Page:History of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923).djvu/145

 1850-60] ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 121 the foundation of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, the first year of issue being for 1855, was welcomed. At Liverpool in 1854 the Earl of Harrowby obtained assistance for the astronomical section of the address, evidently considered a necessary part of it, and included a report prepared by Challis on the present state of the science. Again in 1857 at Dublin the Rev. Humphrey Lloyd began with astronomy, and gave a competent summary of recent progress. One literary event during our decade must not pass unnoticed, the publication of Grant's History of Physical Astronomy. For this work the author received the Gold Medal in 1856, an honour never before accorded for literary service. The book is well known to all astronomers and will long continue to be read. The internal or domestic history of the Society during these ten years was one of quiet activity and progress, and was marked by none of those clashes of personalities which, while often unpleasant to contemporary spectators, furnish the memorialist with his most telling paragraphs. The annual meeting of 1850 February elected Airy as President for his fourth year. The Treasurer was Bishop, the secretaries A. De Morgan, a most devoted friend of the Society, who served in that office for sixteen years (1831-39 and 1847-55), and Capt. Manners; the Foreign Secretary, Hind; and among the Council were Adams, James Glaisher, the famous meteorologist and balloonist, and John Lee, a generous benefactor of the Society. Among the Vice-Presidents were Main, who subsequently became Radcliffe Observer, and Sheepshanks. The next year Adams re- placed Airy, the other officers and members of Council remaining for the most part unchanged. In this year the Council were much alarmed at a proposal of the Government to erect offices for the scientific societies on ground held by the Commissioners of the 1851 exhibition at Kensington Gore. They were unanimous in denouncing this scheme, and expressed themselves as more than satisfied with the rooms they had occupied in Somerset House for eighteen years. They maintained that the removal of the Society to a " distant suburb " would compel the resignation of many of the working Fellows, and they said that if the scheme were proceeded with they would have to petition Her Majesty for leave to remain in their present apartments; should this not be granted, they would prefer to hire their own quarters rather than exile themselves. The Royal Society Council was equally unanimous in rejecting the Government project, and nothing more was heard of it. In 1854 the question of removal again came up, when the rebuilding of Burlington House as a home for the Royal Academy and for all the leading scientific societies became a practical possibility. The Society was, however, quite comfortable