1885.] 



President's Address. 



285 



can hope to better our present arrangements ; all that can be asked is 

 that they should be improved in some details, and more especially 

 that the time which necessarily intervenes between presentation and 

 publication should be minimised. 



The preparation of copy for the Catalogue of Scientific Papers, 

 decade 1874 — 85, now approaches completion. A total of 290 series 

 have been indexed, giving 85,000 title slips, written, checked, and 

 distributed. This number, which is within 10,000 of that contained 

 in the two volumes of the preceding decade, nearly exhausts the 

 material in our own library ; it remains to supplement this by 

 reference to other libraries. 



At the meeting on the 18th of June last, our Fellow, Professor 

 Roy, communicated to the Council the project entertained by himself, 

 Dr. Graham Brown, of Edinburgh, and Mr. Sherington (G. H. 

 Lewes Student, Cambridge), of proceeding to Spain with a view of 

 investigating the nature of cholera, and requested the assistance of 

 the Royal Society. 



In view of the great practical importance of such an investigation, 

 and the desirableness of making a new attempt to solve a problem 

 about which highly competent inquirers have arrived at contra- 

 dictory results, the President and Council resolved to do everything 

 which lay in their power to assist Dr. Roy and his colleagues. 

 The Secretary was instructed to inquire of the Spanish Minister 

 whether the proposed investigations would be agreeable to the Spanish 

 authorities, and whether Dr. Roy might expect to obtain facilities and 

 assistance. On the receipt of a courteous and sympathetic letter 

 from his Excellency, the Secretary was further instructed to inform 

 the Foreign Office of Dr. Roy's expedition, and to request that Her 

 Majesty's Government would afford him and his colleagues all the 

 assistance in their power. Moreover, £150 was granted from the 

 Donation Fund in aid of the expenses of the undertaking, which 

 were shared between the Royal Society and the Society for the 

 Advancement of Medicine by Research. 



I am sure the Fellows of the Society will join with me in con- 

 gratulating Dr. Roy, Dr. Brown, and Mr. Sherington on having 

 returned safe and sound from an adventure in which the interest of 

 scientific inquiry must have been heightened by a considerable spice 

 of personal danger. Dr. Roy has furnished me with a brief pre- 

 liminary report of the work done, the substance of which I proceed 

 to lay before the Society. 



The members of the Commission met with very serious difficulties 

 in their attempts to study the pathology of cholera in Spain, where 

 they spent three months ; but owing to the powerful support which 

 was given them by the English Embassy in Madrid, they were 



