242 
MCGEE. 
publications are edited by the secretary under the direction 
of the library committee; and while it is provided that the 
“ Society is not responsible as a body for the facts and opinions 
advanced in any of its publications/’ the secretary and library 
committee are vested with large discretibnary powers and 
practically vouch for the propriety and general scientific or 
technical value of every published paper. The society 
thereby incurs a limited responsibility for its publications, 
and this responsibility is definitely fixed upon the editor and 
library committee by the frequent publication of their names 
and official functions. 
In the American Institute of Mining Engineers the council 
(the administrative body of the institute) decide upon the 
propriety of all communications, and so incur a limited 
responsibility for them as definite units, though responsibility 
for statements of fact and opinion contained therein is dis¬ 
claimed. In this case, too, the secretary is virtually editor 
of all publications of the society. 
In the National Academy of Sciences the standards of 
membership are high, and large responsibility is thrown 
upon the authors of communications ; but there is a com¬ 
mittee on publications who incur limited responsibility 
(proportionate to the powers with which they are vested) for 
the records of research; while the administrative records 
are prepared by the home secretary ; and the names and 
functions of these officers are annually published. 
In the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science the permanent secretary is ex officio editor, and all 
communications are sifted by the sectional committees and 
by the standing committee, and sometimes the question of 
publication is decided by vote of a section. So the society 
at present assumes large responsibility for the character 
of its publications. But during its early years, when its 
standards of membership were different, communications 
were accepted upon their merits and the reputation of 
their authors, as in the National Academy of Sciences, 
and there were no statutory provisions for scrutinizing them 
