November 30, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



527 



which have proved themselves satisfactory 

 after trial, or some different classification 

 adopted after due consideration, then each 

 recipient of the abstract journals could 

 prepare for himself card index files of the 

 scientific literature in which he was inter- 

 ested. 



To prepare a card index of all science or 

 even a complete index of one large branch 

 of science in this way would be too 

 formidable an undertaking either for 

 an individual or even for a small library, 

 but it should certainly be possible for large 

 libraries such as those of the scientific so- 

 cieties or of large cities to keep such nu- 

 merically indexed files to which reference 

 could be made by correspondence from any 

 Research worker. Thus, adopting the 

 classification of the international catalogue, 

 pi. worker who became interested in ques- 

 tions, e. g., of catalysis, could apply for a 

 copy of the reference cards on this subject, 

 ^hich would include all those indexed 

 under 7065 and could be supplied with a 

 complete file or with a partial file covering 

 any period of time ; the copies could easity 

 be made by photographing the cards with 

 such a camera as the "Photostat." 



3. THE UTILLZjVTION OP SCIENTIFIC 

 KNOWLEDGE 



The actual application of science to in- 

 dustry is so vast a subject that it can not 

 be considered here, but it is not satisfac- 

 tory to leave the results of research at the 

 point where they are published in papers 

 and filed in the abstract journals. In 

 order to make them available as a part of 

 scientific knowledge the new information 

 as it is obtained must be incorporated in 

 books. 



There are three classes of books dealing 

 with scientific work which require separate 

 consideration. The first class comprises the 

 dictionaries, in which almost all the prog- 

 ress in some branches of science can con- 



veniently be summarized. Beilstein's 

 "Handbook of Organic Chemistry" is a 

 good example of the way in which almost 

 all the facts of a science can be absorbed in 

 a classified form and made available for 

 ready reference. These dictionaries, in 

 fact, represent the critical and discrimina- 

 ting summary of the scientific publications 

 on the subjects with which they deal and 

 the preparation of such dictionaries should 

 be ensured by international cooperation of 

 the national societies. 



Other sciences, however, do not by their 

 nature lend themselves to the convenient 

 preparation of dictionaries and what is 

 wanted in this case are critical and well ar- 

 ranged handbooks covering the whole sci- 

 ence and resuming impartially but criti- 

 cally the various additions which are made 

 from time to time in the different branches 

 of the subject. These handbooks as well as 

 the dictionaries would, of course, require 

 the addition of supplementary volumes 

 from time to time and occasional complete 

 revision. 



The preparation of both dictionaries and 

 handbooks would, of course, be greatly fa- 

 cilitated by the existence of a numerically 

 classified card index to the literature con- 

 cerned, and the preparation and revision of 

 such books might well be undertaken in con- 

 nection with the large libraries having in 

 their possession the complete classified card 

 indexes. 



On the other hand, for the assistance of 

 advanced students of science, what is re- 

 quired is a steady supply of monographs 

 correlating critically and comprehensively 

 all the literature in a special field, and 

 these must be brought up-to-date from time 

 to time. Such monographs are especially 

 required in connection with rapidly devel- 

 oping new branches of science ; it is difficult 

 to overestimate the importance and value 

 for progress in research of such a book as 

 Bragg 's "X-Eays and Ciystal Structure" 



