THE "AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE" 



of Yale College, nor from the Connecticut Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences. Its income was not sufficient for the 

 payment of a publisher, so that the business cares de- 

 volved upon the editorial staff, and the members of their 

 families. But it brought the editors into the best rela- 

 tions with the investigators of the country. They saw 

 many of the scientific observers who came here from 

 abroad; they kept up a correspondence with others 

 whom they did not see. 



" Of the circumstances that led to its establishment and 

 of the struggles that were required to maintain it during 

 its early years, some account is given in the fiftieth 

 volume, which was issued in 1847, an< 3 which closed the 

 first series. Some of those who read these paragraphs 

 may be interested to turn back to this volume. In it also 

 are reprinted the ' Introductory Remarks ' in which, in the 

 first volume (1818), Professor Silliman announced to the 

 public his plans for the new journal. They deserve in- 

 deed to be read entire, for they give an interesting 

 glimpse of the times, as of the personality of the writer. 

 He begins as follows : 



' The age in which we live is not less distinguished 

 by a vigorous and successful cultivation of physical 

 science than by its numerous 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 boundaries of natural science; and the 

 history of their labors and discoveries is communicated to 

 the world chiefly through the medium of scientific jour- 

 nals. The utility of such journals has thus become gen- 

 erally evident; they are the heralds of v 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 sub- 

 stantial rewards. ' 



' Then, after enumerating some of the prominent 

 scientific journals published in England and on the con- 

 tinent, he goes on to say : 



'3 193 



