Publishers Foreword 



This limited edition of a collection of papers by and about John 

 Jacob Abel is, like many of Dr. Abel's own endeavors, a labor of love. 

 It has been prepared and published as a memorial to Dr. Abel on the 

 occasion of the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth. It is intended 

 for distribution to members of the American Society for Pharmacology 

 and Experimental Therapeutics, to others who have been associated 

 with Dr. Abel and his work, and to friends of ours who will, we think, 

 be interested. 



The brief recitation of a bit of history seems requisite for two rea- 

 sons of quite unequal importance. The first and least important, is to 

 justify our association with this enterprise. The second is to exhibit 

 a facet in the career of Dr. Abel that could easily be quite unknown 

 to many. 



In 1908 or 1909, Dr. Abel conceived the idea of a journal to serve 

 as means of communication in the field of pharmacology. In his 

 casting about for means of bringing the idea to practical result, he 

 encountered Edward B. Passano, then proprietor of a printing concern 

 called Williams &: Wilkins Co. That company had, a few years earlier, 

 begun to specialize in the printing of the literature of science; but it 

 had done no publishing— i.e., it had not assumed the risks of an en- 

 trepreneur. 



Dr. Abel convinced Mr. Passano that American facilities for the 

 communication of science results were sadly lacking, and persuaded 

 him that such a field of endeavor could be most rewarding and might 

 one day be profitable. 



The practical result was that the printing company began, in 1909, 

 to publish The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Thera- 

 peutics, Dr. Abel being its founder and editor (1909-1932), and has 

 continued to do so ever since. A concomitant result was the inception 

 during the next decade, under the aegis of Williams & Wilkins, of a 

 number of new American journals in science. The publishing ven- 

 ture was extended to books in 1920, and by 1925 it appeared to be of 

 sufficient volume and extent to justify separate corporate existence. 

 The old name, with a slight change, was retained for the publishing 

 business; the manufacturing or printing branch took the style, 

 Waverly Press, Inc. 



