REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1937-38 xxv 



formulate a scheme for the new Division referred to above was instructed 

 also to consider and report upon the whole question of publication by the 

 Association. 



The Committee, after considering various schemes in detail, recommend 

 that as from the year 1939-40 the Annual Volume should be superseded 

 by a Quarterly Report. The annual volume following the Cambridge 

 Meeting would thus be the last of its series. 



The principal considerations which have led the Committee to make this 

 recommendation are as follows : 



Quarterly publication should go far to overcome the widespread belief 

 that the British Association is inactive except during its annual meeting. 

 The fact that it now administers the Norman Lockyer, Alexander Pedler, 

 and Radford Mather lectures (which are given at times and places other 

 than those of the annual meetings) points to the desirability of publication 

 at less than annual intervals ; and the establishment of the new Division 

 on the lines recommended would strongly reinforce this argument. 



Quarterly publication would provide the means of keeping members 

 and the public informed as to the activities of the Association, as an annual 

 volume cannot. Quarterly publication should achieve a wider circulation 

 than the annual volume does for individual communications which call 

 for a wider publicity than they receive by inclusion in an annual volume. 



It is recommended that the Quarterly should appear in October, 

 January, April and July. The size proposed is royal octavo (approxi- 

 mately 10 X 6h in.). It is suggested that the title The Advancement of 

 Science should be transferred to the Quarterly from the present publica- 

 tion which bears that name and contains the presidential addresses given 

 at the annual meeting. In substitution for the publication of all these 

 addresses together, it is proposed to issue individual addresses separately, 

 at the time of the meeting. 



The bulk of the material made available from the annual meeting would 

 appear in the October and January numbers. There should, however, 

 be the fullest possible measure of elasticity. This consideration might be 

 expected to apply especially to the reports of research committees, for 

 which delayed publication is sometimes found desirable ; or on the other 

 hand publication in advance of the meeting at which a particular research 

 is to be discussed might be allowed at the discretion of the appropriate 

 Organising Sectional Committee. 



[It is considered that the Journal of Sectional Transactions, as at present 

 issued at the annual meeting and subsequently incorporated in the Annual 

 Report, is of little value as a permanent record. It is proposed that the 

 present Programme and Timetable should include the programme of 

 each Section separately (as the Journal does now), with abstracts of the 

 briefest possible nature, or none where titles of communications would 

 suffice alone. The transactions of the Sections should be reported in the 

 Quarterly in narrative form, and] so far as finance would allow there should 

 be additional opportunity for publication in extenso or full abstract, and 

 for the reporting of discussions. 



No changes in the terms of membership subscription are recom- 

 mended ; life members and annual members now entitled to receive the 



