The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-15


each from this.
The Service of the Professional or
Scientific journal.
[Extract form an address on Life
in the Center" delivered by DR.. c.
Alphonso Smith at the commencement
exercises of the medical department of
Tulane University, New Orleans, La,
May f, 1904
The service of the professional or
scientific journal is allied to that of
/ the professional or scientific associa-
ton. But while the association NAV
be said to do more good for the GEN
eral public, there can be no question
that the journal is of more benefit 10
the individual subscriber. Many mo-
tiVeS, both worthy and unworthy, NAV
lead a man into an association, but the
only motive that moves him to sub
scribe for costly and authoritative
journal is the love of his profession
and the resolute determination to keep
in touch with tits central life. The
great journals are the watchmen upon
the walls. They are both the heralds
and the advance guards of progress
They win their victories and move on
to new battlefields before the formal
textbooks proper have learned that
there has been a fight. They are near
er the center where truth is hid than
is any other form of specialized litera-
ture.
The large number of professional
men who take no journal or only a To-
cal one is by no means creditable to
American scholarship. 1t is not that
the journal, or the bulletin, or the
zeits chrift is infallible Far from it,
But the failure on the part of the pro-
fessional man to make systematic use
of these periodicals is an evidence of
one OF two things: L. That he is fol-
lowing a profession in which the de-
sire to learn is merely secondary, or
2. that he does not appreciate the
function of a standard journal. The
journal not only gives news from the
firing line, but its very atmosphere is
educative. 1t does more than any
other form of publication to develop
what may be called the nuclear habit
of mind. The essential difference be-
tween the stationary and the progress
sive mind lies in the absence or the
possession of this nuclear attitude to-
ward things. The nuclear mind uses
it's material as nuclei or magnetic cen
ters around which related facts are
constantly grouping themselves A
man shows the nuclear mind when he
makes croSs-referenceS as he reads,
references from book to book, ftOn
book to Journal. from journal to jour
nal, from science to literature, and
from literature back to science. Truth
grows with such a man. AS soon as
he gets interested in a subject he be-
gins almost instinctively to compile
photography of that subject, and when
at last he writes or speaks on his chO-
sen topic, people praise his learning.
It's not learning; it's the nuclear habit
of mind. And without a generous use
of journals, both American and for
eign, this priceless habit of mind can
not attain it's best development.
The man who lives in close touch
with associations and journals. but es-
pecially with journals, will not only
know when he has discovered some
thing. but will have the means of
testing publicly his views, and also Of
securing the credit that belongs to
him. Southern scholars and scientists
have suffered more than any others
from a failure to appreciate this func-
ton of the great journals. How often
do we hear in the South the old, old
story of achievement without recogni-
ton, of the goal without the wreath,
of the victor without the victor's re-
ward. Two illustrations Will suffice:
jose lie Conte, in his interesting
Autobiography, recently published,
says: Il take this opportunity to do
justice to the brilliancy and originality
of Langdon Chevis, q planter on the
coast of South California, near the
Savannah river by recording some
views of his expressed to me in con-
versation at Flat Rock on the origin
of species. We both read that re-
markable book 'Vestiges of the Natu
raj History of Creation published in
1914. and he had cordially embraced
the idea of origin of species by trans
mutation of previous species, while /
contrarily, held to Agassiz's views of
creation according to pre-ordained
plan. We had it hot ana heavy When
| brought forward the apparently I'M
ansWerable objection drawn from the
geographical distribution of species
and the manner in which contiguous
| fauna pass into one another, i. -, by
| substitution instead of transmutation
his answer was exactly what an evOlu
| ZIONIST would give today, vi: That in
| termediate links would be killed off
| in the struggle for life as less suited
| to the environment; In other words,
| that only the ffttest would survive. 1t
must be remembered that this was be-
| fore the publication of Darwin's book,
| and the answer was wholly new to me
and struck me very forcibly.'
| lie Conte asks: "Why did he not
| publish his idea ?" His answer is: mo
| one we'll acquainted with the Southern
| people, and especially with the South
|
| ton. Nothing could be more remark
able than the wide reading the deep
reflection, the refined culture, and the
originality of thought and observation
! characteristic of them, and vet the
idea of publication never entered their
minds"
The second illustration of the good
that a timely article in an authorita-
tive journal might have done relates to
the discovery of anesthesia. 1t is the
merest truism to say that the discoye-
ries of anesthesia and antisepsis have
revolutionized modern surgery As
you we'll know, the honor Of being the
discoverer of anesthesia was claimed
by three New Englanders, Drs. Jack
SON. Morton, and Wells. In 1852 the
| French Academy of Sciences took a
hand in the controversy and awarded
/ equal prizes to Jackson and Morton.
| There seems to be no doubt, however
that DR.. Crawford w. Long, of Geor-
gia, was the real discoverer of what
| Dr. Brown in "Rab and His Friends"
Justly calls zone of Gods best gifts
to his suffering children" The details
OF the controversy NAV be found in
the Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulle-
| TIN for August-Scptembe 1897 in
| Joel Chandler HarriS'S 'S+OripS of