i44 NATURAL SCIENCE. August. 1896. 



N evertheless, I cannot look upon the preliminary notice as an unmitigated evil, nor 

 consider the writer thereof as utterly lost to all sense of scientific decency. This is 

 very likely because I am, to some extent, myself one of the sinners and wish to be 

 forgiven not only for past sins, but, like Louis XL, for one little sin more, that I 

 hope to commit ere long. 



The object of the preliminary paper is to render immediately available facts 

 which would otherwise remain unknown for an indefinite time, to protect the worker 

 from having the cream of his labour skimmed off by someone who has been but a 

 brief time in the field, and to place the credit for work or discoveries where it 

 justly belongs. Consider, for example. Dr. Stejneger's recent paper on the blind 

 amphibian Jyphlomolge. It will undoubtedly be two or three years before a detailed 

 description of the species, fully illustrated, and properly compared with other forms, 

 can be issued, and, but for the preliminary notice, the credit of the discovery of the 

 interesting little beast, and the recognition of its affinities, would undoubtedly have 

 been claimed by another. And yet, had this happened, such a paper, so far as 

 results are concerned, would have been just as preliminary in its character as that 

 of Dr. Stejneger, besides having the added evil of depriving another of his just dues. 



Again, the U.S. National Museum is the possessor of some remains of Zeuglodon 

 which will form the basis of an illustrated memoir. Pending the publication of this, 

 it is purposed to publish a preliminary paper giving the characters of the family 

 and genera and probable affinities. This will render the main facts in the case of 

 Zeuglodon at once available, while, from the nature of the work, it will be at least two 

 years before it will be possible to publish in detail the results of the study of this 

 material together with the figures which will practically place the specimens at the 

 disposal of everyone. Shall we stay our hands — and preliminary notes — and bottle 

 up the information so far as possible, or shall we do the best we can now and do 

 better later on ? 



There are doubtless some happy individuals, not hampered by the cares of the 

 world, who can prosecute their work without interruption and publish it without 

 delay, but there are also people whose work is subject to numerous interruptions, 

 and who consider it great good fortune to have a paper published within a year of 

 its completion. And to these unfortunates the preliminary notice comes as a means 

 of saving grace — and credit — and it is a little hard to say that there is no good in 

 them — or in their paper. 



Not that the mantle of charity should be spread over the shoulders of every 

 preliminary paper ; for there are many that should be treated as outcasts and 

 turned out into the cold. But there are papers and papers, and it seems to me 

 eminently proper to allow a man to secure his main facts with a preliminary nail, 

 and then sit down and work in peace. 

 Washington, D.C. F. A. Lucas. 



[We do the " jumping on " Mr. Lucas in our Notes andc Comments. — Ed. Nat. 



Sci.] ,^=_.=^=_^== 



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