Februaey 10, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



147 



(5) Expansion of the American Mathemat- 

 ical Monthly. It has long been the hope of 

 those in charge of the American Mathematical 

 Monthly that it might become possible to pub- 

 lish two extra nmnbers (in July and August 

 of each year) to be devoted entirely to expos- 

 itory and historical articles of an elementary 

 character suited to the needs of students and 

 teachers of mathematics in the normal schools 

 and colleges throughout the country. This 

 need is great and the service thus rendered 

 would be of inestimable value. The regular 

 volume of the Monthly should also be ex- 

 panded by eighty pages in order to handle 

 matter pressing for publication. For these 

 purposes an annual subsidy of $2,000 would 

 be needed, or an endowment of $40,000. 



(6) Publication" of mathematical mono- 

 graphs. A subsidy fund has recently been 

 donated to the Mathematical Association of 

 America by Mrs. Mary Hegeler Carus, as 

 trustee of the Edward C. Hegeler Trust Fund, 

 for the purpose of publishing a series of math- 

 ematical monogi'aphs which shall provide in 

 convenient and readable form, and at low cost, 

 expository presentations of all the great sub- 

 jects in pure and applied mathematics. This 

 gift is in the form of an annual subsidy of 

 $1,200 for five years with the promise of capi- 

 talizing this income in perpetuity if the project 

 proves successful. Such an endowment would 

 need to be $24,000 on a five per cent, basis. 



(7) A mathematical abstract journal. A 

 journal in the English language of abstracts 

 of mathematical publications has long been 

 needed and became very urgent during and 

 subsequent to the world war, when foreign 

 abstract journals were suspended or were 

 hopelessly in arrears. Such a journal of the 

 high character and eificieney contemplated by 

 the committee of the National Research Coun- 

 cil and the American Mathematical Society 

 could only be produced and maintained with 

 a liberal subsidy — at least $15,000 annually or 

 with an endowment of $300,000. 



(8) A bibliography of bibliographies in 

 mathematics. The National Research Council 

 has proposed as one aid to efficiency in scien- 

 tific work to publish a bibliography of bibli- 

 ographies in each of the various sciences, 

 which shall combine in one volume all the 



bibliographies obtainable in a given science 

 whether published hitherto or not. The council 

 will bear the cost of publication and clerical 

 expense, but the work involved in preparation 

 of the manuscript will be extensive and should 

 be covered by a lump sum of $5,000. 



(9) Prizes and research fellowships. Some- 

 thing seems to be wrong when a poem or a 

 short story may bring its author adequate 

 financial reward, while the author of a mathe- 

 matical article of the highest merit, on which 

 he may have spent weeks or months, not only 

 receives no financial return but actually has to 

 pay cash for a few reprints. The only means 

 apparently available to offset this injustice is 

 through prizes and fellowships of liberal 

 value. One bequest of $10,000 and one or two 

 small funds for prizes (none of which are 

 operative as yet) constitute the sum total of 

 effort to date in this country. An annual fund 

 of $25,000 or an endowment of $500,000 would 

 be only a fair estimate of the need in this line 

 and such an annual expenditure could be used 

 to the utmost advantage with the greatest 

 degree of justice to the workers in the field of 

 mathematics. Fortunately some farsighted 

 and loyal individuals are thinking of these 

 things and are contemplating liberal provi- 

 sions in wills toward this end. One such will 

 is already definitely known to be made. 



(10) Honorary stipends for executive offi- 

 cers. Time was in most scientific societies 

 when one or two permanent executive officers 

 worked like slaves for the upbuilding of these 

 organizations, with no financial return and 

 sometimes even without adequate clerical assist- 

 ance. Those days of pioneering should be gone 

 forever. In some societies, the membership is 

 large enough, or includes those with large 

 incomes outside the teaching profession, so 

 that the annual dues may be made adequate 

 to cover salaries to their executive officers; but 

 those societies whose members are almost en- 

 tirely teachers in the universities and small 

 colleges cannot raise their dues beyond certain 

 maximum amounts without shutting out large 

 numbers to whom the organizations are of the 

 utmost value. The only other alternatives seem 

 to be either to continue the old pioneer methods 

 or else to secure adequate subsidy funds with 

 which to give these hard worked permanent 



