20. JOURNALS AND SERIALS CONCERNING THE HISTORY 

 (AND PHILOSOPHY) OF SCIENCE 



(by George Sarton and Claudius F. Mayer) 



This is an edition revised and considerably extended of the Bibliographie 

 synthetique des revues et des collections de livres (Isis 2, 125-61, 1914). The ar- 

 rangement is different: the items were subdivided by general subjects in the list of 

 1914; in the present list they are put in alphabetical order of titles. The items 

 described are called journals and serials, not periodicals; indeed, though some of 

 them appeared periodically, many others were aperiodic, or their periodicity was 

 very irregular. 



The reader may be astonished by the great number of items recorded in this list, 

 yet it is ahnost certainly incomplete. We are confident that the most important items 

 have been included ( almost all of them have been examined by one of us ) ; it is prob- 

 able that in spite of every effort some items have eluded the authors' attention; it is 

 highly probable that those unmentioned are not very important, at any rate, as far 

 as the international reader is concerned ( indeed, the omitted items are very likely to 

 be written in languages which do not enjoy any international currency ) . 



Such a list should be used critically. The author does not wish to separate the 

 important items from the unimportant ones, or the more important from the less 

 important, because such a distinction is always somewhat subjective. The reader 

 must be warned that the length of a description is independent of the merit of an 

 item. Poor items often require a longer description than rich ones. The edition 

 and publication of journals or series often imphed many irregularities (changes of 

 title or subtitle, editors, publishers, purpose, scope, periodicity); it would require 

 much space to indicate these irregularities even in an abbreviated and imperfect 

 manner; to describe them completely would be endless. 



The hst includes only (with few exceptions) series exclusively devoted to the 

 history of science; other series whose scope is wider are not included in spite of the 

 fact that they may be richer in studies on the history of science than some other series 

 which are included. For example, the Carnegie Institution of Washington has pub- 

 lished many worthwhile books on the history of science, but as those books were not 

 grouped together in a special collection they could not be mentioned here ( see list of 

 them in Osiris 9, 634-38, 1950). 



The bibliography of series of books is more difficult than that of periodicals. 

 All the numbers of each periodical are classified together, while in most libraries the 

 books of each series are scattered, each book being classified with other books 

 (wherever published) dealing with the same subjects. The matter is simplified 

 when the books of a series are well numbered and no. k of the series bears a list of 

 books no. 1 to (k-1); unfortunately, that precaution is often neglected. 



Many series of books are purely commercial undertakings and represent only the 

 personal fancy of a publisher or editor. When success does not reward their efforts, 

 when the series "does not pay," it is stopped. Nevertheless, we must recognize its 

 existence. Such abortive series may contain important books. 



In the following list the title of each journal or serial is preceded by the date of 

 its birth; if publication has come to an end, the title is preceded by two dates, those 

 of birth and death. The first of these dates is always known, the second is some- 

 times uncertain. A series may be resurrected after a long interval.'" No attempt 

 has been made to describe completely each item, but for living journals we have tried 

 to quote the present editor and publisher and their address. The purpose of the 

 journal is generally indicated in its title or subtitle; further indications have been 

 added whenever necessary, also references to Isis where more information is available. 



^ The best example known to me is that of the Memoirs of the Philadelphia Society for 

 promoting Agriculture. Vols. 1 to 5 appeared from 1808 to 1826; vol. 6, in 1939 after an 

 interval of 113 years; vol. 7 has not yet appeared (Isis 32, 476). 



