The present book commemorates the one-hundredth anniversary of the
founding of the American Journal of Science by Benjamin Silliman in
July, 1818. The opening chapter gives a somewhat detailed account of the
early days of the Journal, with a sketch of its subsequent history. The
remaining chapters are devoted to the principal branches of science
which have been prominent in the pages of the Journal. They have been
written with a view to showing in each case the position of the science
in 1818 and the general progress made during the century; special
prominence is given to American science and particularly to the
contributions to it to be found in the Journal’s pages. References to
specific papers in the Journal are in most cases included in the text
and give simply volume, page, and date, as (=24=, 105, 1833); when these
and other references are in considerable number they have been brought
together as a Bibliography at the end of the chapter.
The entire cost of the present book is defrayed from the income of the
Mrs. Hepsa Ely Silliman Memorial Fund, established under the will of
Augustus Ely Silliman, a nephew of Benjamin Silliman, who died in 1884.
Certain of the chapters here printed have been made the basis of a
series of seven Silliman Lectures in accordance with the terms of that
gift. The selection of these lectures has been determined by the
convenience of the gentlemen concerned and in part also by the nature of
the subject.