PREFACE TO VOL. VII. 



THE Second Series of the ROYAL SOCIETY'S Catalogue of. Scientific Papers, com- 

 prising those published or read in the decade 1864-1873, commences with the 

 present Volume. In addition to the subjects admitted into the original plan, it 

 includes Inaugural Addresses, Biographies, and papers on the History of Science. 



The titles of some papers published prior to 1863, but omitted in the First 

 Series, have been included in the present Series. They are distinguished by an 

 asterisk (*). Any additional titles that may be transcribed too late for insertion 

 in their proper places will be given in an Appendix to the Eighth Volume. 



The numbering of the titles of each Author's papers is consecutive from the 

 First Series, or from the Additions at the end of the Sixth Volume of that Series, 

 as the case may be. 



Although no pains have been spared to ensure the accuracy and the complete- 

 ness of the Catalogue, it is nevertheless liable to errors and deficiencies, which 

 are to some extent unavoidable. There are many provincial Societies, both English 

 and Foreign, of which it is not easy to procure the publications ; and the difficulty 

 of classing the titles under the names of their respective authors is too often 

 increased by the various forms in which those names are written, by the frequent 

 absence of baptismal names, and by the not unfrequent occurrence of typo- 

 graphical errors in the original titles. 



It lias been found advisable to alter the references to certain well-known Journals 

 by substituting the title of the book for the name of the Editor. As in many cases 

 this had become imperative through the death or change of the Editor, the adoption 

 of some general rule became indispensable, and the one employed is (with two or 



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