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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 588. 



hibit their possession by struggling and 

 poorly paid workers in scientific fields both in 

 and out of colleges and universities, who are 

 fully able to use them and who could do more 

 and better work if they had the volumes in 

 their own libraries, instead of being compelled 

 to waste so much valuable time in visiting 

 public libraries. Are such investigators en- 

 titled to consideration, or should only a 

 favored few be provided with proper facili- 

 ties ? Again, the limited editions of such pub- 

 lications only supply the immediate demand, 

 leaving none for the investigators or colleges 

 and public libraries of the future. The large 

 editions of the government publications, on 

 the other hand, make it possifcle for all work- 

 ers and institutions to obtain them. The 

 writer has found it practically impossible to 

 obtain some university publications, while he 

 has never had much difficulty in obtaining any 

 of the government publications at very reason- 

 able prices, from dealers in such works, the 

 reason being the larger editions. The copies 

 which pass into the hands of people who can 

 not or do not wish to use them are not lost 

 to the world, but soon find their way into the 

 market places, where they may be had by the 

 constantly increasing army of students. 



The learned men of our eastern institutions, 

 where books have been accumulating for a 

 century or more and all of the early volumes 

 of serial publications are available, can not 

 appreciate the fact that any competent stu- 

 dent can possibly be situated where he has not 

 access to such literature. There are hundreds 

 of competent men and women throughout the 

 land, far from large libraries, doing excellent 

 work in the advancement of science and 

 capable of much better work with better facili- 

 ties. Their very isolation from other workers 

 makes the need of literature bearing upon 

 their lines of work more necessary. The gov- 

 ernment gives them much information with- 

 out cost and much more at merely nominal 

 cost. Students of ability, making great sacri- 

 fices, living far from the centers of civilization 

 in order to work up the flora, fauna or geo- 

 logical phenomena of sections unfrequented 

 by scientists, are compelled, because of ina- 

 bility to consult the literature, to turn over 



the fruits of painstaking work to more promi- 

 nent writers for publication, the real workers 

 getting but scant credit therefor. It may sur- 

 prise some eastern scientists to learn that 

 many publications less than twenty years old, 

 issued by educational institutions and learned 

 societies, as well as important scientific maga- 

 zines, are unavailable to Eocky Mountain 

 students except by travelling hundreds of 

 miles. The western libraries are compara- 

 tively young and lack endowments. The 

 prices of many works preclude their acquisi- 

 tion, and limited editions of others make 

 their acquirement impossible because they are 

 already in possession of public and quasi-pub- 

 lic libraries. This great need of the west is 

 well worthy the consideration of wealthy men 

 who wish to endow a noble cause. In the 

 meantime the matter of limited editions 

 should be discouraged as far as possible and 

 large editions commended. The author of the 

 sentiment herein criticized might learn a valu- 

 able lesson by noting the number of papers 

 marked ' out of print ' in the catalogues of 

 university and society publications, including 

 those of his own institution. Should ' out of 

 print ' be said of any publication, and should 

 a work which the government can produce for 

 from one to two dollars cost from eight to 

 twenty-five dollars when issued by a great 

 educational institution ? 



Another great misfortune is that so many 

 publications are attempting to cover the same 

 ground. This is particularly unfortunate in 

 systematic zoology and botany, where one does 

 not dare publish a new species without first 

 searching the proceeding's of all the local 

 scientific societies, the publications of all the 

 educational institutions and innumerable 

 other works, unless he concludes to depend en- 

 tirely upon general indices, which are usually 

 quite incomplete. Every naturalist knows 

 that descriptions of species are continually ap- 

 pearing in the most out-of-the-way and un- 

 expected places. Zoologists and botanists 

 should rise up in arms and protest against 

 publishing such descriptions in any except 

 serials devoted largely to such matters. 

 One university has adopted an iron-clad rule 

 that all original descriptions of species shall 



