JULY 23, 1897. ] 
the fifth day the antitoxin treatment effected a 
reduction of 6.2 per cent. in the mortality. In 
view of these figures, and of others dealing 
with the death-rate in post-scarlatinal and 
laryngeal cases, Dr. Woodhead expressed his 
strong conviction that those who opposed the 
use of the remedy assumed a tremendous re- 
sponsibility. 
Mr. ALEXANDER WATT contributes to the 
last number of the Bulletin de U Institut Interna- 
tional de Bibliographie (why should a journal 
devoted to bibliography omit the date of issue ?) 
an account of a new form of card catalogue. 
The usual plan of arranging a card catalogue is 
to place the cards in a drawer or box, a rod 
being run through the holes in the cards to 
keep them in their proper order. The exami- 
nation of the catalogue is made by turning over 
the cards as one would turn the leaves of a 
book if it were laid upon its back with its fore- 
edge in front of the examiner. There are sey- 
eral inconveniences arising from this method of 
keeping cards. (1) A special cabinet of drawers 
or boxes is required. (2) As the drawers are 
bulky and expensive they are generally made 
too large (to reduce the bulk and expense), 
which prevents the catalogue being consulted 
by more than one or two persons at once. (3) 
It is difficult to keep a particular card in view 
during the copying of a title, and only one card 
can be readily seen at a time. In order to ob- 
viate these disadvantages Mr. Watt has devised 
a new receptacle for holding the cards, consist- 
ing of a case made in the form and of the ma- 
terials of the boards ofa book. The cards are 
placed between the boards of the case and are 
held in position by means of a pin passing 
through the outer corner of the cards and case. 
The pin, which is made to exactly fit the hole 
in the cards, has a fixed hole at one end and at 
the other end a head which screws into the pin. 
The cards during examination, instead of slid- 
ing along the pin, are rotated on it outwards 
en bloc, and may be spread out in the form ofa 
- fan so as to keep in view several cards at the 
same time. ‘As the cards are examined they 
are pushed back into the case, one or more at 
atime. As the cases (which may be made of 
any thickness) when full of cards look like 
ordinary books they may be arranged like them 
SCIENCE. 
131 
on the shelves, and as they can be made very 
cheaply the catalogue of a library may be split 
up into hundreds of volumes, which will thus 
allow of its being consulted by many persons at 
the same time. 
THE Engineering and Mining Journal has com- 
piled its fifth annual volume on the mineral in- 
dustry of the United States, giving statistics for 
the year 1896. The total value of the produc- 
tion was $706,015,411, an increase of $23,950,- 
293 over the preceding year. The United States 
in 1896 was the largest gold producer of the 
world and the largest silver producer; it was 
also by far the largest producer of copper, fur- 
nishing over one-half of the world’s supply of 
that metal. Notwithstanding the decrease in 
the pig iron output it was still larger than that 
of any other country. In coal the total was 
still less than that of Great Britian, though it is 
gradually approaching the point where the two 
will be equal. ‘The editor writes: ‘‘In accord- 
ance with our usual custom, we have added to 
the usual measurements of quantities in each 
case the metric measures, which we earnestly 
hope will soon be.the only legal measure in this 
country, as they already are in nearly every 
other civilized country.’’ 
THERE was recently an interesting debate 
in the British House of Lords regarding 
works of art and the finance act. A clause in 
that act enacted last year reads as follows: 
““ Where any property passing on the death of a de- 
ceased person consists of such pictures, prints, books, 
manuscripts, works of art, scientific collections, or 
other things not yielding income as appear to the 
Treasury to be of national, scientific or historic inter- 
est, and is settled so as to be enjoyed in kind in sue- 
cession by different persons, such property shall not, 
on the death of such deceased person, be aggregated 
with other property, but shall form an estate by itself, 
and while enjoyed in kind by a person not competent 
to dispose of the same be exempt from estate duty ; 
but if it is sold or is in possession of some person who 
is competent to dispose of the same shall become 
liable for estate duty.’’ 
This clause it appears has been interpreted so 
as to include only works of art, illustrating 
English history. It is not clear whether scien- 
tific collections must also be confined to English 
history in order to be exempted from death 
dues. It was claimed in the debate in the 
