DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



97 



fices with no binding contract; the edi- 

 tor is often only too glad to get 'copy,' 

 and dare not risk offending a contribu- 

 tor. But the experience of many years 

 in the conduct of many classes of pub- 

 lications has led us to the conviction 

 that the authors most likely to be of- 

 fended by judicious editing are those 

 whose services can best be spared. 

 Many, and especially beginners, often 

 express their gratitude for editorial ad- 

 vice, and in most cases an editor has 

 only to act suaviter in modo to be able 

 to proceed fortiter in re. Moreover, in 

 the case of the more serious and tech- 

 nical papers, these positions of author 

 and editor are often reversed, since it 

 is not so easy for an author to get his 

 memoir published, especially with the 

 requisite illustrations. Here, then, the 

 editor has the whip hand, and his 

 power is enhanced if he be acting for a 

 learned society of which the author is 

 a member. In brief, editors, as a rule, 

 have the power, and we beg them to 

 use it. Not every author can have a 

 university training, but all (except the 

 few rich and foolish enough to publish 

 for themselves) must submit their man- 

 uscripts to the blue pencil of an editor. 

 We want to see that blue pencil used. 



But this leads us to another unfortu- 

 nate influence tending to retard science, 

 and that is the ignorance and incom- 

 petence of editors. We speak as one of 

 the fraternity. How can an editor 

 know the conventions of physicists, of 

 zoologists, of botanists, of chemists, of 



geologists and all the rest? Specializa- 

 tion has proceeded so far that the editor 

 of a general scientific journal nowadays 

 must have, some may think, either 

 enormous learning or vast audacity. 

 But this is not quite a fair view of the 

 case. Most scientific journals of any 

 importance are, like other journals, run 

 by a large staff of specialists in co- 

 operation with one managing editor. 

 Theoretically, at least, this is the case, 

 as may be seen by reference to the cov- 

 ers of the 'American Journal of Science,' 

 the 'American Naturalist,' 'Science,' and 

 many more. If all these associate edi : 

 tors could be got to do editorial work, 

 the supposed difficulty would vanish. 

 Sorrowfully we admit that even editors 

 do not always act rightly, and that 'Edi- 

 tor, edit thyself!' may be a true re- 

 proach. But the realization of a defect 

 goes half-way towards curing it. 



To put in few words what we have 

 tried to make clear in these notes: 

 Among the causes tending to retard 

 science is carelessness as regards form 

 and expression. The prevalence of this 

 carelessness is largely due to want of 

 training, and this defect can be rem- 

 edied. We appeal, therefore, to teach- 

 ing bodies to insist on instruction in 

 the methods of scientific authorship: 

 and we appeal to editors to exercise 

 their powers in all questions of gram- 

 mar, lucidity, arrangement and the 

 formal conventions of each science. 



An Editor. 



