October 15, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



521 



of the journal strictly on its own merits as a 

 piece of scientific research, and on no other 

 basis. Journal publication provides each di- 

 rector with an opportunity to see the scientific 

 work of his station as others see it. Scientific 

 papers are not unlike favorite sons: it is often 

 very difiicult for the fond parent to discern in 

 them any faults at all. Independent editorial 

 boards, on the other hand, do that sort of thing 

 very well. 



If an independent chemical, or botanical, or 

 zoological, or bacteriological, or agricultural 

 journal refuses to publish a paper submitted 

 from a station, the author and the director are 

 bound to come to the conclusion, since no 

 other is possible, that in some way or other this 

 paper does not measure up to a standard which 

 disinterested experts in the given field of 

 knowledge regard as the irreducible minimum 

 below which sound scientific work can not fall. 

 On the other hand, if it is accepted the work 

 receives the hallmark of standard character. 



There is one objection which has been raised 

 to the publishing of a part or the whole of a 

 station's scientific output in different journals 

 which should receive careful attention. This 

 objection is that by this practise the station's 

 work as a whole does not make the impression 

 of large unity which it does if it is all pub- 

 lished in one place, namely, the bulletins of the 

 station itself. A somewhat vulgar erpression 

 of this same idea which one sometimes hears is 

 that journal publication makes for the ag- 

 grandizement of the author at the expense of 

 the station. It has been a theory of station 

 management in some quarters, though now 

 the theory is conspicuous by its nearly com- 

 plete absence, that the station as such should 

 alone have visible existence and that the indi- 

 viduals composing the staff (save possibly the 

 director) should be publicly considered as 

 invisible, undiscoverable nonentities, not at 

 home. Journal publication has been considered 

 subversive of this pleasant arrangement. 



This theory seems to overlook certain facts 

 of psychology, common sense and ethics. It 

 appears entirely clear that the nearer the 

 actual conditions in a station approach to the 

 theory that the members of its staff are indi- 



vidual nonentities, the smaller is bound to be 

 its measure of glory with its constituency and 

 its peers, quite regardless of its mode of pub- 

 lication. For, after all, a station is its staff, 

 ei prceierea nihil. 



As a matter of fact, the mere existence of an 

 oflieial institution always suffices to gather to 

 the institution a large part of the hud is which 

 may attach to the accomplishments ol its com- 

 ponent individuals. Plenty of evidence of this, 

 if evidence be needed, is seen in the very small 

 influence an individual can exert except as a 

 member of an organization or institution. 

 And conversely, an institution never gains fame 

 or influence, except through the ability and 

 the achievements of its individual members. 

 The New Paradise Experiment Station is a 

 great station because it has on its staff Dr. J. 

 Doe and Professor E. Eoe, who are investi- 

 gators of great originality and ability, and be- 

 cause its director is a wise and far-sighted man. 



To come back to the first point, it is very 

 much to be doubted whether the scattering of 

 the technical publications in journals in any 

 degree detracts from the fame or influence of 

 the station. On the contrary, it is probable 

 that both of these things are considerably in- 

 creased by this mode of publication. The 

 journals are the standard channel for bring- 

 ing new results to the attention of the scien- 

 tific world. They unquestionably reach a much 

 wider audience of scientific men than do the 

 bulletins even under the most favorable cir- 

 cumstances. 



So far we have spoken of scientific journals 

 in general. Now let us turn to one in partic- 

 ular, which should interest every station 

 worker in this country, the Journal of Agri- 

 cultural Research. This journal became, al- 

 most exactly one year ago, the official organ of 

 this Association and the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture jointly. Experiment sta- 

 tion papers are received and published on pre- 

 cisely equal terms with department papers. 

 One half of the members of the editorial board 

 are station men. In the editing of the jour- 

 nal the attempt is being made to set a stand- 

 ard as to scientific content and literary form 

 for the papers which shall be as high as the 



