REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 71 



The number of cards sent from this regional bureau has increased as follows : 



For fiscal year 1902 6,990 



For fiscal year 1903 ,. 14,480 



For fiscal year 1904 21,213 



For fiscal year 1905 24,182 



For fiscal year 1906 25,601 



For fiscal year 1907 28,629 



For fiscal year 1908 28,528 



For fiscal year 1909 34,409 



Should this increase continue it would add largely to the cost of publication, 

 and as there would be no corresponding addition to the receipts a decided 

 deficit would result, for the subscription price to the catalogue, namely, $85 a 

 year for 17 volumes, was fixed on a basis of the size and cost of the first an- 

 nual issue. It appears not only desirable, but necessary, to condense the refer- 

 ences as much as possible, though condensation, without loss of xisefulness, 

 necessitates much greater care on the part of the classifier in preparing a di- 

 gest. It can not be hoped that much change in the present methods can be 

 made without increasing the force of the bureau. 



The following-named volumes of the catalogue were received and delivered 

 to subscribers in this country, as follows : 



Sixth Annual Issue — Physics, Chemistry, Palaeontology, General Biology, 

 Botany, Anthropology, Physiology, and Bacteriology, completing the issue. 



Seventh Annual Issue — Mathematics, Mechanics, Physics, Astronomy, Miner- 

 alogy, Geology, Geography, Palaeontology, and Zoology. 



Through the resignation of Dr. Cyrus Adler, assistant secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, who was in charge of the United States branch of the Inter- 

 national Catalogue, both this bureau and the organization as a whole met with 

 a great loss, notwithstanding the fact that Doctor Adler still remains one of the 

 members of the International Council, the body vested with the supreme con- 

 trol of the catalogue. Doctor Adler was closely identified with the work from 

 the time the original ways and means were being discussed, and it is not too 

 much to say that had it not been for his interest and efforts Mr. Langley, the 

 late Secretary of the Institution, would not have aided the enterprise as he did 

 with the private funds of the Institution. Had not this aid been forthcoming 

 at the time the whole undertaking would have failed, for cooperation on the 

 part of the United States was essential, and, this Government failing at first 

 to lend its aid, there remained no other body than the Smithsonian Institution 

 in a position to become responsible for the work in this country. 



It is felt that this International Catalogue of Scientific Literature is but a 

 beginning of what will be eventually a great cooperative international index and 

 digest of all records of human achievement. There is no question of the need 

 for such a publication and, with the satisfactory beginning already made, it 

 is a question of cost alone which limits the field of the present enterprise to 

 include only the literature of pure science to the exclusion of the extensive and 

 valuable literature of the applied sciences and other technical literature. 



There have been no losses of property during the year, excepting those caused 

 by ordinary wear and deterioration. 



In the sundry civil bill approved March 1, 1909, $6,000 was appropriated to 

 carry on the work for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1910. This sum is an in- 

 crease of $1,000 over the appropriation for previous years. 



Respectfully submitted. Leonard C. Gunnell, 



Chief Assistant, Bureau of International 



_ _, ^ -nr Catalogue of Scientific Literature. 



Dr. Charles D. Walcott, 



Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



