XII.] A Librarian's Work. 251 



libraries rarely attempt to make subject-catalogues. 

 At ever)^. library which I have happened to visit 

 in England, France, Germany, and Italy, I have 

 received the same answer : " We do not keep any 

 subject-catalogue, for we shrink from so formidable 

 an undertaking." With a boldness justified by the 

 result, however, Professor Abbot began such a cata- 

 logue of the Harvard library in 1861, and carried out 

 the work with the success that might have been 

 expected from his truly stupendous erudition and 

 most consummate ingenuity. 



It is sometimes urged that, in deference to the 

 feebleness of human .memory, an ideal library should 

 have yet a third catalogue, arranged alphabetically, 

 not according to authors, but according to titles. 

 This is to accommodate the man who knows that 

 he wants Lectures on the Wave-Theory of Lights 

 but has forgotten the author's name. In an " ideal " 

 library this might perhaps be well. But in a real 

 library, subject to the ordinary laws of nature, it is 

 to be remembered that any serious addition to the 

 amount of catalogue-room or to the labour of the 

 librarian and assistants is an expense which can be 

 justified only by the prospect of very decided 

 advantages. In most cases, the subject-catalogue 

 answers the purposes of those who remember the 



