108 PUOCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



AN ORDINARY MEETING 



OF THE Society was Held at -20 Hanover Square, W., on 

 Wednesday, January 16th, 1918, Mr. E. Heron-Allen, F.L.S. 

 F.Z.S. F.G.S., President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the previous Meeting, having been circulated, were 

 taken as read, confirmed, and signed by the President. 



Mr. Blood and Mr. David were appointed as Scrutineers of the ballot 

 for the election of Officers and Council for the ensuing year. 



The President announced that the following gentlemen had been 

 proposed for membership, and would be balloted for at the next Meet- 

 ing : — Messrs. Adams, Seymour Jones, Ross, and Young, 



The President announced that he had received a communication from 

 the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies, as the Society's delegate, 

 asking him to bring it before the Fellows of this body : — 



" The Puhlication of Scientific Information. 



" rt has been brought to the knowledge of the Executive Committee 

 that the publications of Scientific and Technical Societies sometimes 

 include papers containing information which might be of value to the 

 enemy. 



" It is exceedingly difficult to control the transmission to neutral 

 •countries of publications or of information that might be extracted from 

 them. The Executive Committee therefore desire to impress upon the 

 constituent Societies the desirability of minimising the risk, so far as 

 possible, by postponing till the end of the war, the publication of any 

 paper containing information which might be of use to the enemy. 



" As experience has shown that authors are themselves occasionally 

 unaware of the use that could be made of their writings for purposes 

 •connected with the conduct of the war, the Executive Committee is 

 considering whether any steps could be taken to assist, when desired, in 

 cases of doubt and difficulty, the Publication Committee of the 

 Constituent Societies." 



That was a matter which only needed to be brought before the 

 ■Society to be acted upon. 



He also referred to another matter a propos of the commandeering of 

 the museums by the various Government departments. He had re- 

 ceived a communication from Dr. Smith Woodward, of the Natural 



