HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF THE GEOLOGICAL-SOCIETY JOURNAL

The Geological Society's Transactions, its earliest periodical (from 181 1), published the full texts of a few selected papers, with fine illustrations, but generally long after they had been read at one of the meetings. Conversely, the Proceedings (from 1826) recorded all the papers soon after they had been delivered, but only in abstract and without illustrations. The launching of the Quarterly Journal (1845) was an attempt to combine the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages of the earlier periodicals. After a shaky start, it proved highly successful through the rest of the nineteenth century and much of the twentieth, and was the direct forerunner of today's Journal.