102 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



ing the catalogue. The balance sheet for the ninth annual issue 

 showed a credit for that issue of about $1,500 over and above ex- 

 penses. This is considered a satisfactory showing in view of the fact 

 that undertakings of this land are in no sense commercial and can 

 hardly be expected to meet necessary expenses without aid from an 

 endowment or some similar source. The enterprise was begun with- 

 out a working capital other than the sums advanced from time to 

 time by the Eoyal Society of London. As interest is paid on all sums 

 so advanced the financial showing is not what it would have been had 

 the enterprise possessed a working capital. The sum needed to 

 completely pay off all obligations and leave a substantial balance for 

 the maintenance of the central bureau is only about $75,000, and it 

 would be difficult to find an object more deserving of assistance and 

 encouragement than this International Catalogue of Scientific Litera- 

 ture whose purpose is to aid research and investigations in scientific 

 fields by furnishing a current classified index to the literature of 

 science. Some idea of the extent of the work may be gained from the 

 fact that about two and one-half million classified citations were re- 

 ceived by the central bureau from ,the regional bureaus since the 

 beginning of the enterprise in 1901, of these over 290,000 were pre- 

 pared by the regional bureau of the United States. 



During the year 27,995 cards were sent from this bureau to the 

 London Central Bureau, as follows: 



Literature of — 



1902 9 



1903 5 



1901 12 



1905 ' 14 



1906 131 



1907 22G 



1908 324 



1909 685 



1910 3, 214 



1911 G, 950 



1912 16, 425 



Total 27. 995 



