PROCEKDINOS 



OF 



THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE 



Extract from the Annual Address of the President, A. B. Macallum, 

 M.B., Ph.D. 



(Delivered November 7th, 1896.) 



The success which the Council has achieved during the past session in the 

 management of the Canadian Institute has enabled the Editing Committee to 

 formulate an improved method of publication, a method which is more in accord 

 with the present requirements of Science. In the past our volumes of " Trans- 

 actions " appeared at irregular intervals, and in some cases very long after the papers 

 published in them had been read before the Institute. Speedy publication for 

 scientific papers of value is a great desideratum. No investigator relishes the 

 prospect of having his results held over for an inconveniently long time, with the 

 chance that when they are published they may be out of touch with the literature 

 of the subject appearing between the date of presentation and that of publication. 

 In this case, also, he must face the risk of his results being anticipated by another 

 worker in the same field. He, therefore, looks for speedy publication of his papers, 

 immediately they are completed, and those means are sought which offer this 

 advantage. 



In consequence of these considerations, and desiring to attract scientific papers 

 of merit to the Institute, the Editing Committee has decided to change the present 

 mode of publication. It will not affect the " Transactions," which will be published 

 as heretofore, but at the end of the Session, and containing only carefully selected 

 papers worthy of publication in extenso. The point of departure is in the 

 institution of " Proceedings," one number of which is to appear every two months 

 during the session, and each will contain the short papers, and the abstracts of 

 others read before the Institute in the preceding interval. This will ensure speedy 

 publication, and at the same time put a premium upon brevity, while it will enable 

 the Editing Committee to exercise greater freedom in the choice of papers for the 

 volume of the " Transactions." If the Institute is to maintain its large list of 

 Exchanges, it must strive for a highl standard in the papers which it publishes. 

 Having had in the past but one mode of publication, it was natural that the 

 Editing Committee should have difficulties to contend with. Papers which con- 

 tained matter of interest, from a scientific, historical, or other point of view, but 

 were of inordinate length, were frequently offered for publication. These had to be 

 accepted outright or rejected summarily. There was no middle course. With the 

 plan now adopted, the Editing Committee can offer, for very short papers of value, 

 such an opportunity for speedy publication as will considerably offset the sacrifices 

 made for brevity. I trust that the men of science in the Dominion will avail 

 themselves of the advantages now offered, and that the new venture will be a success. 



