EDITOR'S TABLE. 



843 



publishing business. Also that I have or, 

 rather, the publishing house which has so 

 long borne my name has for more than 

 thirty years past, paid a liberal sum to all 

 the English publishers whose works it re- 

 printed, and that the most cordial relations 

 between the parties have always been main- 

 tained ; so that my article was not written 

 in vindication of my own conduct, but, as 

 already stated, for the purpose of present- 



ing such extreme views on one side of the 

 question as should call forth the strongest 

 points that could be presented on the other, 

 and thus bring about the fullest possible 

 discussion on the subject. I trust your 

 criticism is an earnest of what is yet to 

 follow from those who may have access 

 to the pages of "The Popular Science 

 Monthly." 



Leonard Scott. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



TEE NEW SCIENTIFIC WEEKLY. 



SINCE our last issue the new weekly, 

 "Science," an American journal, 

 much on the plan of " Nature," has 

 made its appearance at Cambridge. "We 

 had been much interested in the previ- 

 ous announcements of the project. The 

 cultivators of science in this country 

 are certainly sufficiently numerous to 

 maintain an organ by which they can 

 promptly communicate with each other 

 and with the world on those multifarious 

 results of investigation for which there 

 have hitherto been but very inadequate 

 means. The want of such a periodical 

 has been long and urgently felt, and 

 attempts have before been made to 

 meet it, though not with success. Two 

 things are required to put such an en- 

 terprise upon a satisfactory basis the 

 general and hearty support of scientific 

 men, and capital enough for all the 

 preliminary needs of the undertaking. 

 "Science" has secured both. That it 

 has the abundant confidence and co- 

 operation of American scientific men in 

 all departments of inquiry is attested 

 by the large number of eminent names 

 that have appeared in the newspapers 

 in connection with it, and also by the 

 statement of the prospectus that '"Sci- 

 ence ' has secured in advance the good- 



" SCIENCE " : Published weekly at Cambridge, 

 Mass. Moses Kin?. Publisher. Proprietor. The 

 Science Company ": President, Daniel 0. Uilman; 

 Vice-President, Alexander Graham Bell; Directors, 

 D. C. Gilman, A. G-. Bell, G. G. Hubbard. O. C. 

 Marsh; Treasurer. Samuel H. Scudder, of Cam- 

 bridge. Pp. 2>. Published every Friday; price 15 

 cents per number, or $5 a year. 



will and active support of a large body 

 of the most competent scientific men of 

 the country, as will sufficiently appear 

 upon publication of a few numbers." 



Equally necessary was a liberal pro- 

 vision of funds to float the enterprise. 

 Notwithstanding the alleged interest in 

 science with which our age is so abun- 

 dantly credited, it remains doubtful if a 

 journal designed mainly for the wants 

 of specialists can be remunerating, at 

 least until after a considerable period 

 of time. It must chiefly appeal to the 

 intellectual requirements of advanced 

 men ; but these form a large clientage. 

 Working upon the frontiers of scien- 

 tific thought, it will be conversant with 

 inquiries that are, to a considerable ex- 

 tent, beyond popular reach. Records of 

 the progress of research and criticisms 

 of original work must inevitably be 

 technical, and therefore but little at- 

 tractive to the non-scientific classes. 

 " Science " will, of course, have its pop- 

 ular features, but, if it does tolerable 

 justice to the body of American inves- 

 tigators and gives us a weekly con- 

 spectus of the condensed results of cur- 

 rent research in the scientific world, it 

 can devote but limited attention to pop- 

 ular science. But, with abundant capi- 

 tal, it is independent. 



The numbers of "Science" that 

 have thus far appeared fulfill every 

 reasonable expectation, and give assur- 

 ance that the journal will take a high 

 i rank among periodicals of its class. 

 There is, of course, room for criticism, 



