13 



the contents of the paper will also be indexed ; accordingly the 

 authors and editors will be invited to assist in indexing their own 

 publications ; their indexes will of course be edited by the Central 

 Bureau in London, so as to render them uniform in character. 



Authors in Australia will also, of course, be expected to prepare 

 indexes for their publications, and they will doubtless do every- 

 thing within their power to assist in carrying out this useful and 

 much needed work. 



This catalogue will be of immense value to original workers, of 

 so great a value that it is quite impossible to express it adequately, 

 as it will relieve them from a vast amount of labour in hunting 

 up references in scientific journals, reports and monographs 

 published in all parts of the world. As I have said on a previous 

 occasion, it will be particularly valuable to us in Australasia, as 

 we are so far removed from the great centres of scientific thought 

 and activity as well as from the great public libraries and insti- 

 tutions for research. 



A National Australian Academy. — I have long thought that a 

 federation of the leading Scientific Societies in the Australian 

 Colonies is desirable, and now that the colonies have been become 

 federated as the Commonwealth of Australia, it would be more 

 easy of accomplishment ; we have something of the kind in the 

 Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, but 

 that is peripatetic and has only one short session of a week every 

 two years, further the membership is largely of a very changeable 

 character — it exists for a definite purpose, which differs from that 

 of ordinary societies and it answers that purpose extremely well. 



The organisation now suggested is of a different character and 

 it would somewhat resemble, as far as the scope is concerned, the 

 Continental Academies, but under rules more like those of 

 the Royal Society of London. The members would be elected 

 (from all of the States) on account of their scientific and other 

 qualifications, the number of members would necessarily be 

 limited and the seat of the Academy would, of course, be in 

 the Federal Capital when built, where a suitable site for the 



