1892. December 8. Dr. Ludwig Mond. Gift of £2,000 "to assist in carrying on the Catalogue of Scientific Papers."

66

1894. June 21. Dr. Ludwig Mond. Contribution towards the Cost of the Subject Index to the Catalogue of Scientific Papers. One-half of the total expenditure in excess of the sum of £1,500 available for this purpose out of the £2,000 already placed at the disposal of the Society [see above], provided the Society or others are willing to contribute the remainder of such sum."

THE TRUSTS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.*

The following succinct account of the various trusts which the Society administers, their origin and progress, the application of the income of the funds, and their present financial position, follows the order in which the trusts are arranged on the annual balance sheet of the Society. Full particulars of capital, income, and expenditure in each case are clearly given in that sheet (see 'Year-book'). A larger amount of detail as to the foundation of the older funds will be found in Weld's' History of the Royal Society,' and in an anniversary address delivered by the late Mr. Spottiswoode, as treasurer, in

1874.

No. 1. THE SCIENTIFIC RELIEF FUND.

This most excellent and valuable institution originated in the year 1859, in a proposition of Mr. J. P. Gassiot that a fund of this kind should be founded for the aid of such scientific men, or their families, as may from time to time require assistance. A circular announcing the project was issued by the Society, in May, 1859, and by the following July £2500 had been subscribed. By the end of 1864, the amount of £5000 had been reached, and by 1868 the fund consisted of £6052 17s. 8d., New 3 per cent. Annuities.

Until 1884 the amount remained stationary at a little under £6500, but legacies, from the late Sir W. Siemens, of £1000, and from Mr. Bentham, of about £500, gave it a sensible help.

In November, 1885, however, a noble offer was made by Sir William, now Lord Armstrong, to present a sum of about £6500 to the fund on the understanding that an equal sum should be raised by subscription, and further that the fund might be used in cases of urgent necessity for the remission of the fees of Fellows.

Although by the beginning of 1887 it was not found possible to

* Reprinted in the main from a paper by Sir John Evans, K.C.B., Treasurer R.S., in 'Roy. Soc. Proc.,' vol. 57, p. 202.

raise more than about £4200 by subscription, Lord Armstrong, in February, 1887, munificently increased his contribution to £7800, so that in all £12,000 were added to the fund. Since that date about £800 more have accrued from bequests from Mr. H. B. Brady and others, and from donations. The permanent invested capital of the fund now consists of

£6000 London and North-Western Railway 4 per cent. Guaranteed Stock;

£7200 Great Northern Railway 3 per cent. Debenture Stock; and

£4340 South Eastern Railway 5 per cent. Debenture Stock;

producing an income of about £670.

The administration of the fund is entrusted to a committee consisting of ten members of whom two retire annually, and applications for grants are made through the Presidents of chartered and incorporated scientific societies, under regulations which will be found in the Year-book of the Royal Society.'

No. 2. THE DONATION FUND.

In 1828 the late William Hyde Wollaston, M.D., at one time President of the Society, gave the sum of £2000 3 per cent. Consols, to be called the Donation Fund, the dividends to be applied from time to time in promoting experimental researches, or in rewarding those by whom such researches may have been made, or in such other manner as shall appear to the President and Council for the time being most conducive to the interests of the Society in particular, or of science in general. The application of the funds extends to individuals of all countries, but not to members of the Council of the Society. The dividends are not to be hoarded parsimoniously, but expended liberally. About £1400 more were contributed to the fund by Dr. Davies Gilbert (who gave £1000) and others. In 1874 and 1875 two legacies of £500 each were received from Sir Francis Ronalds, F.R.S., and Sir Charles Wheatstone, F.R.S., and the fund for some years consisted of £6339 Consols, which in 1888 was converted into £5030 Great Northern Railway Perpetual 4 per cent. Guaranteed Stock, producing an income of about £200 per annum. In the year 1879 the late Sir Walter C. Trevelyan bequeathed a sum of £1500, the interest to be applied in the promotion of scientific rasearch. This was invested in the purchase of £1396 Great Northern Railway 4 per cent. Debenture Stock, now converted into £1861 6s. 8d. 3 per cent. Debenture Stock, and forms practically a part of the Donation Fund. The interest of the Jodrell Fund is also transferred to it (see No. 11, p. 129), so that the annual income is about £390.

