i.j(; 



PSYCHE. 



[April 1SS4. 



iiKiii\' periodical publications, and some 

 such publications cstablishetl, ns Psyche 

 was, mainlv for the sake of their bililio- 

 graphical departments. 



Bibliography is not a science and 

 yet without it the sciences would fare 

 hardly in these times. By it the hidden 

 treasures of acquired knowledge are 

 brought to light. Without it liie ad- 

 vance of knowledge would be slow". 

 The ever increasing mass of literature 

 is a wilderness, which no one can trav- 

 erse throughout, into which few can 

 penetrate deeply, in whose recesses are 

 scattered, with little order, the gathered 

 riches of innumerable workers. He 

 who would not spend hi.s life in doing 

 anew' what has been done before him, 

 and often well done, must have access to 

 these acquired stores. Without guides 

 he would become lost, he would lind 

 little of that for which he seeks and in 

 the search would lose his time and his 

 way. The index is to the traveler in 

 this wilderness more than the compass 

 to the mariner. It is the guiding hand 

 which leads him from store to store, 

 and places at his disposal all that he 

 wants, or points out to him the empty 

 coflcrs yet to be filled. Thus are iiis 

 labors spared and his strength saved for 

 the work that is yet to be done. 



I presume that 30U all are bibliogra- 

 phers, in varied degrees. You have 

 your several studies, and you make 

 your several indices iii relation thereto. 

 You are interested to promote the 

 formation of indices of which you may 

 make use, or l)v which you may render 

 service to others. I have labored long, 

 as you know, to construct a bibliogra- 



phy, not so much of any spccialtv in 

 entomology, as of the sul)ject as a 

 whole. 



We have many bibliographical pub- 

 lications at our service now, for the rec- 

 ord of current literature. Such works of 

 frequent issue as the Zoologischcr anzei- 

 gcr and the Naturae novitates serve 

 an excellent pinpose for temporary use. 

 By them little of value escapes mention. 

 Their form and style arc not suited, 

 however, to the characteristics of a 

 permanent and comprehensi\ e biblio- 

 graphy. In tiieir bibliographical de- 

 partment they are little more tiian lists 

 of writings, without those references to 

 reviews, extracts and reprints, which 

 serve for the history of literature, and 

 which have a more tlian liibliographical ' 

 value. They arc not adapted for ready 

 reference by means of indices, anil in- 

 deed hardly pretend to be more than 

 temporary guides to current literature, 

 for the especial benefit of those workers 

 who are ever tumbling over each other 

 in their haste to get at the latest develop- 

 ment of science, and to move forward. 



The annual records, such as the Zoo- 

 logical record and tlie Zoologischcr 

 jahresbericht, are more than biblio- 

 graphies in their essential features, but 

 less in others. They too give lists 

 of titles, but without the bibliographical 

 descriptions. The bibliography, such 

 as it is, is almost buried in the mass of 

 the reviews. These works are not so 

 much guides to literature as contribu- 

 tions to it. tiiemselvcs requiring guides. 

 They treat of the substance of tiie litera- 

 ture more than of its form, and tiiis so 

 copiously tiiat in the course of years 



