Victor Snieckus is a perceptive guy

Much more perceptive than me, regarding the ephemeral nature of electronic communications:

The cover story on crystallography is a marvelous piece of journalism and riveting reading, at least to older generations of chemists. What stands out is the tingling thrill of discovery and the convolutions of thought of what would have happened if there had been slight turns of events and selective available knowledge. 

More apropos to our times, the various articles show how chemistry was a more freewheeling activity. Imagine the consequences today if an editor wrote to an author—as quoted in the ferrocene article—that “I cannot help feeling that you have been at the hashish again.” This raises the question: Will such splendid documentation exist from the commentaries and anecdotes on current discoveries that are disappearing with one tap of the delete key? 

Victor Snieckus
Kingston, Ontario

It would be wonderful if modern journals archived all their editor's e-mails, but I am sure that there would be too many juicy stories if revealed.