378 Edward Livingston Yoamans : 



body of doctrine of universal significance. Comte's work 

 was ciaide and often wildly absurd, but there was nuu;h iu 

 it that was very suggestive. In ^Fay, 1860, in the Old 

 Corner Bookstore in Boston, I fell upon a copy of that 

 same prospectus of Mr. Spencer's works, and read it with 

 exulting delight, for clearly there was to be such an organ- 

 ization of scientific doctrine as the Avorld was waiting for. 

 It appeared that there was some talk of Ticknor & Fields 

 undertaking to condnct the series in case subscriptions 

 enough should be received. IVIr. Spencer preferred to have 

 his works ai)j)ear in Boston ; but when in the course of 

 1860 his book on "Education" was offered to Ticknor & 

 Fields, they declined to publish it, which was, of coiirse, a 

 grave mistake from the business point of view. Mr. 

 Youmans, however, was not sorry for this, for it gave him 

 the opportunity to place Mr. Spencer's books Avhere he 

 coidd do most to forward their success. 



Some years before, during his blindness, his sister had led 

 him one day into the store of Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. 

 in quest of a book, and Mr. William 11. Appleton had 

 become warmly interested in him. I believe the firm now 

 look back to this chance visit as one of the most aus})icious 

 events in their annals. He became by degrees a kind of 

 adviser as regarded matters of publication, and it was 

 largely through his far-sighted advice that the Appletons 

 entered upon the publication of siu;h books as those of 

 Buckle, Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, Haeckel, and others of 

 like character, always i)aying a royalty to the authors, the 

 same as to American authoi-s, in spite of the absence of an 

 international co])yright law. As publishers of books of 

 this sort the A])pletons have come to be pre-eminent. It is 

 obvious enough nowadays that such books are profitable 

 from a business i)oint of view. But thirty years and more 

 ago this was by no means ob^doiis. AVe Avere very ])rovin- 

 cial. lvei)rints of English books, translations from French 

 and German, were sadly behind the times. In the Connect- 

 icut town Avhcre 1 lived ])e()ple woidd begin to Avake up to 

 tlie existence of some gi'eat Exiro])ean book or system of 

 thought after it had been before the Avorld anywhere fVoui 

 a dozen to fil'tv years. In those days, therefore, it reqiiired 

 some boldness to undertake the reprinting of new scientific 

 books, and none have recognized more freely than tlie 

 Appletons the iuipoi'tauee of the ])art ])layed by ]Mi'. 

 Youmans in tliis matter. His woi'k as adviser to a great 

 jnd)lishing liouse and liis WDi'k as lecturi'r re-euforced each 



