JUNEIG, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



827 



the genus — whether in the book-catalogue 

 alone, or on the separate cards — or even 

 only the new genera, not only would the 

 work be multiplied twenty-fold or a hun- 

 dred-fold, but the catalogue would be so in- 

 creased in size that it would be unmanage- 

 able. And, finally, the enumeration of these 

 names without an accompanying descrip- 

 tion has only a doubtful value for the in- 

 vestigator. This belongs in the Jahresbe- 

 richte. The noting of new generic names, 

 as I give them in the Bibliography of the 

 Zool. Anzeiger, is of value to working 

 zoologists in preventing the use of names 

 already employed. No. 13 (Eesolution No. 

 2) is to the effect that in preparing such a 

 catalogue " regard shall, in the first in- 

 stance, be had to the requirements of scieii- 

 tific investigators." But is it really of special 

 value to investigators to have in addition to 

 the title three references (with special in- 

 dices, while the article itself remains with- 

 out any index number) to an article like 

 that of E. Wiedemann und E. Ebert : 

 " Leuchterscheinungen in elektrodelosen 

 gasverdiinnten Eaumen unter dem Einfluss 

 raschwechselnder elektrischer Felder?" Or 

 will a zoologist working on Mammals, or a 

 physiologist looking for communications on 

 the use of separate organs, need three refer- 

 ence cards for de Winton's article ' on the 

 existing forms of Giraife?' On p. 11 of the 

 Report (under 7) it is expressly stated that 

 " it is not proposed that it [the card or slip] 

 should provide an abstract, in any shape or 

 form, of the communication to which it re- 

 lates." Apart, then, from this inconsistency 

 (for the noting of all new species and 

 genera, and the noting of the forms referred 

 to in the synonymy [vide Zoology, 35 A.], 

 is in reality an abstract), emphasis is laid 

 on simple bibliography. Why, then, this 

 enormous ballast, which is neither valuable 

 for the investigator nor of use to the 

 librarian or the public ? It is self-evident 

 that cross-references must be made use of. 



but only in so far as is demanded by the 

 nature and form of publication and by the 

 wording of the title. 



But, besides this, one of the chief ques- 

 tions is : Who shall abstract this statement 

 of contents and select the necessary catch- 

 word (which is required to be in English!)? 

 Will working, busy physicists, chemists, 

 physiologists, etc., have time and inclina- 

 tion, after having mastered the publications 

 required for their own work, to read through 

 so carefully the publications in the remoter 

 fields of their special sciences, which do not 

 particularly interest them, as to be able to 

 write the necessary reference cards on every 

 chief and accessory subject treated? It will 

 be necessary, then, to have recourse to as- 

 sistants. But it can scarcely be expected 

 that they, even though they may have a 

 ' literary education,' will be so familiar with 

 all details of the subject that they will 

 select those really important. And even if 

 they were so well educated as to be able to 

 reproduce correctly, e. g., the chief headings 

 from Italian, German, French and English 

 works, would they be familiar with the 

 technical expressions, often so diiferent in 

 the different tongues, that are to be em- 

 ployed as catch-words ? The same difficul- 

 ties would be repeated, if the (moreover 

 quite superfluous) translation of the Italian, 

 German, etc., catch-words were to be done 

 by the Central Committee in London. 



According to Eesolution No. 2, as I have 

 said, the needs of scientific investigators 

 were to be regarded first. But these are 

 not precisely the same as the needs of 

 libraries. Will the latter be met by a cata- 

 logue of the form and extent planned? 

 Hardly ! And yet an undertaking involv- 

 ing so great an expenditure of time and 

 money as this ' Catalogue ' ought to furnish 

 libraries — a part of whose duty it is to 

 serve as a go-between for science and the 

 public — with other advantages than a 

 voluminous work of reference. But that 



