Dana — American Journal of Science, 1818-1918. 29 



twenty years; and its pecuniary claims ceased to be onerous, 

 although its means have never been large. . . . 



Later in the same preface he adds (p. xiv) : 



It may be interesting to our readers to know something of the 

 patronage of the Journal. It has never reached one thousand 

 paying subscribers, and has rarely exceeded seven or eight 

 hundred — for many years it fluctuated between six and seven 

 hundred. 



It has been far from paying a reasonable editorial compensa- 

 tion; often it has paid nothing, and at present it does little 

 more than pay its bills. The number of engravings and the 

 extra labor in printer's composition, cause it to be an expensive 

 work, while its patronage is limited. 



It is difficult at this date to give any adequate state- 

 ment of the amount of encouragement and active assist- 

 ance given to Silliman by his scientific colleagues in New 

 Haven and elsewhere — a subject earlier alluded to. It 

 is fortunately possible, however, to acknowledge the gen- 

 erous aid received by the Journal in the early days from 

 a source near at hand. It has already been noted in 

 another place that the dawning activity of science at New 

 Haven was recognized by the founding of the ' ' Connecti- 

 cut Academy of Arts and Sciences/ ' formally estab- 

 lished at New Haven in 1799 and the third scientific body 

 to be organized in this country. From the beginning of 

 the Journal in 1818, the Connecticut Academy freely 

 gave its support both in papers for publication and at 

 least on one occasion later it gave important financial aid. 

 Upon the occasion of the celebration of the centennial 

 anniversary of the Academy on October 11, 1899, Pro- 

 fessor, later Governor, Baldwin, the president of the 

 Academy, discusses this subject in some detail. He says 

 in part : 



To support his [Silliman 's] undertaking, a vote had been 

 passed in February [1818], "that the Committee of Publication 

 may allow such of the Academy's papers as they think proper, 

 to be published in Mr. Silliman 's Scientific Journal." 



Free use was made of this authority, and a large part of the 

 contents of the Journal was for many years drawn from this 

 source. In some cases this fact was noted in publication; 2 but 

 in most it was not. . . . 



2 The following footnote accompanies the opening article of the first 

 volume of the Journal. ''From the MS. papers of the Connecticut Acad- 

 emy, now published by permission." Similar notes appear elsewhere. 

 Ed. 



