PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 99 



on special subjects. The student who knows his subject is the best friend of 

 the library, and the council would act wisely in purchasing freely, to meet his 

 requirement, even if for a year or two, the library may become one-sided. Others 

 follow in time on different subjects and should be treated in the same way, so 

 that the period is not far distant, when it would become a scientific library 

 of high standing. It is well to remember that a library is not of value 

 according to the number of its books, but because of their character and the 

 facility with which their contents may be known. The Encyclopedia represents 

 the demand for systematically arranged knowledge. The information contained 

 in it may be found in more extensive form, in more interesting shape and 

 in close connection with its context, in a few hundred books, but the ordinary 

 reader has no time to make the necessary seaich, or lacks the necessary knoM- 

 ledge to guide him, and therefore turns to a quarter where it is found under 

 its proper letter of the alphabet. It is therefore better to have a library of 

 5,000 volumes fairly covering two or three subjects and i)rovided with the 

 proper apparatus for gaining a knowledge of its contents, than 20,000 which are 

 scattered over all subjects, without such a guide. The one will attract special 

 students from all directions, who will find within reach, their subject fairly 

 treated, while the other will become the happy hunting ground of the dillitante, 

 or the careless, edifying none. * To make our own library worthy of the 

 Institute, it is essential therefore, that it should increase in fixed directions, 

 that subjects should be chosen which can be worked up, and that proceeding 

 thus, department after department might be made so complete, as to make it 

 of immense value to the whole Province. One of the requirements which I 

 have pointed out as an essential in a good library, is an easy and accur.ite 

 means of obtaining a knowledge of what it contains. In our case this is rendered 

 even more necessary, as the treatises we have and hope to obtain, are contained 

 in volumes which bear as their title the name of the society by whom they were 

 issued. In some cases the contents are very miscellaneous i-aiiging over many 

 subjects. Some institutions publish at long intervals, ranging from ten to fifty 

 years, properly arranged catalogues or indices, covering the volumes published 

 during the interval, but the index may be only for the early volumes, while 

 the information sought is to be found in the more recent. The expense of 

 preparing a catalogue, month by month. •ci< the difievent fasciculi arrive, is so 

 great, that no society with limited sources of income could undertake it. 

 Fortunately for small libraries and scientific euijuiries, this difficulty is now 

 being overcome, and what one society could not hope to do, the many in 

 combination are about to do. About ten years ago, a conference under the 

 au-pices of the Royal Society, was held in London, to consider the possibility 

 of a co-operative catalogue of scientific papers. The conference contained 

 representatives from almost all civilized countries, and was favourable to the 

 undertaking. Much time and infinite pains have been taken to arrive at a basis 

 upon which to proceed with the work, and at the meeting held in London in 

 June last, the conditions as amended and reconsidered, were finally adopted 

 unanimously. The objects and nature of the catalogue are thus defined : — 



1. That it is desirable to complete and publish by means of some inter- 

 national organization, a complete catalogue of scientific literature arranged 

 according both to subject-matter and to author's names. 



2. That in preparing such a catalogue, regard shall, in the first instance, 

 be had to the requirements of scientific investigators, to the end that these 

 may, by means of the catalogue, find out most easilj^ what has been published 

 concerning any particular subject of inquiry. 



3. That in indexing according to subject-matter, regard shall be had, 

 not only to the title (of a book or paper), but also to the nature of its contents. 



4. That the catalogue shall comprise all published original contributions 

 to the branches of science hereinafter mentioned, whether a])pearing in 

 periodicals, or in the publications of societies, or as independent pamphlets, 

 memoirs or books. 



5. That a contribution to science for the purposes of the catalogue, be 

 considered to mean, a contribution to the mathematical, physical or natural 

 sciences, such as, for example, mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry. 



