In December of the same year Halley had the
gratification of announcing to the Royal Society that Newton had
promised to send that body a paper containing his researches on
Gravitation.
It seems that at this epoch the finances of the Royal Society were at
a very low ebb. This impecuniosity was due to the fact that a book
by Willoughby, entitled "De Historia Piscium," had been recently
printed by the society at great expense. In fact, the coffers were
so low that they had some difficulty in paying the salaries of their
permanent officials. It appears that the public did not care about
the history of fishes, or at all events the volume did not meet with
the ready demand which was expected for it. Indeed, it has been
recorded that when Halley had undertaken to measure the length of a
degree of the earth's surface, at the request of the Royal Society,
it was ordered that his expenses be defrayed either in 50 pounds
sterling, or in fifty books of fishes. Thus it happened that On June
2nd, the Council, after due consideration of ways and means in
connection with the issue of the Principia, "ordered that Halley
should undertake the business of looking after the book and printing
it at his own charge," which he engaged to do.
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