226 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 712 



union of all classes of chemists in a single 

 society is that only in this way is it pos- 

 sible to provide at moderate expense those 

 publications which are needed by every 

 chemist. The chemists of the world seem 

 to have realized only very dimly the ad- 

 vantages in economy which result from 

 combination for purposes of publication. 

 The fundamental principle is that for a 

 small circulation the original cost of 

 gathering the material and setting the type 

 forms a large proportion of the total cost 

 of publication. After the matter has once 

 been accumulated and printed the cost of 

 printing and distributing additional copies 

 is relatively small. 



The German Chemical Society, when it 

 began to publish, officially, the Ghemisches 

 Zentralblatt, adopted the plan that the 

 journal was to be sent only to those who 

 wUl pay for it. The result is that those 

 who take the Zentralblatt must pay nine 

 dollars a year for it in addition to the dues 

 of the society and the journal goes to about 

 one half of the members. The total cir- 

 culation of the Zentralblatt is only about 

 2,000. The American Chemical Society 

 in establishing Chemical Abstracts has 

 adopted a different plan. While it was 

 recognized that a few of our members 

 might not care for the journal, it was seen 

 that by increasing the dues of all the mem- 

 bers it could be sent to all at a compara- 

 tively moderate expense. Accordingly, the 

 dues were increased by three dollars for all 

 members. While Chemical Abstracts 

 costs, at present, between five and six 

 dollars per member, it is securing such sup- 

 port among the chemists of America and 

 of the world that the permanent success of 

 the enterprise seems to be assured. In 

 adopting the budget for 1907 the council 

 considered that if enough new members 

 were gained during the first year to make 

 up for those who fell out on account of the 

 increase of dues we should do well. In- 



stead of that the society had a net gain of 

 310 members. When Chemical Abstracts 

 was started in January, 1907, we had a 

 memberehip of 3,079. We now have 3,800 

 members. 



In establishing Chemical Abstracts it 

 was recognized that the funds available 

 would not permit of the publication of as 

 large a journal as the Chemisches Zentral- 

 blatt. It has, however, approached much 

 more nearly to the size of that journal than 

 was anticipated and, while the abstracts in 

 some divisions are relatively brief, it may 

 be fairly said that Chemical Abstracts 

 covers the whole field of chemistry better 

 than any other similar publication. To 

 illustrate. Chemical Abstracts gives ab- 

 stracts of American, English, German and 

 French patents, while the Zentralblatt 

 gives abstracts of German patents only. 

 The number of abstracts in biological, 

 mineralogical and geological chemistry 

 greatly exceeds the number in the same 

 lines in the Zentralblatt and the same is 

 true of all lines of technical chemistry. 

 The total number of abstracts, even in the 

 first year of publication, is also gi"eater in 

 Chemical Abstracts, although the total 

 number of pages is less. 



The fields covered by Chemical Abstracts 

 are so varied that at the low subscription 

 price of six dollars a year it should secure 

 many subscribers among persons whose 

 primary interest is in other sciences than 

 chemistry. Physicians and biologists will 

 find much that is of value to them under 

 biological and pharmaceutical chemistry, 

 physicists will be iaterested in physical 

 chemistry, radioactivity and electrochem- 

 istry and geologists in mineralogical and 

 geological chemistry. 



As an almost necessary result of what 

 has been stated about publication, the 

 American Chemical Society has accepted 

 the principle that it can afford to extend 

 the benefits of its membership to any one 



