354 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 13. 



spend years ou a book, the masterpiece of a 

 decade oi- a lifetime ; most keep pace with 

 the rapid progress of the times by issiiing 

 their chapters or sections as completed from 

 time to time in the form of articles or bro- 

 chures ; and thus the average number of 

 titles to be credited to individual authors 

 is increasing. So the augmentation in sci- 

 entific literature is many-branched and 

 cumulative, and its rate is constantly aug- 

 menting. With the multiplication of scien- 

 tific literature the need for comprehensive 

 cataloguing is multiplied; yet with the 

 multiplication the difficulty of measuring 

 the teeming fiood from the scientific press 

 is increased in still larger measure. The 

 task before the Eoyal Society is one of great 

 magnitude. 



It would seem that the success of the 

 scheme for cataloguing scientific literature 

 will depend largely on the intimacy of the 

 relations to be established between the 

 Royal Society, on the one hand, and (1) 

 trade publishers, (2) non-commercial pub- 

 lishers, and (3) individual authors, on the 

 other hand. ISTow, the basis for the rela- 

 tions between the central organization and 

 trade publishers, and through them with 

 the authors, is the simple one of financial 

 interest ; it is set forth in a satisfactory 

 manner in the report of the University 

 Council, who point otit that it would be to 

 the interest of the writers, as it would be 

 also to that of the publishers, to prepare 

 summaries suitable for carding by the cen- 

 tral organization. In the ease of this class 

 of publishers, perhaps the leading interest 

 would be that of the publishers themselves, 

 who might accordingly be trusted to induce 

 negligent authors to prepare the requisite 

 summaries. 



The non-commercial pu.blishers include 

 those issuing (a) periodicals put forth with- 

 out hope of profit and often at individual 

 sacrifice, which it would be useless to ad- 

 vertise in the ordinary way by reason of the 



limited number of possible subscribers ; (b) 

 proceedings, transactions and related serials 

 published in limited editions bj^ many scien- 

 tific societies; (c) reports of official bureaus, 

 like the U. S. Geological Sui-vey and various 

 State institutions, to whom increased dis- 

 tribution means no profit, but some loss in 

 time, if notmonej^; and (d) privately jDrinted 

 and irregularly published brochui-es, book- 

 lets and leaflets, commonly issued by the 

 authors themselves. All of these classes 

 of publications are important in this and 

 several other countries ; collectively, in this 

 country at the present time, at least, they 

 probably contain the major part of the 

 material which should be catalogued by 

 the Eoyal Society. To bring their contents 

 within reach of a central organization would 

 involve a wide-reaching and constant co- 

 operation, which manifestly cannot be 

 brought about through the ordinarj^ finan- 

 cial stimulus, since the publication is not 

 made on a commercial basis ; it can be 

 brought about, if at all, only through the 

 inspiration of creative genius and authorial 

 ambition. There are few scientific wi'iters 

 who would not be willing, indeed glad, to 

 prepare summaries of theu- writings for the 

 sake of securing wider publicity and more 

 permanent record of their discoveries and 

 ideas ; for it is the laudable ambition for 

 publicity and permanent record, for the 

 good of men, that inspires the oiiginal writr 

 ing, if not indeed the research itself. Many 

 of the non-commercial publishers them- 

 selves are actuated by similar motives, and 

 would be willing to incur the small tax of 

 periodically sending summaries to the cen- 

 tral organization, while others would doubt- 

 less be stimulated thereto bj^ the authors 

 themselves ; yet, it is probable that so far 

 as the non-commercial publications are con- 

 cerned, the sti-onger bond of connection 

 would be that between the central organiza- 

 tion and the authors ; and since the more 

 natural relation is the hierarchic one, first 



