Virginia E. Yagello
Head, Chemistry L~brary Ohio State Un~versity Columbus, 43210
1I
Early History
Someone has defined science as "that which is published in scientific journals." In this computer age, when there is widespread feeling that the scientific journal is no longer capable of keeping up with the quantity and the complexity of scientific information that is being generated, it may be appropriate to look back briefly and consider the origin and early development of a t least one type of scientific periodical. The importance of the study of the chemical periodical is pointed up by the following facts cited in Charles Harvey Brown's book, "Scientific Serials": first, "the use of serials rather than hooks is greater in chemistry than in the other sciences" and second, more citations are made to the earlier volumes of chemical periodicals than to those of other physical sciences (I). The scientific method, relying as it does on observation and experiment which can be completely recorded in brief articles, lent itself to the invention of the scientific periodical ( 2 ) . Such periodicals were started in the seventeenth century by conscientious men desirous of furthering scientific research by acquainting c discoveries mule. s&wtisri quickly w i t h t l ~ lutest T- h e v men devoted t h r l n w l w s to what the\, considered a thankless chore, namely, the editing of articles written by other scientists. On the other hand, it must be admitted that these editors often used their journals as vehicles for the expression of their personal biases. These men had to develop sound business procedures necessary to the publication of a journal as a successful commercial enterprise. Sherman B. Barnes discloses that the reason so many of the early journals were short-lived was usually due more to technical difficulties rather than to the changing state of knowledge. Moreover, in spite of the fact that the periodical evolved in response to an overwhelming increase in publication, the early journal frequently lacked sufficient copy to justify continuation ( 3 ) . The earliest periodicals to record scientific research promptly were the memoirs and proceedings of scientific societies. Rapid advances in physics and chemistry in the second half of the eighteenth century, spearheaded by Joseph Black, Henry Cavendish, Joseph Priestley, and Antoine Lavoisier, resulted in such a volume of literature that the secretaries of these early scientific societies had not enough time to evaluate the articles properly nor did they~. possess adequate funds to publish them (4, 5). Specialized chemical societies were also founded a t this time. John Playfair, professor of natural philosoBased on a talk delivered at the Quarterly Luncheon Group Meeting of the Ohio State University Librarians, January 30, 1967.
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phy a t the University of Edinburgh, makes reference in his Jou%ul, dated 1822, to a London chemical society in 1782. James Kendall, late professor of chemistry a t the University of Edinburgh, suggests it was merely a "London branch" of the Edinburgh University Chemical Society which he claims is "the first chemical society in Lhe world." This sLudenL society is known to have been in existence in 1785. Exactly when i t was founded and how long it continued is unknown. There is also evidence that there was a chemical society in Manchester prior to 1787. The existence of three additional Scottish chemical societies prior to 1801 has been established: the first at the University of Glasgow in 1786, the second also in Glasgow in 1798, and the third in Edinburgh in the same year (6-8). Also among these early chemical societies were two American ones: the Chemical Society of Philadelphia, founded in 1792, and the Columbian Chemical Society, founded in 1811 (9, 10). Publications of two of these early societies have been discovered. The proceedings of the Edinburgh University Chemical Society constitute a manuscript volume dated 1785 and consisting of 32 papers (452 pages) read a t meetings of the society by members (11). The Memoirs of the Columbian Chemical Society, dated 1813, are sometimes cited as the first American chemical journal. Consisting of 221 pages, it includes the constitution of the society and a list of members as well as 25 articles and a committee report on the analysis of certain ores (12). Unlike the memoirs of the early learned societies, those of the early chemical societies, which were all short-lived, had little impact on the history of the chemical periodical. Thus i t was from the ranks of privately owned journals that the first chemical periodicals arose. Clarification of the bases upon which various publications can make claim to being the first chemical periodical is dependent on the definition of what constitutes a periodical. Joachim Kirchner in "The Foundations of the German Periodical with a Collective Bibliography of German Periodicals to the Year 1790" defines a periodical as follows (IS): The periodical of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is a publication founded with a view toward indefinite duration, which appeared in more or less regular issues, and for a generally circumsoribed group of reader6 with similar interests, which was produced by means of mechanical duplication, and whose individual issues are recognizable as the (periodically) reappearing parts of a unified whole, and which with its own particular specialty or field of knowledge strives for a diversity of contents.
