338 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



have the "seals" put in. The seal is the label 

 of ownership, bearing the seal of the university 

 and the name of the fund or other source from 

 which, the book has been procured, and is pasted 

 on the inside of the front cover. Above it, in the 

 left corner, is pasted a little blank corner-piece, 

 on which is to be marked in pencil the number of 

 the alcove and shelf where the book is to be 

 placed, or "set up." 



To set up a book on a shelf is no doubt a very 

 simple matter, yet it involves something more 

 than the mere placing of the volume on the shelf. 

 Each alcove in the library has a " shelf-cata- 

 logue," or list of all the books in the alcove, ar- 

 ranged by shelves. Such a catalogue is indispen- 

 sable in determining whether each shelf has its 

 proper complement of volumes, and whether, at 

 the end of the year, all the books are in their 

 proper places. When the book is duly entered 

 on this shelf-catalogue, and has its corner-piece 

 marked, it is at last ready to be " catalogued." 

 After our lot of three or four hundred books have 

 been treated in this way, they are delivered to 

 the principal assistant, who parcels them out 

 among various subordinate assistants for catalogu- 

 ing. 



Here we enter upon a very wide subject, and 



