•=• THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S , 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCES. 
/ • 
No. 255.] SATUEDAY, AUGUST 24, 1861. [Pbice Id. 
• ‘ PERIODICALS. 
VYe alluded last week to the in- 
creasing eril of periodicals ; their num- 
ber is continually increasing, and that 
alone is a great evil; but a periodical, 
viewed scientifically, is at any rate an 
evil: it is an evil because it is a 
periodical. 
We will endeavour to explain : a 
periodical is a publication which ap- 
pears regularly at stated .intervals of 
time, and which has a regular bulk, or 
at any rale a mean average number of 
pages. 
Periodicals may be annual, half- 
yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, &c. 
Now whether a periodical comes out 
weekly or “only once a year” it must 
at any rate be filled. If it need not 
be filled, but could be issued half full 
or almost empty, one great evil of the 
periodicals would be disposed of. 
How many are there who are writing 
something at the present moment, just 
to fill up a few pages in some scientific 
journal ? They write not that they 
have anything to say, but because 
someihing is wanted to he written. The 
readers of the journals in question have 
then these pages to read, in order to 
discover for what purpose they were 
written, and if they find them dull and 
meaningless is it wonderful? 
Some conscientious people consider it 
their duty to read carefully through the 
whole of some periodical publications, 
thereby devouring much chaff with their 
corn, and the chaff must frequently be 
taken into the mouth and well chewed 
before the discovery is made that it is 
really not corn — a sad, sad waste of time 
and mental labour! 
Then what a nuisance are these in- 
terminable periodicals to all librarians 
— books that must be collected and 
arranged, which cost money, take up 
space, and yet are far more bother than 
they are worth ; for, granted that they 
contain some papers of interest, they 
are so concealed amongst the heaps of 
rubbish that they are by no means 
easily found. A selection only of the 
really serviceable matter would be a 
boon; but then, under existing cir- 
cumstances, to publish such a selection 
would not diminish the actual evil, and 
would be making one more book to 
catalogue. 
Y 
