SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1866. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 



By the last steadier from Honolulu we re- 

 ceived a letter from our correspondent giving an 

 account of the present condition of the islands 

 (p. 73). The great volcano Kilauea has just 

 passed through a period of inaction. For seven 

 years lakes of fire had been constantly visible. 

 On the 6th of March last the amount of liquid 

 lava flowing in various directions from the famil- 

 iar lakes or craters called Halemaumau, New 

 Lake, and the Little Beggar, was uncommonly 

 abundant. The following day and night sharp 

 earthquake shocks disturbed the residents at the 

 Volcano house ; and immediately afterwards the 

 liquid entirely disappeared, leaving an irregular 

 cavity 3,360 feet in length, and wide enough to 

 embrace the areas of the three great openings. 

 The greatest depth of the liquid removed was 580 

 feet. Quietness and darkness reigned till the 4th 

 of June, when a new opening showed molten lava 

 about forty feet in diameter. Three weeks later, 

 June 25, the fire came back in earnest, filling up 

 the old Halemaumau and some other portions of 

 the caldera. For a long time to come, therefore, 

 visitors may expect the old-time grand volcanic 

 displays. 



The American library association was orga- 

 nized in 1876 at Philadelphia, and the movement 

 was followed at once in England by the founding 

 of the Library association of the United Kingdom 

 in the following year. Subsequent meetings of our 

 o\vn association have been held in New York, 

 Boston, Washington, Cincinnati, and Buffalo, and 

 the annual meeting of a year ago at Lake George. 

 During all this period, Mr. Justin Winsor of the 

 Harvard college library has been the president of 

 the association. A great variety of circumstances 

 has contributed to the interest and importance of 

 the general meeting which was held in July at 

 Milwaukee, under the presidency of Dr. W. F. 

 Poole. To found libraries is the fashion to-day ; 

 and the librarians of our country have wisely 

 organized to secure the best results from such 

 splendid bequests as those of Pratt and of Pea- 

 No. 181. — 1S86. 



body to the city of Baltimore, of the Seymour 

 fund to Au.burn, of the Forbes bequest to North- 

 ampton, and of the Newberry legacy to Chicago. 

 Efiicient management of such funds cannot fail 

 to inspire a like generosity elsewhere. Also the 

 movement toward a correlation of the public 

 library and the public school is one whose success 

 thus far appears to justify the confident expecta- 

 tion of future results of the highest moment. 



The continued success of The library journal, 

 the inception of a new periodical entitled Library 

 notes, and the assured inauguration of the Co- 

 lumbia college school of library economy under 

 the direction of Professor Dewey in January next, 

 are among the noteworthy progressive features of 

 library interests. We find the librarians insuring 

 the success of their ventures in bibliography and 

 indexing, through the co-operative method, now 

 so thoroughly successful as a principle in matters 

 commercial. The reforms of the last few years 

 in library management are most encouraging, and 

 the librarians are now suggesting the propriety 

 of dignifying their work with the title ' learned 

 profession.' We find them venturing, a little 

 early, perhaps, the expression ' library science : ' 

 in short, their position has become largely aggres- 

 sive. While, however, there is much in the new 

 movement that is the subject of adverse criticism, 

 no disinterested person can overlook the vast deal 

 of good that has already been secured. There is, 

 withal, need of continual care, lest, in the drudg- 

 ery of endless details, the meaning of the proper 

 integration of all these differentials be lost sight 

 of ; and there seems to be ground for the appre- 

 hension lest, with the rapidly increasing con- 

 veniences for library-work, the too great conven- 

 ience of mere appliances may hamper individual 

 freedom in the use of libraries. Also there is need 

 of perpetual distinction between the mere reader 

 and the thorough student ; and in the equipment 

 and management of a library, only the keenly 

 discriminating intellect detects the proper rela- 

 tionship of the two. It very often happens that 

 much of what the tools of the library will accom- 

 plish for the reader, the student whose aim is 

 culture will prefer to do for himself. There is 

 entire safety in predicting the ultimate outcome 



