NOTES ON HISTORY OF TIIK STATUTES 



and Dr. Hutton. There does not appear to be a similar record until Mart 1 

 1831, when a paper by Prof. Davy was referred to Mr. Faraday. By 1 

 however, the practice of referring papers seems to have become common. 

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

 i> >t<ited in the Minutes of the Committee of Papers, and in all these cases, 

 including those just mentioned, the persons in question wore member* of the 

 Council. Soon, however, the name was omitted, the entrv bring simply 

 'referred 1 . There seems to be no means of ascertaining when * referees' 1 

 outside the Council were first had recourse to, or when the practice of writ tm 

 reports first began. 



Cap. XXI, 'Of the manner of Publication of the Papers laid before tin- 

 Society, and defraying the Expences thereof," provides for the printing and 

 distribution of the ' Philosophical Transactions \ 



(e) Payments by Fellows. 



In order to defray the additional expenses thus incurred by the publication 

 and gratis distribution to the Fellows of the ' Philosophical Transactions ', the 

 4 admission-money ' is by Stat. ii of Cap. XXI raised from two guineas to five 

 guineas. In Cap. Ill of the Statutes of 1663, Of the Payments by the Fellow > 

 to the Society ,"* the admission-money is fixed at forty shillings, and indeed, in 

 the Edition of 1752, the same sum of forty shillings is retained in this Chapter, 

 the error apparently escaping notice. The change from forty shillings to forty - 

 two shillings (two guineas) seems to have taken place at some time in the 

 interval. 



II. THE STATUTES FROM 175,2 TO 1776. 



In 1774 and 1775, the Council were engaged in considering the Statutes, 

 and in 1776 published a new Edition, containing several important changes. 

 An interesting preface to this Edition (from which a quotation is given at 

 p. 159), explains that in spite of large changes in the practices of the Society, 

 the Statutes had been kept as far as possible in their original form ; and, 

 indeed, the Statutes of 1752 differ from those of 1663 chiefly in the additions 

 described above. 



In 1776, however, the Council determined to bring the Statutes into more 

 strict conformity with the practice of the Society, and in consequence the 

 Edition of 1776 differs widely from the two earlier versions. Five whole 

 chapters are omitted, viz. V, Of Experiments, and the Reports thereof; XI. 

 Of Curators by Office; XIII, Of the Printer to the Society ; XIV, Of Opera- 

 tors to the Society ; XVII, Of Benefactors ; the twenty-one chapters of 1752 

 being thus reduced to sixteen. The preface explains how the changes in the 

 Society had long rendered these Statutes unnecessary. 



The order of the several chapters is largely altered, the new arrangement 

 adopted being that which has on the whole been followed in subsequent 

 editions, and is still maintained. 



