CLASSIFICATION. 717 



to the searcher, or under several names. This method was 

 partially carried out in Watts' BiUiotheca Britannica, but 

 it was excellently applied in the admirable subject index 

 to the British Catalogue of Books, and equally well in the 

 Catalogue of the Manchester Free Library at Campfield, 

 drawn up under the direction of Mr. Crestadoro, this 

 latter being the most perfect model of a printed catalogue 

 with which I am acquainted. The Catalogue of the 

 London Library is also in the right form, and has a useful 

 index of subjects, though it is too much condensed and 

 abbreviated. The public catalogue of the British Museum 

 is arranged as far as possible according to the alphabetical 

 order of the authors' names, but in writing the titles for 

 this catalogue several copies are simultaneously produced 

 by a manifold writer, so that a catalogue according to the 

 order of the books on the shelves, and another according 

 to the first words of the title-page, are created by a mere 

 rearrangement of the spare copies. In the English Cyclo- 

 paedia it is suggested that twenty copies of the book titles 

 might readily have been utilised in forming additional 

 catalogues, arranged according to the place of publication, 

 the language of the book, the general nature of the subject, 

 and so forth. 1 An excellent suggestion has also been made 

 to the effect that each book when published should have a 

 fly-leaf containing half a dozen printed copies of the title, 

 drawn up in a form suitable for insertion in catalogues. 

 Every owner of a library could then easily make accurate 

 printed catalogues to suit his own purposes, by merely 

 cutting out these titles and pasting them in books in any 

 desirable order. 



It will hardly be a digression to point out the enormous 

 saving of labour, or, what comes to the same thing, the 

 enormous increase in our available knowledge, both literary 

 and scientific, which arises from the formation of extensive 

 indices. The " State Papers," containing the whole history 

 of the nation, were practically sealed to literary inquirers 

 until the Government undertook the task of calendaring 

 and indexing them. The British Museum Catalogue is 

 another national work, of which thte importance in 

 advancing knowledge cannot be overrated. The Eoyal 



1 English Cyclopaedia, Arts and Sciences, vol. v. p. 233. ^ 



