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By Root 2011 0

collaboration into a sustained practical reality for the first time in history. The stranger so dedicated to this vision was Edward Youmans, probably the foremost advocate of public science in contemporary America. His friendJohn Fiske declared Youmans the John the Baptist of the scientific era (Darwin, he thought, was its Christ). Through a long association with a huge NewYork publishing firm, D. Appleton and Co., he labored to ease the entry of scientific works into American culture. He edited compilations on the correlation of forces and on scientific education, as well as masterminding journals and personally lecturing on topics such as evolution and social science. Now he wanted to take the idea of a universal realm of science and make it a reality. As Herbert Spencer told him over the billiard table, Youmans's "movement" promised to "revolutionize" communication, and hence civilization itself.

The trouble was that the realities of communication were far from congenial to such an ideal. Vast problems stood in the way of any attempt to create a universal culture based in printed communication, even in the sciences. Each country had its own publishing system, and with none prepared to give ground, transnational "piracy" was a major obstacle. For Youmans, overcoming this was a matter of evolution. He was convinced that modern societies were poised to develop into a scientific stage of civilization. But the advance was currently stymied because the medium on which it depended was so riven. It was currently impossible to produce a successful work in one realm and prevent its being pirated in another, often in a cheap, disreputable, and above all unfaithful impression. The nationalism of copyright thus inhibited what Youmans called (in his own reprint ofEuropean scientists' views on education) "the culture demanded by modern life."

Youmans's plan to tackle this problem rested on establishing a vast collaboration between scientists and publishers across the major powers of the day: Britain, America, Germany, France, Italy, and Russia. In the absence of universal laws of authorship, honor would have to be made its foundation-the honor of publishers themselves. His idea was for publishers to promise to reward scientists at the rates due in their respective countries, giving an undertaking that would hold fast as a matter of civility, not law. Only in this way could a field of universal reason, long envisaged but never attained, finally come into being: a scientific spirit transcending state, nation, and language.

Youmans had proposed grand schemes before, however. None of them had borne fruit. So his reputationwas one ofvisionary failure. Some of the scientists he met voiced doubts about his ability to succeed now, while others regretfully told him that they were already tied to publishers and could not politely break away. Given the dependence of his own plan on civility, Youmans could hardly gainsay that principle. But his labors did begin to garner support. Spencer vouchsafed a public letter extolling it. Huxley endorsed it. So did Lubbock. Tyndall volunteered a recommendation to the most prestigious scientist in the world, Helmholtz. And in mid July Youmans got the chance to dine with Charles Darwin himself, who expressed great enthusiasm and insisted that the scheme be publicized at the BAAS's great annual jamboree in Edinburgh. Youmans and Spencer forthwith took the train for Scotland, where Huxley, Carpenter, Balfour Stewart, Bain, and Lindsay all helped spread the word. Youmans circulated a printed manifesto announcing that his scheme would offer British science "the practical benefits of an international copyright law" And at the same moment Appleton himself published a carefully worded letter in the Trines lamenting American piracy of British ideas. Youmans left Scotland convinced that his scheme would succeed. He and Spencer sailed for Paris in search of French scientists to recruit, and Youmans then proceeded alone to Germany, where he met Helmholtz, Virchow, and DuBois-Reymond. Huxley's name carried the day,