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"Popular Science Monthly," (vol. 1) the initial volume of the long-running magazine of science and technology.

The journal was launched in 1872 by Edward Livingston Youmans to disseminate scientific knowledge to the educated layman—changing in 1914 to target the general public—and became an outlet for the writings and ideas of many scientists, several of whom remain household names. Each issue features a collection of articles on various subjects within the fields of science and technology. This volume, containing the issues published from May-October 1872, includes such articles as "The Causes of Dyspepsia," "Darwinism and Divinity," "Action of Dark Radiations," "Astro-Meteorology," "Concerning Corpulence," "The Physiology of Sleep," and "Has our Climate Changed?"

The Popular Science Monthly has been started to help on the work of sound public education, by supplying instructive articles on the leading subjects of scientific inquiry. It will contain papers, original and selected, on a wide range of subjects, from the ablest scientific men of different countries, explaining their views to nonscientific people. A magazine is needed here, which shall be devoted to this purpose, for, although much is done by the general press in scattering light articles and shreds of information, yet many scientific discussions of merit and moment are passed by. It is, therefore, thought best to bring this class of contributions together for the benefit of all who are interested in the advance of ideas and the diffusion of valuable knowledge.
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Featured July 2012