Using this definition, manuscript items are not properly considered periodicals. Since the papers of the Chemical Society of Edinburgh were never puh-
lished and since other published journals preceded them, Professor ICendall's claim is not really valid. Three early contenders for the designation of "first chemical periodical" are: Chymische Experimente einer Gesellschaft i m Erzgebiirge published in six issues by Lange in Berlin from 1753-59; Kurelle Chemische Versuche und Erfahrungen, one issue of which was published in Berlin in 1756; and Chymische Nebenstunden, edited by a pharmacist, Johann Georg Model, which appeared in two issues in St. Petersburgh in 1762-68 (14, 16). However, the founder of chemical journalism is generally conceded to be a former pupil of Joseph Black, Lorenz von Crell (1744-1816), (16), who issued a whole series of periodicals as follows (17): Chemisches Journal fur die Freunde d e ~Natuvlehre, Armeygelah~theil,Haushallungskunst und ManujacIu?cn. 6 v. (translated as: Crell's Chemical J o u m l . Giving an dccounl of the Latest Discare&x in Chemi s t ? ~. . ., 3 v., 1791-1793) Die neueslen Enldeckungen in d e Chemie, ~ 13 v. Chemisehes Arehiv, 2 v. Neues chemisches Archiv, 8 v. Neuestes chemisches Archin, 1 v. Chemisehe Annalen jar die Freunde der Ndurleh~e, Amneygelahrlheit, Haushaltungskunst und Manujacturen, 40 v. Beylriige m den ehemischen Annalen, 6 v. Auswahl aller eigenthumlichen Abhandlungm uml Beobachtungen in der Chemie . . ., 5 v. Auswahl uorz2iglieher Abhandlungen aus den semmtlichen Biinden d e jranz6sischen ~ Annalen der Chemie ., l v .
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Lorenz von Crell was a professor of chemistry and thc counselor of mines in Helmstadt, Germany. The titles and emphasis of his journals changed frequently, corresponding to the rapid changes in the newly developing science of chemistry. Von Crell corresponded extensively with scientists in other countries and his journals contained the research of British, Swedish, and French chemists as well as that of German chemists. Scheele published many of his original papers in the Annalen (18). Von Crell opposed Lavoisier's new chemistry, remaining an adherent of the phlogiston theory (19, 80). Many of the articles in his journals pertained to the phlogiston theory. Although the Chemisches Journal was issued irregularly in six volumes in three years, Die neuesten Entdeclo ungen i n der Chemie was published every six months. In the twelfth issue appears the following statement explaining the need for a new series published with greater frequency (81) : According to the former organization of my journal these chemical observations, which I have collected for my readers, came into their hands only every six months, and often the contributions which were sent had to lie withme for muchlonger. In this way the praiseworthy curiosity for more knowledge is satisfied only at late date. In the interim perhaps mzny spent their energy, time and money on projects which he aft,erwards found were already, and often even better, dealt with. Or perhaps he could have performed his needed tasks more easily, cheaper and in a, hetter way with the help of directions from these earlier achievements.
Vou Crell was also interested in retrospective searching of the literature. I n his Chemisches Archiv he published the results of his searches into the older university publications and other journals (88).
The oldest chemical journal in continuous existence, the Annales de Chimie, began publication during the French Revolution in 1789. Its editors were de Morveau, Laveisier, Monge, Berthollet, de Fourcroy, de Dieterich, Hassenfratz, and Adet. I n it appeared the new chemistry of Lavoisier disproving the phlogiston theory (83). Prior to this, Lavoisier's papers had appeared in the Memoirs of the French Academy of Sciences and in Rozier's Journal de Physique then edited by de la Metherie, an adherent of the . phlogiston theory (94). The first volumes of the Annales de Chimie cost 12 francs each. Volume 18 was ~ublished durinz the Reign of Terror in 1793 and contains some signatures on blue paper rather than on their usual paper stock. Lavoisier was executed in 1794; and the journal ceased publication for four years, volume 19 appearing in 1797. The editors accounted for the delay in publication by explaining they had been occupied in defense of the Republic. The Annales helped determine the development of chemistry for the next half century. Its title was changed to Annales de Chimie et de Physique in 1815 and in 1914 it split into two journals: the Annales de Chimie and the Annales de Physique (85). I n the subject index to his "Catalogue of Scientific and Technical Periodicals, 1665-1895," Henry Carrington Bolton lists 74 chemical journals published prior to 1841. Of these 38 were published in Germany, 8 each in France, Italy, and the British Isles, 5 in Holland, 3 in Belgium, 1 in Sweden, and 1 in Russia (86). Of the eight Italian journals all but one covered related subjects as well as chemistry. The Gazzetta Eclettica di Chimica Tecnologia, edited by G. B. Sembeuini in Verona in 1833-34, appears to have been limited to chemical technology (87). Luigi Valentino Brugnatelli (1761-1818), a medical doctor as well as professor of chemistry at the