No. 3. THE RUMFORD Fund.

Count Rumford, in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, dated 12th July, 1796, informed him, as president of the Society, that he had purchased and transferred £1000 Stock in the funds of this country, to the end that the interest of the same should be given once every second year as a premium to the author of the most important discovery or useful improvement which shall be made or published by printing, or in any way made known to the public in any part of Europe during the preceding two years on heat or on light, the preference always being given to such discoveries as shall, in the opinion of the President and Council, tend most to promote the good of mankind. The premium is to take the form of two medals, the one of gold and the other of silver, to be together of the value of two years' interest on the £1000, or £60 sterling. In case of there being no new discovery in heat or light during any term of years which, in the opinion of the President and Council, is of sufficient importance to deserve the premium, direction is given to invest its value in the purchase of additional stock in the English Funds, and the interest of this additional capital is to be given in money, with the two medals, at each succeeding adjudication. In a subsequent letter, Count Rumford suggests that the premium should be limited to new discoveries tending to improve the theories of fire, of heat, of light, and of colours, and to new inventions and contrivances by which the generation, and preservation, and management of heat and of light may be facilitated. Chemical discoveries and improvements in optics, so far as they answer any of these conditions, are to be within the limits of the premium, but the Count wishes especially to encourage such practical improvements in the management of heat and light as tend directly and powerfully to increase the enjoyments and comforts of life, especially in the lower and more numerous classes of society. The first recipient of the medals was Count Rumford himself. Previously to 1846 it was not unfrequently the case that no medal was adjudicated for four years. Indeed between 1818 and 1832 the only recipient was M. Fresnel. As a consequence the invested funds have increased to £2,367 2s. 6d., but the interest is now only 2 per cent., and will in 1903 be only 2 per cent. A bonus on the conversion of the Stock, including an additional quarter's interest, and some returned income tax have been recently added to capital. The annual income is at present about £65, and the sum of money that accompanies the medals about £70.

No. 4. BAKERIAN AND COPLEY MEDAL FUND.

There has for many years been only one amalgamated fund for these two objects. Through successive accumulations, owing in part

to no medal having been awarded in some years, it now consists of £403 9s. 8d. New 2 per cent. Consols. The Bakerian Lecture originated in 1775, through a bequest of Mr. Henry Baker, F.R.S., of £100, for an oration or discourse, to be spoken or read yearly by some one of the Fellows of the Society, on such part of natural history or experimental philosophy, at such time and in such manner as the President and Council of the Society for the time being shall please to order and appoint. In case no lecture be given, there is a pain of forfeiture attached to the bequest. The payment to the lecturer has for many years been a fixed sum of £4.

The Copley Medal, which has long been regarded as the highest scientific distinction that the Royal Society can bestow, originated in a legacy of £100 from Sir Godfrey Copley, Bart., F.R.S., received in 1709. The testator directed that this sum should be laid out in experiments or otherwise for the benefit of the Society, as they shall direct and appoint. For many years the interest of the fund was paid to Dr. Desaguliers, Curator to the Society,* for various experiments made before them, but in 1736 Martin Folkes, who subsequently became President of the Society, proposed to render Sir Godfrey Copley's donation more beneficial than at that time it was. His suggestion was that instead of the annual experiment, "a medal or other honorary prize should be bestowed on the person whose experiment should be best approved, by which means he apprehended a laudable emulation might be excited among men of genius to try their invention, who, in all probability, may never be moved for the sake of lucre." Eventually, in 1736, it was resolved that a medal of the value of £5, to bear the arms of the Society, should be awarded to the author of the most important scientific discovery or contribution to science by experiment or otherwise. The weight of the medal was fixed at 1 oz. 2 dwts. of fine gold. In 1831 it was resolved * See ante, p. 17.