1905 - 6 .] Library Aids to Mathematical Research. 53 
have prevailed with the publishers, for the year which gave birth 
to the Society’s eleventh volume also saw a beginning made with 
a new volume of “ Poggendorff.” This was completed in 1898, 
thirty-five years after the completion of the previous volume, 
the record being then brought up to the same point as the 
Catalogue had reached two years before. It was now the Royal 
Society’s turn to lag behind, for during 1902-1904 a fourth 
volume of the Handworterbuch was published, completing the 
record for the century, whereas all that the Royal Society has 
since printed is a twelfth volume dealing with the same period as 
the preceding eleven and supplementing them.* 
The fresh venture above referred to was the institution of the 
Jahrbuch iiber die Fortschritte der Mathematik, the first volume of 
which was published in 1871. It differed from its predecessors 
(1) in confining itself to mathematics alone; (2) in being an 
annual publication devoted to a year’s work, — the first volume, for 
example, dealing with the literature of the year 1868 ; (3) in being 
not a mere catalogue of titles, but giving also a short abstract of 
each paper’s contents ; (4) in being arranged according to subjects, 
and having two indexes, the one giving the mere titles arranged 
alphabetically according to authors’ names, and the other giving 
the same rearranged as in the body of the work. In the first 
volume the book proper occupied pp. 1-404, the first index 
(Namenregister) pp. 405-426, and the second ( Inhalts verzeich- 
niss) pp. ix.-xxxiv. 
In 1884 a miniature rival to the Jahrbucli was started at 
Stockholm, the Bibliotheca Mathematical giving lists of new publica- 
tions on mathematics and short bibliographical articles : but after 
three years it was altered in form and became devoted exclusively 
to the history of mathematics and to the bibliography of mathe- 
matics from the historic point of view. In April 1900 it assumed 
a third and more imposing form, still, however, restricting itself 
to the field of mathematical history. For our present purpose 
therefore it need not further concern us. 
A much more serious competitor took the field in 1893. This 
* The Royal Society has not ceased its work, and holds itself pledged to 
finish what it has undertaken, namely, to catalogue the scientific papers of the 
nineteenth century. 
