Annual General Meeting, March23~~, 1904
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View Article Online / Journal Homepage / Table of Contents for this issue ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, MARCH23~~, 1904. Professor W. A. TILDEN,D.Sc., F.R.S., in the Chair. THE PRESIDENTdeclared the ballot open for the election of Officers and Council for the ensuing year, iMr. G. BARQERand Dr. S. B. SCRRYVERbeing appointed Scrutators. He then presented the follow- ing Keport on the state of the Society during the past twelve months : REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. The Council are in the fortunate position of being abie to report that the Society continues to increase and flourish. At the date of the Annual General Meeting last year, the number of Fellows was 2,631 * ; since that date, 170 Fellows have been elected and three reinstated, making a gross total of 2,804. Of these, 23 have been removed for non-payment of subscriptions, and the elections of 2 have become void, 28 have resigned, and 17 have died, leaving a net total of 2,734 Fellows on our list. The names of the Fellows who have died are : H. G. Adshead. T. H. Dodd. C. James. J. 0. Alexander. T. W. Fletcher. T. A. Lawson. Published on 01 January 1904. Downloaded 26/10/2014 04:50:07. A. E. Barrows. W. Francis. J. Mactear, Baron de Bush. H. B. Fulton. J. Reddrop. Samuel Clift. A. G. Hendry. G. H. Robertson, W. H. Corfield. T. Ishermood. The following Fellows have withdrawn : W. H. Barlow. W. Grafton. W. Round. W. M. Brothers. A. Hill, W. J. C. Scrutton. R. J. Brown. T. Lemmey. G. A. Shaw. A. Collenette. W. Lewins. E. A. Smith. W. Diamond. H. Macan. G. C. Thomson. J. R. Don. A. M. Martin. A. L. Thornton. D. Eerrier. J. A. Mathews, G. A. Waterhouse, A. E. Garrod. J. Morieon. W. J . Williams. W. Goodall. A. A. kamsay. A. W. Winterton. J. Robson. * Last year this number was incorrectly stated to be 2,471 (Proe., 1903, 19, 81 ; TRANS.,1903, 83, 629). VOL. LXXXV. KK View Article Online 478 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. As in future Reports the accounts and other statistics of the Society will be given for the calendar year, the following data for the year 1903 may be of interest for purposes of comparison. The number of Fellows on January lst, 1903, was 2,607, and during the year 173 Fellows have been elected and 5 reinstated by the Council, making a gross total of 2,785. Of these, the Society has lost 16 by death, 46 from resignations, and 23 by removal for non-payment of subscriptions, giving the number of Fellows in the Society on December 31st, 1903, as 2,700. The Society has to lament the death of a distinguished Foreign Fellow, Professor Wladimir Markownikoff, on February 11th, 1904. The small number of Fellows still living, who were elected in the earlydays of the Society has been further reduced by the death of Dr. William Francis. The scientific work of the Society during the past session gives evidence of continued activity. Since the last Annual General Meeting, 163 scientific communications have been made to the Society, 107 of which have already been published in the Transuctions, and abstracts of all have appeared in the Proceedings. During 1903, 181 scientific communications were made to the Society, 110 of which were published in the Transactions for that year, abstracts of all appearing in the P?*oceedingsfor 1903. The volume of Transactions for 1903 contains 142 memoirs occupy- ing 1,490 pages, whilst that for the preceding year contains 160 memoirs occupying 1,604 pages. The Journal for 1903 contains also 3,882 abstracts which may be Published on 01 January 1904. Downloaded 26/10/2014 04:50:07. classified a8 follows :- Part I. No. of Pages. Abstracts. Organic Chemistry ................................. 872 1650 Part 11. General and Physical Chemistry ............... 47 1 Inorganic Chemistry .............................. 443 Mineralogical Chemistry ........................ 119 Physiological Chemistry ........................... 39 1 Chemistry of Vegetable Physiology and Agri- culture .......................................... 342 Analytical Chemistry .............................. -566 768 -2232 Total in Parts I. and 11, ..................1640 3882 View Article Online ANNUAL GENERAL MEETIKG. 