42 A CENTURY OF SCIENCE 



copies of previous volumes, as it was deemed necessary either 

 to control the work entirely or to abandon it. The Editor was 

 not willing to think of the latter, especially as he was encouraged 

 by public approbation, and was cheered onward in his labors by 

 eminent men both at home and abroad, and he saw distinctly 

 that the Journal was rendering service not only to science and 

 the arts, but to the reputation of his country. He reflected, 

 moreover, that in almost every valuable enterprise perseverance 

 in effort is necessary to success. He being now sole proprietor, 

 a new arrangement was made for a single year, the publishers 

 being at liberty, at the end of that time, to retire, and the Editor 

 to resume the Journal should he prefer that course. 



The latter alternative he adopted, taking upon himself the 

 entire concern, including both the business and the editorial 

 duties, and of course, all the correspondence and accounts. 

 From that time the work has proceeded without interruption, 

 two volumes per annum having been published for the last 

 twenty years; and its pecuniary claims ceased to be onerous, 

 although its means have never been large. . . . 



Later in the same preface he adds (p. xiv) : 



It may be interesting to our readers to know something of the 

 patronage of the Journal. It has never reached one thousand 

 paying subscribers, and has rarely exceeded seven or eight 

 hundred for many years it fluctuated between six and seven 

 hundred. 



It has been far from paying a reasonable editorial compensa- 

 tion; often it has paid nothing, and at present it does little 

 more than pay its bills. The number of engravings and the 

 extra labor in printer's composition, cause it to be an expensive 

 work, while its patronage is limited. 



It is difficult at this date to give any adequate state- 

 ment of the amount of encouragement and active assist- 

 ance given to Silliman by his scientific colleagues in New 

 Haven and elsewhere a subject earlier alluded to. It 

 is fortunately possible, however, to acknowledge the gen- 

 erous aid received by the Journal in the early days from 

 a source near at hand. It has already been noted in 

 another place that the dawning activity of science at New 

 Haven was recognized by the founding of the ' ' Connecti- 

 cut Academy of Arts and Sciences, " formally estab- 

 lished at New Haven in 1799 and the third scientific body 

 to be organized in this country. From the beginning of 



