22 REPORT OF THE ACTING SECRETARY. 



scientific societies alone have shown their appreciation of the work 

 by making advance subscriptions amounting to over $30,000. The 

 cost of collecting and indexing the material for the Catalogue is in 

 each case borne by the countries taking part in the work and is for 

 the most part derived from direct governmental grants. 



The work has been going on since 1901, the organization having 

 published up to the present time sixty-seven volumes. In the begin- 

 cing of the undertaking the Smithsonian Institution, realizing the 

 value and importance of the work, undertook to represent the United 

 States, and each year made a small allotment to temporarily conduct 

 it here. As it was realized that even the small sum which the Insti- 

 tution was able to devote to this purpose was a serious drain on its 

 resources, the Board of Regents on March 6, 1906, adopted the fol- 

 lowing resolution : 



Resolved, That it is the sense of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 

 Institution that the work of the International Catalogue of Scientific Litera- 

 ture be continued, and that application be made to Congress for a sufficient 

 annual appropriation to enable this work to be carried on under the direction 

 of the Institution. 



The Acting Secretary, in carrying out the directions of the Board 

 of Regents, submitted an estimate of $5,000 to provide for the neces- 

 sar}'^ expenses, which amount was appropriated in the sundry civil 

 bill and became available on July 1, 1906. 



The magnitude of the work will be appreciated when it is said 

 that since the beginning of the undertaking in 1901 the London 

 Central Bureau has received for publication over 750,000 reference 

 cards, of which 92,492 were furnished by the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, representing the original contributions of American scholars to 

 the natural and physical sciences. 



The limited funds at the disposal of the Institution have consid- 

 erably delayed and embarrassed the work in this country. The sys- 

 tem as at present organized is, however, capable of expansion at any 

 time, either into fields not at present embraced within the scope of the 

 work or in adding to the manner of presenting the index. Monthly 

 or quarterly cards or pamphlets might, for instance, be published 

 immediately after the appearance of the publications indexed, but 

 such methods would only serve as adjuncts to the volumes, which 

 would always be the permanent records. 



Recently a plan has been adopted whereby authors of papers are in 

 special cases communicated with, in order that through cooperation 

 the subject-matter may be completely treated from the point of view 

 of both the author and the bibliographer. ^ATiile this method entails 

 considerable clerical work, the results seem to justif}^ the effort. 

 Another plan which is being gradually worked out is to send to each 

 author from time to time a list of his papers which have been indexed 



