206 NATURAL SCIENCE. March, 



Bibliographies. 



The bibliography of science is advancing rapidly towards more com- 

 plete harmony and organisation. The Geological Survey of Belgium 

 has long laboured in the bibliographic field of its own country. It 

 intends shortly to publish a periodical bibliography in conformity with 

 the decimal classification adopted by the Institut International. This 

 work, which owes its origin to the energy of Mr. Michel Mourlon, will, 

 as we have previously stated, be entitled Bibliographic, Geologica. The 

 Botanical section of the American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science has been studying the working of the Zoological Bureau, 

 and is likely to establish a similar bureau for botany. The Inter- 

 national Congress of Physiology, which was held at Berne last year, 

 adopted similar rules to those already put forward by the Association 

 Francaise pour l'Avancement des Sciences, and by the International 

 Bibliographic Congress held at Brussels. Professor Michael Foster 

 and Dr. C. Richet, who were appointed on the bibliographic com- 

 mittee of the Congress, have investigated the decimal system of 

 classification in its working at the Institut International in Brussels, 

 and have, we understand, been favourably impressed with its applica- 

 bility to all branches of science. 



We have not hitherto alluded to the fact that the Department 

 of Agriculture of the United States has for some time published a 

 card catalogue entitled "Subject Index of Literature of Agricultural 

 Experiment Stations and Kindred Institutions." The cards used are 

 naturally those issued by the Library Bureau, and the classification 

 adopted is analogous to, though not identical with, the decimal classi- 

 fication of Melvil Dewey. For the period from the beginning of 1888 

 to the middle of 1893, 9>ooo slips' have been published and a set is 

 presented to every school of agriculture and every experiment station 

 in the United States. 



The Geographers, at their recent congress inLondon, also discussed 

 the subject of bibliography, but left the final decision to the next 

 congress. Meanwhile, in many countries valuable bibliographies of 

 this subject are being published, such as the " Bibliotheca Geographica 

 Germanise," by Dr. Richter of Dresden, the annual report on Austrian 

 geography, edited by Dr. Sieger, and the " Bibliotheca Geographica 

 Ungarica," by Dr. Rudolf Havass, which has already brought the 

 bibliography of Hungary down to 1849, and which is to be continued 

 by the Hungarian Geographical Society. In Switzerland, a great 

 national bibliography is being produced by a central commission, and 

 some 60,000 titles have already been published. In Europe, the 

 United Kingdom shares with Spain otium cum indignitate. Even Brazil, 

 Uruguay, and the Argentine Republic are engaged in bibliographing 

 their own geographies, while the subject is being taken up in Egypt, 

 in the United States, in Paraguay, in Australia, and in Canada. A 

 catalogue of 3,800 writings and works relating to the geography and 

 colonisation of the Congo has been produced by Messrs. A. J. Wauters 

 and A. Buyl at Brussels. 



The cause of decimal classification has received a temporary set- 

 back owing to the destruction of a large instalment of Professor 

 Melvil Dewey's work, which was destroyed on its way to Europe, 

 owing to the disablement of the s.s. " Cephalonia." We also deeply 

 regret to hear of the serious illness of Dr. Haviland Field. Although 

 a temporary substitute is engaged, this cannot but impair the efficiency 

 of the Bibliographical Bureau for Zoology at the very time when it 

 most needs Dr. Field's experience and enthusiasm. 