479 In April last, Professor Emil Fischer was invited to give the Faraday Lecture in the autumn, and provisional arrangements were made for its delivery early in the present session. Much to the regret of the Council, continued ill-health has prevented Professor Fischer from fulfilling his intention, and for the present the hope of numbering him among the Faraday Lecturers has had to be abandoned. The Council are glad to be able to announce that Professor Ostwald will deliver the Paraday Lecture on Tuesday, April 19th, in the Lecture Theatre of the Royal Institution, kindly lent by the Managers for the occasion. The Centenary of the Enunciation of the Atomic Theory by Dalton was celebrated by the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester in May last, and in company with Sir Henry Roscoe, Professor Thorpe, and Professor Frankland, Vice-presidents, Dr. Scott, Secretary, and Sir William Ramsay, Foreign Secretary, the President attended the meeting, and presented an address in the name of the Chemical Society. The triennial award of the Longstaff Medal to the Fellow of the Society who, in the opinion of the Council, has done the most to promote chemical science by research in the interval since the last presentation was made, on the recommendation of the Research Fund Committee, to Professor W. J. Pope, F.R.S., for his researches on the stereochemistry of compounds of elements other than carbon. The Fifth International Congress of Applied Chemistry was held in Berlin in June last, and the President attended as the representative of the Society. An invitation to the Congress to hold its next meeting Published on 01 January 1904. Downloaded 26/10/2014 04:50:07. in London, given by the President of the Society of Chemical Industry, was supported by the President, but on a vote being taken Rome was chosen RS the place of the meeting in 1905. The Council welcomed the opportunity of sending a letter of con- gratulation to their distinguished Foreign Fellow, Professor Mendeleeff, on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, which occurred on February 9th last. The increase in the use of the Library mentioned in last year’s report has been maintained, as 975 books were borrowed from the Library, as against 925 during the previous year. The additions to the Library comprise 115 books, of which 49 were presented, 268 volumes of periodicals, and 48 pamphlets; as against 84 books, 338 volumes of periodicals, and 23 pamphlets last year. The corresponding numbers for the year ending December 31st, 1903, are 991 books borrowed, the additions to the Library being 126 books, of which 61 were presented, 271 volumes of periodicals, and 43 pamphlets. The changes proposed in last year’s report with regard to the Library have now been carried out, and cases have been erected in one KK2 View Article Online 480 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. of the rooms in the basemeit for the storage of the less used books, These cases will accommodate about 3,500 volumes, and so provide room for the growth of the Library for about seven years. An equal number of cases can be added at any future period without cost beyond that of the cases themselves. Mr. F. W. Clifford was appointed Librarian on July 1st. The Council regret to have to record the death, on May loth, of Mr. Josiah Hall, who for twenty-five years had been Collector to the Society, and who retired in 1895 with a pension of $130 a year. It mas decided to grant to Mrs. Hall, his widow, an annuity of g.30. The Society has been the fortunate recipient of two handsome busts in bronze of distinguished chemists, that of Liebig (a copy of the one in Munich) having been presented by Dr. Messel, and that of Dalton, which has been modelled from all available sources by Miss Levick, by Professor Thorpe. Two interesting photographs of portraits have also been received, one of Roger Bacon, presented by Mr. Oscar Guttmann, and one of Dr. Wm. Prout, F.R.S., from his son, the Rev. T. J. Prout. At an ext$raordinaryGeneral Meeting of the Society held on July Znd, the proposal of the Council to alter Bye-Law I. so that the annual publications of the Society should not be sent to Fellows who are in arrear with their subscriptions was unanimously approved. To give effect to this change in the Bye-Law, the Journal is now issued to Fellows on the last day instead of the first day of the month. An extra number of the Tvnnsactions was issued on December 31st to provide for the publication of papers which Published on 01 January 1904. Downloaded 26/10/2014 04:50:07. would have appeared on January lst, 1904, under the old arrange- ment, and now that the change has been Made the net result is that Fellows receive the monthly parts of the Jou?.ncd a day earlier than heretofore. The first part (Authors’ Index) of the Collective Index for the decade 1893-1902, promised provisionally for 1904, was issued in January to those Fellows who had made application for it in accord- ance with the printed notices circulated with the monthly parts of the Jou~rzalsince last July, and it is hoped that the subject index for the same period may be ready before the end of next year. The rapid publication of the Author’s Index is due to the untiring energy and devotion of the Indexer, Mrs. Dougal, and has in no way interfered with the issue of the Annual Index at the end of February, which has been customary since she undertook the work involved in its preparation, The Second Report of the Joint International Committee on Atomic Weights, which now includes Professor Moissan as the representative France, with its revised table of atomic weights, has been issued to -7s both in the YroceediPzgs and in the Journal.