EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 
227 
The Boston Society of Natural History, like the Philadel¬ 
phia Academy, has a commodious home, its membership is 
largely local, and it holds frequent meetings. It leads the 
National Academy in its list of six regular and four subordi¬ 
nate serials, though it falls far behind in editions and in 
distribution. In early days it followed the example of the 
Philadelphia society first in setting out with a Journal as a 
record primarily of research, and second in the issue of a 
substantial serial called Proceedings, chiefly as a record of 
administration ; as in Philadelphia, too, the research record 
was enlarged (its name being changed to Memoirs); and, 
again as in Philadelphia, the character of the administra¬ 
tive record gradually changed until it has become princi¬ 
pally a record of research and only subordinate^ an ac¬ 
count of administration. Meanwhile, the research record 
has weakened, and may be regarded as certainly decadent, 
only one number having appeared in the last 17 years. 
This loss of vitality may be attributed in part to the initia¬ 
tion of the series of Occasional Papers as a vehicle for re¬ 
search records, and the issue of the semi-centennial volume 
of Anniversary Memoirs, which gave outlet to the results of 
several original investigations. The Proceedings, however, 
seems scarcely to perform the function of an administrative 
record to the satisfaction of the Society ; and the dissatisfac¬ 
tion has found expression in the issue of the Conditions and 
Doings, the Custodians’ Deports, the Annual Deports, the 
Proceedings of the Annual Meetings, and perhaps the 
Annual. 
The Geological Society of London has a fix^I place of abode 
and frequent meetings, and its large membership is chiefly 
national, but partly foreign. Like the ’older American 
societies, it began with the publication of a research record 
alone, and this serial, called Transactions, was vigorously 
maintained for generations ; as time went on the desirability 
of a record of administration appears to have been felt, and 
another serial, entitled Proceedings, was initiated ; the new 
serial grew and came to absorb part of the vitality of the old, 
