Editorial January 21, 1905 Issue

As to Quotations

Archibald McLellan

It has often been observed that children whose parents have done a great deal for them, presume upon the loving kindness of those to whom they are so deeply indebted, and soon come to look upon the property of their parents as something which may be freely used without the formality of first asking permission; and it is to be regretted that, to a certain extent, some Christian Scientists have drifted into this manner of regarding Mrs. Eddy's copyrighted works. Some have used quotations from her books without the courtesy of a quotation mark, the name of the author, or the name of the book quoted from; others have been careful to observe all the proprieties except that of procuring the permission of the author to quote from her works; still other persons—not Christian Scientists—have garbled and distorted her words in order to appropriate her labors to their own use without detection. All these practices should be stopped, and Christian Scientists should need no further admonition than has been given them.

Mrs. Eddy's wisdom and foresight in protecting the integrity of her published works by registering them under the copyright law, has been fully justified in the defeat of certain attempts to appropriate her writings, attempts which might have succeeded had she not availed herself of the protection legally obtainable through this law.

Copyright is defined by the "American and English Encyclopædia of Law" as "the exclusive right of printing or otherwise multiplying copies of a published intellectual production, and publishing and vending the same; the right of preventing all others from doing so."

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