544 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 692 



for their finding lists for the literature re- 

 viewed in their annual summaries. " Applied 

 to a practical case, this means that a publisher 

 ■who sends the Concilium a press copy of a 

 treatise on ' The Eeaotions of Unicellular 

 Organisms to Light,' for example, insures 

 thereby immediate mention of the work in the 

 card catalogue, the ' Bibliographia Zoologica,' 

 the ' Bibliographia Physiologica ' and the bib- 

 liography of Protista. He may also be as- 

 sured that the work will not be overlooked by 

 the annual reviews: Zoological Record, Zool- 

 ogischer JahresiericM, ArcMv fiir Naturge- 

 schichte, Jahreshericht uber die Fortschritte 

 der Physiologie, Jahrhucher der Medizin, 

 Annee Biologique, etc." 



The Concilium examines all the literature 

 which it lists in its bibliographies and depends 

 in part for the completeness of its work upon 

 the cooperation of authors, editors and pub- 

 lishers who send their work or publications to 

 its office at Zurich. The Concilium has no 

 funds for the purchase of periodicals or books 

 for this purpose of bibliographical record. It 

 should be noted in this connection that the 

 publication of the bibliographical analysis of 

 a zoological work includes not only the formal 

 listing of the title, but the printing of the 

 names of all new genera, a report upon the 

 number of new species or varieties proposed 

 in its pages, and in some cases a brief state- 

 ment of the nature of the contents of the 

 paper. Furthermore, the paper or book is 

 cited, it may be, not once merely, but often 

 again for a number of times upon cards, by 

 title, or in the " Bibliographica Zoologica," by 

 number, in connection with each subdivision 

 of the subject upon which the contents of the 

 book or \paper touch. For example, a paper 

 upon the " Plankton of the Illinois River " 

 would be cited under the headings of geo- 

 graphical distribution, invertebrata, and it 

 might be under a half dozen or more sub- 

 divisions of the animal kingdom. It is thus 

 no small service which the Concilium renders 

 authors and publishers in extending publicity 

 throughout the scientific world by such an 

 extended analysis of the contents of the work. 

 The service which the Concilium renders in 

 this regard saves in the aggregate a large 



amount of time for the investigators in the 

 zoological and allied fields. It is evident that 

 the completeness of the bibliographies issued 

 by the Concilium and the promptness with 

 which the references are published can be 

 greatly facilitated by a hearty cooperation be- 

 tween the authors, editors and publishers, and 

 Dr. Field's most helpful institution. In dis- 

 cussing this question of cooperation Dr. Field 

 writes as follows: 



According to a recent writer (Dr. Vaughan), 

 this preeminence of the Concilium has been won 

 in spite of the fact that in 1901 only 70 per cent, 

 of the world literature (on sponges) was recorded. 

 This percentage may be perhaps considered low; 

 but it must not be forgotten that at that time the 

 Concilium had not solicited in any general way 

 the cooperation of publishers and editors. The 

 material that was sent to Zurich came from those 

 who had casually learned of the work and sent 

 press copies on their own initiative. It is evident 

 that, when the cooperation of publishers becomes 

 more universal, the scientific public and the re- 

 viewers will rely still more on the information 

 obtained from the Concilium, so that the useful- 

 ness of the agency as a means of publicity will 

 correspondingly increase. 



In the early debates regarding the foundation 

 of the Conciliiun, it was contended that the insti- 

 tution might rely in part on financial contribu- 

 tions from publishers. The project of securing 

 revenue from such a source was, however, deemed 

 impractical, not because the services rendered 

 were too slight to justify soliciting aid, but be- 

 cause of the difficulty of levying contributions. 

 Completeness of the references is essential to the 

 institution and no penalty of exclusion could be 

 put into force against those who declined to give 

 their quota. No work of interest could ever be 

 excluded for fiscal reasons. On the other hand, it 

 was thought unnecessary to provide funds for the 

 purchase of works to be catalogued and no part 

 of the subsidies can be so used. It is definitely 

 assumed that all publishers will be glad from en- 

 lightened self-interest to make their publication* 

 accessible in Zurich. The Concilium agrees that 

 all matter sent for review shall imder no circum- 

 stances be offered for sale, so that there is nO' 

 danger of a single purchaser being lost in conse- 

 quence of copies sent to us. It is highly desirable 

 that books and periodicals shall be kept by the 

 Concilium for later consultation. In the case of 

 publications with valuable plates, the latter may 

 be withheld, provided they are described in the- 



