8 



several abstract journals. Efficiency demands 

 that a good preliminary abstract be provided 

 with each article, so that all readers may bene- 

 fit by the careful work of one abstracter and 

 none need abstract that article again. 



Anyone may readily convince himself of 

 the value of preliminary analytic abstracts if 

 he will turn to one of the longer articles in 

 the Astro -physical Journal since January, 1920, 

 and, after spending three to five minutes in 

 abstracting the article for himself by glancing 

 through it, will compare the information he 

 thus gains with what he might have obtained 

 in an equal time from the abstract. 



There can be no doubt, then, that good pre- 

 liminary abstracts would save much time for 

 scientists as readers, investigators and ab- 

 stractors. But is this of any importance? 

 Before the war many would have said. No. 

 Research was generally regarded as a hobby. 

 Now it is more generally realized that the 

 research output of the country is a matter of 

 national concern and is an important factor 

 in national progress. 



The number of scientists actively engaged 

 in research work is relatively small. Their 

 research time is correspondingly valuable, es- 

 pecially as it is further limited by the fact 

 that most of them have teaching or executive 

 duties which take much of their energy. Of 

 this time the larger the part devoted to se- 

 curing the necessary foundation of scientific 

 information, both current and past, the less 

 the part available for actual research. There- 

 fore, everything possible should be done to 

 make it as easy as practicable for each inves- 

 tigator to obtain the information he needs; 

 that is, our whole scientific information serv- 

 ice, including original scientific journals, ab- 

 stract journals, handbooks, tables, etc., should 

 be made in its parts and as a whole, as efficient 

 as possible. All this is self-evident. In this 



