No. 42.— 1891.] 



PROCEEDINGS. 



25 



Extract from the Minutes of a Meeting of the Council of the Asiatic 

 Society of Ceylon and Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 

 held in the Fort Library on Tuesday, August 5, 

 1890, at 4-30 p.m. 



8. Mr. Ramanathan deprecated the delay which takes place in the 

 publication of the Journals of the Society. The Honorary Secretary 

 urged that Papers contributed to the Society should be printed before 

 being read. After some discussion it was resolved that the Honorary 

 Treasurer and Honorary Secretaries be requested to submit some 

 proposal to the Council for expediting the printing of the Journal, 

 accompanied by a memorandum of the cost. 



True copy, 



F. H. M. Corbet, 

 Colombo, February 19, 1891. Honorary Secretary. 



Journals and Proceedings. 



Colombo, February 19, 1891. 



Gentlemen, — In accordance with resolution VIII. passed at a 

 Meeting held on Tuesday, August 5, 1890, empowering us to make 

 some proposals for expediting the publication of Papers read before 

 the Society, and to state the cost, we now tender a report embodying 

 the conclusions we have come to. 



2. Instead of the Journals and Proceedings (which have hitherto 

 respectively contained Papers read and accounts of the Meetings) being 

 published separately as hitherto, we would suggest that they be 

 published together under the designation of the " Journal of the 

 Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society." 



3. The Amalgamation of the Proceedings with the Journal offers 

 the following advantages : — 



(a) Its appearance will be improved. 

 (&) It will be more handy for readers, 

 (c) It will entail less labour to edit. 

 (cl) It can be issued more expeditiously. 



4. Persons interested in the subject dealt with in a Paper naturally 

 prefer to peruse the report of the discussion on the Paper at the 

 Meeting at which it was read in immediate connection with the Paper 

 itself, instead of having to turn to separate Proceedings for the argu- 

 ments, &c. 



5. It detracts from the value of a Paper if criticisms made upon it 

 by Members are not published with it. The Proceedings when inserted 

 in their proper place in the J ournal are more likely to be read than 

 when published separately. At present they are of comparatively 

 little use and are almost lost sight of. 



6. It is proposed to follow the practice of many leading Societies, 

 i.e., to print Papers before they are formally read at General Meetings, 

 and to circulate proofs amongst Members and others likely to interest 

 themselves in the particular subjects dealt with. By this procedure, as 

 soon as Papers have been read and finally revised by the writers, they 

 can be printed off, together with a report of the Meetings at which 

 they were read. 



