tutions or individuals as shall be named to him for this purpose by each Senator, and to each of such ten libraries and other public institutions or individuals as shall be named to him for this purpose by each Representative and Delegate, and in volumes to Senators and Representatives, or such other parties as shall be designated by Senators, Representatives, and Delegates until the quota of each shall be exhausted: Providea, That one copy of each volume shall, on its reception from the Public Printing Office, be transmitted to each Senator, Representative, and Delegate in Congress : And provided further, That duplicate copies shall not be sent to any library or individual on the request of any Senator or member of the House of Representatives until both Senator and member shall be notified that they have named the same library or individual: And provided further, That the party receiving the work upon the order of a member of Congress shall be informed by the Secretary of the Interior upon whose request it is supplied. And the Secretary of the Interior shall report to Congress at its next session the names and locations of the libraries and other public institutions designated to receive these reports under the provisions of this bill."

In the latter act (making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the government), under the heading Miscellaneous Objects," occur the following passages:

46

"The volumes of the official records of the war of the rebellion shall be distributed as follows: One thousand copies to the executive departments, as now provided by law. One thousand copies for distribution by the Secretary of War among officers of the army and contributors to the work. Eight thousand three hundred copies shall be sent by the Secretary of War to such libraries, organizations, and individuals as may be designated by the Senators, Representatives, and Delegates of the Forty-seventh Congress. Each Senator shall designate not exceeding twenty-six, and each Representative and Delegate not exceeding twenty-one of such addresses, and the volumes shall be sent thereto from time to time as they are published, until the publication is completed. Senators, Representatives, and Delegates shall inform the Secretary of War in each case how many volumes of those heretofore published they have forwarded to such addresses. The remaining copies of the eleven thousand to be published, and all sets that may not be ordered to be distributed as provided herein, shall be sold by the Secretary of War for cost of publication, with ten per cent added thereto, and the proceeds of such sale shall be covered into the Treasury. If two or more sets of said volumes are ordered to the same address the Secretary of War shall inform the Senators, Representatives, or Delegates who have d.signated the same, who thereupon may designate other libraries, organizations, or individuals. The Secretary of War shall report to the first session of the Forty-eighth

The following admirable provisions will be noted in the extracts just given:

1. Both the documents recording the results of taking the census and those containing the official records of the rebellion are to be distributed by one officer of the government, and the needless duplication of works sent to institutions and individuals, which has prevailed under the old system of having documents dis tributed from several centres, will be avoided, and a larger number of persons and institutions can be supplied with information desired by them.

2. Provision is made for having complete sets of the records of the rebellion sent to institutions and individuals who receive the volumes about to be distributed, and provision is also made, with reference, probably, to supplying such wants, for ascertaining which of the institutions and individuals which are now designated or about to be designated to receive sets have failed to receive the volumes issued before the passage of the act now under consideration.

3. Provision is made for the sale of copies of the "Official Record of the Rebellion," after publication. Hitherto public documents could only be secured from the government by notice given previously to publication by persons desirous of buying them.

4. Provision is made for making public the list of institutions and individuals to which the census reports have been sent.

I have information from Washington to the effect that the adoption of the improved methods of distributing the reports on the census and the "Official Records of the Rebellion" was due to the persistent efforts of Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts.

Mr. Hoar has long been known as one who is earnestly desirous of bringing about the adoption of improved methods of distributing public documents, and he has zealously seconded all efforts of the committee which I represent.

The Senate Committee on Printing, through which the committee of the Library Association began to act, seems to have been inactive in so far as library interests are concerned.

It is understood that the chairman of the committee has been deterred from introducing measures for improving the methods of distributing documents by the fact that previous efforts of his in that direction have proved unavailing. It is to be hoped that his discouragement will only be transient.

Great praise is due to Rev. John G. Ames, Superintendent of Documents in the Interior Department, for his zeal in trying to bring about a reform in the methods of distributing public documents.

There is also reason for encouragement in the fact that both Houses of Congress have re

peatedly expressed themselves as greatly dissatisfied with the present method of distributing documents.

Lists of Public Documents.

Valuable lists of public documents issued during a series of years and of current government publications have been recently printed.

