SEPTEMBER 15, 1899. ] 
about 2,000 cards of standard library size 
would be printed annually. The issue would 
be fortnightly. Each card would contain the 
author’s name ; the title; the date and place 
of publication ; the abstract; the name of 
the expert writing the abstract ; two cross- 
references, each with reference numbers 
according to the Dewey system; and, finally, 
the special data required by the mailing 
law. Composed in linotype brevier, a clear, 
easily read type, the space available for the 
text of the abstract would hold about 225 
words. The average length of abstracts in 
the Centralblatt fiir Physiologie is about 200 
words. Where the abstract is too long to 
be printed on one card, a second, or a third, 
would be used. A thousand cards will 
“bulk”? nine inches. 
The regular issue would consist of an orig- 
inal and two duplicate sets. The original 
set could be arranged alphabetically by the 
namesof authors. The duplicates could be ar- 
ranged by subjects, with the aid of the cross- 
references or the Dewey numbers. Suit- 
ably printed guide cards, and filing boxes of 
stout cardboard, the corners strengthened 
with metal, would be furnished. The price 
per year, i. ¢., for about 6,000 cards, with 
sufficient printed guides and filing boxes, 
would be ten dollars, postage free, to sub- 
scribers in the United States and Canada, 
and twelve dollars and a half to foreign 
subscribers, the additional charge being the 
excess of foreign over domestic postage. 
It is agreed that no charge would be 
made for editorial and business manage- 
ment, that the remuneration of the writers 
of abstracts would be merely nominal, and 
that any excess of receipts over expendi- 
tures would be applied toward increasing 
the value or diminishing the price of the 
publication to the subscriber. Scientists 
are obliged to collect all the literature of 
their special subjects. It is believed that 
the additional labor of putting these glean- 
ings in shape for publication will be re- 
SCIENCE, 
373 
payed in large part by the general saving 
of time and trouble which the new publica- 
tion would undoubtedly effect. Besides, 
the work is a public service. 
Tt has already been said that the Trus- 
tees of the Boston Public Library have not 
yet acted finally upon this proposition. In 
the event of their deciding that the Library 
shall not increase its usefulness in this par- 
ticular direction, it is hoped that means 
will be found of printing elsewhere. The 
success of this undertaking in physiology 
would mean the issue of similar publica- 
tions in other sciences and the saving of 
much valuable time now wasted in unprofi- 
table rummaging. 
Wixiiam TownsEND PORTER. 
HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, September 7th. 
SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 
The Soluble Ferments and Fermentation. By J. 
REYNOLDS GREEN. Cambridge. 1899. Pp. 
438. [From the Biological Series of Cam- 
bridge Natural Science Manuals. ] 
Enzymology, or the science of the soluble 
ferments, is a rapidly growing branch of physio- 
logical science. Numerous observations bearing 
upon it are so widely scattered through chem- 
ical, botanical, bacteriological, physiological 
and other journals that it is somewhat difficult 
to follow its progress and make a systematic 
summary of the subject. The books thus far 
published do not treat the entire subject from 
a physiological aspect. The work of Gamgee, 
published in 1893, on the chemistry of digestion, 
is intended especially for the physician and 
treats very ably the enzymes of the animal 
body, while the work of Effront, Les enzymes 
et leur applications, published in 1896, has es- 
pecially the technical side in view, although it 
does not neglect the purely chemical details 
of recent investigations. Reynolds’s book 
attempts more; it undertakes not only to give 
a detailed description of the enzymes and their 
actions, but also to bring before us all the 
physiological relations in plants and animals. 
It is divided into twenty-four chapters. The 
first treats of the nature of fermentation and 
