publication, and still further delayed the appearance of our annual volume. The accumulation of delays due to such causes was so serious that the articles which were accepted for printing could not be published at the expected date. For these reasons the issue of the volume of Transactions became seriously irregular. The return to conditions which are more nearly normal during the present year has, I am glad to say, enabled our Editor, who has been most energetic and unsparing of himself, to make up for time which under the circumstances was unavoidably lost. As a result the papers and proceedings which should have been published in 1922 did not appear until December, 1923. The articles which were accepted for publication in 1922 and 1923 were published in a single volume—No. 55 of our series—as directed by the Board of Governors, in September, 1924. Now that the ground has been cleared and all arrears have been published, we have every reason to think that the next volume will appear on the due date. While this is satisfactory and reflects great credit on our Editor, another aspect of the matter is by no means a subject of congratulation. The charges for printing and issue are constantly mounting up, and the total reached its highest point in the publication of the last volume. The situation that has arisen is one that must receive the earnest consideration of the Board of Governors. The heavy strain that the issue of our annual volume has exerted on the finances of the Institute for several years past has more than once been the subject of urgent remark by gentlemen who have previously occupied the presidential chair, but the position has now become so acute that it seems that the Board of Governors will have to take some decided action. If you turn to the table of receipts and expenditure you will find that the ordinary revenue amounts to only £1,325, while the ordinary expenditure is £1,882, if we exclude on both sides sums connected with research grants and trust funds, which, of course, cannot be appropriated for the ordinary purposes of the Institute. It is obvious that if we wish to maintain the high scientific status of the Institute as gauged by the quality of our volume of Transactions we must find means to increase our revenue or we must decrease our expenditure. Oar revenue at present, as the Governors are aware, is derived from a Government grant, a levy on members, and by the sale of publications. Whether an increase in any of these sources of revenue can be hoped for is a matter that should be most carefully considered. Our expenditure is incurred in the printing of the Transactions, the salary of the Assistant Secretary and Librarian, the travelling-expenses of the Governors, with incidentals amounting to about £20. It is clear that at the present time the cost of printing alone is considerably more than our revenue, and unless this is reduced we cannot possibly pay our way. Those who know the amount and nature of the work of the Assistant Secretary and Librarian are doubtless aware that increase rather than decrease under this head is most reasonable. The other items of expenditure are comparatively insignificant. The cost of printing has increased enormously of recent years. I find that the first volume, printed in 1869, cost 14s. 2d. per page. In the twenty-second volume, 1889, each page cost 9s. 5d. The cost was only