H. R. Executive Document No. 172, 47th Congress, Ist Session, International Bureau of Exchanges, contains a list of all publications received at the Smithsonian Institution between the years 1867 and 1881 (inclusive).

Probably there is no place in Washington where a complete list of the publications of the United States Government could be made so well as at the Smithsonian Institution, since copies of all documents issued pass through the hands of its officers.

In compliance with Senate resolution of March 24, 1881, "That the heads of each of the executive departments be, and are hereby, directed to report to the Senate at the beginning of the next session of Congress, complete lists of any and all books, reports, documents, and pamphlets issued, printed, or published by their respective departments, and by each and every bureau and officer thereof, from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1881," the Navy and War Departments, and the Departments of Justice and the Interior have furnished lists of their publications to the United States Senate, and these have been printed as Senate Executive Documents, numbered respectively 37, 47, 109, and 182, 47th Congress, 1st Session.

James Anglim & Co., 1424 F Street, Corcoran Building, Washington, have reprinted the lists of the Smithsonian Institution and of the Department of the Interior, as "Special Catalogues, Parts III. and I., Government Publications." Mr. Anglim writes me that he intends to issue the lists of the War and Navy Departments, as Special Catalogue, Part II., Government Publications."

He also writes me that he shall be happy to send such of these reprints as are desired by them to librarians who apply to him for them.

The Government Printing Office has just published a " List of Congressional Documents from the Twentieth to the Forty-sixth Congresses, inclusive."

In "History of the Government Printing Office at Washington, D. C.," etc., by R. W. Kerr, published at Lancaster, Pa., Inquirer Printing and Publishing Co., in 1881, there is a list of the most valuable annual and other reports authorized by law or ordered by resolutions of Congress. This has been reprinted in the Publishers' Weekly (13 and 15 Park Row, New York), for August 27, 1881.

Congress has made an appropriation for beginning the preparation of a classified and analytical list of all government publications from 1790 to date. The preparation of this list has been placed in the hands of Hon. Ben. Perley Poore, Secretary of the Senate Committee on Printing.

Mr. Leypoldt has undertaken to print in the Publishers' Weekly a list of current publications of the government which are received at the Smithsonian Institution. In the number of that periodical for October 1, 1881, may be found a list of such documents as were received in July, 1881.

In the numbers for Oct. 22, and Dec. 17, 1881, and Feb. 18, 1882, have appeared lists of documents received at the Smithsonian Institution during the months of August, September, October, November, and December, 1881.

In the number for April 22, 1882, the Weekly gave a quarterly list of the documents received from Jan. I to March 31, 1882, and it is the intention of its conductor to issue quarterly lists hereafter, the next one to appear, it is hoped, in August.

Mr. Leypoldt published some time ago a small pamphlet containing a list of the documents received at the Smithsonian Institution from October 1, 1880, to April, 1881, and the Smithsonian Institution itself followed up this by issuing a pamphlet of its own containing the publications received from April, 1881, to Ōctober of the same year.

It thus appears that means are now at hand for finding out what documents have been issued by the United States Government of late years.

It is evident that the efforts of the American Library Association have, directly or indirectly, had much to do in helping along the reform which is progressing in the methods adopted in distributing public documents, and also in procuring printed lists of current and late publications of the United States Government.

LIBRARY LEGISLATION.

RHODE ISLAND has lately passed the following law:

CHAP. 242. SEC. 45. Every person who, wilfully and maliciously or wantonly and without cause, writes upon, injures, defaces, tears, or destroys any book, pamphlet, plate, picture, engraving or statue, or other property belonging to any law, town, city, or other free public library, or suffers any such injury to be inflicted while said property is in his custody, shall be fined not less than one dollar nor more than ten dollars, the same to be for the use of the library.

CHAP. 242, SEC. 46. Every person who shall take or borrow from any law, town, city, or other free or public library any book, pa mphlet, paper, or other property of said library, a nd who, upon neglect to return the same within he time required and specified in the by-laws, rules, or regulations of the library owning the property, has been notified by the librarian or othe proper custodian of the property that the same is overdue, shall upon further neglect to return the same within two weeks from the date of such notice, be considered to have unlawfully converted the property of the library to his own use. A written or printed notice, given personally or sent by mail to the last known or registered

place of residence, shall be considered a sufficient notice.

