A CENTURY OF SCIENCE 

 IN AMERICA 



I 



THE AMERICAN JOURNAL, OF SCIENCE 

 FROM 1818 TO 1918 



By EDWARD S. DANA 



Introduction. 



IN July, 1818, one hundred years ago, the first number 

 of the American Journal of Science and Arts was 

 given to the public. This is the only scientific 

 periodical in this country to maintain an uninterrupted 

 existence since that early date, and this honor is shared 

 with hardly more than half a dozen other independent 

 scientific periodicals in the world at large. Similar pub- 

 lications of learned societies for the same period are also 

 very few in number. 



It is interesting, on the occasion of this centenary, to 

 glance back at the position of science and scientific liter- 

 ature in the world's intellectual life in the early part of 

 the nineteenth century, and to consider briefly the mar- 

 velous record of combined scientific and industrial prog- 

 ress of the hundred years following subjects to be 

 handled in detail in the succeeding chapters. It is fitting 

 also that we should recall the man who founded the 

 Journal, the conditions under which he worked, and the 

 difficulties he encountered. Finally, we must review, but 

 more briefly, the subsequent history of what has so often 

 been called after its founder, "Silliman's Journal." 



The nineteenth century, and particularly the hundred 

 years in which we are now interested, must always stand 

 out in the history of the world as the period which has 