University of Padua, was the first and the most well-known of these early Italian editors (88). His articles appear in the Chemische Annalen, Annales de Chimie, etc. Unlike Crell he supported Lavoisier's theory of combustion though he advocated his own modified version of it (89). He edited two journals: Annuli di Chimica e Storia Naturale in 21 volumes, 1790-1802, and Giornale di Fisica, Chimica, Storia Naturale, Medicina ed Arti. The latter was edited by Brugnatelli, B ~ n a c c i ,and Configliachi and after Brugnatelli's death in 1818 by the latter two in conjunction with B~gnatelli'sson, Gaspare. It was published in 10 volumes, 1818-27 (30). One of the many German chemists who emulated Lorenz von Crell was Alexander Nikolaus Scherer (1771-1824) who published the monthly Allgemeines Journal der Chemie in 10 volumes from 1798 to 1803 in Leipzig and the Archiv fiir die theoretische Chemie (180002). The former included research in both pure and applied chemistry while the latter confined itself to theoretical arguments, offering an open forum for the discussion of Lavoisier's new theory of combustion. From 1803 to 1806 the Allgemeines Journal continued as the Neues allgemeines Journal der Chemie under the editorship of Adolph Ferdinand Gehlen (17751815) and five others. It included both original research and translations of foreign articles. Gehlen changed
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the journal coverage and continued it from 1806 to 1810 in nine volumes as the Journal fur die Chemie, Physik, und Mineralogie. It continued publication in Nurnberg from 1810 to 1833 under the editorship of Johann Salomon Christoph Schweigger with the title J o u m l ftir Chemie und Physik. Emphasis shifted once again to chemistry with physics being included only when it was related to chemistry. I n 1834 it combined with the Journal fur technische und Kkonomische Chemie to become the Journal fiir praktische Chemie under the editorship of Otto Linne Erdmann (1804-69). It continues to the present under this title (31-33). According to Florence E. Wall the first strictly chemical periodical published in England was a weekly entitled The Chemist. Published in London, the first volume consisted of 448 pages in 18 issues from March 13 through September 11,1824. A second volume continued to April 16, 1825. The journal was almost entirely the work of the editor who remained anonymous until his identity came to light during the organization of a London Chemical Society in 1824. His name was Mongredieu. The purpose of his journal was : to give an outline of the principles of chemistry, with their numerous applications, as well as a history anddescriptionof all the arts which are connected with this science. Further. to make The Chemist a repository of every vdluable discovery, either in chemistry or the sciences connected with it, which might be made, either at homeor abroad.
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Mongredieu was evidently well informed as a chemist and his series of 24 articles on "Chemistry as a Science," and his "Dictionary of Chemistry," which hecontinued as far as the letter "J," provide a good picture of the state of chemistry a t that time. He attended all scientific meetings and reported on all chemistry lectures given a t the Royal Institution and the Mechanics Institution in London, enlivening his accounts with frank comments on the speakers. The journal was discontinued because of lack of support (34). Chemistry experienced another spurt of expansion from 182040 owing largely to the activities of Jons Jacob Berzelius in Sweden and to the development of organic chemistry by Justus Liehig and Friedrich Wohler in Germany. These men were also actively involved in the publication of journals which recorded the chemical research of their time (4). Out of the union in 1832 of two pharmaceutical journals, the Magazin fur Pharmazie und Experiment allcn'tik and the Archiv cles Apothekervereins i m Nordlichen Deutschland, emerged the leading chemical journal of the mid-nineteenth century, the Annalen der Chemie. I n 1831 Philip Geiger who was finding his task of editing the Magazin fur Pharmazie und Ezperimentalkritik too much to handle by himself had asked Justus Liebig if he would assist him. Liebig, who had a wife and three children, undertook these editorial duties in order to supplement his meager salary. His attitude is frankly revealed in the following statement taken from a letter to Berzelius dated March 8, 1831: "I have recently been burdened by a heavy load, by joining Geiger as coeditor of his journal, all for the sake of the damned money involved. At the small university where I live, I am almost on the verge of starvation" (35). 428
