August 17, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



219 



South Africa — R. Trimen, Esq., F.R.S. 



United Kingdom — Professor H. E. Arnastrong, 

 F.R.S. Professor J. Larmor, Secretary Royal 

 Society. Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell. 



Smithsonian Institution — Dr. Leonhard Stej- 

 neger (United States National Museum). 



Professor H. E, Armstrong having been 

 appointed chairman of the convention, the 

 following resolutions w^ere passed: 



On the motion of the chairman, seconded by Dr. 

 Stejneger, it was Resolved: That, in view of the 

 success' already achieved by the International 

 Catalogue of Scientific Literature and of its great 

 importance to scientific workers, it is imperative 

 to continue the publication of the catalogue at 

 least for a further period of five years. 



On the motion of the chairman it was Resolved: 

 That the convention approves of the proposal for 

 an amalgamation of the Zoological Record pub- 

 lished by the Zoological Society of London with 

 Volume N of the International Catalogue in ac- 

 cordance with paragraph 24 of the Report, p. 10, 

 and authorizes the executive committee to carry 

 the proposal into effect. 



On the motion of Dr. Stejneger it was Resolved: 

 That it is the desire of this convention that the 

 executive committee, as soon as practicable, take 

 into consideration the question of issuing cards. 



On the motion of Dr. Stejneger, seconded by Dr. 

 Deniker, it was Resolved: That the report of the 

 committee of schedules be adopted. 



On the motion of the chairman it was Resolved: 

 That the report of the executive committee be 

 adopted and that all matters therein not dealt 

 with by this convention be remitted to the execu- 

 tive committee with power to act thereon. 



The report of the executive committee to 

 the international convention covered some 

 twenty-three pages and contained the follow- 

 ing statements of interest: 



* * * It appears that the date originally con- 

 templated for the completion of the fifth issue 

 (1906) will be exceeded by about six months only. 

 Taking into account the delay which arose in the 

 organization of the work by the regional bureaus, 

 which involved the postponement of the publica- 

 tion of the first annual issue by almost a year, 

 if the result contemplated be achieved, a most 

 satisfactory conclusion of the first stage of the 

 enterprise will have been arrived at in so far as 

 the issue of the printed catalogue is concerned. 



REGIONAL BUREAUS. 



At the present time Bureaus are established in 



thirty-two separate regions. The only countries 

 which have not yet established bureaus are Servia 

 and Bulgaria, in Europe, and the South American 

 states. Spain has joined during this year. 



Taking into account the character of the enter- 

 prise, the successful manner in which the collec- 

 tion of the material has been organized, and the 

 care with which the indexing has been accom- 

 plished are little short of remarkable, and reflects 

 the greatest credit on all concerned. 



Necessarily there have been very many diffi- 

 culties connected with a work of such intricacy 

 carried on in various countries by independent 

 organizations; but so great has been the desire to 

 accomplish the work, that these have all been met 

 without the slightest disagreement arising. 



It is surprising to what an extent it has been 

 possible for the various bureaus to make use of 

 the schedules provided by the international con- 

 ference which authorized the enterprise: Obviously 

 in such a case only experience could lead to the 

 establishment of a common system of indexing 

 likely to give general satisfaction. 



EXTENSION OF THE ENTERPRISE. 



At the meeting of the International Council in 

 May last year, a proposal to extend the scope 

 of the catalogue by the publication of additional 

 series of volumes dealing with such subjects as — 

 (rt) medicine and surgery, (&) agriculture, horti- 

 culture and forestry and (c) technology (various 

 branches ) , was discussed and the opinion ex- 

 pressed that it was desirable that the executive 

 committee should take the matter into further 

 consideration in order that it may be brought 

 under notice at the meeting of the convention 

 this year. 



After considering this question fully and dis- 

 cussing it with those interested in the work of the 

 catalogue, the executive committee are of opinion 

 that it is undesirable at present to extend the 

 scope of the catalogue. It would be unwise to 

 increase the responsibility of the organization so 

 long as it is not in possession of an adequate work- 

 ing capital. Moreover, it is desirable that the 

 energies of the bureaus should be directed, at all 

 events during the next few years, to perfecting the 

 catalogue in order that it may render all the 

 assistance that was contemplated at its inception 

 to scientific workers in those subjects which, after 

 much discussion, were selected for treatment. 



In order to give the work its necessary complete- 

 ness, the indexing of scientific communications 

 must be carried beyond the mere titles to a far 

 greater extent than has hitherto been the case. 



