100 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



the sales, and as a larger edition of the work would cost compar- 

 atively little more than the present limited edition any increase in 

 the demand would approximately be clear profit to the central 

 bureau. 



This result is not only desirable from a financial standpoint but 

 also because it is believed that this international index to scientific 

 literature, whose scope is now limited to pure science, is but a begin- 

 ning to what will eventually be an international index to not only 

 the pure but also to the applied sciences. This will mean that the 

 organization will ultimately furnish classified citations to the origi- 

 nal literature of many of the professions, arts, and trades whose 

 practices and methods are now much interwoven with, and dependent 

 on the advance of pure science. 



The appropriation made by Congress for the maintenance of the 

 regional bureau for the United States during the year was $7,500, 

 this being the same sum that was appropriated for the previous year. 

 Five persons are regularly employed in this bureau in collecting, in- 

 dexing, and classifying the scientific literature published in the 

 United States. 



The practice of having the more technical scientific papers referred 

 for analysis and classification to specialists in the subjects treated 

 has been found very satisfactory and is now carried on to the. ex- 

 clusion of the former practice of corresponding with the authors of 

 the papers, for it was found that to correspond and advise with 

 authors necessitated much clerical labor and often caused long delays 

 in obtaining the information sought. 



During the year 27,201 cards were sent from this bureau to the 

 London central bureau as follows : 



Literature of — 



1903 4 



1904 243 



1905 386 



190G 5G2 



1907 1, 480 



1908 1. 949 



1909 3,372 



1910 5,231 



1911 13,974 



Total 27, 201 



Since the bureau was established in 1901, 262,335 cards have been 

 forwarded to the central bureau. 



The following table shows the number of cards sent each year as 

 well as the number of cards representing the literature of each year 

 from 1901 to 1911, inclusive. 



