Priestley
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Publication—Lifeblood of Science ARTHUR
B. LAMB, Editor, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
T h e p r o g r e s s o f s c i e n c e , w h i c h is d i r e c t l y c o r r e l a t e d w i t h t h e u n i t y o f t h e h u m a n r a c e , is i n t u r n d i r e c t l y d e p e n d e n t o n t h e publishing of new knowledge . . · Periodicals represent t h e m o s t p o w e r f u l f a c t o r i n its w i d e s p r e a d dissemination J. APPRECIATE deeply the honor which the Society has conferred upon me by this award of the Priestley Medal. I interpret this award, coming as it does at the conclusion of my long editorship of the Society's Journal, as a recognition by the Society of the importance and utility of the Journal. This utility, however, has resulted from the efforts of scores of persons other than myself, chiefly associate editors and a host of referees, who over the years have devoted untold hours to their arduous, anonymous, and often thankless tasks. I t is therefore in their behalf that I accept with gratitude this high honor. I am also particularly happy to receive a medal bearing Priestley's name. His personality and character have always awakened my warmest admiration. A poor, provincial teacher and preacher of an unpopular denomination, kindly and likable, with an active omnivorous mind that led him, while still a young man, to proficiency in eight languages and to the publication of scores of books and pamphlets on subjects as diverse as, for instance, the History and Present State of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light, and Color (two volumes) ; a Course of Lectures on Oratory and Criticism; a General History of the Christian Church (six volumes) ; A Treatise on Civil Government; a Harmony of the Evangelists in Greek; A Familiar Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Perspective; and Discourses on the Evidences of Divine Revelation (three volumes). Then a chance meeting with Benjamin Franklin stimulated Priestley to undertake original experiments in natural science. Whereupon this happy and enthusiastic amateur, in the springtime of our science, as in a garden where no one else had ventured, quickly gathered a garland of wonderful discoveries which will keep his name fresh in the minds of men forever. Later, his bold and enthusiastic support in sermons and pamphlets of the cause of the American Colonists, of the French Republic, and of human liberty and justice everywhere, brought him great unpopularity, and led to his resignation from the Royal Society, to the burning of his church and home and laboratory by a mob, and forced VOLUME
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him into hiding and ultimately to flee from England to this country. Nevertheless, in spite of all these vicissitudes, near the end of his life at his home on the Susquehanna, he could say: "Few persons, I believe, have enjoyed life more than I have." Both as chemists and as Americans we owe Priestley our homage and affection. With this preamble, fellow members of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, and
guided b y your interest in the journals of the Society that this award implies, I want to address you today on the primary function of these journals. The Publication of Chemical
Research
In so doing I want, first, to express and justify m y conviction of the importance of science to the welfare of mankind, and, second, t o emphasize how essential publication is to t h e progress of science. I shall then discuss how publication of research can best be accomplished under present and impending conditions. I n spite of the complaints one hears so often that science has progressed so rapidly that we should call a halt and catch our breath. I am convinced that the continued progress of science is of extreme importance to the welfare of mankind, and I propose to present a number of reasons for this belief. At the outset, however, I want to disclaim emphatically any implication that I consider science the only factor essential to the welfare of men. On the contrary, we must at once concede that science, all-important as it seems to us, has been and still is only of subordinate interest to most men. Indeed, it has been and is, a t least directly, a far less potent influence on tbe spirit, the emotions, and the activities of men than is philosophy or literature or music. The scientist in his enthusiasm should not underestimate the importance of these other subjects that appeal more directly, more powerfully, and more deeply to the spirit and the heart! Nevertheless, science, in the last three centuries, has acquired an astonishing significance. The Greeks of antiquity, drawing on their Hindu, Mesopotamian. and Egyptian predecessors, accumulated a remarkable body of organized knowledge, but this was largely lost to Europe
» » OCTOBER
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1949
