Associate, may introduce a Stranger at every General Mecting of the Society, on delivering his Name to the President; and the Name of every Stranger so introduced shall be entered in the Minute-Book, together with the Name of the Member who shall introduce him, and who is to be accountable for his Conduct during his Presence at the Meeting. IV. In case of the Absence of the President, the Senior VicePresident then present, shall preside at every General Meeting; and if neither the President, nor any one of the Vice-Presidents, be present, then the Chair shall be taken by the Senior Member of the Council who may be present. V. When the Chair shall have been taken, all the Members, and other Persons present, shall place themselves orderly, and conveniently, for the Business of the Meeting; the Minutes of the preceding Meeting shall be immediately read, and be signed by the Chairman of the Meeting, and the Presents on the Table shall be declared. VI. The Business of the Society in their General Meetings shall be, to read and hear Letters, Reports and other Papers, on Subjects of Natural History; and also to view such Specimens of the Productions of Nature as shall be presented. VII. When any Fellow shall desire to speak, he is to address his Speech to the President or Chairman, who, if Two or more offer to speak together, shall determine which of them shall be heard first. VIII. In order that the Meetings of the Society may not be wasted by unprofitable Debates, it is ordained, that when any Question, not relating to Elections or the Bye-Laws of the Society, shall be proposed to be balloted for by the Fellows, it shall be fairly transcribed on Paper, and being signed by Six or more Fellows, it shall be by them delivered to the Secretary at a Meeting of the Society; and shall thereupon be read immediately after after the Declaration of the Presents on the Table; and, after having been marked by the Secretary with the Date of the Day when delivered, it shall be fixed up in the Common Meeting-Room of the Society at the next Ordinary Meeting; and, on the Meeting next following, it shall be put to the Ballot, unless those who shall have signed it agree to withdraw it. IX. Whenever, at a General Meeting, the Votes, for and against a Question proposed, shall be found to be equal, in case the Question do not relate to an Election, or othér Matter particularly provided for in this respect by the Charter or Bye-Laws, the President, Vice-President or Member of the Council in the Chair, shall have a double Vote. X. Should any Business of Science, which may require particular Attention, come before the Society, the President or Vice-President in the Chair shall nominate one or more Persons to execute the same; and all Business so executed shall be reported at the first convenient Meeting of the Society. XI. The Minutes of the Proceedings at each General Meeting shall be entered in a Book, and be publickly signed by the President, Vice-President or Member of the Council in the Chair, before the Meeting shall be dissolved. CHAPTER XIV. Of the Meetings of the Council. SECT. I. The Council shall meet at such Times as shall be appointed by the President, or, in his Absence, by one of the Vice-Presidents; due and sufficient Notice of each Meeting being previously sent to every Member of the Council. II. The II. The President, or one of the Vice-Presidents, shall preside at every Meeting of the Council. III. When the Chair shall have been taken, the Minutes of the preceding Meeting of Council shall be read, and, if approved by the Members present, shall be signed, in the fair Minute-Book, by the President, or Vice-President in the Chair. IV. When any Question shall be agitated at a Meeting of the Council, it shall be determined by open Vote, unless Two or more Members of the Meeting demand a Ballot; and if there should be an Equality of Votes in either Case, the President, or Vice-President in the Chair, shall have a double Vote. It is however declared, that all Questions relative to Elections, or tọ the making or repealing of Bye-Laws, shall be determined by Ballot. V. When a Question shall have been determined upon in Council, which, agreeably to the Charter, must necessarily be approved of by the Fellows at large, the Resolution of the Council upon such Question, signed by the President, or Vice-President who may have presided at the Time, and by the Secretary, shall be read from the Chair, at the next General Meeting of the Society. VI. Besides the Business which may, from Time to Time, be laid before the Council, agreeably to the Directions contained in the Charter, the Members of the Council, for the Time being, shall constitute and form a standing Committee of the Society, to whom the Consideration of the Publication of such Papers, as shall have been read before, or communicated to them at their General Meetings, shall, from Time to Time, be referred. VII. No less Number than Three of the Members of the said Committee, (of which Number the President, or, in his absence, a Vice-President, always to be one), shall be a Quorum, capable of acting in relation to the said Papers. VIII. The VIII. The Majority of the said Committee, present at any Meeting thereof, shall be at liberty to call in to their Assistance, at that, or any subsequent Meeting, any other Fellows of the Society whom they may consider to be well skilled in any particular Branch of Science, which shall happen to be the Subject Matter of any such Paper as shall be then to come under Deliberation; and the Persons so called in to assist, although not Members of the Committee, may give their Votes on all Papers to be considered at any such Meeting, in the same Manner as the Members of the said Committee may do. IX. At every Meeting of the Committee, the Method of proceeding upon the Papers to be considered shall be thus: The first Entry in the Minute-Book of the Society, relating to any Paper, upon which the Opinion of the Committee shall not have been taken, shall be read; and, if any Member should so desire, the Paper itself shall be read, but otherwise only the Minute relating thereto: after which the Question shall be put, Whether that Paper shall be printed in the Transactions of the Society, unless the Majority of the Committee should desire to adjourn the Consideration of it to a subsequent Meeting; and the Question shall always be decided by Ballot; but if, upon any Question of this nature, the Number of Votes should be equal, the further Consideration of the Question shall be adjourned to the next Meeting of the Committee, and a Minute shall be made for the taking of that Question into Consideration, at the next Meeting of the Committee, before any other Business shall be entered upon: The other Entries in the Minute-Book of the Society shall be proceeded upon in like Manner, according to the Order in which they shall respectively stand in the said MinuteBook of the Society: And when, at the second balloting upon the same Question, there shall still be an Equality of Votes, it shall be determined in the Negative. X. When X. Whensoever it shall appear by the Ballot to be the Sense of the Committee, that any Paper shall be made public in the Transactions of the Society, an Entry thereof shall be made in the Minute-Book of the said Committee. XI. The Minutes of the Transactions at each Meeting of the Council, shall be signed by the President, or Vice-President in the Chair, before the Meeting shall be dissolved. CHAPTER XV. Of the Manner of Publication of the Papers laid before the Society. SECT. I. The Transactions of the Society shall be printed at such Times, and in such Manner, as the Council for the Time being shall direct, at the sole Charge, and for the sole Use and Benefit of the Society. II. Every Fellow, whose Payments to the Society shall have been paid up to the Time of Publication of eachVolume of the Society's Transactions, shall be entitled to One Copy of such Volume; but no Fellow who shall not have paid the Sum appointed in lieu of all Annual Payments, or paid at least One Yearly Contribution at the Time of Publication, shall be considered as entitled thereto. III. A Number of Copies, at least sufficient to supply the Fellows of the Society, shall be delivered to the Clerk of the Society, who shall enter in a Book, to be provided for that Purpose, the Number of Copies received by him, for which he shall be accountable to the Council for the Time being. IV. The Clerk shall deliver, gratis, at the Society's House, One of the said Copies to every Fellow of the Society who shall demand the same, either in Person, or by Letter or other Writing |