224 
MCGEE. 
The Geological Society of London was selected because, 
although it has a local habitation, its relations to its country 
are much the same as those which must obtain between the 
Geological Society of America and the land of its labors, 
because it is an old society and its publications represent the 
outcome of the experience of generations, and because most 
of its publications are accessible. 
The publications of several other scientific societies were 
examined in greater or less detail, yet they were not included 
in the final study partly by reason of the labor involved 
and the space required for their description, but chiefly be¬ 
cause their publications seldom exhibit relations not equally 
well exhibited by those of the societies noted below, and it 
so became apparent that further extension of the study 
would be practically fruitless. The generalizations and in¬ 
ductions recorded in the following pages are, however, based 
in part upon examination of the serials issued by these ad¬ 
ditional societies. 
From the nature of the case, the study was essentially 
critical, and the supposed defects in plans and methods of 
publication have been unsparingly recorded, while the fea¬ 
tures considered good have been strongly brought out. In¬ 
deed, each serial and group of serials has been treated as 
impersonally as would have been a series of formations or a 
group of rocks, or as species and genera are treated by the 
biologist. 
The Serials studied. 
The American Society of Civil Engineers, with a large 
and practically national membership, a fixed home, and 
frequent local as well as annual migratory meetings, pub¬ 
lishes rather voluminously in two 8vo serials—the first, , or 
Proceedings, being chiefly an administrative record, while 
the second, or Transactions (accompanied by maps, plates, 
diagrams, etc.), is a record of research. 
The American Institute of Mining Engineers, with a nom¬ 
inal place of abode, a national representation in its member- 