in the Dark Ages. When this knowledge was recovered in Europe during the Renaissance chiefly by way of Syria and Arabia, it led for hundreds of years to an almost complete subserviency of European thought to the authority of Aristotle, Galen, and the other intellectual giants of Greece and Rome. I t was only about 300 years ago, namely, at a time as recent as the first settlement of our own country, that Francis Bacon in his Novum Organum, and particularly in his New Atlantis, first made men see what great possibilities there were for progress,, not by the study of Aristotle and the authorities of antiquity, but by the observation and examination of Nature herself and particularly by the execution of purposeful experiments. This new approach, this new point of view which characterized the work of Galileo, Boyle, Harvey, Newton, and others, was dramatically successful and opened up a veritable Eldorado of new knowledge. One discovery led to a dozen others and science developed at a dizzy and ever-accelerating speed. Indeed this growth of science has become the outstanding characteristic of the civilization of today. Power of Science It is commonplace to point out that science has now equipped us with a huge array of machines and instruments which perform feats of strength and skill of which were previously wholly incapable and of which we had scarcely dreamed. By their help we move mountains, fly at enormous speeds to the uttermost parts of the earth, and in a whisper we send our voices around the world. Perhaps even more momentous is our increased knowledge of geology, biology, anthropology, and psychology. This new knowledge and our new machines have made profound changes in our daily lives, in our philosophy, and in the social organism of which we are a part. Moreover, these changes have come with lightning rapidity. Compared with the millions of years required for man's development from the ape, the 300 years required for this later development is but the twinkling of an eye) No wonder that we are faced with social upheavals. Never before has the Ark of Humanity been so buffeted and tossed by tempestuous winds and mountainous seas! At the moment, these revolutionary changes and these social upheavals are difficult and distressing. Wars between nations and conflicts within the social 2841
organism of frightful potentialities soem to be in the offing. We are confronted, on the one hand, with the threat of a succession of Hiroshima^, and on the other b y the spread of a social philosophy which assumes that the present technological progress and the resultant prodigious creation of wealth can continue unabated without those rewards and stimuli which have been operative throughout human history. But wTe must not be unduly depressed b y surface appearances. T h e phenomenal progress of science has enhanced or set in motion deep-seated forces which, though perhaps slow in action, are nevertheless powerful and benign. Fundamentally and for the long pull mankind's prospects have never been brighter! I submit the following reasons for this conviction: First, mankind, because of the progress of science, has become enormously more powerful and thus able better to combat the forces of his ever hostile environment. He understands the world about him and himself better than ever before. Moreover, the procedure taught by Bacon involving careful observations of Nature and purposeful, persistent experimentation that in countless instances has yielded* such a fabulous bonanza of scientific treasure is now a major and familiar human strategy that will never be forgotten; so that progress, even if elower, will not cease. A Unifying Force Again, science is uniting (tu· world intellectually as nothing else has done since the early Christian Church sent its monks and friars throughout the disintegrating remnants of the Roman E m pire. Science has become a great international, cooperative enterprise, transcending for the most part racial and political boundaries. Indeed the interchange of scientific information is at once so necessary and so obviously advantageous that science has become perhaps the greatest single factor in promoting international goodwill and the realization of the unity of the human race. In spite of the Soviet's ban o n
«842
western culture, last year over 50,000 copies of our Society's publications were purchased b y Russia and allowed t o enter behind the Iron Curtain! Finally, the more rapid interchange of ideas the world over made possible by the new facilities of movement and of communication which science has created is extraordinarily stimulating. This factor combined with the intellectual activity of tens of thousands of men all over the world who are at work every day on scientific problems of every degree of complexity, entails a great increase in the velocity and amount of ratiocination, and constitutes a new and significant increment of intellectual power. In the past, whenever there has been an increase in the tempo of men's thinking, such for instance as has resulted from a shift of population from a nomadic t o a settled or urban existence, civilization has advanced. It will do so now! T o be sure, the momentous scientific discoveries which mankind will make and the ever more stupendous enterprises that he will undertake will bring with them even more perplexing difficulties of human readjustment. They, like the difficulties of