president's address. 



The Royal Society of London, with large private means, and an 

 annual grant of £1,000 from the Government towards the cost of 

 publishing its Proceedings, Transactions, and Reports, finds it 

 necessary to make a standing appeal to authors " to see 

 that their papers are put in as concise a form as possible," 

 since " Delay in decisions regarding publication, as well as sub 

 sequent trouble to authors, is often caused by difFuseness or pro 

 lixity." The notice embodying this appeal appears on the inside 

 of the cover of each No. of the Proceedings, and the request is 

 made because " The Council have had under consideration the 

 rapid increase of the Society's expenditure on publications," and 

 " In view of the necessity for economy." Our need for economy 

 arises from the fact that some of our investments are yielding a 

 lower return than they used to, that the cost of printing is higher 

 than i>t has ever been before in the Society's experience, and 

 because, contrary to Sir William Macleay's expectations, the 

 Society's general fund has had to bear the burden of the adminis- 

 tration of its Research Funds; so that if there should be any 

 further diminution of income due to less remunerative invest- 

 ments, the Council may have to make a special appeal to the 

 authors of papers, for cooperation in keeping down expenses. 



The Macleay Bacteriologist has continued his investiga- 

 tions of the problem of soil-fertility. No. 2 of the series has 

 been issued; Nos. 3 and 4 will appear in the forthcoming 

 Part of the Proceedings ; while No. 5, dealing with the action 

 of fat-solvents upon sewage-sick soils, is ready, and will be 

 communicated to the Society as soon as possible. Dr. Greig- 

 Smith considers that his later investigations amply confirm 

 the views expressed in his earlier papers, namely, that the 

 action of heat and of volatile disinfectants in increasing soil- 

 fertility is not entirely due to the destruction of phagocytic 

 protozoa, but that bacteriotoxins and the presence of agri- 

 cere are also factors of importance. The function of the agri- 

 cere has been confirmed by using soils in which the protozoa 

 had been destroyed by a moderate heat. The volatile disin- 

 fectants then showed their activity as fat-solvents by induc- 

 ing a greater prolifei'ation of bacteria. Furthermore, the 



