Vll 



Forty-four Years After 



Herbert Spencer brought 

 the magazine into being 



While the idea was Youmans', 

 Herbert Spencer deserves the credit 

 for bringing The Popular Science 

 Monthly into actual being. A 

 warm friendship had sprung up be- 

 tween the two, based upon the 

 American's admiration for the Eng- 

 lishman's work. 



Youmans had written to Spen- 

 cer that he had temporarily aban- 

 doned the plan of starting the mag- 

 azine when he received the first 

 of a series of articles which Spencer 

 had promised to write for the new 

 publication. The articles reached 

 Youmans in April, 1872, and the 

 first issue of the new magazine 

 appeared the following month. 



Thus the May issue of 1916 

 marks the beginning of the forty- 

 fifth year of The Popular Science 

 Monthly. 



The Herbert Spencer articles 

 made a sensation and the maga- 

 zine was a success from the start. 



Famous men who thought 

 deeply and wrote simply 



Youmans was able to get great 

 men to write for his magazine. In 



addition to Spencer's there were 

 articles by John Tyndall, Thomas 

 Huxley, Professor R. A. Proctor, 

 Dr. Henry Maudsley, Henry Ward 

 Beecher and others who thought 

 profoundly and were able to write 

 simply. 



Within a year and a half the 

 circulation was 12,000 and that 

 would be a big circulation for a 

 monthly that sold for fifty cents a 

 copy and ^5 a year, even in these 

 days of large volume. 



The Popular Science Monthly 

 became the most famous publica- 

 tion in America because it was as 

 widely known in Europe as it was 

 in this country. 



Youmans edited the magazine 

 until his death in 1887. His suc- 

 cessors, under different ownerships, 

 ably maintained his original policy 

 long after this policy accomplished 

 its work. 



The Youmans policy did not 

 enlarge with the public mind it 

 educated. Those who continued it 

 did not take into consideration that 

 the thought, activities and manner 

 of living of the whole nation had 

 changed. 



The Youmans idea is as big, as 

 vital, as ever it was. The plan for 