today, and perhaps even more so, will appear at first sight t o be catastrophic. But with the advance of science a host of favorable forces will operate in mankind's behalf: his ever increasing power; his wider and deeper understanding of his environment, of himself and of the social organism; his enhanced realization of the unity of the human family; his heightened intellectual activity resulting from the eager and widespread prosecution of science; and, best of all, the increasing myriads of men and women with active and trained intellects available t o study the problems of the moment with the enthusiasm and objectivity of the scientist. By these means mankind will master his difficulties and achieve a richer and more significant existence. Our watchword should then be not to falter but with confidence t o redouble our efforts toward the progress of science. Importance of Dissemination Having now demonstrated, I trust, the benefits that mankind can derive from the progress of science, it is even more e v i d e n t t h a t t h e publication of research is essential to such progress. Science progresses by the joint efforts of many workers, each building on the achievements of his predecessors. New discoveries, when published, can shed new light o n thousands of unsolved problems; from a single such discovery hundreds of new machines or new drugs or a deeper insight into our surroundings may result. On the other hand, new discoveries that remain undisclosed might almost as well not have been made. The prompt and widespread communication of new findings is essential particularly to fellow
scientists who can appreciate and ua«r them. Publication is the life-blood of science ! Recognizing, then, how essential and important is the publication of research, the question now i s : How can we as chemists best promote the publication of chemical research? T o answer this· question we can with advantage inquin how it has been published during th*past 300 years. Early Publications In the middle of the 17th century, when modern experimental science was starting its rapid growth academies oj science were organized in the principal countries of Europe to promote the interchange of ideas and t o publish in their proceedings the results of the scientific researches of the day. For a hundred years these "proceedings" continued to perform this function. For instance, in one of the oldest of them, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, established in England in 1665, and in t h e Memoirs of the French Academy of Sciences established a few years later appeared many of the great classic* of our science. In the latter part of the 18th century, there was a further great acceleration in scientific research, particularly in physics and chemistry, under the leadership of Black, Cavendish, and Priestley in England, and under Lavoisier in France. The pages of these academy proceedings» proved quite inadequate to publish this increased volume of research and as a consequence a host of privately owned journals specializing chiefly in physics and chemistry sprang up at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, each usually owing its establishment to the energy and initiative of some well-known investigator or group of investigators. There were a dozen or more of these journals in England, France, Germany, and Russia. S o m e of them were short-lived, but many, under changing sponsors, have survived to the present d a y . Our own Silliman's Journal, which later became the American Journal nf Science, was one of them. They were a great advance over the few and infrequent proceedings of the academies, and as specialized journals of chemistry and physics they were not diluted with a large number of articles dealing with other sciences. In another 50 years even these journalbecame inadequate, and as a result national societies of chemists were organized in the leading countries of Europe Thus there were founded the London Chemical Society in 1841, the Société chimique de France in 1857, the Deutsche chemische Gesellschaft in 1867 and the Russian Chemical Society in the same year. Each society established a journal immediately and these journals promptly became the most important means for
CH E M I C A L A N D
ENGINEERING
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the publication of chemical research i n their respective countries and have re mained s o . Our own Society and Journal were established some 10 years later i n re sponse t o a situation similar t o what had prevailed in Europe. A t that time in our country, there were the proceedings of two academies and one ephemeral, privately sponsored journal of chem istry. T h e total space available for chemistry in all of them in a year was equivalent to less than about 400 pages of our present Journal. I have a lantern slide to show the growth over the years of the Journal and the other publications of the Society which sprang from it.
birth t o a second daughter, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (I&EC). This journal has i n turn proliferated t w o d a u g h t e r journals, Analytical Chemistry (Anal. Chem.), NEERING
NEWS
and CHEMICAL AND E N G I (CHEM.
ENG.
