184 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 7. 



ther ask you to communicate to us, for 

 the use of the committee, any suggestions 

 which JO^x may think it desirable to make; as 

 to the best methods of inaugurating a scheme; 

 as to the constitution and means of main- 

 tenance of the Central Oifice; as to the exact 

 character of the work to be carried on there ; 

 as to the language or languages in which 

 the Catalogue should be published, and the 

 like? 



We are, your obedient servants, 

 (Signed) M. Foster, Secretary R. S. 



Eayleigh, Secretary R. S. 



J. LisTEE, Foreign Sec. R. S. 



EEPOET OF THE COMIUTTEE OF THE UNIVER- 

 SITY coinsrciL appointed to consider the 

 communication of the royal society 

 relating to a catalogue of scien- 

 tific papers to be made by in- 

 ternational cooperation. 



To the University Council of Harvard Univer- 

 sity : — 



The committee of the Universitj^ Coun- 

 cil, to whom was referred the accompany- 

 ing circular of the Koyal Society, respect- 

 fully submits the following report : 



The committee iinds itself fally in sym- 

 pathy with the desu'c of the Royal Society 

 to improve the methods of cataloguing 

 scientific literature, and is distinctly of the 

 opinion that the estabhshment of such a 

 catalogue, to be compiled through interna- 

 tional cooperation, is both desu'able and 

 practicable. 



To determine in what way this result can 

 be best attained, it will be well to consider 

 what are the defects of existing methods, 

 and what are the requirements which an 

 improved system may be reasonably ex- 

 pected to fill. 



Bibliographical catalogues and indexes are 

 generally defective in one or two waj^s. 

 Either they present simply a Ust of titles 

 which often convey an inadequate, and 

 sometimes a misleading idea of the contents 



of the articles catalogued, or they appear, 

 like the various annual reports, so long af- - 

 ter the publication of the articles which are 

 reported upon that they lose a great part of 

 their value as guides to current literature. 

 A thu'd defect is common to all existing 

 catalogues, viz., that of necessitating a ref- 

 erence to a number of separate volumes 

 whenever the literature of several years is 

 to be sought for. 



It is evident that some form of card cata- 

 logue can alone remedy these defects, so 

 that the practical question is : How can a 

 card catalogue of current scientific litera- 

 ture be best established and maintained? 

 The requirements of such a catalogue may 

 be stated as follows : — 



1. It should appear promptly — if possi- 

 ble, simultaneously with the book or article 

 catalogued. 



2. It should furnish an accurate descrip- 

 tion of the purport of the book or ai-ticle. 



3. It should be readily accessible to all 

 persons interested in the literature cata- 

 logued. 



It seems probable that these requirements 

 maj^ best be met by the cooperation of a 

 centi-al bureau with the various publishers 

 and editors of scientific literature in issuing 

 with each book and with each number of 

 every periodical a set of cards of standard 

 size and type, each card to exhibit for a 

 book, or for a single article in a periodical : — 



1. The name of the author. 



2. The title of the book or article. 



3. The date, place, and house of publica- 

 tion of the book, or the title, volume, and 

 page of the periodical in which the article 

 appears. 



4. A brief statement, not to exceed eight 

 or ten lines, to be prepared by the author 

 himself, setting forth the general purport of 

 the book or article, so as to furnish the 

 necessaiy data for cross references. 



Each card should be in duplicate to per- 

 mit of arrangement according to subject or 



