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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 854 



ferenee was held in London in 1898, Dr. 

 Cyrus Adler, of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion representing the United States ; and a 

 third conference met in 1900. The various 

 plans formulated at these conferences were 

 definitely agreed to and drafts of schedules 

 of classification, the heart of the whole 

 system, were compiled. The organization 

 is briefly this: all the principal countries 

 of the world, at present numbering thirty- 

 two, undertake to prepare at their own ex- 

 pense a classified index of the current 

 scientific papers published within their do- 

 main and to forward the data to a central 

 bureau in London where it is assembled 

 and published in seventeen annual vol- 

 umes, one for each of the following named 

 subjects: Mathematics, mechanics, physics, 

 chemistry, astronomy, meteorology, miner- 

 alogy, geology, physical geography, pale- 

 ontology, general biology, botany, zoology, 

 human anatomy, anthropology, physiology 

 and bacteriology. The cost of maintain- 

 ing the central bureau and of printing the 

 catalogue is defrayed entirely by funds re- 

 ceived from the subscribers to the work. 

 The regional bureaus are, as a rule, main- 

 tained by direct governmental grants. The 

 work began with an index of the litera- 

 ture for the year 1901. Supreme control 

 of the catalogue is vested in a body known 

 as the international convention which met 

 in 1905, in 1910, thereafter to meet every 

 ten years. This paper is for the purpose of 

 giving an outline of the proceedings of the 

 second convention held in London July 12 

 and 13, 1910. The event was looked for- 

 ward to with much interest as the enter- 

 prise would then have passed through its 

 formative period and the reports would 

 show to what extent it had become a suc- 

 cess. All of the principal countries of the 

 world sent delegates as follows : 



Austria, Dr. Josef Donabaum (vice-di- 

 rector of the Imperial Royal Court Library, 



"Vienna) ; Belgium, Mons. H. La Fontaine 

 (director of the International Office of 

 Bibliography, Brussels) and Mons. Paul 

 Otlet (secretary-general of the Interna- 

 tional Office of Bibliography, Brussels) ; 

 Denmark, Dr. Martin Knudsen (Copen- 

 hagen) ; France, Dr. J. Deniker (librarian 

 of the Museum of Natural History, Paris) ; 

 Germany, Professor 0. Uhlworm (director 

 of the German Regional Bureau) ; Holland, 

 Professor D. J. Korteweg (University of 

 Amsterdam) ; India, Lt.-Col. D. Prain, F. 

 R. S. (director of the Royal Botanic Gar- 

 dens, Kew) and Mr. L. H. Burkill; Italy, 

 Professor R. Nasini (University of Pisa) 

 and Cav. E. Mancini (Academy of Sciences, 

 Rome) ; Japan, Professor Joji Sakurai 

 (University of Tokyo) ; New South Wales, 

 Professor A. Liversidge, F. R. S. ; 

 Russia, Mons. E. Heintz (scientific 

 secretary of the Central Physical Observa- 

 tory, St. Petersburg) ; SoutJi Australia,IloJi. 

 A. A. Kirkpatrick (agent-general for South 

 Australia) ; Sweden, Dr. Aksel Andersson 

 (first librarian of the Royal University 

 Library of Uppsala) ; United Kingdom, 

 Sir Archibald Geikie, president Royal 

 Society, Sir Joseph Larmor, secretary 

 Royal Society, and Professor H. E. 

 Armstrong, F. R. S. ; United States, 

 Leonard C. Gunnell (United States Re- 

 gional Bureau, Smithsonian Institution). 



Mr. A. B. Kempe, treasurer of the Royal 

 Society and Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, 

 member of the Executive Committee, were 

 invited to take part in the convention as 

 was also Dr. H. Forster Morley, who has 

 since the beginning of the enterprise acted 

 as director of the London Central Bureau. 



At the opening meeting held in the 

 rooms of the Royal Society on July 12, Sir 

 Archibald Geikie, president of the Royal 

 Society, was elected chairman and Pro- 

 fessor Henry E. Armstrong, fellow of the 

 Royal Society, vice-chairman. Professor 



