Xviii PEOCEEDIIS^GS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, [vol. Ixxvii^ 



The first of these is fraught with difficulty and danger ; Avere 

 the reduction merely a matter of 10 or 20 per cent, it might 

 be feasible, but Avhen the reduction amounts to fully 60 per cent., 

 it ceases to be so. From the papers submitted and at present 

 passed for publication it would be impossible to separate out 

 one half as distinctly more valuable than the rest, and the 

 elimination of one half Avould certainl}'^ exclude from publication 

 much Avhich is of unmistakable interest and A'alue. This method 

 of solving the problem seems to be inconsistent with the object 

 of the Society's existence, and in the end detrimental to its 

 interests. 



The second course would at best but partly meet the difficulty. 

 The Council has already decided that the Abstracts of Proceedings 

 shall be continued, it will probably be averse to discontinuing the 

 List of Geological Literature, and, even if both were abandoned, 

 only about £450 would be provided, or not more than half of 

 the sum required to maintain the Quarterly Journal with the 

 existing standard of fitness for publication. Another possible source 

 of saving Avhicli suggests itself and has been carefully investigated, 

 is a restriction on the distribution of the Journal ; at present it is 

 distributed free to ever}^ Fellow (with the exception of 13 who 

 have specially asked that it shall not be sent), and, if the distri- 

 bution were restricted to those who took the trouble to ask specialh" 

 for it, there would be a saving through the smaller number winch 

 need be printed. The amount of this saving is difficult to estimate 

 exactly, but it would be between £10 and £15 per 100 copies on 

 each number costing about £250 to produce, that being about the 

 cost of the more recent numbers of the Journal. It is also imjDos- 

 sible to o-auo;e the reduction which could be made in the numbers 

 printed ; but it would need that more than half the Fellows should 

 forego their Journal to give a saving of £450 per annum, and it is 

 certain that not nearly this proportion Nvould be willing to do so, 

 more especially if the issue of the Abstracts of Proceedings Avere 

 abandoned. 



There remains, then, the third solution, an increase of income, 

 and one Ava}'^ of procuring this Avould be an all-round increase of the 

 rate of Annual Contribution. This source of income has been fully 

 investio:ated and discussed in the Memorandum on the Finances of 

 the Society, Avhere it was shoAvn that a general increase to 3 guineas 

 a year AA^ould not produce as much as is needed, and an increase 

 to 4 guineas should yield more than is required. The other 

 arguments against this procedure remaining as cogent as cA^er, 

 its adoption cannot be recommended mitil other methods haA^e been 

 tried and found wanting. 



(4) One such method Avould be the cessation of the free distri- 

 bution of the Journal to all Fellows. That some regular periodical 

 publication should be so distributed seems essential to the Avelfare 

 and even the continuance of the Society; but, for this purpose, 

 the comjDaratively inexpensive Abstracts of Proceedings Avould 



