A century of science in America

by Unknown

In February, 1822, with the completion of the fourth volume, the editor reviews the situation which, though encouraging is by no means fully assuring. He says (preface to vol. 4, dated Feb. 15, 1822):

Two years and a half have elapsed, since the publication of the first volume of this Journal, and one year and ten months since the Editor assumed the pecuniary responsibility....

The work has not, even yet, reimbursed its expenses, (we speak not of editorial or of business compensation,) we intend, that it has not paid for the paper, printing and engraving; the proprietors of the first volume being in advance, on those accounts, and the Editor on the same score, with respect to the aggregate expense of the three last volumes. This deficit is, however, no longer increasing, as the receipts, at present, just about cover the expense of the physical materials, and of the manual labour. A reiterated disclosure of this kind is not grateful, and would scarcely be manly, were it not that the public, who alone have the power to remove the difficulty, have a right to a frank exposition of the state of the case. As the patronage is, however, growing gradually more extensive, it is believed that the work will be eventually sustained, although it may be long before it will command any thing but gratuitous intellectual labour....

These facts, with the obvious one,—that its pages are supplied with contributions from all parts of the Union, and occasionally from Europe, evince that the work is received as a national and not as a local undertaking, and that the community consider it as having no sectional character. Encouraged by this view of the subject, and by the favour of many distinguished men, both at home and abroad, and supported by able contributors, to whom the Editor again tenders his grateful acknowledgments, he will still persevere, in the hope of contributing something to the advancement of our science and arts, and towards the elevation of our national character.

In the autumn of the same year, the editor closes the fifth volume with a more confident tone (Sept. 25, 1822):

A trial of four years has decided the point, that the American Public will support this Journal. Its pecuniary patronage is now such, that although not a lucrative, it is no longer a hazardous enterprise. It is now also decided, that the intellectual resources of the country are sufficient to afford an unfailing supply of valuable original communications and that nothing but perseverance and effort are necessary to give perpetuity to the undertaking.

The decided and uniform expression of public favour which the Journal has received both at home and abroad, affords the Editor such encouragement, that he cannot hesitate to persevere—and he now renews the expression of his thanks to the friends and correspondents of the work, both in Europe and the United States, requesting at the same time a continuance of their friendly influence and efforts.

Still again in the preface to the sixth volume (1823) he takes the reader more fully into his confidence and shows that he regards the enterprise as no longer of doubtful success. He says:

The conclusion of a new volume of a work, involving so much care, labour and responsibility, as are necessarily attached, at the present day, to a Journal of Science and the Arts, naturally produces in the mind, a state of not ungrateful calmness, and a disposition, partaking of social feeling, to say something to those who honour such a production, by giving to it a small share of their money, and of their time. The Editor’s first impression was, that the sixth volume should be sent into the world without an introductory note, but he yields to the impulse already expressed, and to the established usages of respectful courtesy to the public, which a short preface seems to imply. He has now persevered almost five years, in an undertaking, regarded by many of the friends whom he originally consulted, as hazardous, and to which not a few of them prophetically alloted only an ephemeral existence. It has been his fortune to prosecute this work without, (till a very recent period,) returns, adequate to its indispensable responsibilities;—under a heavy pressure of professional and private duty; with trying fluctuations of health, and amidst severe and reiterated domestic afflictions. The world are usually indulgent to allusions of this nature, when they have any relation to the discharge of public duty; and in this view, it is with satisfaction, that the Editor adds, that he has now to look on formidable difficulties, only in retrospect, and with something of the feeling of him, who sees a powerful and vanquished foe, slowly retiring, and leaving a field no longer contested.

This Journal which, from the first, was fully supplied with original communications, is now sustained by actual payment, to such an extent, that it may fairly be considered as an established work; its patronage is regularly increasing, and we trust it will no longer justify such remarks as some of the following, from the pen of one of the most eminent scientific men in Europe. “Nothing surprises me more, than the little encouragement which your Journal,” (“which I always read with very great interest, and of which I make great use,”) “experiences in America—this must surely arise from the present depressed condition of trade, and cannot long continue.”