LITERARY NOTICES. 



851 



so equal in qualification for the stern tasks 

 set them, and so splendid in their efficiency. 

 That they can have such a character col- 

 lectively is clearly attributable to their hav- 

 ing been selected for their posts solely on 

 professional and moral grounds, without 

 the slightest reference to their politics. The 

 constant purpose of the officers in charge 

 has ever been to obtain for station duty the 

 ablest and trustiest surfmen. Previous re- 

 ports of the Service have made apparent 

 how difficult it was, for years, to limit the 

 choice of these agents to the simple tests of 

 their ability and trustworthiness, and how 

 great and absolute a help in this regard has 

 been the statute of 1882, peremptorily ex- 

 empting the selection from political influ- 

 ences. It can be safely said that in no 

 instance have the requirements of that stat- 

 ute been disregarded, either in spirit or let- 

 ter." 



A Catalogue of Scientific and Technical 

 Periodicals (1665 to 1882). Together 

 with Chronological Tables and a Library 

 Check-List. By Henry Carrington Bol- 

 ton. Washington : Published by the 

 Smithsonian Institution. Pp. 776. 

 The mass of periodical literature has be- 

 come stupendous ; and the real importance 

 it has attained is hardly less striking than 

 its magnitude. The literature in some de- 

 partments embodied in periodicals has near- 

 ly overtaken in value that which has been 

 collected in books, and in the present course 

 and tendencies of publication bids fair, be- 

 fore long, to pass it. In science, especially, 

 is that which is comprehended in periodical 

 publications indispensable to the investi- 

 gator who would make real progress. A 

 large proportion of the experiments of the 

 past and of the details of results attained 

 can not be given in books, but must always 

 be sought for in the periodicals in which 

 the records first appeared. A perfect index 

 to this literature would lead the inquirer 

 directly to every experiment ; but such an 

 index can hardly be hoped for at present, 

 and would be of inconvenient bulk, if it ex- 

 isted. We must take it in parts. In this 

 work Professor Bolton has given a very im- 

 portant part a list of scientific periodicals, 

 alphabetically arranged, with the cross-ref- 

 erences so necessary in every work of the 

 dictionary class ; classified according to the 



subject ; with a chronological table show- 

 ing the date when each volume of each 

 periodical was published ; and an alpha- 

 betical index to that ; and a partial list 

 as complete as it could be made for the 

 first issue of the libraries in the United 

 States and Canada where the several peri- 

 odicals may be found. This catalogue and 

 the " Catalogue of Scientific Serials," pub- 

 lished by Mr. Scudder in 1879, complement 

 one another. Mr. Scudder's catalogue in- 

 cludes the transactions of learned societies 

 in the natural, physical, and mathematical 

 sciences, and technical journals only to a 

 limited extent ; the present work is confined 

 to scientific and technical " periodicals " 

 proper, excluding society proceedings and 

 transactions, but including periodicals de- 

 voted to the " applications " of science. 

 Medicine has been excluded, but anatomy, 

 physiology, and veterinary science, being 

 related to zoology, have been admitted. Of 

 the category of included subjects, it con- 

 tains the principal independent periodicals 

 of all branches published in all countries, 

 from the rise of the literature in question 

 to the close of the year 1882. The effort 

 has been made to give full titles and names 

 of editors. In some debatable cases titles 

 have been admitted, on the ground, as enun- 

 ciated by Buchold, that " in a bibliography 

 it is much better that a book should be 

 found which is not sought, than that one 

 should be sought for and not found." The 

 cross-references are from the later to the 

 first title of a periodical which has suffered 

 changes in title ; from short titles in com- 

 mon use to the accurate designations ; from 

 the names of the principal editors to the 

 journals conducted by them ; and, in the 

 case of astronomical publications, from the 

 places in which the observatories arc situ- 

 ated to the titles of the periodicals issued 

 therefrom. The library check-list has been 

 prepared from the data afforded in the an- 

 swers to circulars which were sent out to 

 two hundred libraries, of which one hundred 

 and twenty librarians responded. The mate- 

 rial for the work was gathered from all avail- 

 able bibliographies, personal examination 

 of the shelves and the catalogues of many 

 libraries in the United States, as well as of 

 important libraries in England, France, and 

 Germany, and from the answers to circulars 



