Report : — 
The number of papers read at our Meetings during the last Session was 27, as compared with 
23 the previous Session. Of these, three were Addresses, of which two were delivered by Professor 
R. A. Sampson, “ On Gravitation and Relativity,” and one by Principal Sir James Alfred Ewing, 
‘ ; On the Molecular Energy of Gases. ” Of the others, 4 were in Mathematics, 7 in Physics, 4 in 
Meteorology, 1 in Chemistry, 1 in Zoology, 1 in Botany, 5 in Geology, and 1 in Medicine. 
23 have been, or are being, published in the Proceedings or Transactions. 
Last Session the Society elected 20 new Fellows. Two Fellows have resigned, and we have lost 
by death 3 Honorary Fellows and 16 Ordinary Fellows. 
The Keith Prize was awarded to Professor John Stephenson, Lt.-Col. I.M.S., and the Neill 
Prize to Professor John Tait. 
Owing to the continued increase in the cost of publication the Council has to exercise great care 
in order to meet the necessary expenses. The income of the Society remains practically the same ; 
but the Special Fund to which many Fellows contributed has enabled us to meet the comparatively 
small deficit this year. An Appeal by the Council to the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust for aid 
in binding the loose journals in the Library was very generously met by the Trust, and already 
£1500 (half the promised grant) has been received from the Trust and paid over to the binders. 
The Society takes this opportunity of expressing its thanks to the Trust for their generous help. 
An interesting event of the year was the election of the Prince of Wales as an Honorary Fellow. 
Also the names of seven distinguished scientific men were added to the roll of Foreign Honorary 
Fellows. 
All who have had occasion to use the Library will hear with regret that Miss Le Harivel has 
been obliged, for reasons of health, to resign her position as Assistant Librarian. Steps are being 
taken to fill up the vacancy thus occasioned. 
The Society is being called upon to take an increasing share in national developments. Thus 
Dr E. M. Wedderburn has been appointed the Society’s representative on the newly constituted 
Meteorological Committee under the Air Ministry. In connection with the International Associa- 
tion of Scientific Bodies, Professor Whittakkr and Dr Knott have been appointed representatives 
on the National Union of Mathematics, Dr H. R. Mill on the National Union of Geography, and 
Dr Crichton Mitchell and Dr Erskine Murray on the National Union of Radio-Telegraphy. 
It will interest the Fellows to know that the Society is associated with the Municipality and 
the University in preparing for the Meeting of the British Association to be held in Edinburgh in 
September 1921. 
In order to give a distinct scientific flavour to the Statutory Meeting, the Council has adopted 
a suggestion made last year by the previous President, Dr Horne, and asked the President to 
deliver his Address at this Meeting instead of a week later at the first Ordinary Meeting of the 
Session. 
The Treasurer, in submitting his Report for the year, compared the income and expenditure 
with those of the previous year, and called attention to the fact that the deficit of £34, 9s. 5d. on 
the year’s working had been met from the Special Subscription Fund, which now stands at 
£792, 11s. 5d. The full list of subscribers up to the present is given on pp. 208-209 (vol. xl). 
Dr John Horne moved the adoption of the Reports, and the reappointment of Messrs Lindsay, 
Jamieson & Haldane, C.A. , as auditors of the accounts for the ensuing Session. 
This was unanimously agreed to. 
