Benjamin Silliman

“ THE age in which we live is not less distinguished by a vigorous and successful cultivation of physical science, than by its numerous and important applications to the practical arts, and to the common purposes of life.
In every enlightened country, men illustrious for talent, worth, and knowledge, are ardently engaged in enlarging the boundaries of natural science ”

“ Among the cabinets, the splendid collection of Colonel Gibbs, now in Yale College, (a munificent deposit for the benefit of his country,) stands pre-eminent: it would be considered as a very noble cabinet in any part of Europe: and its introduction into the United States, and its gratuitous dedication to the promotion of science, are equally advantageous to the community, and honourable to its patriotic and enlightened proprietor. Mineralogy is most intimately connected with our arts, and especially with our agriculture. ”

“ To produce these efforts, and to excite this interest, nothing, perhaps, bids fairer than a Scientific Journal. Hitherto nearly all our exertions, of this kind, have been made by medical gentlemen, and directed primarily to medical objects. We are neither ignorant nor forgetful of the merits of our various Medical Journals, nor of the zeal with which, as far as consistent with their main object, they have fostered the physical sciences. ”

“ American science has much to lament in the death of Dr. Bruce.
No one, it is presumed, will doubt that a Journal devoted to science, and embracing a sphere sufficiently extensive to allure to its support the principal scientific men of our country, is greatly needed; if cordially supported, it will be successful, and if successful, it will be a great public benefit. ”

“ In a general diffusion of useful information through the various classes of society, in activity of intellect, and fertility of resource and invention, characterizing a highly intelligent population, we have no reason to shrink from a comparison with any country. But the devoted cultivators of science, in the United States, are comparatively few ”

“ In England the interests of science have been, for a series of years, greatly promoted by the excellent Journals of Tilloch and Nicholson; and for the loss of the latter, the scientific world has been fully compensated by Dr. Thomson's Annals of Philosophy, and by the Journal of Science and the Arts, both published in London.
2 In France, the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, the Journal des Mines, the Journal de Physique, &c. have long enjoyed a high and deserved reputation. Indeed, there are few countries in Europe which do not produce some similar publication ”

“ Among them are persons distinguished for their capacity and attainments, and notwithstanding the local feelings nourished by our state sovereignties, and the rival claims of several of our larger cities, there is evidently a predisposition towards a concentration of effort, from which we may hope for the happiest results, with regard to the advancement of both the science and the reputation of our country. ”

“ We are aware, also, that Journals have been established, professedly deriving their materials principally from foreign sources; that our various literary Magazines and Reviews have given, and continue to give, some notices of physical and mathematical subjects, and that some of them seem even partial to these branches of knowledge: that various limited efforts have been made, and are still making, to publish occasional or periodical papers, devoted to mathematical or physical subjects, and that even our newspapers sometimes contain scientific intelligence. ”

“ Foreign naturalists frequently explore our territory; and, for the most part, convey to Europe the fruits of their researches, while but a small part of our own productions is examined and described by Americans: certainly, this is little to our credit, and still less to our advantage. ”

“ Such are the disguises worn by many most useful mineral substances, that an unskilful observer is liable to pass a thing by, as worthless, which, if better informed, he would seize with avidity; and, still more frequently, a worthless substance, clothed perhaps in a brilliant and attractive exterior, excites hopes altogether delusive, and induces expense, without a possibility of remuneration. ”

“ It may prove only that the attempt was premature, and that our country is not yet ripe for such an undertaking; for without the efficient support of talent, knowledge, and money, it cannot long proceed. No editor can hope to carry forward such a work without the active aid of scientific and practical men; but, at the same time, the public have a right to expect that he will not be sparing of his own labour, and that his work shall be generally marked by the impress of his own hand. To this extent the editor cheerfully acknowledges his obligations to the public ”

“ As regards the subjects of this work, it is in our power to do much in the department of the natural history of this country. Our Zoology has been more fully investigated than our mineralogy and botany ”