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



from the invention of the chemical and mechanical processes for the 

 manufacture of wood-pulp, need not be gone into here. Social 

 philosophers alternately approve and lament the change. It is 

 plain that we are almost literally carried along on a stream of wood- 

 pulp. The country's activities are nearly as dependent on a con- 

 stant supply of printing and writing paper as upon constant supplies 

 of coal and iron. About 3.4 million metric tons of printing and 

 writing paper were manufactured in the United States in 1918, or 

 29 kg. for each individual. It will be of interest to inquire how 

 much of this was used for the distribution of scientific information, 

 and how effectively. 



Books. — Of all the means of distribution by printing, that by books 

 is intrinsically the most effective. The term "book" is a little diffi- 

 cult to limit, but I include under the term any publication in which 

 one subject or group of subjects is treated in a single unit, with some 

 attempt at completeness or comprehensiveness. This would include, 

 for example, some of the bulletins of the Federal and State geological 

 surveys, but not all. 



Most scientific and technical books are published for profit. The 

 output in this class in the United States in 1920 I estimate at about 

 1900 works including new editions.^ If we assume that the average 

 number of each printed was 1000, the total would be about equivalent 

 to one volume to each 55 individuals of the population per year. 

 Their effectiveness is not represented by this figure, however, because 

 the use of each is considerably multiplied by the existence of public 

 libraries; fairly exact quantitative data on this point might be ob- 

 tained by the study of existing library statistics. 



A second group comprises books which are made to pay the cost 

 of their paper, printing and binding. Examples are the publications 

 of the West Virginia Geological Survey, the Carnegie Institution 

 of Washington, and some Federal bulletins. These are usually 

 distributed free to libraries, and reach a much larger number through 

 that medium than by direct sale. 



A third group comprises books distributed free or at a purely 

 nominal charge. This includes the greater part of the "book"- 

 literature among the publications of the Federal bureaus and State 

 experiment stations. These books likewise receive wide use through 

 libraries, perhaps wider in certain cases than by direct free distribu- 

 tion. 



^ See also F. E. Woodward. A graphic survey of book publication, i8go-igi6. Bur. 

 Education BulL 1917, No. 14. 



