In the past ESN managed to survive quite well without membership dues (see Section 2), but the recent global changes in politics and finance made it increasingly difficult to sustain this policy. Therefore the Council in 2002 decided to register ESN as a Charity in the U.K. (as is ISN) which has the main benefit that income is non-taxable, and attractive banking arrangements are available for such Charities. ESN is now a registered charitable company in the UK , with the author acting as Company Secretary. ESN has now its own web-site (http://www.biokemia.sote.hu/ESN/esn.html), with links through the ISN Portal to relevant Societies. Past and potential members are now encouraged to pay the very small annual subscription of 25 Euro.

In the future it is hoped that the original objectives of ESN will not be forgotten or overlooked: the fostering of good communications between basic and clinical scientists, and with other neuroscience societies, and particularly the encouragement of young scientists.

References

Bachelard, H. (1988). A Brief History of Neurochemistry in Britain and of the Neurochemical Group of the British Biochemical Society. J. Neurochem . 50 , 992-995.

Bachelard, H. (1993). 25 Years of the International Society for Neurochemistry. J. Neurochem . 61 , S297-307.

Bachelard, H.S. (1997). A Brief History of the European Society for Neurochemistry, in Neurochemistry: Cellular, Molecular and Clinical Aspects (Ed. A Teelken & J Korf), New York , Plenum Press, Chapter 1, pp. 1-7

McIlwain, H. (1985). In the Beginning: to Celebrate 20 Years of the International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN). J.Neurochem . 45 , 1-10.

Tower, D.B. (1987). The American Society for Neurochemistry (ASN): Antecedents, Founding and Early Years. J.Neurochem . 48 , 313-326.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful for their constructive comments to Bernd Hamprecht and to Tony Turner and George Lunt (who also provided information about the Bath gorgon).

† These European pioneers of Neurochemistry are now sadly deceased