Decembek 30, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



945 



cles, it has come about that the larger part 

 of a working scientific library is very apt 

 to consist of separate pamphlets, which 

 soon run up into the thousands in number. 

 Many expedients have been suggested for 

 arranging these so as to keep them always 

 in strict order and at the same time readily 

 accessible. The use both of drawers put 

 in a cabinet, and of various forms of boxes, 

 has been proposed from time to time, and 

 each of these suggested plans has had some- 

 thing to recommend it. 



I have now been using for some time a 

 form Of box which seems to me, on the whole 

 to combine a larger number of advantages 

 for the preservation and ready accessibility 

 of one's pamphlets. This box is made of 

 thin wood, and measures inside 7x4 inches, 

 and is lOi inches in height. It is entirely 



open at the back, and is covered with a 

 cheap grade of marble paper. Pamphlet 

 boxes of this form are furnished in quantity 

 at low rates by the Library Bm-eau.* By 

 simply adding to each of these a pull and 

 label holder, as shown in the figure, we ob- 

 * The Library Bureau, 530 Atlantic Ave. , Boston, 



tain a box which may be placed on a shelf 

 of an ordiuarjr book-case, and which may 

 be easily pulled out from its position with 

 one hand, leaving the other hand free to 

 look over the pamphlets which it may con- 

 tain. The label may be easily shifted in 

 the holder, if the contents of the pamphlet- 

 box are to be changed. These boxes may 

 be arranged in rows upon a shelf, and then 

 present a neat and orderly appearance, and 

 whenever one box becomes too full another 

 box may be interpolated in the series with- 

 out difficulty. 



As regards my own system, I arrange the 

 boxes in two sets. In one of these sets the 

 pamphlets are arranged alphabetically ac- 

 cording to the author, and in this series I 

 include all such publications as refer to my 

 special line of study. In a second set each 

 box is devoted to a special subject, and 

 here are placed pamphlets which I have 

 less frequent occasion to refer to. I find it 

 also very convenient to keep journals and 

 magazines in these boxes, a separate box 

 for each magazine. These serials are then 

 kept in good order, are protected from dust 

 and are readily accessible. 



In conclusion, I will only say that, after 

 having experimented with many systems, I 

 have found this the most simple, convenient 

 and economical, and, therefore, on the whole, 

 the most satisfactory of any which I have 

 tried . 



Charles S. Minot. 



NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 

 That there is a decided resemblance be- 

 tween the compounds of oxygen and halo- 

 gen salts with ammonia, and the compounds 

 of these same salts with water was long 

 ago pointed out by Professor H. Rose. This 

 fact is further developed by Mendeleef in 

 his ' Grundlagen der Chemie,' and attention 

 is there called to the fact that many of 

 these salts give up a part or the whole of 

 their ammonia in a very similar way to that 



