MancJicstcr Memoirs, Vol. Hi. (1907). ii 



It may be objected that more papers on the notice 

 will crowd out or curtail the " short communication " on 

 matters of scientific interest. I think I should not greatly 

 regret if the short communications were crowded — not 

 out, but, say, into a quarter of an hour. I would not 

 urge the abolition of the ' short communication ' — a result 

 which would follow if the proposal were carried that the 

 short-communicant had to give a day's notice to the 

 secretaries. But when vve see members, who have come 

 to hear a particular paper announced on the summons, 

 leaving the room during a long discussion on subjects 

 adventitiously introduced as "short communications," 

 then I think those members have a right to complain 

 that they have been defrauded owing to our inability to 

 perceive that one essential thing about the short com- 

 munication should be its shortness. If I am right in this 

 diagnosis, I shall look to the Society to support the chair 

 in any restrictive measure that may be necessary 



Those who have been connected with this Society for 

 many years cannot help noticing the gradual change 

 which has come over our personnel. One of our oldest 

 and most devoted members, the late Dr. Schunck, in his 

 farewell letter to the Society, deplored the increase of 

 the professional element and the disappearance of the 

 amateur. I would respectfully join in that regret. I 

 suppose, as the sciences become more specialised, and as 

 measurements become more refined and the instruments 

 needed more costly, the amateur may feel that he cannot 

 keep pace with those who devote their lives professionally 

 to such studies in institutions equipped at the public 

 expense or at that of the pious founder. There is some 

 reason for this feeling ; but I think there is none for 

 another feeling which I believe exists — that professional 

 men of science are jealous of the amateur, and by a 



