LIFE OF JAMES DWIGHT DANA 



' 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 welcome 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 various classes of society, in activity of intellect and 

 fertility of resource and invention, producing a highly in- 

 telligent population, we have no reason to shrink from a 

 comparison with any country. But the devoted cultiva- 

 tors 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 rally- 

 ing 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. 



" ' No one, it is presumed, will doubt that a journal 

 devoted to science, and embracing a sphere sufficiently 

 extensive to allure to its support the principal scientific 

 men of our country, is greatly needed ; if cordially sup- 

 ported, it will be successful, and if successful, it will be a 

 great public benefit. . . . 



' Most of the periodical works of our country have 

 been short-lived. This, also, may perish in its infancy ; 

 and if any degree of confidence is cherished that it will 

 attain a maturer age, it is derived from the obvious and 

 intrinsic importance of the undertaking; from its being 

 built upon permanent and momentous national interests; 

 from the evidence of a decided approbation of the de- 

 sign, on the part of gentlemen of the first eminence, 

 obtained in the progress of an extensive correspondence ; 

 from assurances of support, in the way of contributions, 



194 



