THE 
GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE 
VOLUME LVIII. 
No. IV.—APRIL, 1921. 
EDITORIAL NOTES. 
-Owrne to the incidence of the EHaster holidays in the last week of 
March, we are obliged this month to go to press at an unusually 
early date. Consequently one or two items which should normally 
have been included in this number are unavoidably postponed. 
For this we wish to express our regrets. 
* * i * sk 
THE list of fifteen candidates nominated by the Council for election 
to the Royal Society, published just too late to be mentioned in 
our March number, includes the name of only one geologist, Mr. C.S8. 
Middlemiss, C.1.E., late of the Geological Survey of India and now 
Superintendent of the Mineral Survey of Kashmir. To him we 
tender our hearty congratulations. It will be remembered that last 
year no geologist received the honour of election. There is a wide- 
spread feeling that the state of affairs with regard to the number of 
candidates now awaiting election is in need of careful consideration 
by the Council of the Royal Society. In the list issued last February 
there are 118 names, belonging to nearly thirty distinct categories. 
Of these the largest number (23) belong to the medical profession ; 
20 to the chemists, 10 to the electrical and civil engineers, 10 to 
the geologists, 10 are botanists, 8 zoologists, 7 mathematicians, 7 
physiologists, 2 mineralogists, 4 naval architects, 3 entomologists, 
and about 12 of unique scientists (including one veterimary surgeon). 
Many of these have been suspended for three or four years, and as 
only fifteen are elected annually, a large proportion stand very 
little chance of admission within a reasonable time, if ever. Whether 
the enormous importance attached by the scientific world to the 
Fellowship of the Royal Society is ultimately to the benefit of 
science in general is a matter that we do not propose to discuss ; 
the fact remains that it is the heart’s desire of all scientific men, and 
we would respectfully suggest to the Council that the time has now 
arrived when they might well consider the possibility of a substantial 
addition to the number of annual elections. Far be it from us to 
advocate any lowering of the standard ; our point is that the number 
of those fully qualified has of late increased so ereatly that many 
men as good as or even better than those elected a few years ago are 
now perforce left out in the cold, to the great discouragement of 
themselves and of the coming generation who have not yet reached 
the stage of candidature. In our opinion the Fellowship of the Royal 
Society should be regarded as an encouragement to future effort, 
as well as a reward for meritorious work in the past. 
VOL. LVIII.—NoO. IV. 10 
