The Council has had occasion during the past session to present an address of condolence to Her Majesty, the Patron of the Society, on the lamented death of Prince Henry of Battenberg, and to the Royal Academy on the occasion of the death of their President, Lord Leighton. In the absence of Council, during the recess, I sent another message of sympathy on the death of Sir J. Millais.
I had the privilege of presenting on behalf of the Council, an address of congratulation to our late President, Lord Kelvin, on the occasion of his Jubilee, nobly celebrated in Glasgow last summer, by a very remarkable concourse of scientific men from all parts of the world, assembled to do him honour.
Addresses were also sent to our Foreign Member, Professor Cannizzaro, on the celebration of his seventieth birthday, and to the University of Princeton, ]STew Jersey, U.S.A., on the occasion of its Sesquicentenary Anniversary.
Under the guidance of the Scientific Relief Committee, the Council has during the year granted £100 to assist scientific persons 0 1 then relatives m distress. The Council desires to call the attention of the Fellows to the fact that, during the year, as during past years, the income of the fund has exceeded its expenditure, and that more aid could be given than has been given. W ith the view of increasing the usefulness of the fund, the Council has added to the list of those who can make representations to the Council concerning relief the Presidents of the Mathematical, Physical, and Entomological Societies.
I cannot but give expression to my deep regret, shared, I am sure, by every Fellow, that Lord Rayleigh, whose tenure of office as Secretary has been marked as much by faithful devotion to the interests of the Society as by scientific brilliancy, has thought it right, in consequence of increasing pressure of other engagements, to retire. But I rejoice that the Council can submit to your suffrages a man well qualified to wear the mantle laid down by Lord Rayleigh.
The Fellows will be pleased to learn that Mr. Rix, who was compelled by the condition of his health a year ago, to resign the position which he had held for many years with such great advantage to the Society, has much improved under the lighter labour of the Clerkship to the Government Grant Committee. As his successor in the office of Assistant-Secretary, the Council, out of eighty-four candidates, unanimously selected Mr. Robert Harrison, who entered upon his duties on the 24th of April last.
The scientific work of the Society during the past year has been full of deep and varied interest. Early in the session the announcement of Rontgen’s great discovery burst upon the world. Its wonderful applications to medicine and surgery attracted universal attention to i t ; and physicists everywhere have since been engaged
