December, 1958 



Avars: Publications and Public Relations 



203 



schools of Illinois, with a hope that a zeal for 

 the pursuits and studies of Natural History 

 may spring up among our people, like the seeds 

 of the sower, in the parable, falling upon good 

 soil, and yielding, "some sixty and some an 

 hundred fold." 



In order to render the greatest good to all, 

 the subjects have generally been treated in a 

 popular rather than a technical style. It has 

 been said, that he who places a valuable truth 

 or fact within the reach of the million, is doing 

 more for humanitv' than he who discovers it. 

 And, indeed, if scientific men, or libraries and 

 museums, cannot contribute to the elevation of 

 the masses who are less privileged, their use- 

 fulness is questionable. 



The ideas reflected in Turner's ques- 

 tions and answers and in Wilber's com- 

 ments culminated in the Morrill Act of 

 1862, in land grant colleges, and, spe- 

 cifically, in the Illinois Industrial Uni- 

 versity at Urbana. Both cause and effect 

 of the movement for general education 

 was the increasing thirst that Illinois 

 people in the middle of the nineteenth 

 century had for knowledge, the growing 

 conviction that information should be 

 widely disseminated. The movement led 

 to the formation of, and was abetted by, 

 the Illinois State Horticultural Society, 

 the Illinois State Agricultural Society, 

 and the Illinois Natural Histon.' Society. 



The Natural History Society was not 

 an accident nor an isolated segment of 

 history. It was part of a contagious 

 movement sweeping the prairies. As seen 

 by Wilber (1S6W:7): 



The demand for this movement seemed to 

 proceed from a want of accurate knowledge in 

 nearly all departments of Natural History in 

 the State; and also, from a desire that all facts 

 and discoveries in a field so vast as Illinois, 

 should be made immediately subservient to 

 the great ends of popular education. 



EARLY PUBLICATIONS 



The Illinois scientist in mid-nineteenth 

 century looking for means of disseminat- 

 ing knowledge had few publication out- 

 lets. Among the small number of scien- 

 tific journals published before 1860 were 

 The American Journal of Science, found- 

 ed in 1818, the Entomologist of London. 

 in 1840. and the Boston Journal of Nat- 

 ural History, in 1834. The first Trans- 

 actions of the Illinois State Agricultural 

 Society were published in 1855; the first 

 Transactions published by the Illinois 



State Horticultural Society itself were 

 dated 1863. The first Proceedings of the 

 Entomological Society of Philadelphia 

 were published in 1861. The American 

 Naturalist was not founded until 1867, 

 the Botanical Gazette not until 1875. 



The Prairie Farmer had been estab- 

 lished at Chicago in 1841, and to this pe- 

 riodical, frankly slanted toward the in- 

 terests of practical farmers, Illinois sci- 

 entists of mid-century turned for publica- 

 tion of their technical papers. The pub- 

 lication by Prairie Farmer of many of 

 these papers, some significant enough to 

 attract the attention of eminent scientists 

 in other parts of the country, is indication 

 of the extent to which the classicists and 

 the industrialists had become wedded. 



That publication of scientific papers 

 was an important aim of the founders of 

 the Illinois Natural History Society is 

 evident from written records of the or- 

 ganization. The object of the Society, as 

 outlined by Cyrus Thomas in his letter 

 read before Illinois teachers meeting in 

 Decatur. December 29. 1857 (Bateman 

 1858«:12), 



shall be the investigation and study of the 

 Flora, Fauna, Geology, and Mineralogy- of 

 Illinois, and the illustration of the same by 

 gathering specimens, exchanging the same, and 

 by publishing such meritorious works thereon 

 as the authors may present, . . . 



At the last session of its second meet- 

 ing, held on June 20 and 21, 1859, at 

 Bloomington, the Society (Francis 

 1859^:664) resolved that "the Execu- 

 tive Committee be required to procure 

 the publication of the papers and proceed- 

 ings of the Society in some paper gener- 

 ally circulated through the State." The 

 Executive Committee in turn resolved 

 that, "in accordance with the resolution 

 of the Society, we select The Pr^airie 

 Farmer as its medium for publishing the 

 papers and proceedings of the Society. " 



Another outlet for papers written by 

 members of the Natural History Society 

 was provided by the Illinois State Agri- 

 cultural Society. In its own published 

 Transactions the Agricultural Society in- 

 cluded the Transactions of the first three 

 meetings of the Natural History Society 

 and several papers contributed bv mem- 

 bers (Francis 185^^/. 185^/^ Wilber 

 1861rt). 



