24 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 
scribers to the published volumes. ‘Though every care has been used 
to edit and publish the work in the most economical way, the income 
of the central bureau has proved to be insufficient to meet current 
expenses and in addition pay interest on approximately $35,000 of 
borrowed capital. 
As a more detailed report of the work of the bureau and of the 
proceedings of the convention will be found in the appendix to this 
report, it will be sufficient here to call attention to the great value 
and importance of the work, and to say that it would be difficult to 
find an enterprise more deserving of endowment. A capital fund, 
yielding an annual income of from $5,000 to $10,000, would enable 
the central bureau not only to broaden the scope of the catalogue 
but also to reduce the subscription price now charged for the annua] 
volumes. This charge is $85 per year which, although not large 
when the amount of matter published is considered, is found to be 
far beyond the means of many who would otherwise be glad to 
avail themselves of this important aid to scientific research. 
The Smithsonian Institution has a peculiar interest in the Inter- 
national Catalogue, for the reason that the original idea was con- 
ceived by the first Secretary of the Institution in 1855. The Roya! 
Society through its Catalogue of Scientific Papers later partly 
carried out Secretary Henry’s idea. Experience proved that the 
enterprise was too great for any one society, or, indeed, any: one 
nation, to undertake, and the Smithsonian Institution, representing 
the United States, joined in the movement to make the work 
international. 
The history of this international movement is briefly as follows: 
The British foreign office in 1894, at the instance of the Royal 
Society, requested the United States Government, through the De- 
partment of State, to send delegates to a conference to be held in 
London in 1896. The matter was referred to the Smithsonian 
Institution, and the late Prof. Simon Newcomb and Dr. John S. 
Billings were sent as delegates. The second conference was held in 
1898, and Dr. Cyrus Adler, librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, 
attended as a delegate. 
In 1901, when success or failure depended on obtaining the co- 
operation of the United States in the enterprise, the Smithsonian 
Institution agreed to and did support a regional bureau from that 
time until 1906, when Congress made its first annual appropriation 
to carry on the work in this country. It will thus be seen that in each 
step the United States has, through the Smithsonian Institution, been 
prominent in the movement, and it would be a matter of much 
gratification if now that the enterprise has been so auspiciously 
started it could be further aided by an endowment fund originating 
in this country. 
