SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



THE NEW SERIES. 



N taking charge of the New Series of such an old-established and favourite 



magazine as Science-Gossip, one is reminded with some sadness of those 



friends of our youth — now no longer with us — who, thirty years ago, assisted 



to found a journal worthy of a long and prosperous career. One is reminded 



also of the many who have brightened its pages for a time and then passed 



away. Thoughts, too, pass of the change that has come over the manner 



of scientific thought and research : of the branches of science, now of great importance, 



which were then barely in existence, some being unnamed when the first number of 



Science-Gossip appeared. 



Then comes the feeling of one's unworthiness to guide an instrument which must take a 

 responsible share in forming scientific taste and thought among future workers, in an excellent 

 field, bat with inhabitants possessing no more than a general interest in Natural Science. For 

 such as these is Science-Gossip, as well as for the more advanced. Its readers may be 

 divided into five classes. First, there is the large body of amateurs, professing to be no more 

 than dilettante, though unconsciously forming the real force which sustains public interest in 

 scientific research. It is they who really provide the moral and financial support, whether 

 national or individual. From their body, too, come those who form the other classes ; for no 

 matter how famous or learned may be any man, he must acknowledge that there was a time 

 when he once belonged to the great body of beginners. Secondly, there is that influential class, 

 the field-students and collectors, men and also women, who provide material and observations 

 to be so splendidly worked out by the third section — the specialists, who are followed by the 

 fourth and highest class, whom we may designate the Philosophers of Science, such as Darwin, 

 Weismann and Tyndall. There is yet the fifth class, happily small in numbers. Shall we call 

 them the Pharisees of Science ? Men who have educated themselves out of their humanity 

 into a condition of cynicism, which would be melancholy were it not humorous. They it is 

 who sneer at the " mere collector," and think none can study the great scheme of nature, 

 unless he be dogmatic and possessed of a shibboleth. 



We shall endeavour to conduct this magazine, so that members of all these classes may 

 find pleasure in our columns. Above all it will be our aim to make it reputable for liberality of 

 thought, accuracy and trustworthiness in each department. In years gone past, Science- 

 Gossip has done much good work in creating a taste for the observation and study of natural 

 phenomena. It is our intention to continue to popularise such studies. Especially do we wish 



B 



