66 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 471. 



bald's work concludes with an appendix which 

 includes a list of North American locusts and 

 a list of African termites. 



F. H. Chittenden. 



INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OP SCIENTIFIC 

 LITERATURE. GEOLOGY. 



In looking over the reviews that have ap- 

 peared of the various parts of the Interna- 

 tional Catalogue of Scientific Literature thus 

 far issued for the year 1901, it is evident 

 that those which are extremely critical have 

 been written by men who are largely investi- 

 gators. The men who have spent days in the 

 laborious work of going over publications, 

 writing out the titles of papers and arranging 

 them according to a predetermined subject 

 classification are certainly more generous in 

 their commendation. 



The publication on geology is probably as 

 satisfactory as any of the others. Its greatest 

 weakness for the purposes of the whole body 

 of geologists is that of omissions and the 

 limited scope of the subject classification. 

 Many papers that have been omitted appeared 

 in publications that have not been examined. 

 But the character of the publication to be ex- 

 amined was limited by instruction concern- 

 ing which the workers had no voice. 



The scope of the subject classification is 

 one of very great importance to the working 

 geologist. The mass of geological literature 

 is so large that he no longer burdens his 

 memory with the fact that certain persons 

 wrote upon certain topics about such a time 

 and in such a place. Modern methods de- 

 mand that these papers be brought together 

 under suitable headings and that these shall 

 be sufficiently detailed in scope to meet the 

 needs of the investigator. The geological clas- 

 sification as it exists falls far short of filling 

 this demand. This is not the fault of those 

 who have prepared this bibliography, but the 

 value of the publication under consideration 

 would have been greatly enhanced if many 

 papers had been brought out under more of 

 the headings which were given them. This 

 is due to the fact that probably much of this 

 work of examining the literature was per- 

 formed by persons who had no special knowl- 



edge of the subject, the literature of which 

 they were classifying. This work to be well 

 done — and no other sort of bibliographic work 

 is acceptable — must be performed by those 

 who have a considerable intimate knowledge 

 of that portion of science which they are in- 

 dexing. It is well known that some of those 

 who participated in the formation of this 

 organization were of the opinion that this 

 work of classification could be executed by 

 persons having a good general scientific edu- 

 cation. The first annual issue of the bibli- 

 ographies illustrates how erroneous is such a 

 conclusion. If the preparation of the material 

 by each of the regional bureaus were com- 

 plete and satisfactory, the work of collecting 

 and unifying them into a whole must be one 

 replete with difiiculties. 



It is not the purpose of this notice to point 

 out particular errors of omission or com- 

 mission or to note defects in a spirit of hostile 

 criticism, but to indicate what is fundamen- 

 tally inadequate with the hope that in due 

 time it will be rectified. It may prove to 

 have been a wise determination to carry on 

 this work for a period of five years before 

 holding a congress at which these questions 

 of revision will be discussed and determined. 

 But it is believed that a higher grade of 

 bibliographic work would result if a larger 

 measure of discretion had been given to the 

 central bureau. The difficulties which attend 

 the inauguration of such a peculiar work are, 

 indeed, great, but they must be overcome, if 

 the organization is to be permanent and the 

 outcome of its labor to meet the approbation 

 and support of those for whose benefit it is 

 conducted. For the present the following sug- 

 gestions are offered to those who have in 

 charge the preparation of these bibliographies. 



1. Secure the assistance of specialists as far 

 as possible. Would it not be practicable to 

 send to such persons a list of current period- 

 icals, publications of societies, etc., to be ex- 

 amined for each regional bureau, and assemble 

 and unify their work for transmission to the 

 central bureau? 



2. Enlarge the list of publications ex- 

 amined to include those which only occasion- 

 ally publish articles which should be entered. 



