AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 57 



presented, in the various statements quoted from early 

 volumes. The same problems in varying degree have 

 continued for the past sixty years. Since 1914 they have 

 been seriously aggravated for reasons that need not be 

 enlarged upon. Prior to that date the subscription list 

 had, for reasons chiefly involved in the development of 

 special journals, been much smaller than the number 

 estimated by Silliman, for example, in volume 50 (p. xiv), 

 although there has been this partial compensation that 

 the considerable number of well-established libraries on 

 the subscription list has meant a greater degree of sta- 

 bility and a smaller proportion of bad accounts. The 

 past four years, however, the Journal, with all simi- 

 lar undertakings here and elsewhere, has been compelled 

 to bear its share of the burden of the world war in dimin- 

 ished receipts and greatly increased expenses. It is 

 gratifying to be able to acknowledge here the generosity 

 of the authors, or of the laboratories with which they 

 have been connected, in their willingness not infrequently 

 to give assistance, for example, in the payment of more 

 or less of the cost of engravings, or in a few special cases 

 a large portion of the total cost of publication. In this 

 way the problem of ways and means, constantly before 

 the editor who bears the sole responsibility, has been 

 simplified. 



It should also be stated that as those immediately 

 interested have looked forward to the present anniver- 

 sary, it has been with the hope that this occasion might be 

 an appropriate one for the establishment of a "Silliman 

 Fund" to commemorate the life and work of Benjamin 

 Silliman. The income of such a fund would lift from 

 the University the burden that must unavoidably fall 

 upon it when the responsibility for the conduct of the 

 Journal can no longer be carried by members of the fam- 

 ily including the editor and as in years long past a 

 silent partner whose aid on the business side has been 

 essential to the efficiency and economy of the enterprise. 

 Present conditions are not favorable for such a move- 

 ment, although something has been already accomplished 

 in the desired direction. At the present time every 

 patriotic citizen must feel it his first duty to give his sav- 

 ings as well as his spare income to the support of the 



