March 29, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



353 



Hodges to assume the entire charge of Sci- 

 ence for a fixed aiimial sum. For three 

 yeai-s M. Hodges had charge of the paper, 

 iinder the advice of the Board of Directors. 

 Mr. Hodges made hirge reduction in ex- 

 penses of publication, but unfortunately 

 niade a larger reduction in the subscription 

 price, from five dollars to three dollars and 

 fifty cents a year. 



It was never the intention of Messrs. 

 Bell and Hubbard to make a profit from the 

 publication of Science, but they did e.xpect 

 its establishment to make a contribution to 

 .science. 



The circulation of tlie journal, under the 

 management of Mr. Hodges, largelj'^ in- 

 creased, and the changes made by lum and 

 his associate editoi-s, Messrs. D. G. Brinton, 

 of Philadelphia, and Charles Piatt, of Balti- 

 more, whose services were given gratuitous- 

 ly were of great value. It was originally 

 supposed that advertisements would con- 

 tribute largely to its support, but they were 

 not obtained, partly on account of the lim- 

 ited circulation, and more largely because 

 advertisers preferred to publish in special 

 journals rather than in one intended to 

 meet the wants of the scientific public. 



The publication of Science was stopped 

 for a time a year ago, although its circula- 

 tion was then larger than it ever had been, 

 the stringency of the times preventing many 

 from paying their subscriptions. 



At the meeting of the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, at 

 Brooklyn in 1894, the renewal of the pub- 

 lication of Science was brought before the 

 As.sociation. A large committee was chosen 

 to consider its usefulness, and the proprietj' 

 of contributing towards its support. Mr. 

 Hodges appeared and stated fully his views 

 and plans ; the Association then voted that 

 a contribution of fifteen hundred dollars 

 should be made for the purpose of enabling 

 Mr. Hodges to continue its publication. 

 Immediately after Mr. Hodges decided that 



he could not continue the publication, and 

 therefore this arrangement fell through. 



Subsequently the reorganization of Sci- 

 ence was undertaken by Professor Cattell, 

 of Columbia College, who will, we trust, 

 make it a success. 



It would not be proper to close this ar- 

 ticle without an acknowledgment of the 

 great ability, untiring zeal and never flag- 

 ging interest shown by Mr. Hodges in his 

 connection with Science. 



COERESPONDENCE. 



A catalogue of scientific literature. 



Editor of Science : — The admirable 

 plan for a card catalogue of scientific lit- 

 erature recommended to the Royal So- 

 ciety by the Harvard University Coun- 

 cil (reprinted in the current volume of 

 Science, pages 184-186)' strongly com- 

 mends itself to users of scientific literature, 

 and has alreadj^ been adopted with minor 

 modification bj- at least one national scien- 

 tific society. A slight extension of the plan 

 in one respect Avould seem, however, to be 

 advantageous. 



The body of scientific literature is vast 

 and constantly increasing, and scientific 

 authorship and publication are rapidlj^ ex- 

 tending from country to country and from 

 point to point in each country throughout 

 the world. Population is increasing, and 

 with it writing and printing increase ; civil- 

 ization is spreading, and with it literature 

 is expanding in an increasing ratio ; science 

 is becoming increasingly important as a di- 

 recting and controlling force in civilization, 

 and so the growth of scientific writing out- 

 strips that of non-scientific scripture ; the 

 domain of science is widening rapidly as re- 

 search concerning every conceivable subject 

 pushes into and illumines the peuumbi-a of 

 half-knowledge, and thus the subject-matter 

 of scientific literature is differentiated. 

 Moreover, the fashion of scientific publica- 

 tion is changing : few recent investigators 



