PREFACE. 



THIS Catalogue is designed for the use of those who have occasion 

 to consult the scientific periodicals represented in Calcutta 

 libraries, whether belonging to Government or private institutions. In 

 many of these libraries the existing catalogues are either in manuscript 

 or completely out of date ; moreover the number of the libraries is large 

 and they are situated at considerable distances apart. Data from 

 twenty-four libraries have been incorporated. 



In deciding the difficult question as to what is a scientific serial 

 publication it has seemed best to take as broad a view as possible and 

 include too much rather than too little. A serial publication has been 

 taken to be one whose issues are numbered or dated according to a defi- 

 nite sequence and to which no termination might be anticipated at the 

 time of its initiation. The publications of the Ray Society, for instance, 

 are not included as they consist of a series of independent, unnumbered 

 monographs published without any definite sequence ; nor are the 

 Reports of the ' Challenger ' Expedition, because at their inception a 

 definite end to publication could be foreseen. Serials dealing with the 

 technical applications of science, such as Engineering and Agriculture, 

 have been inserted, together with those concerning such subjects as 

 Archaeology and Economics. When an institution publishes separate 

 serials on both scientific and other subjects, references to all are given : 

 purely administrative reports are, however, omitted. 



All parts of periodicals received up to the end of 191 7 have so far 

 as possible been catalogued ; but, owing to the present state of inter- 

 national affairs, it has been found impossible to deal precisely with 

 current scientific literature published in Germany and Austria. 



On behalf of the Council of the Asiatic Society of Bengal I wish to 

 express my indebtedness to the heads of the institutions that have 

 supplied information regarding their serials. Had it not been for 



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