016.5 43 



IV. 



The Dewey Decimal Classification, and the 

 International Catalogue of S cienc e. 



THE rapid increase in the growth of scientific Hterature, and the 

 consequent need for a systematic bibHography, have given rise 

 to many schemes, more or less extensive, for keeping scientific 

 workers informed, with as Httle delay as possible, of the publication 

 of books and memoirs in their special departments. The history of 

 works of this kind shows a gradual evolution, with ever increasing 

 adaptation to' the environment as regards completeness, classification, 

 and rapidity of publication. To take an illustration from that branch 

 of science with which I am most famihar : — The " Bibhotheca 

 Historico-naturalis" of Engelmann, published in 1846, was succeeded, 

 in 1861, by the " Bibliotheca Zoologica " of Carus and Engelmann. 

 Then followed, in 1864, the Zoological Record, published annually, 

 whilst in 1878 the fortnightly issue of the Zoologischer Anzeiger of Carus 

 began, and is now continued with somewhat modified organisation 

 in conjunction with the zoological bureau of Dr. H. H. Field. 



In the case of a bibliography which is issued in sections, one of the 

 most urgent needs is the classification of the titles, so that students 

 may readily select the references which concern them ; and of 

 practical devices for securing this end, the use of a scheme with 

 numbered divisions seems to have been generally approved. The 

 advantages of such a system are obvious : when the list of classes has 

 once been drawn up and the numbers affixed to them, the latter do 

 duty for the headings of the former {e.g., 595 m.ay stand for Arthropoda 

 or 853 for Italian fiction), with great advantage as regards brevity. 

 Furthermore, a series of sHps or titles, if arranged numerically, are 

 thereby put in systematic order. Thirdly, the numbers with which 

 one is habitually working become fixed in the memory and thus 

 facilitate the looking up of references and the arrangement of facts 

 and materials of all kinds ; whilst, lastly, the ease of cross-reference is 

 greatly increased. Hitherto the scheme based on these principles 

 which has been most widely used, is undoubtedly the " Decimal 

 Classification " of Melvill Dewey, and its adoption in the pages of 

 this Journal, in those of the Revue scientifiqiie, and of the Zoologischer 

 Anzeiger, as well as some dozen other periodicals less connected 

 with natural science, renders it appropriate to devote a little space 

 to its exposition. This is the more needful as those who see the 



