Makch 30, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



317 



Pasteboard pamplilet cases of the type rec- 

 ommended by Mr. Storer (and also by Witmer 

 Stone in Science for July 14, 1905, p. 53) are 

 most convenient for private libraries and those 

 that are used by only a few persons, all of 

 vchom can be trusted to put things back 

 promptly and in the right places after using 

 them. As a rule they should be large enough to 

 hold both quarto and octavo pamphlets. (Those 

 larger than quarto are best bound separately, 

 for otherwise they are liable to be damaged if 

 stood on end for any length of time.) Smaller 

 sizes may be used to advantage for holding 

 current numbers of octavo periodicals or bul- 

 letins, and also to contain complete volumes 

 of the same, if the expense of binding is pro- 

 hibitive and they are not likely to be used 

 much. It is a good idea to have in each 

 pamphlet case devoted to a particular region 

 or subject a large envelope in which can be 

 kept photographs, newspaper clippings and 

 manuscript notes pertaining to that subject, 

 for ready reference, instead of keeping such 

 things in separate departments, as is commonly 

 done. 



I heartily endorse Mr. Storer's recommenda- 

 tion that all pamphlets should be marked with 

 the date of accession; with the amendment 

 that the practise should be extended also to 

 periodicals, but is not important in cases where 

 the publications are known to be several 

 months or years old when received. Scientific 

 publications dated a few weeks or months 

 earlier than the facts warrant are deplorably 

 common nowadays, and hereafter whenever 

 the date of a book or magazine is suspected to 

 be wrong the author, editor or publisher should 

 be challenged to produce witnesses who can 

 testify to having received it on or about the 

 actual date of distribution. 



Authors who order separates of their papers 

 can lighten the burdens of librarians and 

 other recipients considerably by insisting on a 

 few simple precautions, until all printers of 

 scientific publications get in the habit of doing 

 the right thing without special orders. Some 

 printers who ought to know better make sepa- 

 rates by simply ripping the magazines apart. 



and if a paper happens to be unsymmetrically 

 disposed with respect to the middle of a signa- 

 ture some of its leaves will then be separated, 

 and must be fastened with paste or lateral 

 staples, making a pamphlet that will not open 

 out flat and is awkward to bind with others. 



Every reprint from a serial should show on 

 its cover or in some other appropriate place the 

 volume number, page numbers, and date (not 

 only year but month), so that it can be cited 

 correctly without the original. If the original 

 pagination is retained, as is usually (and ought 

 nearly always to be) done, no additional state- 

 ment about the page-numbers is necessary. 

 Some reputable magazines still issue reprints 

 without any indication of the volume-numbers, 

 however, and such omissions encourage the 

 common slipshod practise of giving incom- 

 plete citations in bibliographies. The volume 

 number should be in Arabic figures, regardless 

 of ancient traditions or the usage of the maga- 

 zine, to save the reader the annoyance of trans- 

 lating the obsolescent Eoman numerals which 

 some periodicals still inflict on their readers. 



The first page, or cover as the case may be, 

 of a reprint should always bear the title and 

 in most cases the author's name, besides the 

 name of the magazine, etc. In sorting out 

 large piles of pamphlets I have many times 

 been provoked by having to stop and look in- 

 side one with a blank cover to see what it was 

 about; and three times within the past year I 

 have received from different printers (who had 

 not previously done work for me) separates in 

 which the article began on a left-hand page 

 (which could not be foreseen when I read the 

 proof) and the first page was left blank, neces- 

 sitating writing the titles by hand or having 

 it done by a local printer. 



In ordering reprints from Science authors 

 can accommodate their friends with no extra 

 trouble to themselves (for they are given the 

 choice) by having them made up in single- 

 column or octavo form, unless they contain 

 tables or diagrams that extend across both 

 columns. For articles in Science do not usu- 

 ally make many pages, and if reprinted in the 

 original quarto form they are rather thin, and 

 easily torn or crumpled when filed in a case 



