Index to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

An index to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy first appeared in the book’s sixteenth edition which was published in February 1886. It was compiled by a former Unitarian clergyman, James Henry Wiggin, who was working as a general editor, proofreader, and constructor of indexes. In fact, Wiggin advertised himself in a circular as head of the “Bureau of Index-Making,” (see IC 349A.47.069) and promised potential clients that indexes constructed by him would be thorough, comprehensive, and informed by in-depth familiarity with the work to be indexed. Wiggin was probably recommended to Eddy by her publisher, John Wilson, and Eddy initially hired him to create an index for Science and Health. But Wiggin’s duties for Eddy quickly expanded to also include copyediting her writings and even serving for about two years as editor of The Christian Science Journal.

Wiggin apparently completed his draft of the index for the sixteenth edition of Science and Health near the end of 1885. On December 29 he wrote Eddy (IC 349A.47.003) that the last pages of the index had gone to the printer and that he was soon expecting to receive the proof sheets. Wiggin continued to update the index to reflect Eddy’s changes in the text of Science and Health up through its fiftieth edition, published in 1891. His work on the book essentially ended with that edition. There is some evidence that the updating of the index was then continued by others Eddy employed for editorial work on Science and Health, although it is unclear which of these individuals specifically worked on it. The index was removed from the book with the publishing of the 226th edition in 1902, in anticipation of the publishing in 1903 of a complete Concordance to Science and Health, compiled by a Christian Scientist, Albert F. Conant.

Conant had written to Eddy on March 8, 1899 (IC 248.40.001), asking for permission to construct a Concordance to Science and Health. He wrote that “in looking at the rapid increase in the number of those studying the Christian Science text-book, I have been forcibly impressed by the need of a concordance for Science and Health;– a concordance that shall enable the student to find with certainty and celerity any sentence in the book.” Eddy eventually gave her approval of the project and provided a Preface to the Concordance that reads in part:

For many years there have been calls for a more complete index to "SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES," and although the index prepared by the late Rev. J. H. Wiggin about the year 1885 was quite large, neither it nor subsequent indices fully met the requirements of the students of our textbook. It finally became apparent that the only satisfactory way to meet this need was to prepare a complete Concordance, which should include all prominent words and phrases which the student may desire to find. I am confident that this work will fully meet his demands....