248 ON A DOMINANT LANGUAGE FOR SCIENCE. 



" We observe with interest the immber of subscribers that exist in 

 England for an octavo volume on shells, costing 186 francs. It is a 

 curious fact, which booksellers and authors will appreciate, as it will 

 aflbrd them the means of seeing how a return is obtained for their out- 

 lay on such works in England, compared with other countries. The 

 number of subscribers is 280, of which 34 are females and 6 foreigners. 

 Certainly all the rest of Europe could not produce as many, nor per- 

 haps even the half of that number." 



How much more astonished would M. Ferussac have been, if in- 

 formed that these were only the subscribers before publication, and that 

 1,000 copies were sold ! Since 1829 the sale of scientific books has 

 much increased, as is showu, for example, by the many editions of the 

 works of Lyell and other naturalists, each edition being of 1,000 copies. 



Most scientific books in France and other continental countries can 

 only be published when the government furnishes the cost ; r.ud they 

 are chiefly published in an expensive form as a national display, aud 

 are almost confined to their public libraries, except the sale of copies 

 that are bought by English collectors. 



In England such works are generally published by individual enter- 

 prise, aud depend on the general public for their support, and are pub- 

 lished in a style to suit the different classes. Thus there are works of 

 luxury for the rich, often published by individuals who confine them- 

 selves to the production of that class of books; very cheap works for 

 the student aud mechanic; and books of all intermediate grades, pro- 

 duced by the regular publishers. The females of all grades are ex- 

 tensive readers of this class of books, which, I believe, is chiefly the 

 case with English-speaking races. 



Some of the scientific Swedes and Russians have published their 

 papers in the English language, or appended an abstract in English to 

 them, as Thorell on European Spiders ; Professor Lilljeborg on Lysi- 

 anassa, and Professor Wackerbarth on the Planet Leda, &c. The 

 Danes and Dutch often publish their scientific papers in French, as 

 Temminck, Reinhardt, and the late Professor Van der Hoeven, who 

 themselves read and write English ; but it appears they regard French 

 as the polite language of courts, and forget that courtiers, generally, 

 have a contempt for science, and that they should look among the 

 people for their readers. 



It is to be observed that Professor de Caudolle himself uses the 

 French language with a very English construction ; but we believe that 

 his work would have commanded the greatest number of readers if 

 written in the English language, which he reads and writes so fluently. 



See, also, Mr. Galton's interesting article on the Causes which create 

 Scientific Men, in the " Fortnightly Review" for March, 1873, p. 316, 

 which contains some interesting observations on M. de Candolle's work. 



