A Note on the History of the Statutes. 505 



Cap. XX. " Of the selecting of Papers laid before the Society, in 

 order for Publication," establishes and lays down regulations for the 

 " Committee of Papers." These regulations are almost verbatim the 

 same as Sees. 1 to 4 of Cap. XIII., " Of the Publication of Papers," of 

 the Statutes in force at the present time, except that the Quorum of 

 the Committee of Papers is five, not seven, and a provision is contained 

 that no entry in the Minute-book of the Committee is to be made 

 of Papers " thought improper to be laid before the public." 



In the Statute in its original form the Committee " shall be at liberty 

 to call in to their assistance . . . any other members of the Society 

 who are knowing and well skilled in any particular branch of Science 

 that shall happen to be the subject-matter of any paper which shall 

 be then to come under their deliberation," and almost the same words 

 are retained in the Statutes at present in force. The custom of the 

 Committee is now, and for a long time has been, to " call in to their 

 assistance " two or more Fellows, by asking for written reports, and 

 such Fellows so assisting are generally spoken of as " referees." The 

 earliest mention which has been found in the Society's records of a 

 paper being "referred" is on May 25th, 1780, when a 

 paper by Mr. Ludlow was "referred" to Mr. Cavendish 

 and Dr. Hutton. There does not appear to be a similar record until 

 March 21st, 1831, when a paper by Prof. Davy was 

 nn * 1831> referred to Mr. Faraday. By 1832, however, the practice 

 of referring papers seems to have become very common. For some 

 time the name of the person (or persons) to whom the paper was referred 

 is stated in the Minutes of the Committee of Papers, and in all these 

 cases, including those just mentioned, the persons in question were 

 members of the then Council. Very soon, however, the name was 

 omitted, the entry being simply "referred." There seems to be no 

 means of ascertaining when "referees" outside the Council were 

 first had recourse to, or when the practice of written reports first 

 began. 



Cap. XXI. "Of the Manner of Publication of the Papers laid before 

 the Society, and defraying the Expences thereof," provides for the print- 

 ing and distribution of the Philosophical Transactions, and is to a large 

 extent, even in its very words, the same as Sees. 5 to 9 of Cap. XIII. 

 of the Statutes at present in force, the word " Clerk " being used where 

 "Assistant Secretary" is now used. 



Payments by Fellows. 



In order to defray the additional expenses thus incurred by the publi- 

 cation and gratis distribution to the Fellows of the Philosophical 

 Transactions, the " admission-money" is by Sec. 2 of Cap. XXI. raised 

 from two guineas to five guineas. In Cap. III. of the Statutes of 1663, 



