THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



;°7 



THE PEOGEESS OF SCIENCE 



THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY AND 



THE POPULAE SCIENCE 



MONTHLY 



The Popular Science Monthly, 

 since its establishment in 1872 by J. 

 W. Youmans and the firm of D. Apple- 

 ton and Company, has endeavored to 

 perform two functions which are some- 

 what distinct. On the one hand, it 

 has aimed to popularize science, and, 

 on the other hand, to publish articles 

 reviewing scientific progress and ad- 

 vocating scientific, educational and so- 

 cial reforms. The objects are both im- 

 portant, but as science grows in com- 

 plexity it becomes increasingly difficult 

 to unite them in the same journal. 



In the earlier years of The Popular 

 Science Monthly the doctrine of evo- 

 lution excited controversy and wide 

 public interest; it was possible to print 

 articles by men such as Darwin, Spen- 

 cer, Huxley and Tyndall, which were 

 popular and at the same time authori- 

 tative contributions to scientific prog- 

 ress. Dr. Youmans had the fervent 

 faith and missionary spirit which en- j 

 abled him to conduct a journal to which 

 the word "popular" was properly ap- 

 plied. At that time other magazines, 

 such as The Atlantic and Scribner's 

 also published articles and had depart- 

 ments concerned with popular science. 



The last third of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury may properly be characterized as 

 the era of science, so rapid was the 

 progress of science and so important 

 the part it assumed in our civilization. 

 This progress not only requires spe- 

 cialization of work, but even makes it 

 difficult for the worker in one field to 

 understand the work accomplished in 

 other fields, though the barrier is per- 

 haps due to the terminology rather 

 than to the ideas. For the general 

 public the difficulties are greater, and [ 



there is danger lest it may lose touch 

 with the advances of science. But in a 

 democracy in which science must de- 

 pend on the people for support and 

 for recruits, it is essential that a sym- 

 pathetic understanding be maintained. 

 For this purpose two journals are 

 needed rather than one, for it is nec- 

 essary to address those having differ- 

 ent interests. 



During the fifteen years since 1900, 

 the editor of The Popular Science 

 Monthly aimed to conduct a journal 

 maintaining high scientific standards 

 and discussing authoritatively problems 

 of scientific importance. The journal 

 was popular, in the sense that it was 

 not special or technical and could be 

 understood by those having education 

 and intelligence, but it was not popular 

 in the sense that it appealed to all 

 people and might number its sub- 

 scribers by the hundreds of thousands. 

 Manuscripts were received in large 

 numbers which were clearly intended 

 for a magazine of different type, and 

 such a magazine is needed. A well- 

 illustrated magazine devoted to the 

 popularization of science should have 

 a wide circulation and bo conducted on 

 different lines from a journal con- 

 cerned with the less elementary aspects 

 of scientific work, just as a high school 

 and the graduate school of a university 

 differ in their methods and in their 

 appeal. 



A group of men desiring a journal 

 to which the name The Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly will exactly apply, this 

 publication has been transferred +o 

 them, while, beginning in October, a 

 journal on the present lines of The 

 Popular Science Monthly will be 

 conducted under the more fitting name 

 of The Scientific Monthly. This 

 differentiation of The Popular Sci- 



