96 JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. 11, NO. 4 



Printed matter in general. — I have reviewed briefly certain phases 

 of the distribution of information by the printed page. There re- 

 mains another point of view from which to consider all of them. 



To distribute information by printing it is necessary first, to place 

 the printed article in the reader's hands; second, to induce him to 

 read it, rather than file it or put it in the waste-basket; third, to pre- 

 sent the matter so that the reader gets some profit from his reading. 



The members of the advertising profession are probably the best 

 fitted to instruct us as to the best way of putting reading matter into 

 peoples' hands, but I do not happen to know of any scientific organiza- 

 tion which has actually utilized their experience. The organizations 

 best known to me are experimenting, each with its own system, and 

 the results will after some years be valuable as comparative experi- 

 ments. Present tendencies in the distribution of free or nominal- 

 priced publications seem to be in the direction of the periodical issu- 

 ance of lists or announcements of publications to a large mailing- 

 list, the recipient being expected to make his own choice and go to 

 whatever trouble is necessary to obtain the publication. Details 

 of the process vary widely, and the future will see the elimination 

 of the less effective procedures. 



The second problem, that of inducing the recipient to begin to read 

 what he has received and perhaps has even personally asked for, 

 calls, in the commercial field, for the highest art of the advertiser. 

 I doubt whether this phase of the question has ever been given much 

 serious consideration by the distributor of scientific information, 

 though it is the very life of modern printed advertising. Certainly 

 the Federal bulletins coming from the Government Printing Office 

 all look alike, and I question whether all of them would be called 

 "attractive" by the commercial printer. I feel that we would do 

 well not to be satisfied with the dictum that "information is infor- 

 mation and the consumer may take it or leave it." 



The third point, of presenting the matter so that the reader gets 

 something for his pains, is where the investigator himself is put on 

 his mettle. I have presented his complaint against too much ques- 

 tioning, but there is no intention of relieving him from the duty of 

 giving a clear account of his product, in writing. The account need 

 not be non-technical or suited for general reading, but it should be 

 understandable with the minimum of effort by the circle of readers 

 for whom it is written. Here is where the investigator most often 

 fails. Dr. George Otis Smith, director of the U. S. Geological Sur- 



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