416 PROCEEDINGS OF TH2 SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION. 
various works .have been received at Government-House, 
though owing to the frequent use of that building for 
balls and concerts, great destruction and loss have occurred 
among the books, which, in great part, are neither shelved 
nor catalogued. All these may eventually be deposited at 
the Public Library, when that institution shall have been 
placed on a proper footing. 
It was very properly laid down at the foundation of the 
Library, that it was the duty of the Librarian to compilo 
and keep a catalogue. The result of this regulation was 
the first printed catalogue, a copy of which 'was sold for 
five cents. As the Library grew, a more complete cata- 
logue was required,' and in 1856 the manuscript of ono 
drawn up by the Librarian was sent to Hamburg and 
printed. It was in two parts, one French and one English, 
an unnecessary division, and one that added to the expense. 
Subsequently, lists of the books acquired were,, from time 
to time, published in the newspapers, and slips containing . 
the lists were generally to be had at the Library. It 
seems, however, that there must have been great irregu- 
larity in the compilation of these lists, and they scarcely ■ 
subserved the purpose of a complete catalogue. The com- 
mittee therefore resolved in 18G2 upon the compilation of 
supplementary catalogues. It should be borne in mind 
that the Librarian’s duty should have been, from the com- 
mencement — to keep a manuscript catalogue, into which 
the title of every book should be properly entered upon its 
arrival in the Library. Owing to the neglect of this 
obvious piece of library-economy, it was necessary to ex- 
amine every one of the books in detail, in order to the 
compilation of a new catalogue. This work was per- 
formed in a most conscientious manner, not by the Libra* 
rian, but by one of the elected committee-men. Such, 
