76 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



by direct governmental grants; the central bureau is maintained by funds de- 

 rived from subscriptions to the work. Supreme control of the enterprise is 

 vested in a body known as an international convention which met in London in 

 1905 and again in July, 1910, thereafter to meet every 10 years. Each 

 country maintaining a regional bureau has the right to send delegates to 

 this convention. The assistant in charge of the regional bureau for the United 

 States was appointed by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to repre- 

 sent the United States at the second international convention. The principal 

 countries of the world sent delegates to the convention as follows : Austria, Bel- 

 gium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, India, Italy, Japan, New South 

 Wales, Russia, South Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United 

 States. 



At the opening meeting held in the rooms of the Royal Society on July 12, 

 1910, Sir Archibald Geikie, president of the Royal Society, was elected chair- 

 man, and Prof. Henry E. Armstrong, F. R. S., vice chairman. The report of 

 the executive committee was then laid before the convention. This report 

 stated that the seven annual issues of the catalogue already published, compris- 

 ing 117 volumes, had cost the London central bureau to edit, print, and pub- 

 lish, $257,980, for which $216,410 had been received from the subscribers to the 

 catalogue. Each annual issue of 17 volumes had averaged 9,117 pages. From 

 estimates made it appeared that when the first 10 annual issues were pub- 

 lished the receipts and expenditures of the central bureau would probably bal- 

 ance, aud it was thought that taking into account the extent and difficulty of 

 the enterprise this result would not be unsatisfactory. 



While the gross annual income received from subscriptions has exceeded the 

 estimate originally made by an average of over $S,000, the cost of editing and 

 printing has been much greater rhan was originally estimated. This is due 

 mainly to the fact that the size of each issue of the catalogue has greatly ex- 

 ceeded the original estimate, and also, in a lesser degree, to the fact that an 

 edition of 1,000 copies, instead of 500, was printed. The working capital needed 

 was also larger than originally estimated, it being necessary for the Royal 

 Society to advance to the central bureau $37,500, on which interest is paid. 



Although the International Catalogue is understood to be a permanent or- 

 ganization it is one of the duties of each convention to authorize the continu- 

 ation of the publication for definite periods. The following motion, therefore, 

 was made and it was resolved : 



That in view of the success already achieved by the International Cata- 

 logue of Scientific Literature and the great importance of the objects promoted 

 by it, it is imperative to continue the publication of the catalogue at least dur- 

 ing the period 1911-1915, and, on recommendation of the international council, 

 during the subsequent five years 1916-1920. 



After several motions concerning details of organization, it was unani- 

 mously voted " that it is most desirable that a capital fund should be obtained 

 for the catalogue." It is now apparent that a capital fund to be at the dis- 

 posal of the central bureau has been urgently needed since the beginning of 

 the undertaking. Lacking a capital fund, it has been necessary for the central 

 bureau to borrow money on which interest has to be paid, and on account of lack 

 of funds it has been impossible to carry out several plans looking to the gen- 

 eral improvement of the work. Had a capital fund been available in the begin- 

 ning of the enterprise, it would not have been necessary for the subscription 

 price to be placed at such a high figure. Consequently, a larger edition could 

 have been disposed of and at a lower rate to each subscriber. At the session 

 of the convention on July 13, methods of administration were discussed and the- 

 following resolution passed: 



