76 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 29. 



those papers which bear on that particular 

 subject. It has been urged that none but 

 the expert or specialist should undertake 

 subject indexing. It is desirable that the 

 scope and arrangement of the subject 

 index of each branch of science should be 

 determined by specialists in that particular 

 branch. But, since it is not possible nor 

 even desirable to go to the extreme in in- 

 dexing, it seems quite probable that a gen- 

 eral subject index of all the principal sub- 

 divisions of each branch of science can be 

 accurately arranged on a previously deter- 

 mined plan, by one who has only a general 

 knowledge of the principles on which each 

 of the branches upon which he is working 

 is based. 



3. International cooperation in the past 

 has not been of such a character as to iill 

 one with confidence that it would success- 

 fully manage a work of such magnitude. 

 The scope and plan of the work shoiild be 

 determined by an international committee, 

 but the responsibility for the accuracy and 

 prompt publication of the matter should be 

 as limited as possible. An international 

 committee might be selected to determine 

 the scope and arrangement of the work, the 

 language or languages in which it is to be 

 printed, the person or persons who are to be 

 in charge of its preparation and responsible 

 for its accuracy and completeness, and to 

 adopt a plan for raising the necessary funds. 

 One person might be selected from each of 

 the several European countries and from 

 the United States to prepare a bibliography 

 and index, on this predetermined plan, of 

 all scientific literature published in their 

 own country during each year ; this manu- 

 script to be forwarded to the central office 

 and there examined and arranged in final 

 form, and each person to receive compensa- 

 tion and credit for the individual work per- 

 formed. To carry out such a plan involves 

 a great amount of careful, painstaking and 

 laborious work, and its success would largely 



depend on the proper selection of individual 

 workers, and on the cooperation with them 

 of the scientific world in general. 



4. It seems quite necessary that a concise 

 synopsis of the contents of each paper should 

 be made and form a part of the bibliography. 

 This should be printed in the language in 

 which the paper is WTitten, and should be 

 translated into English or French or both. 

 This adds greatly to the work of prepara- 

 tion, but it is the only way to make it of 

 practical iise to the hundreds, possibly thous- 

 ands, who would use such a work. 



5. It should not only be published as a 

 whole, but should be so prepared as to be 

 separated into different parts to be dis- 

 tributed as separates for the use of those 

 who do not care to subscribe for the whole 

 work. By determining the arrangement of 

 the index before beginning the perusal of 

 the literature, on one side of the catalogue 

 card could be written the entry for the 

 bibliography, and on the reverse side the 

 subdivisions of the index under which the 

 paper properly belongs. Copies of these 

 cards could be made, and from these a bibli- 

 ography and iadex of any branch or a num- 

 ber of branches of science could be pub- 

 lished separately with a minimum amount 

 of labor and expense. 



The work which has been heretofore re- 

 ferred to as being carried on by the writer 

 comprises a bibliograph ji- and index of North 

 American geology, paleontology, petrology 

 and mineralogy and is to be published as a 

 bulletin of the United States Geological 

 Survey. It is intended as a continuation of 

 the previous publications of the Survej^ of 

 the Kecord of North American Geology, but 

 the scope of the work and its arrangement 

 have been materially changed. The first 

 number contains a record of papers pub- 

 lished during 1892 and 1893 and is now in 

 press. The work for the year 1894, it is ex- 

 pected, will be distributed before the close 

 of the present year, and the manuscript for 