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When he undertook the coeditorship in 1831, Liebig clearly indicated that he felt it was his duty to criticize articles published in the journal verifying data whenever possible by new experiments. J. P. Phillips in his article, "Liebig and Kolbe, Critical Editors" indicates the extreme to which Liebig carried his criticism: "There is no doubt that he was strongly authoritarian by nature and that mere publicity for his ownviews was not enough to satisfy him; any opponents must be crushed or ridiculed or somehow brought into submission as well" (36). The new journal, originally entitled the Annalen der Pharmazie, published reports of the major researches of its day, emphasizing organic chemistry. It absorbed another journal in 1834, the Neues Journal der Pharmaziefur ~ r z t eApotheker , und Chemiker. With volume 25 (1838) Liebig attempted to make the journal international in scope by appointing Dumas of Paris and Graham of London, two well-known chemists, cooperating editors. The venture failed, however, though their names continued on the title page until 1842. With volume 26 (1838) the Annalen came under the coeditorship of Justus Liebig and Friedrich Wohler. Wohler injected a note of humor into the journal by occasionally writing an article which poked fun a t chemical research. One of these articles, written in 1839, was interpreted as a serious contribution by an abstractor in Phannaeeutisches Centralblatt, the f o r e runner of today's Chemisches Zentralblatt. It was a t Wohler's suggestion that the journal changed title in 1840 to Annalen der Chemie und Pharmazie, the title under which it was published until Liebig's death in 1873. As may be seen from the names of some early chemical journals, chemistry and pharmacy were not clearly differentiated in the beginning of the eighteenth century. It was not until experimental research methods became an integral part of a chemist's training that chemistry finally broke away a8 an independent discipline. Justus Liebig played a prominent role in this development (37). In 1873 the name of the Annalen was changed to Justus Liebig's Annalen der Chemie und Pharmazie and, beginning with volume 173, to Justus Liebig's Annalen der Chemie. Over the years a succession of distinguished chemists acted as editors of the Annalen which is today devoted exclusively to organic chemistry and is no longer as preeminent as it once was (25, 35). Specialized types of chemical periodicals were d e veloped quite early in the history of the chemical periodical. Professor Ihde in "The Development of Modern Chemistry" indicates the Berlinisches Jahrbuch fur Pharmacie (1795-1840) to be first chemical annual (38). Wilhelm Ostwald credits Jons Jacob Berzelius, the noted Swedish chemist, with originating the idea of a review journal. In 1821 Berzelius started the Jahresbericht uber die Fortschritte der physischeu Wisseni schaften. The report for 1820 covered physics, mineralogy, chemistry, crystallography, and geology and consisted of 163 pages small octave size. Berzelius continued writing his reports for over 25 years even though they grew in size to over 1000 pages despite the deletion of coverage of physics and geology. To produce these reviews, Berzelius would leave his laboratory and remain in seclusion with all the books
and periodicals he was abstracting until he finished his report. Berzelius not only recorded the year's advances in chemistry but commented on them as well. So influential was he, says Isaac Asimov, that "when he condemned a new suggestion or experiment, it was as good as dead." Since, as he grew older and more conservative, he was often wrong, he tended to block the advance of new ideas. His increasingly vitriolic attacks on Justus Liebig caused Friedrich Wohler, Berzelius' student and friend, who had been translating the r e ~ o r t sinto German to cease his translations with volume 21. On Berzelius' retirement in 1847, Liebig and Wohler assumed the editorship of the Jahresbericht but they were confronted by so many problems they ceased ~ublicationwith volume 30, 1849 (30, 40). The first abstracting journal in the field of chemistry, the Pharmaceutisches Centralblatt, was founded in 1830 by Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801-87) when he was only 29 years of age. It was published a t 14 day intervals by the Verlagshandlung Leopold Voss in Hamburg beginning in January and became a weekly in September of that year. Fechner's name never appeared in the journal but he had a decisive influence in setting a standard for impartial abstracts. In the January 15,1833 issue he stated that abstracts would be concise and objective, containing only pertinent scientific facts. The next editor to play an important role in the development of the journal was J. A. L. Wilhelm Knop, an assistant of Wohler's, who served as editor from 1848-62. He reflected the new trends emphasizing chemistry as differentiated from pharmacy by changing the name of the journal in 1850 to Chemisch-Pharmaceutisches Centralblatt and in 1856 to Chemisches Zentralblatt (41, 43). By the 1840's the continuing rapid growth of organic chemistry rendered the current journals inadequate and resulted in the establishment of national chemical societies. Technological improvements helped make possible the proliferation of the publications of these societies. Journals became increasingly specialized reflecting the parallel specialization of chemistry (4). This relatively recent history of the modern chemical periodical records the rise and development of the American chemical periodical. Literature Cited (1) BROWN,CHARLESHARVEY,"Scientific Serials," Association of College and Reference Libraries, Chicago, 1956, p. 96. (2) KRONICK, DAVIDA., "A History of Scientific and Technical Periodicals (1665-1790)," Scarecrow Press, New York, 1961, p. 46.
