24 AXXI'AL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



scribers to the published volumes. Though every care has been used 

 to edit and publish the work in the most economical way, the income 

 of the central bureau has proved to be insufficient to meet current 

 expenses and in addition pay interest on approximately $o5.000 of 

 borrowed capital. 



As a more detailed report of the work of the bureau and of the 

 proceedings of the convention will be found in the appendix to this 

 report, it will be sufficient here to call attention to the great value 

 and importance of the work, and to say that it would be difficult to 

 find an enterprise more deserving of endowment. A capital fund, 

 yielding an annual income of from $5,000 to $10,000, would enable 

 the central bureau not only to broaden the scope of the catalogue 

 but also to reduce the subscription price now charged for -the annual 

 volumes. This charge is $85 per year which, although not large 

 when the amount of matter published is considered, is found to be 

 far beyond the means of many who would otherwise be glad to 

 avail themselves of this important aid to scientific research. 



The Smithsonian Institution has a peculiar interest in the Inter- 

 national Catalogue, for the reason that the original idea was con- 

 ceived by the first Secretary of the Institution in 1855. The Royal 

 Society through its Catalogue of Scientific Papers later partly 

 carried out Secretary Henry's idea. Experience proved that the 

 enterprise was too great for any one society, or, indeed, any one 

 nation, to undertake, and the Smithsonian Institution, representing 

 the United States, joined in the movement to make the work 

 international. 



The history of this international movement is briefly as follows: 



The British foreign office in 1894, at the instance of the Royal 

 Society, requested the United States Government, through the De- 

 partment of State, to send delegates to a conference to be held in 

 London in 1896. The matter was referred to the Smithsonian 

 Institution, and the late Prof. Simon Newcomb and Dr. John S. 

 Billings were sent as delegates. The second conference was held in 

 1898, and Dr. Cyrus Adler, librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 attended as a delegate. 



In 1901, when success or failure depended on obtaining the co- 

 operation of the United States in the enterprise, the Smithsonian 

 Institution agreed to and did support a regional bureau from that 

 time until 1906, when Congress made its first annual appropriation 

 to carry on the work in this country. It will thus be seen that in each 

 step the United States has, through the Smithsonian Institution, been 

 prominent in the movement, and it would be a matter of much 

 gratification if now that the enterprise has been so auspiciously 

 started it could be further aided by an endowment fund originating 

 in this country. 



