1875.] President's Address. 73 



The Library Committee has had under consideration the mode of 

 publication of our ' Transactions/ so as to afford to specialists and the 

 public the opportunity of obtaining copies of separate papers at the lowest 

 cost. The result is a recommendation, adopted by the Council, that a 

 certain number of copies of every paper — the paging as in the Transac- 

 tions being retained — shall be placed with the publishers, Messrs. Triibner 

 and Co., for separate sale, without prejudice to the usual grant of free 

 copies to the authors. It has also been determined that the Parts of 

 the Philosophical Transactions shall be published, with cut edges, in cloth 

 boards, at no additional cost to the Fellows. 



The Catalogue of Scientific Papers for the decade 1864 to 1873 inclu- 

 sive is so near completion, that it will be ready for the printer in a few 

 months. It comprises at present ninety-five thousand titles, and will 

 probably occupy two volumes, of the same dimensions as those already 

 published. As you are aware, the whole expense of preparing the Cata- 

 logue was borne by the Society, and the printing of the six volumes 

 was undertaken by the Treasury, at the instance of Lord Palmerston 

 and Mr. Gladstone. An application will be made to Her Majesty's 

 Government for the means of printing the decade now all but ready ; 

 it will cost proportionally less than the former series, and I cannot but 

 believe that the means for so important an undertaking will, as before, 

 be granted. 



The second volume of Dr. Klein's work ' On the Anatomy of the 

 Lymphatic System' has been published, and one hundred copies have 

 been distributed by the Council. The cost of the illustrations of this and 

 the former volume was defrayed out of the fund of the Government 

 Grant. 



Tou will observe in the Treasurer's printed balance-sheet that a larger 

 sum than heretofore is now paid for insurance against fire. In entering 

 into occupation of our new house, your Council resolved on fully pro- 

 tecting the Society (so far as is possible by insurance), and an efficient 

 valuation of our property was made, the Library, containing more than 

 thirty-eight thousand books, being taken at .£18,000, and the Portraits 

 and Busts at £4000. 



Notice has been received from the Society's Solicitors that the portion 

 of the Dircks' Estate to which we are entitled — has at last been set free, 

 and that the amount (about £1000) will shortly be paid to our Trea- 

 surer. 



The Handley Bequest is, I regret to say, still sub judice in Chancery. 

 A portion of the Society's land at Acton, comprising 145 square yards, 

 required for the site of a Parsonage, has been sold to the Ecclesiastical 

 Commissioners for a sum of .£350. 



Tou have learned, with mingled feelings of regret and of satisfaction, 

 that our late most eminent Fellow, Sir Charles Wheats tone, has, with that 

 devotion to science and to the Society that distinguished his long and 



