Current Topics and Events

Abstract

A CIRCULAR has reached us referring to the formation of a History of Science Society in the United States. It is very fit that this new organisation, long overdue, should take the form of supporting Dr. George Sarton and his international publication I sis. Dr. Sarton's work for the history of science is well known all over the world. Before the War he was labouring at it in Belgium; afterwards, having lost a valuable library at the hands of the Germans, he took refuge in the United States, where he is now attached to the Carnegie Institution of Washington. He has been able there to attach to himself a number of scholars, all, in fact, who are interested in making the history of science an integral part of general history. This committee now appeals for wider support in the English-speaking world, and we cannot doubt but that it will be accorded. A subscription of five dollars now paid will qualify any one as a foundation member, and cover the issues of Isis for the year. It would be an excellent thing if enough members joined on the eastern side of the Atlantic to allow ultimately the swarming off of a separate British branch, which would naturally be associated with the British Association. The desirability of this in the end should not, however, deter any sympathiser from joining the American organisation. The object is admirable, indeed indispensable for the proper view of science as a social product and a cultural instrument. In Dr. Sarton we have the man in the whole world best fitted to carry it out, both by his own wide scientific training and by the devotion of years to his chosen cause. One may count with confidence on his fidelity to it for life, and it rests with the educated public to see that he does not live in vain. Correspondence may, for the present, be addressed to Prof. David Eugene Smith, 525 West 120th Street, New York City.