August 6, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



179 



any one who has the proper material to con- 

 tribute, are the technical journals, whose con- 

 tents generally are concisely written and 

 therefore, while of the highest value, com- 

 monly intelligible to only a limited class of 

 specially trained readers. They form the 

 library, for which any one can subscribe, of 

 the creative scholar, to which he turns for the 

 most exact and for the most accessible in- 

 formation on every subject in which he is in- 

 terested. It is here that the scientist is ex- 

 pected to publish in condensed form, for the 

 use of his fellow specialists, his every dis- 

 covery, the methods and the results of his 

 every investigation; and that too as soon as 

 possible. 



Entirely different from either of the fore- 

 going types, and for a different purpose, are 

 the annals, year books, bulletins and other 

 publications of observatories, societies, govern- 

 ment bureaus and departments. Here the 

 pages are seldom open save to those officially 

 connected with the particular institution, so- 

 ciety or bureau specifically represented. In 

 most cases they appear irregularly at long 

 intervals and are restricted in circulation 

 practically to a limited free distribution. 

 They are for the purpose of preserving for 

 reference in extended form, with all helpful 

 minutife, those investigations of the particular 

 observatory or bureau concerned which, be- 

 cause of their length or their diffuseness, are 

 not adapted to the technical press. 



For the sake, therefore, of reaching a larger 

 number of interested readers, and often, too, 

 for the sake of an earlier publication, it is 

 desirable to send to the technical journals 

 many articles that are expected to appear in a 

 more extended, or even in substantially the 

 same, form in official bulletins and annals. 

 And this is all the more important in the case 

 of those articles that also concern some science 

 in addition to the one commonly dealt with in 

 the bulletins or annals in which they appear. 



The scientific public expects that whatever 

 one may print officially he will, as soon as 

 possible, come out in the open with what he 

 believes to be contributions to knowledge, and 

 submit them where they will be accepted or 



rejected according to their merits; and where 

 if accepted they will be read and subject to 

 criticism. This is publishing in the true sense 

 of the term, and is incumbent upon every in- 

 vestigator. Confining an article to an official 

 bulletin, however excellent and necessary it 

 may be, often amounts to but little more than 

 mere printing for private distribution, because 

 scholars do not and will not wade through 

 tedious bulletins and annals for that which 

 they expect to find in a more condensed form 

 in more accessible journals. 



When, for official reasons, the author is not 

 free to do as he chooses, publication of any 

 kind must have the sanction of the proper 

 authority. Commonly, however, those in au- 

 thority are glad to grant this privilege to any 

 one capable of writing a paper acceptable to 

 the technical press. In fact they often urge it 

 upon him for the sake of those who can profit 

 by such articles, and incidentally for the well- 

 deserved encouragement of the authors them- 

 selves, and for the credit their work will bring 

 to the institutions with which they are con- 

 nected. They realize that it is an honor to 

 any man to have his papers accepted by a dis- 

 criminating scientific journal, and that the 

 reputation of any institution is that of its 

 work that is known and no more. 



Every scientific question should be investi- 

 gated carefully, honestly, thoroughly; the re- 

 sults published quickly, openly, fully. 



To discover is the scientist's reward, to pub- 

 lish is his duty. 



W. J. Humphreys 



REFLEX ACTION AFTER DEATH 



On the afternoon of April 27, 1909, while 

 returning from the day's work on precise 

 leveling, over the Santa Fe Eailroad, to Goffs, 

 California, the velocipede car on which I was 

 riding passed over a rattlesnake, which was 

 lying between the rails. It rattled, and I 

 stopped the car and went back to investigate. 

 It was what is locally known as the " side- 

 winder," by which I understand it to be the 

 horned rattlesnake, or Crotalus cerastes. It 

 was lying stretched to nearly its full length, 

 and rattled again, without coiling. Taking a 



