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



many times what it was in 1825, a large part of these 

 have naturally found their home in periodicals devoted 

 to the special subject dealt with in each case. That this 

 movement will continue, though in lessened degree now 

 that the immediate demand is measurably satisfied, is to 

 be expected. At the same time it has not seemed wise, at 

 any time in the past, to formally restrict the pages of the 

 Journal to any single group of subjects. The future is 

 before us and its problems will be met as they arise. At 

 the moment, however, there seems to be still a place for a 

 scientific monthly sufficiently broad to include original 

 papers of important general bearing even if special in 

 immediate subject. In this way it would seem that 

 "Silliman's Journal' ' can best continue to meet the 

 ideals of its honored founder, modified as they must be to 

 meet the change of conditions which a century of scien- 

 tific investigation and growth have wrought. Incident- 

 ally it is not out of place to add that a self-supporting, 

 non-subsidized scientific periodical may hope to find a 

 larger number of subscribers from among the workers in 

 science and the libraries if it is not too restricted in scope. 



The last subject touched upon introduces the, essential 

 matter of financial support without which no monthly 

 publication can survive. With respect to the periodicals 

 of recent birth, listed above, it is safe to say that some 

 form of substantial support or subsidy — often very gen- 

 erous — is the rule, perhaps the universal one. This has 

 never been the case with the American Journal. The 

 liberality and broad-minded attitude of Yale College in 

 the early days, and of the Yale University that has devel- 

 oped from it, have never been questioned. At the same 

 time the special conditions have been such as to make it 

 desirable that the responsibility of meeting the financial 

 requirements should be carried by the editors-in-chief. 

 At present the Yale Library gives adequate payment for 

 certain publications received by the Journal in exchange, 

 though for many years they were given to it as a matter 

 of course, free of charge. Beyond this there is nothing 

 approaching a subsidy. 



The difficulties on the financial side met with by the elder 

 Silliman have been suggested, although not adequately 

 presented, in the various statements quoted from early 

 volumes. The same problems in varying degree have 

 continued for the past sixty years. Since 1914 they have 

 been seriously aggravated for reasons that need not be 



