872 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 207. 



University of Geneva, and Dr. Hettner, of 

 Tiibingen, professor of geography in the Uni- 

 versity of Wiirzburg. Professor von Frey, of 

 Leipzig, has received a call to Zurich, and Pro- 

 fessor W. C. Rontgen, of "Wiirzburg, a call to 

 Leipzig. 



DISCUSSION AND COBSESPONDENCE. 

 ZOOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY AND PUBLICATION. 



To THE Editor of Science : Any criticisms 

 from Dr. W. H. Dall on the Report of the Brit- 

 ish Association Committee on the above subject 

 are most welcome, and we look forward to re- 

 ceiving his remarks on the several other details 

 to which he implies that exception may be 

 taken. Meanwhile permit me to point out that 

 his criticism of recommendation (not ' rule') 3 

 is based on several misapprehensions. Dr. Dall 

 speaks for 'the working zoologists,' but, as 

 stated in our Report, those are just the people 

 that an extensive correspondence showed to be 

 in favor of our recommendation. But, whether 

 warranted or unwarranted, our Report neither 

 contains nor rests on any "assumption that the 

 publication of the separate papers of a volume 

 before the volume as a whole is issued is ' im- 

 proper,' while the indefinite delay of their pub- 

 lication is 'proper.'" On the contrary, the 

 Report makes precisely the same suggestions 

 concerning date as does Dr. Dall (see recom- 

 mendation 1), and we fully agree as to the ad- 

 visability of publishing papers promptly and as 

 to the value of separate copies. 



Now, what is our recommendation 3 ? No 

 one would imagine from Dr. Dall's letter that 

 it was this: "That authors' separate copies 

 should not be distributed privately before the 

 paper has been published in the regular man- 

 ner." The Committee refuses to consider that 

 an author's distribution of a few copies of his 

 paper to a few friends, or to a few workers 

 whose addresses he happens to know, can rank 

 as 'publication.' In the opinion of the Com- 

 mittee, the terms ' public ' and ' private ' are 

 opposites and not synonyms. The publications 

 of the Philadelphia Academy, the Washington 

 Societies and the U. S. National Museum 

 are not in question. What the Committee had 

 chiefly to consider (as plainly stated in the Re- 



port) was the case of smaller publishing bodies, 

 unable, through lack of funds, to follow those 

 admirable examples. Such smaller bodies often 

 allow their contributors to distribute privately 

 a few copies of their individual papers. This 

 private distribution may take place two or 

 three years before the actual publication of the 

 volume or part, and often is confined to the 

 casual presentation of half a dozen copies. Say 

 the paper describes new species of molluscs. 

 How is the worker on molluscs in another 

 country to hear of this paper ? How is he to 

 obtain it if he does hear of it ? How is he to 

 learn its contents? He cannot be sure that a 

 letter from him will ever reach the author, or 

 that if it does it will meet with any response. 

 Experience teaches otherwise. Meanwhile he 

 himself describes the same species, and his 

 paper is published, is advertised, and is procur- 

 able through the ordinary channels by anyone 

 that chooses. And so springs up a fresh crop of 

 nomenclature troubles. How can Dr. Dall, as 

 a working zoologist, regard the former method 

 as a greater convenience than the latter? 



Our remedy is simply an attempt to regularize 

 this previous distribution, to insist on its being 

 made 'public' as well as 'private.' If sepa- 

 rate copies are to be issued before the volume 

 a certain proportion of them must be made ac- 

 cessible to anyone, not merely to friends of the 

 author, and this fact must be publicly an- 

 nounced. In short, we are trying to bring 

 about the very state of things that Dr. Dall 

 admires, and we trust that when he perceives 

 this he will give us his influential support. 



Your readers may be interested to know that 

 our Committee has been strengthened by the 

 addition of Mr. B. Daydon Jackson and Mr. A. 

 C. Seward, and now proposes to extend its 

 labors to botanical publications. Any criticisms 

 or suggestions on the subjects within the cog- 

 nizance of the Committee will be gratefully re- 

 ceived, and I shall be pleased to send its circu- 

 lars to those interested. Communications should 

 be addressed to 



F. A. Bather, 



Secretary of the British Association Committee 

 on Zoological and Botanical Publications. 

 Natural History Museum, 

 London, S. W. 



