284 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
chocks. Discussion almost invariably takes place ; though whether 
any previous arrangement to ensure this is made, I cannot tell. 
After the public business is over, there is an adjournment to 
an adjoining apartment for refreshments ; in which apartment 
there are comfortable chairs and sofas, where members and their 
friends can chat together if they like. There is also at these 
meetings a greater variety of refreshments than we provide. 
I trust I may be excused for referring to these common-place 
details, but I attach so much importance to a good attendance at 
our evening meetings, that I would desire to leave no means un- 
tried to secure it. 
What are the means w T hich, for this purpose, I suggest? 
ls£, I think that papers of so abstruse a nature as not to be 
intelligible to three-fourths of the members, ought not to be read, 
nor even an abstract of them, — but only a verbal account given of 
the nature of the paper, and its bearings. 
2 dj No paper, however intelligible, should be read verbatim , 
unless it occupy only a few minutes, say fifteen or twenty, but 
only an abstract of it shall be read or verbally stated. 
3d, The members of Council to whom the paper has been re- 
ferred to report on its fitness for the Society should be prepared, 
after the author has read his paper or stated its substance, to give 
their opinion of the merits of the paper, the President for the night 
also adding a few remarks. 
4 th, Diagrams, where possible, ought to be exhibited, one-half 
of the cost of which should be paid from the Society’s funds, sub- 
ject to the check of a committee. 
5th , It shall be competent for a Fellow at the commencement of 
business, with the leave of the Secretary and President for the 
night, to exhibit any article or object, organic or inorganic, or any 
instrument of scientific interest recently discovered or invented, 
and give a short verbal explanation, it being understood that such 
verbal explanations shall be concluded before 8.15 p.m., so that the 
written papers announced in the billet may then be proceeded with. 
5th, There ought to be in the retiring-room something better 
provided, in the way of refreshment, than a cup of tea, as also chairs 
or sofas for the convenience of those who attend the meetings. 
2. The next point to which I advert is the existence of certain 
