Dana — American Journal of Science, 1818-1918. 37 



It is my intention in future to prepare for the columns of this 

 Journal abstracts of the more important physical and chemical 

 memoirs contained in foreign scientific journals, accompanied 

 by references, and by such critical observations as the occasion 

 may demand. Contributions of a similar character from others 

 will of course not be excluded by this arrangement, but I shall 

 hold myself responsible only for those notices which appear 

 over my initials. 



The departments covered by Dr. Gibbs, in his excellent 

 monthly contributions, embraced chemistry and physics, 

 and these subjects were carried together until 1873 when 

 they were separated and the physical notes were fur- 

 nished, first by Alfred M. Mayer and later successively 

 by E. C. Pickering (from 1874), J. P. Cooke (from 1877), 

 and John Trowbridge (from 1880). The first instalment 

 of the long series of notes in chemistry and chemical 

 physics by George F. Barker, was printed in volume 50, 

 1870. He came in at first to occasionally relieve Dr. 

 Gibbs, but soon took the entire responsibility. His name 

 was placed among the associate editors on the cover in 

 1877 and two years later Dr. Gibbs formally retired. It 

 may be added that from the beginning in 1851 to the 

 present time, the notes in "Chemistry and Physics" have 

 been continued almost without interruption. 



The other departments of science have been also fnlly 

 represented in the notes, abstracts of papers pub- 

 lished, book notices, etc., of the successive numbers, but 

 as with the chemistry and physics the subject of botany 

 was long treated in a similar formal manner. For the 

 notes in this department, the Journal was for many years 

 indebted to Dr. Asa Gray, who became associate editor in 

 1853, two years after Gibbs, although he had been a 

 not infrequent contributor for many years previously, 

 Gray's contributions were furnished with great regu- 

 larity and were always critical and original in matter. 

 They formed indeed one of the most valuable features 

 of the Journal for many years ; as botanists well appre- 

 ciate, and, as Professor Goodale has emphasized in his 

 chapter on botany, Gray's notes are of vital importance 

 in the history of the development of his subject. With 

 Gray's retirement from active duty, his colleague, 

 George W. Goodale, took up the work in 1888 and in 1895 

 William G. Farlow r , also of Cambridge, w^as added as an 

 associate editor in cryptogamic botany. At this time, 



