XXVI PROCEEDINGS. 



our knowledge of the geographical distribution of plants. The Insti- 

 tute was the more indebted to Prof. Lawsoli for publishing these papers 

 in its Transactions, because, long before coining among us, he had 

 gained the ear of the scientific world, and the Transactions of several 

 of the Societies of the mother-country, which formed much better 

 means of publication than ours, were open to him. I know that pre- 

 viously to the last few years, he ielt very keenly the i-erious drawbacks 

 connected with publishing in the Transactions of the Institute. Ac that 

 time the Council rigorously demanded that no paper should be published' 

 in our Transactions which had previously appeared elsewhere, while, at 

 the same time, little effort was made to distribute our Transactions among 

 Scientific Societies throughout the world. Of course, also, none of the 

 larger scientific societies or magazines would publish a paper which had 

 previously appeared here. Papers published in our Transactions were 

 thus, to a certain extent, buried, and authors could bring them to the 

 notice of scientific men elsewhere only by distributing separate 

 copies. During the last few years the policy of the Council 

 has been changed. Our Transactions are now sent to all important 

 Scientific Societies throughout the world, and, in addition, to a very 

 large number of Universities, Public Libraries and Museums. A 

 paper which is published in our Transactions, therefore, has some 

 chance of being seen. But, besides that, in several cases recently, the 

 Council has wisely permitted the publication of papers which had been 

 communicated to it, previously to their appearance in our Transactions, 

 on the simple condition of their being credited to the Institute. To a 

 man like Dr. Lawson, who had the best avenues of publication open to 

 him, these modifications of our policy were a great relief ; for they 

 permitted him to communicate researches to the Institute and yet to 

 feel confident that he was not thereby hiding them away. Conse- 

 quently, during the last few years, he had been able to bring a larger 

 number of papers before the Institute than formerly, and he had pro- 

 jected a series of valuable papers on the Flora of Nova Scotia, which 

 were to have been communicated to us. The first of this series was 

 read on February 9th, 1891, and appears in our Transactions at p. 84 

 of the eighth volume. The second was read on the 14th December, 

 1891 ; but the manuscript required revision when our issue of that year 

 went to press, and the burden of other duties, together with failing 

 health, had, 1 fear, prevented its revision altogether. 