SHERMAN B.. OaiTi8,1,155 (1936). (3) BARNES, (4) LAMB,ARTHURB., Chem. Eng. News, 21, 365 (1943). AARON J., "The Development of Modem Chemistry," (5) IHDE, Harper, New York, 1964, p. 270. JAMES, Endeavour, 1, 106 (1942). (6) KENDALL, JAMES, J. CHEM.EDUC.,12,565 (1935). (7) KENDILL, (8) KENDALL, JAMES, PTOC.Roy. Soc. Bdinb., 63A, 346, 385 11952).
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(10) BOGERT,MARSTON TAYLOR, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 30, 163 flqnm , - - - -,. (11) KENDALL, JAMES, Notwe, 159,867 (1947). D., Chymia, 5,145 (1959). (12) MILES,WYNDHAM, (13) KRONICK, op. cil., p. 32. (14) Ibid., p. 129. JOACHIM,"Das deutgche Zeitschriftenwesen, (15) KIRCHNER, seine Geschichte und seine Prohleme," Otto Harrassowite, Wiesbaden, 1958, v. 1, p. 94. "Die Grundlagen des deutschen Zeitschriftenwesens mit einen Gesanthihliographie der deutschen Zeitschriften his zum Jahre 1790," K. W. Hiersemann, Leipig, 1931, Val. 2, pp. 63, 104. J . R., "A History of Chemistry," Maomillan, (16) PARTINGTON, London, 1962, v. 3, p. 598. SAMUEL, H., "Catalogue of Scientific Serials of all (17) SCUDDER, Countries, Including the Transactions of Learned Societies in the Natural, Physical, and Mathematical Soiences, 1633-1876," Lihrary of Harvard University, Cambridge, 1879,pp. 16,187, 192-3,198,202. op. cit., v. 3, p. 599. (18) PARTINGTON, (19) NEAVE,E. W. J., Ann. Sci., 7, 101 (1951); 8,!28, (1952). "Geschichte der Chemie," Friedrioh Vie(20) KOPP,HERMANN, weg, Braunschweig, 1845, v. 3, p. 160. op. cit., p. 142. (21) KRONICK, "Dae deutgchen Zeitschriftenwesen . ," vol. (22) KIRCHNER, 1., D. 160. (23) MCKIE, DOUGLAS, Phil. Mag., 17th ser.], 39, Commemoration No., 122 (1948). (24) NEAVE,E. W. J., Ann. Sci., 6, 416 (1950); 7, 101 (1951);
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(25) NOYES,WILLIAMA., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 42, 2099 (1920). HENRYCARRINGTON, "A Catalogue of Scientific (26) BOLTON, and Technical Periodicals, 1665-1895," (%d. ed.), Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, 1897, p. 1144. -(27) Ibid., p. 222. (28) GIUA,MICHELE,"Storia della Chimica," Chiantore, Torino, 1946, p. 89. up. cd., V.3, p. 492. (29) PARTINGTON, "A Catalogue of . . .," p. 237. (30) BOLTON, op. eil., v. 1, p. 236-7; v. 2,p. 40. (31) K~R~HNER, L. P., ChemikerZtg., 59,873, (1935). (32) WALDEN,E. OD.cit.. D. 271-2. (33) IHDE. WAL~F , L O R ~ N C E E., Chemiat,l8,248 (1941). VANKLOOSTER, H. S., J. CHEM.EDUC.,34, 27, (1957). PHILLIPS, J . P,, Chymia, 11.89 (1966). LEICESTER,HENRYM., "The Historical Background of Chemistry," Wiley, New York, 1956, pp. 213-16. IHDE, ap. cd., p. 730. ASIMOV,ISAAC, "Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology," Doubleday, Garden City, 1964. no. 184. (40) OSTWALD, WILHELU(TmmLatw: RALPHE. OESPER), J. CHEM.EDUC.,32.373 (1955). MAXIMILIAN, Angm. C h . , 66, 537 (1954). (41) PPLUCKE, RICHARD, Z. Angm. Chem., 42, 1049 (19ZS). (42) WILSTXTTER,
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