586 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC UTEliATURB 



The Regents of the Smithsonian Institution authorized Secretary 

 Henry to suggest, at the Glasgow meeting of the British Association 

 for the Advancement of Science in 1855, the formation of a catalogue 

 of scientific memoirs. The Royal Society of Great Britian approved 

 the suggestion and secured a grant from the British Government, 

 under which many volumes of such a catalogue appeared. In the 

 first volume we read : " The present undertaking may be said to 

 have originated in a communication from Dr. Joseph Henry, Secre- 

 tary of the Smithsonian Institution." 



In March, 1894, the Royal Society issued a circular to learned 

 institutions throughout the world proposing a great international 

 scientific subject catalogue. At the invitation of the British Govern- 

 ment the United States was represented, through the Smithsonian 

 Institution, in 1895, in a conference on this matter. The project 

 finally took shape in 1900 as the International Catalogue of Scientific 

 Literature, and b}^ the assistance of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 suificient private subscriptions were secured in the United States, 

 in addition to those received from other countries, to warrant the 

 publication of the work in England. 



Until 1906 the cards representing publications of the United States 

 were prepared by the Smithsonian Institution at the cost of its 

 private funds. Since 1906, the Regional Bureau for the United 

 States has been maintained at the Smithsonian Institution under 

 Government appropriations. 



PUBLICATIONS 



" The diffusion of knowledge " is accomplished by the Smith- 

 sonian Institution by generous correspondence, in which it annually 

 answers thousands of inquirers, and through its various series of 

 publications, which have been voluminous during 80 years. There 

 being no restriction in scope, every branch of science has been dealt 

 with, including anthropology, ethnology and archeolog}?^, botany, 

 zoology, mechanics and aeronautics, physics, chemistry, geology, 

 astronomy and astrophysics, meteorology, physiology, and many 

 other subjects. In all, over 5,300,000 copies and parts have been 

 distributed to institutions and private individuals, these works form- 

 ing in themselves a scientific library in all branches. Its publica- 

 tions are probably the most widely known phase of the Institution's 

 activity, and it is certain that a great impetus has been given to 

 scientific progress in this country through their use by scientists, 

 research workers, teachers, students, and all others engaged in the 

 increase and promotion of knowledge. 



The Smithsonian series of tables — Physical Tables, Meteorological 

 Tables, Geographical Tables, and Mathematical Tables — have long 



