208 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



THE DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION OF LITERATURE. 



/^UR contemporar;.- " La Nature ' has just 

 ^^ published an adr:iirable criticism of the 

 decimal system of catalc?iii-g literature as in- 

 Tented by Mr. MeKllle Dewey. The article, v.hich 

 is by M. Charles E. Guillaume, is so much to the 

 point that we have translated it for this magazine. 

 He writes as follows : 



The idea which has been conceived by 'Six. 

 Melville Dewey of grouping all the human know- 

 ledge together, and then of sub-dividing it into ten 

 successive parts, can be termed practical and odd 

 at the same time. Why ten ? Simply in order to 

 allow a system of labelling in which each figure 

 corresponds with a certain degree of generality. 

 This arbitrary di%-ision into ten parts excludes the 

 idea of a natural classification ; there is no thought 

 here of a philosophical creation, but simply the 

 practical result to be attained in the rapid classifica- 

 tion of pubUcations, either books or papers, collected 

 in hbraries. Under this form of classification, Mr. 

 Dewey's method could with more exactitude take 

 the name of decimal labelling. We are very far 

 from the classifications which were attempted by 

 Leibnitz or Ampere, or even Auguste Comte. 

 These were scientific, while Mr. Dewey's is solely 

 adm ini strative. 



This point of view being clearly established it will 

 be agreed that such a process was essential. Scien- 

 tific publications are becoming so numerous that it is 

 necessary to faciUtate the researches of those who seek 

 knowledge in any matter which specially interests 

 them. For want of sufficient indication, which the 

 title of a memoir does not always give, one is likely 

 to escape many important pubHcations, while one 

 loses most valuable time in reading a long memoir 

 in order to find the information one is seeking, and 

 which is often absent. A figure is often more pre- 

 cise than a word, it fixes and settles the idea better. 



The main object now is to pass by the most 

 practical means from the project to its execution, 

 to imagine the successive subdivisions which 

 rigorously impose themselves, which comprise all 

 knowledge and indicate its proper place without 

 ambiguity. This is where the difficulty commences. 

 According to countries, individuals, and their 

 various methods of thought, the classification 

 may vary indefinitely, and the system can only be 

 considered good after it has been approved by a 

 large number of specialists whose learning em- 

 braces the whole of human knowledge. It is quite 

 impossible, in fact, to admit that the first scholar 

 of the world, the most learned man that can be 

 found on earth, is capable of fixing the details of a 

 whole classification, were he even to devote to it 

 the best vears of his life. 



The w'ork of classification must, therefore, be a 

 collaborative work, starting from the first di\-ision 

 and following the lines fixed by Mr. Dewe^' ; then 

 proceeding more or less forward v.ith the divisions, 

 after the extent of knowledge in the divers branches 

 of science is ascertained. 



Specialists and some scientific societies have 

 collaborated to the best of thefr abilities either to 

 develop Mr. Dewej-'s classification, or to a remanipu- 

 lation of his first propositions. The Roj-al Society 

 of London has tmdertaken part of the work. The 

 Societe Francaise de Physique, on M. C. M. 

 Gariel's proposition, has done its utmost to advance 

 the decimal classification of the special sciences with 

 which it occupies itself ; but it is not -^vithout some 

 shght modifications of Mr. Devrey's work that they 

 arrived at a nearly satisfactory classification in 

 detail. 



In the New World people do not think as in the 

 Old. Mr. Dewey, in his classification, shows more 

 the habits of an engineer than a scholar. He Uves 

 amongst people where art has not yet found its 

 place. To witness this, take one of his classes 

 which includes the theatre, the opera, card games, 

 riding and fishing — ^in one word, all that amuses and 

 rests one, while one single class is devoted to music. 



This is not said in order to criticise Mr. Dewey's 

 work, but to give its character. 



Let us pass to the detail of his classification. 

 The first division comprises the ten following 

 classes: — o, General Works; i. Philosophy; 2, 

 Rehgion; 3. Sociology; 4, Philology; 5. Sciences; 

 6, Applied Sciences ; 7, Fine Arts ; 8, Literature ; 

 9, History. Each of these large classes is sub-di%dded 

 into ten others, reserving always the figure o for 

 the most general subjects. Thus No. 50 applies 

 itself to Sciences in general, the following number 

 serving to specify a grade in the generality. The 

 nine classes corresponding to the figures from i to 

 9 after the figure 5 comprise the different sciences 

 which are represented by thefr own special number, 

 thus: 51, Mathematics; 52, Astronomy; 53, Physics; 

 54, Chemistry ; 55, Geology ; 56, Palaeontology ; 

 57, Biology ; 58, Botany ; 59, Zoology. 



Let ns farther go into the matter and take 

 Phjsics as an example. Under the figures 530 we 

 will classif}- the pubUcation on Physics in general, 

 the didactic works, the treatises or dictionaries 

 on Physics. Let us now follow the sub-di\dsion 

 in one of the branches of Physics ; heat being 

 labelled 536. We will di\nde it after its nature, 

 its effects, its relations with matter, its measure, 

 etc. One of its sections bearing No. 6, will 

 be calorimetry. We appear afready to be 

 very forward with No. 536,6; all Memofrs 



