Salutatory. 57 



his connection with a journal, and the last merely could not 

 ^^ promise to contribute." 



Taking another look at the letters we have received from 

 these men, we observe that many of them write that they 

 are glad to have such a journal established as this proposes 

 to be ; and the reasons given may all be expressed by 

 the following quotation from one of the letters : 



" I have had to send * * * some articles abroad for 

 want of a really available means of publishing in this coun- 

 try." As another instance : a well-known writer told us 

 that he had promised the results of a long course of study 

 to an English journal, because there was no means of pub- 

 lishing it here, such as we now offer. 



It is an unfortunate condition of affairs that American 

 scientists have been obliged to rely upon foreign periodi- 

 cals for information about the progress of science even in 

 their own country. 



We have started our Quarterly in the face of difficulties 

 well known to us, have calculated the cost, and are deter- 

 mined to publish it if it merely pays expenses. We say 

 this to assure our friends that our journal is founded upon 

 a good basis, and that we are not deceiving ourselves with 

 unfounded expectations. 



Some of our plates for this number are not, in every 

 respect, what we would wish ; but for this we need hardly 

 apologize, for we may justly claim that we offer our con- 

 tributors better facilities for illustrating their work than 

 they can find in any other scientific journal in the country. 



Lest there be any misapprehension created by our first 

 number, we deem it just to say that the quality of our 

 work will be maintained unless we find, at the end of the 

 first volume, that we thereby entail a real and consider- 

 able loss. We do not say that each number will contain 

 a stated number of plates, nor that one shall be a steel- 

 plate, as in this instance. Our steel engraving is merely 

 introduced here because the admirable drawing of Prof. 

 Smith could not be satisfactorily reproduced on stone. We 

 will always furnish just the number of plates necessary to 

 illustrate our articles. 



If our enterprise does not meet with success, it will not 

 be from want of energy and effort on our part. 



