PREFACE. 



C X Ills Catalogue teas begun in 1906 as that of a lai^ge collection of 

 JL hooks in exact and applied science, and teas eocpected to reach to 

 about three hundred pages. It greio as it went, and by the end 

 of the alphabet so many more works in allied subjects, as ivell as 

 other and interesting copies of books already described, had come in 

 that a Supplement wcus begun, still more fully annotated, ivhich far 

 exceeded the size of the original scheme. To this a final Supplement 

 teas added, and the ichole was indexed under a full classification of 

 subjects. 



The result is, perhaps, the first Historical Catalogue of Science 

 published in any country, at least as giving at once the cum^ent pince 

 of each book included, bibliographical particulars, and many bio- 

 graphical and historical references both in the descriptions themselves 

 and in the notes. In fact, it is felt that it ivill be found to have very 

 considerable human interest. The pioneers of science have never been 

 of the dryasdust order, and still less confined to one class, but have 

 ranged from the ancients, the Arabs, and the great company of the 

 Mediaeval and after-Reformaiion clergy, ivith the remarkable contingent 

 of the Jesuits, to the Lord Mayor of London tvho first Englished Euclid. 

 How many coluere disciplinam tenui avend! And hoiv many — why 

 not cwknowledge it t— are of our own race I 



As the Catalogue is one of actual books for sale it is of course not 

 complete, but it is believed that feiv of the gi-eat books ivill be found 

 lacking. 



The complement to the Catalogue is the INDEX. Thei^e is no com- 

 pt^ehensive bibliogr'aphy of exact science, in spite of numerous lists of 

 special subjects. These have often the defect of excluding the older 

 works as being out of date for pn^actical purposes. But these very books 

 are the landmarks in the history of life. The Index, from the naturq 



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