ArQTJST 25, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



215 



The loss which comes from an ignorance of 

 what has been done on any given problem is 

 pathetic — loss of time, unnecessary labor, dis- 

 couragement. It is a loss which can be avoid- 

 ed by very simple means. The gain which 

 eomes with full knowledge of previously pub- 

 lished results is uncounted. It marks the suc- 

 cessful from the halting start on any task. 

 The complexity of the bibliographic indexing 

 in most fields is so great that there is real 

 need for formal instruction in handling biblio- 

 graphic tools. No one of you ignores instruc- 

 tion in laboratory method. Should he overlook 

 the need of instruction in bibliographic meth- 

 od? The second of my two marks of distinc- 

 tion is a broad, general view of the history, 

 methods and scope of his subject, what in my 

 youth the Germans used to call "EncyclopaB- 

 die." Few men are willing to take the time 

 from their own particular researches to lecture 

 on a general introduction to their subjects. 

 But I venture to point out that precisely such 

 a broad, sweeping view of the whole topic is 

 what the younger men need most. It can be 

 given only by one whose reading has been 

 wide, whose grasp of the whole subject is firm, 

 whose judgment is matured, and whose experi- 

 ence entitles him to speak with authority. 

 What in a master makes disciples? What 

 qualities in some men enable them to found a 

 real school? Is it not precisely that grasp of 

 method, that sense of relations of parts to the 

 whole, that historic view and that prophetic 

 insight which comes from a deliberate attempt 

 to survey the whole of one's subject, to weigh 

 its importance, to contemplate not alone its 

 past but its present and future? My sugges- 

 tion is that students should not be left to pick 

 up either bibliographic method or a general 

 view of their subject from incidental allusion 

 or chance comment. The need of both is too 

 great and too serious to warrant the indiffer- 

 ence or neglect which they now seem to en- 

 counter. 



To sum up, then, this attempt at some reflec- 

 tion on the record of scientific inquiry, par- 

 ticularly as it concerns us at the present hour 

 and in this university: We have made a fair 

 beginning at providing our men and women 

 with the printed record of the more immediate 

 past. We have at least the rudiments of a 



good collection of the important work of the 

 remoter periods. We know rather precisely 

 the direction which our efforts in buying 

 should take, and more than a little as to the 

 difficulties in our path. We are ready to do 

 our part (I take it) in any cooperative scheme 

 for furnishing to this Great Lakes region a 

 fuller measure of books and journals. We 

 know the imperfections of our bibliographic 

 tools. (We have most of them in constant 

 use!) And we stand ready to contribute in 

 this field also our own share of cooperaitive 

 labor. In other words — we know our defects 

 and we are trying to overcome them, and all 

 we need is time and money — and perhaps 

 wisdom ! 



What of the future? What may we hope 

 for in twenty years, supposing no great dis- 

 aster checks our labors? 



We may, I believe, expect to find here 

 (available to a large region) the major aca- 

 demic and society publications in absolute 

 completeness. We may further expect at least 

 double the present amount of journals, both 

 current numbers and bound files. We shall be 

 part of a regional group of libraries, owning 

 our share of the minor society publications and 

 journals, with a fairly complete whole ready 

 for rapid use, distributed by air-mail in re- 

 sponse to wireless telephone requests, every 

 few hours. It ought not to take a man here in 

 1930 any longer to get a book from Columbus 

 or Chicago than it now takes him in many 

 European libraries — that is, six to twemty-four 

 hours. We shall have a completed printed 

 list, kept up 'to date, of all the periodicals and 

 transactions (and perhaps all the books) 

 available both in the libraries of om- region 

 and the whole United States. (This is almost 

 in sight now! With two hundred thousand 

 dollars it could be done in two years' time!) 

 We should have also a bibliographic equip- 

 ment which will furnish with the minimum of 

 effort a practically complete list of all articles 

 and books on any topic, arranged in inverse 

 chronological order, ithe latest to appear com- 

 ing first. This is solely a matter of organiza- 

 tion and money. It represents merely the 

 marshalling of a sufficient number of trained 

 people to supplement work already begun on 

 methods already worked out. It means ap- 



