30 A CENTURY OF SCIENCE 



ous and important applications to the practical arts, and to the 

 common purposes of life. 



In every enlightened country, men illustrious for talent, worth 

 and knowledge, are ardently engaged in enlarging the bound- 

 aries of natural science; and the history of their labors and 

 discoveries is communicated to the world chiefly through the 

 medium of scientific journals. The utility of such journals has 

 thus become generally evident; they are the heralds of science; 

 they proclaim its toils and its achievements; they demonstrate 

 its intimate connection as well with the comfort, as with the 

 intellectual and moral improvement of our species; and they 

 often procure for it enviable honors and substantial rewards. 



Mention is then made of the journals existing in 

 England and France in 1818 "which have long enjoyed a 

 high and deserved reputation." He then continues: 



From these sources our country reaps and will long continue 

 to reap, an abundant harvest of information: and if the light 

 of science, as well as of day, springs from the East, we will wel- 

 come the rays of both; nor should national pride induce us to 

 reject so rich an offering. 



But can we do nothing in return? 



In a general diffusion of useful information through the vari- 

 ous classes of society, in activity of intellect and fertility of 

 resource and invention, producing a highly intelligent popula- 

 tion, we have no reason to shrink from a comparison with any 

 country. But the devoted cultivators of science in the United 

 States are comparatively few: they are, however, rapidly 

 increasing in number. Among them are persons distinguished 

 for their capacity and attainments, and, notwithstanding the 

 local feelings nourished by our state sovereignties, and the rival 

 claims of several of our larger cities, there is evidently a predis- 

 position towards a concentration of effort, from which we may 

 hope for the happiest results, with regard to the advancement 

 of both the science and reputation of our country. 



Is it not, therefore, desirable to furnish some rallying point, 

 some object sufficiently interesting to be nurtured by common 

 efforts, and thus to become the basis of an enduring, common 

 interest? To produce these efforts, and to excite this interest, 

 nothing, perhaps, bids fairer than a SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL. 



The valuable work already accomplished by various 

 medical journals is then spoken of and particularly that 

 of the first scientific periodical in the United States, 

 Bruce 's Mineralogical Journal. This, as Silliman says 



