THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



3°9 



ence Monthly into two journals is in | the contrary, h e and other surgeons 

 the natural course of evolution, each 

 journal being able to adapt itself to its 

 environment more advantageously than 

 is possible for a single journal. Each 

 can perform an important service for 

 the diffusion and advancement of sci- 

 ence. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND THE 

 PUBLIC 



In a democracy, journals and a news- 

 paper press fit to educate people of all 

 sorts to an interest in science and to 



would in so far lose their means of sup- 

 porting their families. 



So scientific research, of greater 

 value than any other service to society, 

 is not paid for directly. It has been 

 mainly carried forward in this coun- 

 try by men employed to teach in col- 

 leges and universities who, as amateurs, 

 give part of their time to it. In recent 

 years the national government, endowed 

 institutions and industrial establish- 

 ments have undertaken to advance re- 

 search on a business basis and the gain 



an appreciation of its measureless value ' has been ver ? § reat - But in order to 

 for national and human welfare are 

 matters of the utmost importance. 

 Under an aristocratic regime, science, 

 like arts and letters, must be cultivated 

 and patronized from above. In Ger- 

 many the imperial government has di- 

 rected and subsidized its schools, uni- 

 versities and research institutions and 



maintain and increase the work under 

 democratic control people must be 

 taught to value it, and for this purpose 

 the proper treatment of science in mag- 

 azines and newspapers is more impor- 

 tant than any other agency. 



The problem is very difficult. One 

 does not expect a high school, a univer- 



has aided commercial enterprises based ! s * tv or a museum to be self-supporting, 

 on applied science. In England men of I Even secondary schools for the chil- 

 wealth have devoted themselves to sci- ' dren of the rich are endowed. If the 



entific research, as they have served 

 without payment as county magistrates 



American Museum of Natural History 

 charged an entrance fee it would be an 



and members of parliament. In both : empty place; the fees for a year would 



countries and in France titles and social 

 position have been used as rewards. 



Scientific research can not be under- 

 taken as a profession. In the existing 

 organization of society any service to 

 an individual or to a group of individ- 

 uals is paid for by them, but service +o 

 society is usually not paid for at all. 

 If newspaper publishers, ammunition 

 makers or army officers succeed in 

 causing Avar they profit; if they advo- 

 cate and maintain peace they suffer. If 

 lawyers reduce legal complexities and 

 delays, or if physicians decrease the 

 causes of disease, they sacrifice their 

 material interests. If a surgeon per- 

 forms an operation for cancer he may ! dred years if a slightly better germ- 

 be paid a thousand dollars for an plasm is established in a thousand years. 



not support the institution for a month. 

 On the other hand, the side shows of a 

 circus may be profitable. Science is so 

 commonly ill-treated in popular maga- 

 zines and newspapers that the very 

 words "popular science" need to be 

 redeemed. The sensational newspapers, 

 the side shows of the circus and the 

 ' ' movies ' ' supply what people will pay 

 for. It is no discredit to our democ- 

 racy that these are what they want; 

 on the contrary, it represents a great 

 advance when a hundred million people 

 care for such things. We may be satis- 

 fied if progress is made by education 

 and an improved environment in a hun- 



hour's work; if he discovers an im- 

 proved technique he may profit some- 

 what, but scarcely more than other sur- 

 geons and far less than the patients; 

 if he should discover a cure for cancer 

 he would receive no money reward; on 



The corporation of D. Appleton and 

 Company were losing ten thousand dol- 

 lars a year on The Popular Science 

 Monthly when they decided that they 

 were not justified in continuing it. It 

 was worth that much and far more to 