NEWS),
so that the Society's family of journals now comprises five members, a parent, t w o children, a n d two grandchildren. T h e diagram indicates the enormous increase in the number of pages of re search and abstracts of research now published by t h e Society. The picture would be e v e n more startling if the accompanying still greater increase in thf number of copies of these journal? printed each year were also shown. Our own experience, then, as well as
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1900
1910
1910
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1930
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1940
J ACS
J1940
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J1948
1948 ^
Each space represents to the 1942 JACS
1,000 editorial page9 based
In this diagram years are shown verti cally and pages horizontally, one horieontal division representing 1,000 Journal pages of the 1942 format. T h e shaded areas show the change in the number of pages published per year b y each of the journals indicated. It can be seen that t h e Journal (JACS), a n d The American Chemical Journal (ACJ) owned and edited b y Ira Remsen, both started in 1879. The Journal of Analytical and Applied Chemistry (JAAC), owned and edited b y Edward Hart, started i n 1887. At first there was active competition be tween these journals, and the JAC S grew very slowly, but ultimately t h e privately owned journals succumbed t o t h e one supported b y a national society and were absorbed b y it. Another journal, the Review of American Chemical Research (Rev.), established later b y Arthur A. Noyes, was absorbed even more promptly b y o u r Journal. In 1907 the Journal, under the editor ship of W. A. Noyes, was subdivided, the review articles being published sepa rately as Chemical Abstracts (Chem. Abs.), Dr. N o y e s acting as its editor for three years. I n 1909 the Journal gave
VOLUME
2 7, N O . 4 0 ·
pages (all pages on numbers of
converted words)
that of the leading countries of Europe h a s shown t h a t nationally sponsored jour nals have developed t o meet the needs of a rapidly expanding science and t h e y have performed this function with c o n spicuous success. Everywhere these journals have been cooperative under takings sponsored by organizations that are fundamentally democratic. They have been operated not for financial profit but for the promotion of chemical science and t h e welfare of the community. The sponsorship b y large national organ izations has resulted i n a uniquely low cost of publication, greater continuity, and an efficient operation assured b y t h e watchful scrutiny of the informed, inter ested and nation-wide membership of the Society. We have n o w seen, ladies and gentle men, that the further progress of science offers great hopes for the future welfare of mankind; that prompt and effective publication of the results of scientific research is essential t o the progress of science; and, finally, that large national organizations have been and are uniquely successful in providing such publication. T h e conclusion is inescapable that w e ,
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3, 1 9 4 9
members of t h e largest society of chem ists in the world, should continue the support of its publications and should strive toward their improvement and en largement. What can we best do to accomplish these ends? W e are faced with a huge and mounting influx of manuscripts B y the end of August this year we had received more manuscripts for the Jour nal than in any whole year previous t o 1947. T h e other journals of the society have had similar experiences. Unit costs of publication have increased just as has everything else, while our income has only increased slightly. T h e upshot is that we can not now afford t o print all the meritorious manuscripts that we receive. At first, we thought that this upsurge in manuscripts might be merely the run off from accumulations during the war. Its continuation indicates that more deep-seated and lasting changes are in volved, some of which we can perhaps identify. Thus, the number of research chemists in the industries is increasing and the industries are permitting a freer and more prompt publication of their research findings. T h e Govern ment supports directly and indirectly an increasing amount of research. I t s al ready established bureaus are expanding their research activities and new research laboratories are being organized such, for instance, as the regional research laboratories and the new laboratories supported b y the Atomic Energy Com mission. Of equal and perhaps greater importance is the large amount of re search in chemistry, supported b y govern ment funds at colleges and universities. Already large numbers of manuscripts are sent to our journals from these sources. Faced with these fundamental trends, we must expect that the present flood of manuscripts will continue and that a further increase is to be anticipated. Finding an Outlet H o w can w e best increase our income so that we can print this greater number of manuscripts? One's first thought is t o increase the subscription rates and membership dues and, as y o u know, a long step in this direction has just been taken. W e shall soon learn whether this has been advantageous, but we must rec ognize that in a n y case it is a strictly limited remedy, because higher rates are sure to reduce the number of subscribers. This would not only lessen the income from subscriptions, but in the case of those of our juornals which carry signifi cant amounts of advertisements would also lessen t h e income from that source, so that n o net gain might result. B u t a reduction in the number of subscribers is harmful for a more fundamental rea son. Publication is to b e measured not merely b y t h e number of pages printed, but also by the number of readers, which
2843
