PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 17 
the contents of his paper for publication by this Committee, ; 
or failing that to run the risk of his work being ignored. 
A catalogue such as is proposed would be of even greater 
value to students of science in Australasia than to those in 
Europe and America, since we are so much farther removed 
from the great centres of thought and activity, and, more- 
over, we are debarred from access to any scientific lbrary 
which can in any way be considered as complete, even in 
any one department. From the proposed catalogue we 
should be able to see what has been published, and having 
learnt of the existence of a given memoir or treatise, we 
should be in a better position to take steps to procure it ; 
at present we are often in the dark, and have but imperfect 
means of learning what has been published upon any 
particular subject. 
A long and instructive discussion took place over the 
method of classification. It was considered by many that 
the Dewey Decimal system could not be adopted unless 
modified, although it is used by the International Con- 
ference on Bibliography at Brussels and by many libraries ; 
its merits for the use of librarians are not denied, but it is 
not suitable for scientific catalogue purposes. Dr. Billings 
stated that it is simply a shorthand method for the 
classification of books on the shelves, and rapidly finding 
them, and is not adopted in any Government Library in 
America, nor in any University library except Albany and 
Columbia, in both of which Mr. Dewey had been librarian. 
Eventually the study of classification was referred to the 
Committee of Organisation. 
When the question of the language was under discussion, 
Professor Mach, representing Austria, proposed the use of 
English as the sole and only language, because English is 
so widely spoken over the civilised world. . He said every- 
one should respect his own nationality and his own language, 
but before that they should consider the universal interest 
of mankind. It was unanimously agreed, on the motion of 
M. Deniker, representing France, and General Ferrero, the 
B 
