Abstract
I AM glad to see that Mr. Taylor Kay has again brought forward the question of a subject index to scientific periodicals. I say again, because the proposal to make such an index was suggested by me in a short letter in NATURE, vol. xviii. p. 251, and more fully at the first meeting of the Library Association at Oxford, in October 1878 (Transactions of Library Association, 1878, p. 85). Dr. Garnett also read a paper before the same Association on this subject in 1879, which was fully printed in NATURE, vol. xx. p. 554. In my original letter I suggested making the index from the papers themselves, and not from the Royal Society's Catalogue; my reason for this was the difficulty that must be experienced in indexing many papers, should the indexer have nothing but the title in front of him. Reference to the paper is absolutely necessary in many instances, especially when the title does not fully set forth its contents. Dr. Garnett, however, pointed out that much labour might be saved if the Royal Society would give two copies of its Catalogue of Scientific Papers, which might be cut up to form the copy of the subject-index. There can be no doubt that Dr. Garnett is right, because, by his plan, however many papers it might be necessary to refer to, the amount of labour as regards manuscript would be very materially diminished. The greatest difficulty of all is the money. Mr. Taylor Kay takes comfort in a Treasury Minute of November 1864, and hopes, from that, that help might be obtained from the Government. I am afraid, however, it will damp his ardour to be told that the Government have refused to bear the cost of printing the Catalogue for the decade 1874-83, although the matter is all ready for the press. It seems to me that, as suggested in my original paper, the co-operation of the learned Societies is the only way in which the necessary funds can be obtained.
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BAILEY, J. An Index to Science. Nature 40, 245 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/040245d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/040245d0
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