for the year 1877. xiii 



Royal Society. In view of this proposition, then, some little 

 time since, when the Medical Society had the question of 

 building a house of meeting under consideration, overtures 

 were made by your Council to their committee with the view, 

 if possible, of affording accommodation on these premises to 

 that society ; and it was thought not improbable that this 

 and other kindred societies might be similarly domiciled in 

 this building, which might then become known as the 

 Institute of Scientific Societies, or under some such name. 

 I regret, however, to state that the proposition does not 

 seem to have been favourably entertained, although if 

 adopted it could not have failed to have been beneficial to 

 both societies, enabling them together to have instituted 

 most convenient arrangements, which alone neither can well 

 secure. 



Our library is rapidly increasing by donations from kindred 

 societies in all parts of the world with which we are in com- 

 munication, and some scheme by which these valuable books 

 may be easily found on the bookshelves and be made imme- 

 diately available to our members,, is now imperatively 

 demanded, and is under the consideration of your Council. 



The state of publication of our Transactions is satisfactory ; 

 aU the contributions, except those at our last meeting, have 

 been printed in pamphlet form and distributed to the mem*' 

 bers, and another volume, in which these are included, is 

 now in the press. Some of our earlier volumes are nearly 

 out of print, and we are thus unable to supply societies that 

 exchange with us with full sets of the Transactions. A 

 question has therefore been raised whether we should not 

 reprint these volumes either in fuU or partly in abstract, 

 and as many of you are aware a Sub-Committee has been 

 appointed to report on the matter. 



Referring now to the work of the session, we find that the 



Society has held eight ordinary meetings since our last 



b2 



