October 18, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



615 



THE ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 



The 136th meeting of the Society was held 

 at the University of North Carolina, on Tues- 

 day evening, October 8, when the following 

 papers were presented : 



' Interpretation of the Value -' : Professor Wil- 

 liam Cain. 



' The Work of the Beaufort Laboratory during the 

 Season of 1901 ': Professor H. V. Wilson. 



' Note on the Existence of a New Element associ- 

 ated with Thorium ' : Professor Chas. Basker- 

 ville. 



The permanent secretary. President F. P. 

 Venable, reported some four or five hundred 

 exchanges as continued, and favorable progress 

 in the cataloging and binding of the journals 

 received in exchange. 



The following officers were elected for the 

 year : President^ Dr. H, V. Wilson ; Vice-Presi- 

 dent, Dr. A. S. Wheeler ; Secretary, Dr. Chas. 

 Baskerville. 



Charles Baskerville, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 



AN INSTITUTE FOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL 

 RESEARCH. 



To THE Editor of Science : In these days 

 when large endowments are made for further- 

 ing scientific research in many directions, it is 

 only natural that bibliographers and librarians 

 should look forward eagerly to an endowment 

 in the interest of that science which is the 

 foundation of library work and, in a way, of 

 all scientific investigation. Without bibliog- 

 raphies knowledge of what has been previously 

 done in the various sciences would be wellnigh 

 impossible ; the investigator would be groping 

 in the dark, and many a work would be written 

 to demonstrate what had already been well 

 demonstrated. Without bibliographies the 

 building up of an ever so modest library would 

 be beset with difficulties without end. 



The thought that such an endowment must 

 be made was in everybody's mind at the meet- 

 ing this summer of the American Library As- 

 sociation. The plans for cataloging at one 

 place books for all libraries in the country, 

 which were discussed at the last two confer- 



ences of the Association (Montreal, 1900, and 

 Waukesha, 1901), presuppose a central bureau 

 of some kind to organize the work and carry it 

 out. The generous way in which the Librarian 

 of Congress met the Publishing Board of the 

 Association gives assurance that the catalogu- 

 ing of the current literature will be taken care 

 of through the National Library. But this is 

 only one part of the needed work. If thus the 

 American literature of the new century will be 

 permanently recorded (it is to be hoped that 

 the work will be retrospective so as to cover 

 the whole of the year 1901) we shall still lack 

 an accurate bibliography of the American lit- 

 erature of past times. 



There are other works of great importance 

 that should be undertaken. Let me mention a 

 few : 



Bolton's catalogue of scientific and techni- 

 cal periodicals covers only one group of sci- 

 ences and does not cover that one completely. 

 A complete and accurate catalogue of serial 

 publications of all kinds, including such as are 

 published by societies, academies and other in 

 stitutions, is a desideratum. 



There is no critical and complete bibliog- 

 raphy of bibliographies in existence. Petz- 

 holdt's monumental work does not go beyond 

 1866, and Henri Stein's recent volume, while 

 bringing his predecessor's work fairly down to 

 date, is anything but critical. It is doubtful 

 whether a really authoritative catalogue of 

 bibliographies can be produced without the 

 cooperation of bibliographers and specialists 

 in this country and Europe. 



The catalogue of scientific literature under- 

 taken under the auspices of the Royal Society 

 of London has met with gratifying support 

 from American libraries. But the ' Regional 

 Bui'eau ' for America that should do our part 

 of the work is not yet founded. The Smith- 

 sonian Institution has provisionally undertaken 

 to act as ' Regional Bureau,' but with all the 

 other demands on it it is uncertain how long it 

 can continue to cooperate in this work. 



This catalogue is planned to cover only the 

 natural and jDhysical sciences. It is of the 

 utmost importance that other sciences also 

 should be covered by similar catalogues. 



Furthermore, the Royal Society catalogue 



