268 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. No. 452. 



exceptionally favorable aid in effecting 

 that breadth of view and perfection of co- 

 ordination Avhich we have seen to be the 

 keystone in the arch of scientific achieve- 

 ment. 



It is a source of congratulation to us, 

 the members of this laboratory, that these 

 liberal principles are clearly at the founda- 

 tion of our present organization. Our 

 director has made it very plain, not only 

 by word of mouth, but much more forcibly 

 in practical ways, that it is to be the policy 

 of our laboratory to secure the widest co- 

 operation among all the men of science of 

 our state. To this, as the representative 

 of organized science in Ohio, I have pleas- 

 ure in responding with equal cordiality 

 that it will be our purpose to share in the 

 great work here established to the full ex- 

 tent of our ability, by attendance when 

 possible, and by sympathetic interest at 

 all times. While we are the gainers by 

 this liberal hospitality offered by the labo- 

 ratory, it is certain that the laboratory in 

 thus casting its bread upon the waters wiU 

 find it again after many days. 



Permit me in closing to quote a para- 

 graph from the article recently published 

 in the special Christmas number of Mind! 

 entitled, ' Specimens of the Critique of Pure 

 Rot, from the remains of a Philosopher, 

 by I. Cant.' "Let us begin by inquiring 

 into the possibility of Rot in general. That 

 Rot exists yoii may take my word. And 

 there are two kinds of it: damp rot and 

 dry rot, besides certain fungoid growths." 

 To which of these categories this effort of 

 mine belongs, I leave you to judge — 

 whether it is damp rot or dry rot, or merely 

 a relatively innocuous fungoid growth 

 M'hich will deliquesce with the rise of to- 

 morrow's sun. 



C. JuDSON Herrick. 



Denison UNI\'ERSITT. 



THE INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCI- 

 ENTIFIC LITERATURE* 



It may be well to briefly outline the his- 

 toi-y of the International Catalogue of 

 Scientific Literature before recounting the 

 condition of the work at present. 



The original suggestion of an interna- 

 tional catalogue came from Professor 

 Joseph Henry, first secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, who in 1855 called the 

 attention of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science to the great need 

 of a work of this kind. The idea was in 

 advance of the times, and not until 1867 

 did it bear fruit in the piiblication by the 

 Royal Society of the well known ' Catalogue 

 of Scientific Papers.' In this publication 

 Professor Henry was given due credit as 

 the originator of the idea, but the work 

 itself was only in part the realization of 

 his plan, dealing as it did with serial pub- 

 lications only and indexing them by au- 

 thors' names alone. However, with this 

 start the plan lived and progressed until 

 1894, when the Royal Society, feeling that 

 the time had come to improve the plan of 

 their catalogue, and assured that this could 

 be effected only by international coopera- 

 tion, addressed a circular to the learned 

 societies of the world, bringing the matter 

 to their notice. By the advice of the so- 

 cieties responding to this circular the 

 Royal Society through the British Foreign 

 Office invited the governments of the world 

 to send delegates to a conference to be held 

 in London in 1896. At this and the two 

 following conferences of 1898 and of 1900 

 the plan took shape and it was decided to 

 start the work with a classified subject and 

 author catalogue of all original scientific 

 literature beginning with January 1, 1901. 

 The following named sciences were to be 

 included within the scope of the catalogue, 

 one volume a year being devoted to each of 



* Eead before the Bibliographical Society of 

 Chicago. 



