EDITOR'S TABLE. 



745 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



OUR FIRST YEAR'S WORK. 



"TTTIIEN The Popular Science 

 VV Montely started, the public 

 were informed that it would be pub- 

 lished a year at any rate, and go on if 

 fairly sustained ; our second volume is 

 now completed, and we are happy to 

 announce that the enterprise will be 

 continued, and gives promise of perma- 

 nence. It was entered upon as an ex- 

 periment, and generally thought to be 

 a hopeless one. The quality of those 

 periodicals which reach great circu- 

 lation was pointed out as evidence 

 of what the people demand, and we 

 had the most discouraging assurances 

 that they will not sustain a solid and 

 really instructive magazine, which re- 

 quires them to think. Believing, how- 

 ever, that there are large numbers who 

 would gladly support such a monthly if 

 they could get it, we determined to give 

 them the chance, and have been jus- 

 tified in the result. Our Monthly is not 

 only a success, but it has succeeded on 

 its own merits alone. All the clap-trap 

 artifices fdr rushing into a big circula- 

 tion have been avoided : the public have 

 neither been bribed by premiums, nor 

 tempted by cheapness, nor lured by 

 large promises, nor stunned by pictori- 

 al display, nor deafened by the truin- 

 petings of self-praise, such as usually ac- 

 company the advent of new periodicals. 

 "We entered quietly upon the undertak- 

 ing, and with its announcement the 

 first number was ready, so that people 

 might judge of it themselves. In our 

 prospectus we said : " The Popular 

 Science Monthly will contain instruc- 

 tive and attractive articles and abstracts 

 of articles, original, selected, and illus- 

 trated, from the leading scientific men 

 of different countries, giving the latest 

 interpretations of natural phenomena, 

 explaining the applications of science to 



the practical arts, and to the operations 

 of domestic life. 



"It is designed to give especial 

 prominence to those branches of science 

 which help to a better understanding 

 of the nature of man ; to present the 

 claims of scientific education, and the 

 bearings of science upon questions of 

 society and government ; how the va- 

 rious subjects of current opinion are 

 affected by the advance of scientific in- 

 quiry will also be considered." We ap- 

 peal to the two volumes of the Month- 

 ly now completed in proof that these 

 pledges have been fairly redeemed. 



In stating that our enterprise is an 

 undoubted success, it will, of course, 

 not be understood that we have a cir- 

 culation at all comparable with that of 

 the leading periodicals devoted to light 

 literature, but it is greater than was 

 anticipated, and is steadily increasing. 

 The undertaking has, moreover, met 

 with wide sympathy and warm encour- 

 agement from the most intelligent class 

 of readers throughout the country. 

 There has been an almost unanimous 

 expression of opinion on the part of in- 

 dividuals and the press that The Popu- 

 lar Science Monthly has met an ur- 

 gent public need, that it is the most 

 valuable magazine now before the 

 American public, and deserves an ex- 

 tensive patronage. For all these kind 

 expressions, and for the substantial sup- 

 port which has accompanied them, we 

 return to our friends the most cordial 

 thanks. 



But, while our work has been thus 

 far approved, we are far from claiming 

 that it has been perfect. It has the im- 

 perfections which are incident to anew 

 project in a new field, and which it 

 will require time and experience to re- 

 move. "We intend to improve it in sev- 

 eral important features. "While pursu- 



