COMMITTEE OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 339 



State might reasonably be called upon to pay. Local authorities 

 should be empowered to hand over to the trustees of the local 

 museum an adequate sum for this assistance to higher science 

 teaching^ 



At the second meeting, Mr. John Hopkinson, of the Hert- 

 fordshire Field Club, brought forward some practical suggestions 

 as to certain matters of bibliographical interest in connection 

 with the publications of local societies. He urged the necessity 

 of printing the date of publication of a number, not merely on 

 the cover, but also in the body of the journal, so that the date at 

 which any given paper was issued might always be determined, 

 and questions of priority of publication be settled. The 

 wrappers of the several parts should be bound in the volume ; for, 

 if not preserved in this way, the date of issue, when onl}'' on the 

 cover, is lost. He naturally condemned the practice of publishing 

 a volume without index or table of contents, or list of illustra- 

 tions. In printing the name of the author of a paper, initials, if 

 not the full Christian name, should always be given for sake of 

 clear bibliographical reference. With regard to the important 

 matter of reprints, Mr. Hopkinson urged the necessity of always 

 giving the number of the volume from which the paper is 

 extracted, the date and the original pagination. The type should 

 never be shifted, and the pagination of the separate copy 

 should be preserved in exact correspondence with the original. 



Dr. Tempest Anderson, of York, the vice-chairman of the 

 conference, advocated uniformity in the size and shape of the 

 publications of local societies. The format which he recom- 

 mended was about that of the Century Magazine, This is rather 

 larger than the Essex Naturalist. The matter of size, how- 

 ever, was carefully discussed some years ago by a Committee of 

 the British Association, and the size then officially recommended 

 was demy octavo, which is that of our own publication. It was 

 suggested, however, in the discussion that the time had come for 

 a revision of this question, and Dr. Anderson explained that the 

 •extended use of photography rendered a rather large page 

 necessary in order to introduce effective illustrations. 



With regard to the work of the various sections of the British 

 Association which might be aided by the corresponding societies, 

 it will suffice to refer only to what immediately concerns the 



I Mr. Johnson's paper has been pubUshea in the School World for October, 1904. 



