April 24, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



659 



with the Society of American Bacteriolo- 

 gists. 



Program 



" Passive Diphtheritic Immunity in Rabbits/' 

 by H. M. Goodman. 



" The Changing Flora of Chronic Suppura- 

 tions: Its Relation to Opsonotherapy," by A. P. 

 Ohlmaeher. 



" Blackhead : A Coccidial Disease of Turkeys," 

 by P. B. Hadley (by invitation). 



" The Cause of the So-called Germicidal Prop- 

 •erty of Milk," by M. J. Rosenau and G. W. 

 McCoy. 



" The Significance of Leucocj^tes and Strepto- 

 cocci in the Production of a High-grade Milk," 

 by Mary E. Pennington. 



" A Note on the Occurrence of Leucocytes and 

 Streptococci in Milk," by S. 0. Prescott. 



WlLLLiM J. GlES, 



Secretary 



PUBLICATION IN GERMAN JOURNALS OF 



THE RESULTS OF AMERICAN 



CHEMICAL RESEARCH 



In the course of an address on "Ameri- 

 can Chemical Research," delivered before 

 the American Chemical Society last June,^ 

 a brief reference was made to the practise 

 of some American chemists of publishing 

 the results of their investigations more or 

 less systematically in German journals. 

 Since the address was printed I have had 

 opportunities of discussing the topic with 

 various friends, several of whom publish 

 in the manner indicated, and it has been 

 suggested that it might be useful— and 

 even interesting— to deal with the question 

 at somewhat greater length. 



It will, perhaps, be wise to state at 

 the outset that, in my opinion, there can 

 be no question as to the absolute right of 

 an investigator to offer his results for pub- 

 lication when, where, how and to whom he 

 pleases, but ' ' all things that are lawful are 

 not expedient, ' ' and it is really on this that 

 the question turns. Closely interwoven 

 with it are two other questions : Should the 

 chemists of America combine to form a 



'Science, 26, 625 (1907). 



society? Should this society publish a 

 journal? 



The answers given by the chemists of 

 the country have been unmistakably in the 

 affirmative, consequently, it would appear 

 to be the merest common-sense on the part 

 of all interested, to endeavor to make both 

 the society and its journal the best possible. 

 It has sometimes been urged agaiast the 

 society that its admission requirements are 

 too lenient and that it would be advan- 

 tageous if its membership were limited to 

 persons possessing some "qualification." 

 Just what the nature of their "qualifica- 

 tion" should be it is difficult to discover. 

 Although this idea is, perhaps, attractive at 

 the first glance, a little thought will show 

 many serious objections to it. Only two of 

 these need be mentioned at present. The 

 one concerns the expenses of publication 

 and is dealt with more fully below. The 

 second objection may be expressed by say- 

 ing that no society can be truly national in 

 its scope and aims unless its membership 

 includes all or nearly all of those profess- 

 ing the subject with which it deals. In 

 the case of the American Chemical Society 

 this battle has been fought and won. In 

 numbers it ranks as the third largest asso- 

 ciation of chemists in the world and very 

 soon it will take the second place. The 

 fact that the names of all the better-known 

 chemists of the coimtry are on its roll 

 proves that quality has not been sacrificed 

 to quantity. 



We may now consider the subject of 

 publication. In his recent address to the 

 American Chemical Society, during the 

 Chicago meeting, President Bogert was 

 understood to say that the Journal of 

 Physical Chemistry and the Journal of 

 Biological Chemistry have each a circula- 

 tion of about 200, and that they do not pay 

 their expenses; moreover, the editors give 

 their services. No information could be 



