Decembee 25, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



913 



editorial examination whicli most journals 

 demand. The Proceedings of the Eoyal 

 Society, on the other hand, appear at irreg- 

 ular intervals, and frequently contain long 

 and detailed papers, which with us might 

 better find a place in the special journals. 

 In the case of the National Academy it is 

 doubtful whether publication at shorter 

 intervals than one month is necessary, but 

 the possible advantages of fortnightly pub- 

 lication should be carefully considered. 



It goes without saying that papers for the 

 Proceedings, while comparatively brief (per- 

 haps averaging from three to five pages), 

 should not be hasty announcements based 

 on inadequate data. On the contrary, the 

 dignity of the National Academy and the 

 best interests of its members demand that 

 only carefully matured conclusions, re- 

 sulting from prolonged observational or 

 theoretical research, should appear under 

 the Academy's imprint. Measures and 

 other exact data needed to establish these 

 conclusions would be a necessary part of 

 such papers, though long numerical tables, 

 profuse illustrations, and detailed accounts 

 of minor topics should be reserved for pub- 

 lication in the special journals, to which 

 members would continue to contribute as 

 before. The Academy Proceedings would 

 thus serve for the first announcement of 

 discoveries and of the more important con- 

 tributions to research, illustrated by line 

 cuts and occasional halftones in the text, 

 when essential to clearness, but free from 

 unnecessary detail and extensive numerical 

 data. Non-members, as well as members, 

 should be invited to contribute, with the 

 understanding that their papers are to be 

 presented by a member of the Academy, as 

 in the case of the Paris Academy and the 

 Eoyal Society.® 



6 The Proceedings should be so planned as to 

 interfere in the least possible degree with the 

 Journal of the "Washington Academy of Sciences, 



The constitution of the National Acad- 

 emy already provides for the issue of Pro- 

 ceedings, as well as Memoirs and Annual 

 Reports. In fact, as explained in a previ- 

 ous paper, three volumes of Proceedings 

 were published, though they did not contain 

 papers presented to the Academy. There is 

 therefore no need of any radical departure 

 requiring amendment of the constitution. 

 In other words, if sufficient funds are 

 available, this very important step toward 

 the development of the Academy can be 

 taken by simple affirmative vote.'' 



The annual volumes of the Proceedings, 

 bringing together for the first time the best 

 product of American research, would place 

 the Academy in a clearer light before the 

 academic world. Annual Reports and 

 infrequent volumes of Memoirs receive 

 scant attention, except from a few special- 

 ists, in the libraries of our contemporary 

 societies. But the Proceedings, published 

 at regular intervals, and containing a stand- 

 ing notice of the Academy's publications, 

 would aid in making them better known. 

 The quarto Memoirs, eleven volumes of 

 which have already appeared, afford an ex- 

 cellent place for extended publication, 

 when the necessity for lengthy tables, nu- 

 merous plates, or long discussions of data 

 places the manuscript beyond the reach of 

 the special journals. The publication of 

 the Proceedings might serve to disclose 



which is a publication similar in character to the 

 one here proposed. As the Journal is devoted 

 mainly to work done in Washington, or presented 

 before the various Washington societies (other 

 than the National Academy), no important over- 

 lapping of the two publications need be antici- 

 pated, especially as members of this Academy 

 have rarely contributed to the Journal. 



7 [The Academy voted, at its meeting of No- 

 vember, 1913, to begin the publication of Pro- 

 ceedings as soon as arrangements could be per- 

 fected. The first number will appear in January, 

 1915.] 



