ON THE PROGRESS OF MATHEMATICS AND THYSICS. 37 



Report of the Committee appointed for the purpose of endeavour 

 ing to procure Reports on the Progress of the Chief Branches of 

 Mathematics and Physics ; the Committee consisting of Professor 

 Gr. Caret Foster (Secretary), Professor W. Gr. Adams, Professor E. 

 B. Clifton, Professor Caylet, Professor J. D. Everett, Professor 

 Clerk Maxwell, Lord Eayleigh, Professor Gr. Gr. Stokes, Professor 

 Balfour Stewart, Mr. Spottiswoode, and Professor P. Gr. Tait. 



Owing to unforeseen circumstances only one meeting of this Committee 

 has taken place during the past year. It seems desirable, nevertheless, in 

 order that the question of the reappointment of the Committee may be 

 fully considered, and that there may be a fall expression of opinions on 

 the subject referred to it, that a statement should be made to the Section 

 of the proceedings of the Committee, the more so since, in the hope that 

 greater progress would have been made by this time, no report was 

 presented at the last meeting of the Association. 



The first matter discussed by the Committee was the character and 

 general plan of the reports which they should endeavour to procure ; the 

 next was to what extent or in what manner the production of such reports 

 could be aided by the Committee. Important contributions to the dis- 

 cussion of these questions are contained in written communications to the 

 Committee from two of its members — Professors Clerk Maxwell and 

 Stokes. Professor Clerk Maxwell writes as follows : — 



' Reports on special branches of science may be of several different 

 types, corresponding to every stage of organisation, from the catalogue 

 up to the treatise. 



' When a person is engaged in scientific research, it is desirable that 

 he should be able to ascertain, with as little labour as possible, what has 

 been written on the subject and who are the best authorities. The ordinary 

 method is to get hold of the most recent German paper on the subject, 

 to look up the references there given, and by following up the trail of 

 each to find out who are the most influential authors on the subject. 

 German papers have the most complete references because the machinery 

 for docketing and arranging scientific papers is more developed in Ger- 

 many than elsewhere. 



' The " Fortschritte der Physik " gave an annual list of all papers, 

 good and bad, arranged in subjects, with abstracts of the more important 

 ones. Wiedemann's " Beiblatter " is a more select assortment, given 

 more in full. 



' I think it doubtful whether a publication of this kind, if undertaken 

 by the British Association, would succeed. Lists of the titles of the pro- 

 ceedings of Societies and of the contents of periodicals are given in 

 " Nature." These are useful for strictly contemporary science, and I do 

 not think that a more elaborate system of collection could be kept up 

 for long. 



' The intending publisher of a discovery has to examine the whole mass 

 of science to see whether he has been anticipated, but the student wishes 

 to read only what is worth reading. What he requires is the names of 

 the best authors. The selection or election of these is constantly done 

 by skimming individual authors, who indicate by the names they quote 

 the men whose opinions have had most influence. But a report on the 



