Nov. II, 1880J 



NATURE 



29 



attempted but successfully carried out. But this catalogue 

 differs from all others inasmuch as it is the only compila- 

 tion in which the herculean task of arranging in proper 

 order the contents, not only of books, but of medical 

 periodicals, has ever been essayed. To any person who 

 is aware of the enormous extent of medical periodical 

 literature, and who has had personal experience of the 

 time and labour involved in looking up a few references, 

 it seems almost incredible that any man should have had 

 the courage to venture upon the task which Dr. Billings 

 has successfully accomplished. To give the faintest idea 

 of the work, we take a single heading — Amputation, and 

 we find, besides a large number of works and references 

 under this title itself, several other headings on the treat- 

 ment of amputation, cases and statistics of amputation, 

 double amputation, history of amputation, intra-uterine 

 amputation, methods of amputation, multiple amputation, 

 sequelre and after treatment of amputation, spontaneous 

 amputation, amputation in the course of disease, amputa- 

 tion in gunshot wounds, amputation in infants, amputation 

 in joints, amputation in pregnancy, carpal and meta- 

 carpal amputations, tarsal and meta-tarsal amputation, 

 amputations at ankle-joint, amputations of arm, amputa- 

 tions of breast, amputations at elbow-joint, amputations 

 of fingers and toes, amputations of foot, amputations of 

 fore-arm, amputations of hip-joint, amputations of knee- 

 joint, amputations of leg, amputations at shoulder-joint, 



['amputations of thigh, amputations of toes, amputations 

 at wrist-joint, besides cross references to Amputation con- 



; sidered under other heads, such as Gangrene, Hospitals, 

 Surgery, Umbilical Cord, Arteries, Limbs, Osteomyelitis, 

 Spinal Cord, Stumps, Frost-bite, Pregnancy, Pyjemia, 

 Elbow-joint, Breast, Tibia, Ankle-joint, AstragaIus,Aneur- 



I isms, Arm, Artery, Humerus, &c. On taking a single one of 

 these hcadings,we find under it nineteen books, and on then 

 attempting to count the references to periodical literature 



I we go along until we come to the end of the letter C, and 



I then stop in despair, for we have already got a hundred 

 references, and find that to proceed to the end of the 

 alphabet will be a work of both time and labour. The 

 wearisomeness of counting the number of references in a 

 small fraction of one sub-head may give the reader some 



I notion of the labour involved in hunting out and writing 



I down the materials, and yet, after all, such idea would 



I be very imperfect, for the laboiu-s of Dr. Billings and his 

 assistants have not consisted merely in giving these 

 references. A much greater amount of time and trouble 



I has probably been consumed in the consideration of what 

 should be left out than by the labour of arranging and 

 compiling what should be put in, for in indexing journals 

 and transactions the general rule which they have followed 

 has been that only original articles should be taken^ 

 though occasionally important papers in several periodi- 

 cals, and reprints when the originals have not been in the 



1 library, have been indexed. In describing the arrange- 

 ment of the book we cannot do better than quote Dr. 

 Billings' own words : — 



"This catalogue includes both authors and subjects — 

 the names being arranged in dictionary order in a single 

 alphabet. Under the subject-headings are included the 

 titles of original articles in the medical journals and 

 transactions contained in the Librarv, for which reason 

 , the Catalogue is commonly spoken of by those who are 



familiar with it as the ' Index-Catalogue,' and the name 

 has been adopted as being brief and at the same time 

 distinctive. 



"The form adopted is essentially that shown in the 

 'Specimen Fasciculus' published in 1876, and it has 

 been selected after a careful consideration of the criticisms 

 and suggestions brought out by that fasciculus. 



" The great majority of physicians, and especially of 

 American physicians, who have given their opinion, have 

 expressed a decided preference for this form ; and 

 although a librarian might find a complete separation of 

 the catalogue of authors from that of subjects a little 

 more convenient, the demand on the part of those who 

 are to use it is very decidedly for the combination here 

 given. 



" The following points have been kept in view in the 

 selection and arrangement of the subject-headings : — 



" I. Those titles have been selected for subjects for 

 which it is presumed that the majority of educated 

 English-speaking physicians would look in an alphabetical 

 arrangement. 



" II. Where there is doubt as between two or more 

 subject-headings, cross-references are given. 



"III. Where both an English and a Latin or Greek 

 word are in common use to designate the same subject, 

 the English word is preferred, and references are given 

 from the others. 



" IV. As a rule, substantives rather than adjectives are 

 selected for subject-headings. Exceptions occur to this 

 in anatomical nomenclature, as 'Lachrymal duct'; 

 ' Thyroid gland.' 



" V. In names of subjects derived from personal names,, 

 the latter precede, as ' Addison's disease' ; ' Eustachian 

 tube.' 



" VI. Local diseases or injuries are as a rule placed 

 under the name of the organ or locality affected, as 

 ^ K\dn&^ {Abscess of )' ; ' Neck {IVoi^nd 0/).' There are 

 exceptions to this, in accordance with Rule I., e.g., 

 ' Abscess {Peyi7icphritic)^ 



"VII. Cases in which one disease is complicated with 

 or immediately followed by another are placed under the 

 name of the first disease with the sub-heading ' Coiiiplica- 

 tions and Sequela.' 



"VIII. When the main subject of an article is the 

 action of a given remedy in general, or its action in 

 several diseases, it is indexed under the name of the 

 remedy ; but if it relate to its action in but one disease, it 

 is indexed under the name of the disease. 



" IX. The amount of sub-division made under the 

 principal subject-heads depends very greatly upon the 

 number of references to be classed. 



" X. As a rule, the references are given from general 

 to more special heads, but not the reverse. It is pre- 

 sumed, for instance, that those who wish to consult the 

 literature on ' Aphasia' will turn to ' Brain {Diseases ojY 

 and 'Nervous System {Diseases of),' as well as to 

 ' Aphasia,' without being directed to do so by a cross- 

 reference under the latter title. 



" XL Under the name of an organ will be found the 

 books and papers relating to the anatomy and physiology 

 of that organ. Following this usually come the abnormi- 

 ties and malformations of the organ, then its diseases, 

 then its tumours, and lastly, its wounds and injuries. 



" Anonymous works or papers are entered in regular 

 order under the first word of the title not an article or 

 preposition. Russian and Japanese titles are translite- 

 rated, and a translation is usually appended. Greek 

 names are transliterated for the sake of uniformity in 

 type. 



" In indexing journals and transactions, the general 

 rule has been that only original articles should be taken, 

 but occasionally important papers are indexed in several 

 periodicals ; and sometimes a reprint is indexed when the 

 original is not in the Library. 