means approximately the number of copies distributed. In trying to raise more money to print more pages we should not adopt any course that will lessen significantly the number of copies distributed. In any case, it is probable that raising the subscription rate can not furnish a complete solution of the difficulty. There are always possibilities of an increase in our advertising income and no effort should be spared in that direction, but here too the possibilities are not commensurate with our needs and it is questionable strategy to base our highly important program of publication on so speculative and uncertain a resource. A further possibility for meeting the expense of the increased supply of manuscripts is sometimes suggested, though less frequently than formerly, namely, the subdivision of our present Journal into two parts, one devoted to general, physical, and inorganic chemistry, and one to organic and biological chemistry. T h e argument is that paper, printing, and postage are wasted by sending unwanted parts of the Journal to many subscribers. The answer is that the cost of these items is such a small fraction of the total cost of the Journal that the saving from printing a smaller edition is slight and indeed negligible if the extra expenses incident to separate publication are considered. This means that, after subdivision, the organic chemist, for instance, who subscribed only t o the organic part might indeed save a small fraction of his present subscription, but the person who wanted t o have both parts would have to pay nearly twice his present subscription. Expressed the other way about, the specialist in one branch is now able with the combined journal to read the articles in the other branch at a negligible cost. Still another way to state this is that while subdivision would save a very little money for some persons, the scientific community as a whole would be the loser. Broad Coverage Needed Moreover, a specialized journal dot* not afford that broad contact with chemistry which the specialist needs and wants and which a journal of general chemistry provides. I am sure that m a n y investigators have found some of their most fruitful ideas from reading or studying subjects more or less remote from their usual field of activity. Indeed, the interplay of one branch of science upon the other is one of the significant and important phenomena in the current development of science. If w e did not have such a journal of general chemistry i n America, I am sure that there would be a strong agitation to establish one. I a m convinced therefore that subdivision of the Journal would not only fail to increase our income but would be an unfortunate and unwise move.
2844
Another possibility is government aid, but this would certainly limit our freedom of action and our independence ; political influence and ultimate control would b e almost unavoidable. Also, i t would be difficult to combine government aid with any other method for raising money. Government aid should only be adopted as a last and desperate resort. Still another scheme, already utilized by the physicists in support of their publications, would be to charge the author, or more usually the author's employer, a fixed amount per page of the published article. This scheme is defensible on the ground that publication is of advantage to both the author and the employer, particularly since this charge for publication would be small as compared with the expense that has already been incurred in the prosecution of the research. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that this scheme is fundamentally illogical, in that it penalizes publication, the very activity that we are trying to promote. This deterrent is particularly serious where there is no employer, or where the employer is unwilling or unable t o meet this charge which then falls directly on the author or on some fund otherwise secured t o meet it Moreover, it must be recognized that this scheme would afford no relief t o Chemical Abstracts, which does not publish any original articles, and so could not make any such charge, and yet is by far the greatest financial burden of the Society. On balance, then, this scheme appears unattractive and should be adopted only as a last, or nearly last, resort. Financing by Industry The most promising method of securing increased funds for our publications would be to persuade our chemical industries to assume a considerable share of t h e cost of Chemical Abstracts. If only half of the $400,000 that this journal now costs our Society each year could be met in this way, enough money would be released to cover easily the increased needs of the other journals of the Society. There is sound justification for asking chemical industries to support this particular journal, because Chemical Abstracts is an absolute prerequisite for the chemists and patent attorneys in their laboratories. Its direct value t o them is far greater than the subscriptions they now pay or any contributions that we might ask them t o make. These contributions could be made in various ways, perhaps b y voluntary annual assessments whose amounts would depend on the number of chemists and patent attorneys employed, or they could take the form of an increased subscription rate for industrial research laboratories and for the chemists and patent attorneys employed in t h e m ; a rate perhaps twice that for unattached private individuals. Finally, it might be possible in the
CHEMICAL
