CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 533 
Prof. H. H. Swinnerton’s ‘Outlines of Paleontology.’ Furthermore, no real 
enthusiast in research who strives to help himself, will fail to receive a sympathetic 
welcome from those who have made such research their profession and are in a 
position to give friendly advice. 
On the motion of Mr. T. Sheppard the President was warmly thanked 
for his Address. 
The Conference then considered the subject of The Durability of Paper 
for Scientific Publications, Dr. ¥. A. Bather, F.R.S., moving the following 
resolution :-— 
‘The Delegates of Corresponding Societies in Conference on 
September 24, 1931, in London, desire to impress on the editors of 
all scientific publications, especially those issued by the Corresponding 
Societies, the importance of printing at least a limited issue of those 
publications, both text and plates, on a durable paper (such as those 
designated Grades 1 and 2 by the Library Association in its recent 
Report, 1930), and requests the Council of the British Association to 
communicate this resolution with its endorsement to all publishing 
societies with which it is in correspondence.’ 
Dr. Bather referred at length to the serious risk of certain valuable 
records being lost or not available for future reference because of the 
non-durability of the paper upon which they have been printed, and he 
urged the importance of printing and publishing communications and 
records of local scientific observations upon paper of proved durability, 
Mr. Norman Partey. 
The Library Association issued last autumn its report on ‘ Durability of Paper.’ 
Until then there had been no public standard of durability in this country, very few 
papers were watermarked, and price was no reliable guide: that is, an expensive 
paper could not safely be assumed to be a durable one. Nor could an editor, a 
librarian or a publisher, still less an ordinary book- 
purchaser, ascertain whether a book was printed on a 
reliable paper or not. This state of affairs, which 
applied also in other countries, led the International 
Committee on Intellectual Co-operation of the League 
of Nations in August, 1928, to resolve :— 
‘That the attention of Governments should 
be drawn to the necessity of using for documents 
(and printed matter) of permanent value 
only papers manufactured according to (given) 
specifications.’ 
During the same year Mr. Arundell Esdaile of the 
British Museum had mentioned to me his interest in 
the subject, and in an article in the Library Associa- 
tion Record, edited by him, I had revived a scheme 
for grades of paper, made to specifications to 
be agreed. This project was formulated by the 
Society of Arts in 1898, and carried a stage further 
by the Library Association between 1905 and 1913, 
but had not achieved permanent results. 
Resolutions passed at two Library Conferences in 
the autumn of 1928 led the Library Association to set 
up a committee, which, strengthened by co-options 
and supported by technical and propaganda sub- 
committees, completed its main task with the issue 
of the unanimous report late in 1930, a very con- 
densed summary of which is given below. = 
This report deals first with the durability of ~ 
