XIV ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



Eeport of THE Printing Committee. 



" Montreal, May 28th, 1892. 



" The Printing Committeo beg to present to the Council the ninth volume of the ' Proceedings and 

 Transactions of the Eoyal Societj' of Canada.' 



" In accordance with the instructions of the Society, the Secretary handed to the publishers the 

 copy for the ' Proceedings ' at an early date, and those were printed in extra number and sent out 

 separately very soon after; so that the members might read them while the memory of the meeting 

 was fresh in their minds. The rules as revised to date were also printed and distributed. 



" The present volume is the largest and the best illustrated which has yet been published by the 

 Society, and will take a high rank in the series as to the interest of its subject-matter. The accounts 

 for the printing and distribution of the year are appended hereto. 



" It has been suggested to the committee that, in some respects, the size of the present volume in 

 4to is inconvenient. It was selected, in the first instance, after the model of the 'Transactions of the 

 Royal Society of >]ngland ' and of many other of the more important learned institutions of Europe, 

 and the quarto size is, moreover, more suitable for illustrations in the Fourth Section. This will appear 

 on reference to plates 5 to 11 of Section IV. in the present volume, which with difficulty contain the 

 figures required. In whatever manner the question may be eventually decided, the committee would 

 recommend that the present size be continued for one more volume: 1st, because it would be con- 

 venient to have the quarto volumes grouped into a series of an oven number like ten ; 2nd, because 

 some papers, commenced in the present series, will require to be comjiloted in the same shape ; 3rd, 

 because the papers to be read at this meeting will have been prepared with a view to publication in 

 quarto; and, 4th, because there is some matter standing over in type which could not be got ready 

 in time to be included in the present issue. 



"The committee have to comment again upon the unnecessary delay in sending in the matter for 

 publication. Although there is a rule that all copy must be in not later than August, the committee 

 found at their meeting in October but a small portion of the matter had been sent in. The larger 

 f)art came in during November and December. This, added to some unusual delays in proofs, made 

 it very difiScult to get the volume out in time for the meeting, and to do that some matter has had to 

 be carried over. The large amount of 290 pages of type has had to be kept standing for a consider- 

 able time; for an author at the head of the series of pages may not reflect that his delay for alterations 

 and corrections entails delaj' all along the line of succeeding authors. It often happens also that the 

 end of one article and the beginning of another fall into the same form or sheet of eight pages ; in 

 which case the first author may become impatient for the extra copies of his paper while the second 

 is taking time to correct his proofs, and, consequently, the form containing portions of both jjapers 

 cannot go to jjress. 



" The committee have also to report that, consequent upon certain changes in the firm of the present 

 publishers and the removal of the person who has hitherto personally supervised the publication, it 

 will be necessary that the present arrangement be modified, as the present publishers do not wish to 

 continue to undertake the responsibility of future volumes. There is a gi'eat deal of unseen and 

 unrecognized work in getting out so varied and extensive a volume, and in keeping so many con- 

 tributors within the régulations, which, in the absence of an editor, requires a great deal of corres- 

 pondence, and a certain amount of tact, conjoined with technical knowledge of book-making. 



" With regard to the distribution of the volumes and the care of the stock in hand, the committee 

 have no hesitation in advising that in future it be done from Ottawa. That has boon done hitherto by 

 the publishers, and has been under the continuous care of one person, whose services arc no longer 

 available. All the necessary information to that end has been placed in the hands of the vice-pres- 

 ident, and the committee believe that the whole matter is in such an orderly and clear state that no 

 difficulty need arise. 



