Bibliography 789 



scheme for a " General Catalogue " was never accomplished, 

 though a beginning was made. Jewett further published 

 "Notes of Public Libraries in the United States" (1851), a 

 work which, though admittedly incomplete, excited great 

 interest; and the distribution of the volume brought into the 

 Institution a large amount of statistical information pertinent 

 to the subject. 



HENRY AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY 



The monumental work of the Royal Society of London, a 

 "Catalogue of Scientific Papers, 1800-83," had its origin 

 in a communication addressed by the first Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution to the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science. 



As early as 1854, Henry conceived the plan of preparing 

 an "American Scientific Bibliography," and sought to enlist 

 the cooperation of the British Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science in procuring, with its large resources, a 

 similar classified index for British and European scientific 

 literature. Henry's proposal was favorably received by the 

 British Association and referred to a committee comprising 

 Fellows of the Royal Society ; this committee approved the 

 suggestion, presented a general outline of the proposed work, 

 and eventually succeeded in interesting the Royal Society 

 itself in the undertaking. Ten years later, the Royal So- 

 ciety, aided by a government grant, published the first part 

 of its splendid "Catalogue of Scientific Papers." In the 

 preface occur the following words: "The present under- 

 taking may be said to have originated in a communication 

 from Doctor Joseph Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution." The eleven quarto volumes, covering the period 

 1800 to 1883, form one of the greatest tributes to Henry's 



