April 3, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



545 



text. Expensive works will be returned on re- 

 quest. With octavo publications it is assumed 

 that the request to return " uncut " applies only 

 to the tops of the books, for every page must be 

 accessible to the recorders. 



It is quite impossible to explain exactly what 

 •classes of books are required for the work. We 

 therefore wish to receive from each publisher his 

 book-lists as they appear. From these we shall 

 make a selection. In cases of doubtful admissi- 

 bility, we shall order the book for examination. 

 It is, however, imderstood that, in. so doing, we 

 undertake no obligation to cite a work which is 

 not found to fall properly within the scope of our 

 bibliographies. 



Already the English publishers have signified 

 their willingness to cooperate and recent visits to 

 a number of American firms elicited an equally 

 favorable attitude. The Concilium has in press a 

 list of some 2,800 periodicals arranged by coun- 

 tries. It is proposed to state for each country, as 

 an appendix to the list of journals received, the 

 publishing firms which maintain regular relations 

 with the Concilium. For this reason we desire 

 each publisher whom this circular may reach to 

 signify his intention of cooperating and his will- 

 ingness to have his name given in such a list. At 

 the end of each year each publisher will receive 

 cards showing which of his books have been cited. 

 Authors will also further the work if they will 

 assure themselves that their publications reach 

 Zurich. When once the custom is fairly estab- 

 lished, it will be found useful to all concerned, 

 and the publisher, while acting in his own interest, 

 will do a great service for the advancement of 



The preliminary list of the 2,800 periodicals 

 ■which Dr. Field has published in his present 

 report includes about 450 from the United 

 ■States. Of these 450 publications of repeated 

 or periodical nature less than 175 reach the 

 Concilium regularly. The other 275 must be 

 -consulted elsewhere, if at all, or written for 

 with resulting increased cost and loss of time, 

 or one must depend on the chance courtesy of 

 the individual authors. A cursory inspection 

 of the list of the American journals which are 

 " insufficiently easy of access " to the Con- 

 cilium includes many medical journals of the 

 subscription class, but by no means all of such 

 journals, a surprisingly large number of the 

 research publications of our universities, such, 

 for example, as the " Bryn Mawr Mono- 



graphs " ; " Biological Lectures- of Woods 

 HoU " ; " Bulletin of the Laboratory of Nat- 

 ural History, University of Iowa " ; " Bulletin, 

 Syracuse University " ; " Columbia University 

 Biological Series " ; " Memoirs of the Biolog- 

 ical Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University " ; 

 " Princeton University Patagonia Expedi- 

 tion " ; several series issued- by the University 

 of California, and others. Some of our oldest 

 and most widely known learned societies, as 

 well as more recently organized ones, are not 

 on the list of fully cooperating institutions, 

 such, for example, as the American Philosoph- 

 ical Society, the Linnean Society of New 

 York, the New England Zoological Club, 

 Essex Institute, and the Philadelphia, Chi- 

 cago, Michigan, Ohio and Kansas Academies 

 and even the National Academy of Sciences 

 at Washington. Many of our agricultural ex- 

 periment stations fail to send the publications 

 and even the Biological Survey, Bureau of 

 Animal Industry and some other bureaus of 

 the Department of Agriculture at Washington 

 are not fully cooperating. In like manner 

 many of our state natural history and geolog- 

 ical surveys and boards of agriculture which 

 publish more or less matter which falls within 

 the scope of the bibliographies of the Con- 

 cilium fail to send their publications. 



An opportunity to advance the cause of sci- 

 ence is here afforded to all American publish- 

 ing agencies, and to American publishers to 

 bring their publications very effectively and 

 in permanent form before scientific workers 

 throughout the world. It is to be hoped that 

 the spirit of cooperation which has dominated 

 the Concilium from its foundation will be 

 extended more widely among our American 

 institutions and that individual workers in 

 the various biological and medical fields will 

 take pains to see that all serial publications 

 in their control are sent regularly in the 

 future to the Concilium Bibliographicum, 

 Zurich, Switzerland. 



Charles Atwood Kofoid 



Univebsitt of Caufoknia, 

 February 28, 1908 



THE INHERITANCE OF FLUCTUATING VARIATION 



Dr. E. P. BiGELOW has asked,^ how I would 

 ^Science, January 31, 1908, p. 192. 



