38 Annals of the Philosophical Club 



and had promised to consult the Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 as to the means of carrying out the proposed objects. 



1854. At the meeting on Jan. 25th, the Club considered 

 how to increase the utility and widen the circulation of 

 the Proceedings of the Royal Society. Dr. Sharpey suggested 

 that the different scientific societies should be invited to 

 send notes of their communications to the Royal Society, 

 which should take means to provide for their circulation. 

 The result, he thought, would be a sort of Comptes Rendus, 

 issued (say) once a fortnight. A small subscription from 

 Fellows of the Royal Society and others interested in science 

 would, he believed, make it possible to issue the improved 

 proceedings with regularity. Mr. Wheatstone and others 

 thought that, besides papers sent to the Royal Society 

 and intended for appearance in the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions, communications of a shorter character should be 

 more frequently made, and accounts of noteworthy scientific 

 facts, observed on the Continent, should occasionally be 

 given to the Society. Dr. Pliicker, he said, from whom he 

 had received a letter, saw some difficulty in a regular issue, 

 owing to the Long Vacation. Mr. Grove then remarked 

 that the difficulty, if the project were well launched, might 

 be overcome by keeping back some communications which 

 did not demand immediate issue. Dr. Carpenter suggested 

 that it would be highly advantageous if a list of contem- 

 poraneous papers, published in foreign Transactions, were 

 inserted in these Proceedings. 



On Feb. 23rd, Dr. Sharpey stated that the Council of the 

 Royal Society was anxious to make improvements in the 

 publication of its Proceedings and thus encourage the 

 communication to its meetings of notices and papers not 

 intended for the Philosophical Transactions. Mr. Grove 

 considered that some changes should be made in the rules 

 to facilitate the publication of such papers, because pro- 

 duction now went on so rapidly that authors would suffer 

 by waiting for publication in the Transactions. Dr. Sharpey 

 thought that the Proceedings might offer a means for rapid 

 publication of the fundamental points in a discovery ; the 



