2 Introductory Remarks, 



Philosophy, and by the Journal of Science and the Arts, both 

 published in London. 



In France, the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, the Jour- 

 nal des Mines, the Journal de Physique, &c. have long enjoyed 

 a high and deserved reputation. Indeed, there are few coun- 

 tries in Europe which do not produce some similar publica- 

 tion ; not to mention the transactions of learned societies and 

 numerous medical Journals. 



From these scources our country reaps, and will long con- 

 tinue 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 oifering. 

 r' 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, 

 characterizing a highly intelligent population, we have no 

 reason to shrink from a comparison with any country. But 

 the devoted cultivators of science, in the United States, are 

 comparatively few • they are, however, rapidly increasing in 

 V_ number. Among them are persons distinguished for their 

 capacity and attainments, and notwithstanding the local feelings 

 nourished by our state sovereignties, and the rival clain>s of 

 several of our larger cities, there is evidently a predisposition 

 towards a concentration of effort, from which we may hope 

 for the happiest results, with regard to the advancement of 

 both the science and the reputation of our country. 



Is it not, therefore, desirable to furnish some rallying point» 

 some object sufficiently interesting to be compassed 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. 

 Hitherto nearly all our exertions, of this kind, have been made 

 by medical gentlemen, and directed primarily to medical ob- 

 jects. We are neither ignorant nor forgetful of the merits of 

 our various Medical Journals, nor of the zeal with which, as 

 far as consistent with their main object, they have fostered the 

 physical sciences. We are aware, also, that Journals have 



