8 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [dec. 6, 
complete national library established in Scotland, for to scientific 
and literary investigators such a library is the most important 
instrument of research. We must all of us rejoice that there is to 
be a Free Library in Edinburgh, and it is to be hoped that it will 
be established so as to give the public the freest possible access 
to all the ordinary standard works and current literature. It may 
even be hoped that the directors of the institution will be able to 
specialise to some extent in the reference library, so as to embrace 
works not now to be had in Edinburgh. 
It must be remembered, however, that this Free Library will 
mainly be a duplication of books already in Edinburgh libraries. 
It in no way solves the question of a National Scottish Library, 
which is the great desideratum for all engaged in the study of science 
and literature. 
There is a great wealth of libraries in Edinburgh, but they are to 
a large extent inaccessible from want of room or from the antiquated 
machinery connected with their proper consultation. There is a 
popular belief that the Advocates’ Library contains every English 
book. As a matter of fact, it is very defective in the literature of 
some periods ; it lacks many important provincial publications, and 
is of course very deficient in Indian, Colonial, and American works, 
which are every year becoming more important. There are rela- 
tively few foreign works in the Advocates’ Library, and were it not 
for the excellent series of foreign treatises in the University Library, 
Edinburgh would be very poorly supplied in this respect. 
If I wish to consult all the authorities who have described the 
ice of the Antarctic regions, I can find only some of the books in 
Edinburgh. If I wish to consult the original authorities who have 
described the desert of Sahara, I can. find only one or two of them 
in the Edinburgh libraries. Gaps like these are not confined to 
scientific or geographical works. Socialism is a subject not in the 
background at present, yet one will seek in vain among our libraries 
for some of the works of the best-known continental exponents of 
the theory. 
Every true Scotsman has an interest in seeing these defects speedily 
remedied. 
It is much to be regretted that there is no organisation by which 
reference to the various libraries in Edinburgh could be facilitated 
