1913] Albert P. Mathews ^ 265 



care of by special Institutes.^ It is obvious, however, that the biol- 

 ogists have before them the problem of putting on a permanent foun- 

 dation Journals costing about $50,000 a year. This can best be done 

 by making each Journal seif supporting, and this is only possible by 

 increasing the number of subscribers. 



HOW TG INCREASE THE NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS FOR THE JOUR- 

 NALS. At present it costs, let us say, $28 a year to subscribe for the 

 Journal of Physiology, the Journal of Biologkai Chemistry, and the 

 Journal of Infectious Diseases. Each of these Journals probably 

 has on the average a paid subscription list of something under 400.^ 

 Membership in the corresponding societies costs, in addition, about 

 $2 a year for each society, or a total yearly expense of $34. 



Now, if we could make a society of 2,000 members and charge 

 each member $25 a year for all dues or, to be more liberal, let us say 

 $30 a year, the society would have an annual income of $60,000 ; and 

 for this sum, it could publish and supply to its members not three 

 but thirteen Journals without further cost. Moreover, each of these 

 Journals would have a large circulation, beneficial alike to the man 

 who published in it and to the Journal itself. Furthermore, the 

 amount of the individual society expenses would be greatly re- 

 duced since, by proper Organization, one or two paid secretaries 

 would look after notices of meetings; bills for postage, announce- 

 ments, programs, etc., would be less; and a saving would be effected 

 all along the line, with a great gain in efficiency. 



The income of the Journals would also be augmented beyond 

 the dues by the constant sale of back numbers, the sale of extra re- 

 prints and, in some cases, by legitimate advertising. Moreover, 

 by keeping the present prices in effect for all non-members, nearly 

 everyone would hasten to join the society ; thus increasing our num- 

 bers and increasing the number of those among whom the expense 

 would be divided, and making it possible, from time to time, to Start 

 new special Journals with little increase in expense to the members. 

 Furthermore, by maintaining the present prices to libraries and for- 

 eign subscribers, a considerable sum would be added to the treasury, 

 For example, the present cost of these Journals to subscribers is $83 

 a year. If there were a hundred subscribers at this price, it would 

 add $8,300 to our income. Of course the total may easily be less 



* The reader is reminded that this was written in 1908. [Ed.] 



