XII ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



whether it is advisable to continue the present large quarto form of publication, or to print the 

 volume in a smaller and more convenient shape for general circulation. The attention of the Council 

 has been specially directed to this matter by a letter addressed to them by the Vice-President, whose 

 long experience in all the active work of the Society, since its formation in 1881, under the adminis- 

 tration of the Marquis of Lome, entitles his remarks to resiject. Dr. Bourinot wishes his suggestions 

 on this and other questions of immediate importance to the Society to be laid before the members 

 generally. Accordingly in compliance with his request we submit hia memorandum for the con- 

 sideration of the Society. 



" Dr. Bourinot begs permission of the Council to lay before them and the Society as a body the 

 following suggestions : — 



" 1. The advisability of publishing the tenth or succeeding volume of the ' Transactions' as the 

 fii-st of a new series, in royal octavo, and of sepai'ating the literary and historical from the scientific 

 papers. The present form of the volume was originally arranged to meet the wishes of the scientific 

 sections, whose papers have always required a certain number of elaborate illustrations which show 

 best, according to the claim then made, on the single unfolded page. This system, however, has 

 not worked satisfactorily so far as the literary and historical sections are concerned. The writers in 

 these sections have found their monographs and essays literally buried in a mass of scientific matter 

 and the public given no facilities for obtaining in a separate and easily managed volume those 

 papers which have at times more interest for a general public than papers intended for a specially 

 educated scientific class. As it is, the public have been practically forbidden to buy the papers they 

 would like to see, since they can only do so at an expense of five dollars for a large book not adapted 

 for convenient reading. The only immediate advantage that writers have derived from the printing 

 of their work in the ' Transactions ' is, of course, the gift of a hundred copies in pages, which they 

 must, themselves, cover to make them available. I leave out of consideration the publication in the 

 large volume, whose value is chiefly to students in libraries where they can be consulted as books of 

 reference. If the volume were henceforth printed in large octavo, a smaller type could be used and the 

 illustrations conveniently and advantageously folded once. The literary and historical matter being 

 separated, there would be a convenient book like the Eeports of the Geological Survey of Canada, the 

 Transactions of the Toronto Canadian lnstitute,theTiansactionsofthe Smithsonian Institute,the Papers 

 of the American Historical Association, and the proceedings of other well known institutions, to be 

 offered to the public for sale at a small price. Not only may the Society itself derive pecuniary 

 advantages from the change of form by a larger sale than is possible at present, but the writers them- 

 selves will feel encouraged to devote themselves with more enthusiasm to their work, since they will 

 know it can attain more extensive circulation. They can always obtain additional copies for them- 

 selves at a small cost for paper and press work, and in this way have a chance of obtaining some 

 profit for their literary labours. The Society must see the advantage there would be if the volume 

 just published were separated into two volumes. The pajoers of the English section for 1891 take up 

 nearly one-half of the book, and the writers suffer a certain measui'e of loss in not having their 

 labours submitted in a shape that can reach the public at lai-ge. 



" At all events, if the scientific members of the Society do not still see their way clear to the 

 adoption of the octavo form, the ' Transactions ' should be divided into two volumes. The cost need not 

 be greater, since a number of volumes need not be bound for transmission to certain minor associations. 

 The bound copies need only be sent to the important libraries throughout the world. I need hardly 

 add, while on this subject, that it should be the object of the Fellows of the Society to use every 

 effort to bring their work within the reach of all classes, in this country and elsewhere, interested 

 in the literary and scientific development of Canada. 



" Dr. Bourinot also begs leave to direct the attention of the Council to the fact that the removal 

 of Dr. S. E. Dawson, former publisher of the 'Transactions,' to Ottawaas Queen's Printer, must entail 

 additional labour and responsibility on the active officers of the Society. Dr. Dawson gave his personal 



