October 15, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



519 



to promote the progress of agricultural science 

 and stimulate further investigation by making 

 available to workers in that branch of science 

 complete and detailed technical accounts of 

 what has already been done. Technical scien- 

 tific publication is absolutely necessary to the 

 advance of science. The reason why scientific 

 men publish their results is notj as some execu- 

 tives sometimes appear to believe, in order that 

 they may get better jobs, but to contribute their 

 mite to the accumulated and classified experi- 

 ence of the world, which is science. 



The distinction between these two reasons 

 for publication was almost entirely lost sight 

 of in the earlier history of the stations. One 

 regrets to observe that even in the present en- 

 lightened era of experiment station evolution 

 there does not appear to be universally present 

 a clear and complete discrimination between 

 these two different, and indeed essentially anti- 

 thetic, sorts of publication. Not very long ago 

 one of our most distinguished directors, in a 

 praiseworthy desire to assert the equality (or 

 even superiority) in respect of intellectual at- 

 tainment of his constituency as compared with 

 the constituencies of other stations, made a 

 statement in a scientific journal to the broad 

 effect that his institution never had and prob- 

 ably never would put out anything not easily 

 within the comprehension of the worthy and 

 enlightened farmers of his state. Leaving 

 aside as not quite relevant here the fact that 

 such a statement carries two implications, one 

 of which I fancy its genial author overlooked 

 in his zeal to make the other, it would seem 

 clear that such a position does not do full jus- 

 tice to the purely scientific function of a part 

 of any station's publications. 



The general thesis which I should like to 

 make the text of this paper is that while what 

 has been called above the first function of sta- 

 tion publishing activity, namely, the diffusing 

 among the people of useful knowledge, is, on 

 the whole, well served by the bulletin form; 

 on the other hand, the second or purely 

 scientific function of station publishing is, 

 on the whole, badly served by that form. 

 Further, the attempt will be made to show 

 that the best manner of serving the second 



function, which the whole experience of the 

 world's scientific workers has brought forth, is 

 by publication in established scientific journals. 



As a first step towards the establishment of 

 this thesis it is desired to quote a short extract 

 from a most entertaining and famous treatise 

 published nearly four hundred years ago. This 

 work is "A Boke, or Counseill against the 

 Disease Commonly Called the Sweate, or 

 Sweatyng Sicknesse made by Jhon Cains, 

 Doctour in Phisicke. Uery necessary for 

 euerye personne, and muche requisite to be had 

 in the handes of al sortes, for their better in- 

 struction, preparacion and defence, against the 

 soubdein comyng, and fearful assaultyng of 

 the same disease. 1552." 



John Cajus, or, in its English form Kaye, 

 it will be recalled, was the man who brought 

 about the elevation to the rank of a college of 

 Gonville Hall at Cambridge, since known as 

 Gonville and Cajus College. He was one of 

 the most distinguished physicians of his day, 

 and withal an exceedingly keen, witty and 

 shrewd person, whose great learning never 

 upset his common-sense. In his introduction 

 to the " Sweatyng Sicknesse " he mentions his 

 earliest writings, which were translations out 

 of Latin into English. He goes on to say: 



Sense y' tyme diuerse other thynges I haue 

 written, but with entente neuer more to write in 

 the Englishe tongue, partly because the comoditie 

 of that which is so written, passeth not the com- 

 passe of Englande, but remaineth enclosed within 

 the seas, and partly because I thought that labours 

 so taken should be halfe loste among them whiehe 

 sette not by learnyng. Thirdly for that I thought 

 it beste to auoide the judgment of the multitude, 

 from whome in maters of learnyng a man shalbe 

 forced to dissente, in disprouyng that whiehe they 

 most approue, & approuyng that whiehe they moste 

 disalowe. fourthly for that the common settyng 

 furthe and printig of euery fooUshe thyng in eng- 

 lishe, both of physicke vnperfectly, and other mat- 

 ters vndiscretly diminishe the grace of thynges 

 learned set furthe in thesame. But chiefly, because 

 I wolde geue none example or eomforte to my coun- 

 trie men (who I wolde to be now, as here tofore 

 they haue bene, comparable in learnyng to men of 

 other countries), to stande onely in the Englishe 

 tongue, but to leaue the simplieite of thesame, and 

 to precede further in many and diuerse knowledges 