more distant future t o reduce the manufacturing cost of our journals, expressed in the cost per page, b y 'some radical change in our method of printing. A process could perhaps be developed whereby an accepted manuscript would be retyped by an expert on a self-justifying typewriter, proofread by the author, photogravured and then printed by the offset process. This might reduce considerably the cost of composition. Again, parts of some articles and all of others could be photographed to give a semimicro font which could perhaps be printed by some refinement of the offset process. If a linear reduction of say three times could be achieved in this way and still be legible in a suitable viewer, the cost of paper, presswork and binding per thousand words might be radically lessened. Developments of this sort are being actively prosecuted in various quarters and should be closely watched. They may in 5 or 10 years provide a happy solution of our difficulties. Handling of Manuscripts The problems presented by the rising flood of manuscripts are not solely financial, for these manuscripts must be examined and appraised. This difficulty can be m e t in part b y providing additional assistant editors; but only in part, for, irrespective of such assistance, the editors are not omniscient and in general every manuscript must be examined by at least one expert in its special field. T h e referee must be alert to detect any neglect of prior knowledge, any error of procedure, experimentation, or of deduction, as well as any ambiguity, o b scurity, or redundancy of presentation. On the other hand, he should keep in mind that our object is primarily t o recognize and publish what is good rather than merely to exclude the faulty, and he should aim to salvage from each manuscript any worth-while contribution, no matter how fragmentary. The editor would be, and indeed is, embarrassed t o have faulty manuscripts slip b y him ; but he would b e even more pained to find that in his ignorance or blindness he had refused to publish and so had lost t o science, something good and useful. A further task which the referee should perform is t o furnish the editor with a report stating the reasons for his findings, particularly if he does not approve, or only partially approves, the manuscript. T h e author expects an explanation of an unfavorable verdict and he is certainly entitled to one. Finally, the referee, if possible, should send t o the editor c o n structive suggestions as t o how any deficiencies may be remedied or errors corrected. Careful reports of this kind which the editor can transmit t o the authors, showing that the manuscripts have been studied earnestly and sympathetically, espe(Continued on page 2876)
AND
ENGINFERING
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tm IVnfc^ I QumSf W a j | e s a n d Q . , S pharmaceuticals, Solvents, f ^fiCfPCU^^K ^ D y e s and Pigments for the Chemical Process Industries JJ (Continued from pege 2 8 7 5 )
IMXIIYDUIN
Publication—Lifeblood of Science {Continued from page 2844)
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cially if they are accompanied by helpful suggestions, are the very foundation of good editing. They change the editorial board in the eyes of the author from a group of hostile autocrats t o one of friendly colleagues and they help t o spread our conception that author and editor are cooperators rather than ad versaries in the publication of research. T h e task these referees perform is clearly a difficult one, but it is very i m portant. The editor must rely largely on their reports for technical guidance It is on them in the first instance, that the responsibility rests to maintain the high standards of the Society's journals and of the researches that are published in them. T h e referees, therefore, are essential factors in the cooperative enterprise of the Society's publications. It is to their arduous, unrequited and unselfish serv ices that most of our success has been due. Since the need for referees in creases with the number of manuscripts received, we must turn t o them for this service in ever-increasing measure. I am certain that they will not fail us. Ladies and gentlemen, I can now sum marize and conclude m y remarks in a few sentences. In spite of our troubled world and threats of impending disaster, I am convinced b y the fundamental reasons which I have set forth that a continuing progress in science offers the greatest promise, not only for our future material welfare, but also for the achievement of a richer, more significant, and more satis fying existence. The publication of re search is a sine qua non of such progress. Our Society has developed and is main taining a great, cooperative publishing enterprise which distributes authoritative accounts of the results of chemical re search more copiously and at the same time more cheaply than has ever before been achieved. Fellow members of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY: The first aim of
our
Society since its very foundation has been the publication of chemical research. Let us not be diverted from this im portant and inspiring undertaking. I n stead, let us redouble our efforts so that, in spite of the flood of manuscripts, w e can publish promptly, clearly, and eco nomically all the novel, valid, and sig nificant research in chemistry that w e receive ! THE
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Arthur B. {Continued from
ice and the Fixed Nitrogen ResearcL Laboratory. The diversified demands of his careei did not prevent Lamb from living a weD rounded private life. He married Blanche Anne Driscoll in 1923 and had two children : David B., at present a his tory student at Harvard, and Deborat» Anne, an art student at Smith. The athletic interests of the 194b Priestley Medal winner have been cen tered chiefly on tennis. Until a few yean? ago he played tennis three or four timee a week throughout the year and spent many of his summers in tramping and climbing mountains in Switzerland, the Tyrol, and the Canadian Rockies. H e ifi a member of the American Alpine Club. Perhaps it was the many hours spent on the tennis court that have sharpened Lamb's eyes for calling the "close ones 91 on the white line or the editorial desk Whatever the reason, he has that faculty and JACS contributors take pride in hie statement: "I have seen authors who were over-enthusiastic, who wrote badly, and who presented their points poorly, but I have yet to meet one who was clearly dishonest." THE
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Lamb page 2840)
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