part 1] AIS'NUAL EEPORT. xvii 



Memorandum on the Publications of the Societ}^ (Presented 

 to the Council, June 23rd, 1920.) 



(1) In the Memorandum on the Finances of the Society it 

 was shown that, according to the general scheme of finance, now 

 accepted by the Council, there would be a sum of about £1250 

 available for scientific publications, after meeting other necessary 

 charges. Of this the Abstracts of Proceedings will absorb about 

 £200, the regular issue of the List of Geological Literature 

 about £250, leaving £800 available for the Quarterly Journal, 

 or about the sum actually spent per volume in the last few years ; 

 during which only a small number of papers were offered for 

 pubhcation. 



The return to more normal conditions has made a change in 

 this respect, a larger number of original contributions has been 

 submitted to the Societ}^, and the Publication Committee have 

 passed, as worthy of publication in the Quarterly Journal, an 

 amount of matter which was estimated to cost nearl}' £1700, and, 

 with costs of printing and paper now higher than at the time 

 when some of the estimates were prepared, the actual cost will be 

 not less and probably higher than the estimate. The sum required 

 is, consequently^ rather more than double of what can be provided 

 out of actual income, if the present series of publications and 

 standard of merit is preserved. 



(2) It must be noted that the increase in the cost of papers 

 passed for publication does not indicate any undue leniency on the 

 part of the Publication Committee, nor any unusual glut of 

 papers due to passing causes. Before 1914 the oi'dinar}^ cost 

 of the Journal varied between about £800 and £1000 per annum, 

 and for this the Society was able to publish all the matter offered 

 which it regarded as worthy of publication. With the increased 

 ■cost of paper, printing, and especially of illustrations, the 

 expenditure previous to 1914 would now be equivalent to from 

 £2000 to £2500 per annum, and the £1700 passed by the Publi- 

 cation Committee during the present Session may be regarded as 

 -an approximate return to normal conditions, and not as a passing 

 phase. 



(3) Something might be done towards balancing expenditure 

 wdth income by bringing pressure on authors to condense their 

 communications ; some of the more questionably suitable papers 

 might be eliminated, but the reduction which could so be made 

 would go a very short way towards covering the deficit, and 

 there are only three courses open. First, to set a much higlier 

 standard for publication, and to reject more than half of what 

 is now considered fit ; secondly, to restrict the distribution of 

 iAie Journal, and abandon one or both of the other forms of 

 publication ; or thiixllj^ to find a fresh source of income. 



YOL, LXXYII. h 



