JuSE 9, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



80"i 



the Royal Society, it is iu fact international ; it has 

 been organized by representatives from the various 

 civilized countries ; its benefits will be shared by all 

 civilized countries, and the index itself will be the 

 product of contributions from them. The contribu- 

 tion asked for is not a direct gift of money, but a 

 special service. For this country the proper agency 

 for such service is at present the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. This institution cannot undertake it with its 

 ■ordinary funds, and requires for it a special appro- 

 priation. 



The amount of this is small compared with the im- 

 portance of the service to be rendered. 



Full information as to the details of the undertak- 

 ing and of the particular work for which the appro- 

 priation would be expended will no doubt be laid 

 before Congress. 



The trustees of this library content themselves 

 with calling to your attention the significance of the 

 undertaking itself, and desire to express their con- 

 viction that the benefits which will result to libraries 

 and other learned institutions and to individual 

 scholars throughout the United States will be a most 

 ample return for the expenditure proposed. 

 Very respectfully. 



The Trustees of the Public Libkaey of the 

 City op Boston : 

 Feedeeick 0. Pkince, President, 

 SoLOBiON Lincoln, Vice-Peesident, 



JOSIAH H. BENTO^^, Je., 



Henry P. Bowditch, 

 James De Noejiandie. 



By order of the board. 



Attest : 



Heebeet Putnam, Clerk. 



Ml'. Piatt, of New York, presented the 

 following resolution of the Board of Ti'us- 

 tees of the New York Public Library, 

 Aster, Lenox and Tilden Foundations : 



" Wheeeas, The honorable Secretary of State has 

 recommended to Congress the appropriation of the 

 sum of $10,000, to be expended under the direction 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, for cataloguing the 

 current scientific literature of the United States, to 

 form a part of an International Catalogue of Scien- 

 tific Literature : and 



" Wheeeas, Each of the great European nations 

 has undertaken to catalogue in like manner its own 

 scientific literature for the same purpose, the whole 

 to be edited and published by a central bureau : 

 Therefore, 



" Resolved, That the trustees of the New York Pub- 

 lic Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations, 



respectfully urge upon Congress the great desirability 

 of making the appropriation requested by the honor- 

 able Secretary of State for this purpose, as the work 

 to be done is international in character and will be 

 for the benefit of all scientific men and of all libraries 

 and institutions of learning in the United States." 



The motion was agreed to. 



Petitions were also piresented by the 

 American Library Association and the John 

 Crerar Library of Chicago, and a strong en- 

 dorsement of the project was sent to the 

 Committee on Appropriations by the Secre- 

 tary of State. 



For the jDurpose of obtaining the advice 

 of scientific men and persons interested, in 

 accordance with Eesolution 22 of the Con- 

 ference, the following Committee was named 

 on the part of the United States : Dr. J. 

 S. Billings, Chairman ; Professor Simon 

 Newcomb, Dr. Theo. JST. Gill, Professor H. 

 P. Bowditch, Dr. Robert Fletcher, Mr. 

 Clement W. Andrews, Mr. Herbert Put- 

 nam and Dr. Cyrus Adler. This Commit- 

 tee requested that Harvard University, 

 Yale University, Columbia University, the 

 University of Pennsylvania, Princeton Uni- 

 versity, Johns Hopkins University, the Uni- 

 versity of Michigan, the University of Chi- 

 cago, Leland Stanford Junior University, the 

 American Museum of Natural History, the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, the American 

 Philosophical Society, the Library of Con- 

 gress, the United States Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, the United States Geological Survey 

 and the United States Weather Bureau 

 appoint committees on the subject, these 

 committees to report to the Committee 

 above named by April 15th. 



The request was generally acceded to, 

 and with a few exceptions reports have 

 been received which represent the opinions 

 of a large number of scientific men and 

 librarians in this country. 



All of these reports and various informal 

 suggestions were considered, and a series of 

 resolutions, together with the reports, have 