Maryland also has passed a stringent law against library thieves, moved thereto by the Peabody Institute, which, when prosecuting a young man who had converted mental into bodily food (using a second-hand-book-store as the alembic), discovered that libraries were not protected by law.

ALPHABETICAL VERSUS LOGICAL
CLASSIFICATION.

IF Mr. Bliss will favor me by comparing my article in the Library journal for May with the scheme of classification and fuller explanations in the numbers for July and August, he will see that he has misapprehended my scheme. My system does not place "lithography, lithology, and lithotomy" side by side, nor does it "distribute fishes, reptiles, etc., over nearly the whole alphabet." Mr. Bliss evidently assumes that my method is identical with that of the dictionary catalogue. If he will read my article through carefully he will see that this is not the case. My system is not merely alphabetical but alphabetico-classed, and seeks to preserve the golden mean between the stiff formalism and endless divisions and subdivisions of "logical" classification and the fragmentary and disconnected arrangement of the dictionary catalogue.

I still reiterate my opinion that there is no "natural" classification of all knowledge. Mr. Bliss' arrangement of Biology, Zoölogy, and Anthropology may and may not be generally accepted by naturalists, but that does not prove that the whole field of knowledge may be arranged in serial order. It is one thing to select some special domain and establish a sort of order among the subjects comprised in it, an entirely different and more difficult matter to apply the same principle of arrangement to all human knowledge so that each special subject shall have its place logically determined. The attempt has been made to accomplish this feat, and we have some three thousand systems to choose from, no two of which are alike. Doubtless each seemed perfectly natural to its maker and perfectly absurd to the next experimenter.

Assuming that Mr. Bliss' classification will be generally accepted, which is by no means certain, judging from past experiments in this direction, what will be gained in arranging books in this order in a library for general readers? No matter how "natural" the order may be, it will be necessary to be a biologist or zoologist to understand it, and the non-professional reader must have recourse to an index to find his way among the maze of logical subtleties and subdivisions from "protoplasm" to "teleology." In my system each class is its own index.

Mr. Bliss is mistaken in supposing that I object to classification. I believe that all related subjects about which there is little or no dispute should unquestionably be kept

together. I believe that knowledge can be split up into a few well-defined groups, such as Natural History, Literature, Theology, etc., but I deny that these groups can be arranged in any satisfactory serial order, and if they could I fail to see the utility of arranging Theology before Philosophy, or vice versa. The order of the groups must be purely arbitrary, and this being so we may more easily fix them in the memory by making their arrangement alphabetical, and so secure an order that is understood by every one. The alphabetic classed system seizes upon the central thought of classificationgroups of subjects-and arranges them in a way that affords a ready key to their order, and this is all that ought to be required of any scheme intended, not for specialists, but for readers of all classes. J. SCHWARTZ.

THE MNEMONIC NUMBERING OF

BOOKS.

IN most of the plans for numbering books the mnemonic principle has been given a great deal of prominence, though it may not be said to divide the honors equally with the scientific classification. That a good logical division of a library has great mnemonic merits nobody will deny. But at the same time the mnemonic suggestiveness of such a system lacks the distinctness which it should be the office of a special mnemonic system to supply. There can of course be no mnemonic value in the more minute subdivisions of a scientific classification, because of the lack of a ready means of suggestion. The main idea of a mneinonic system ought to be as simple as possible and yet admit of any desired amount of elaboration. Any such system can only be based on a suggestion, more or less direct, between the subject or title of a book and the figures or letters used in the number.

A plan for this purpose which should use letters exclusively would be inadequate, because of its limited application and the liability to confusion. What is wanted is a method by which the greatest number possible of the symbols (figures or letters) of a book-number shall be suggested by the subject or title of a book. To make the book-number suggest the title would be of no use whatever to the librarian, as the practical value of any mnemonic system consists in giving a knowledge of the number through a knowledge of the book, not a knowledge of the book through the number. The system which most distinctly associates the number with the title of the book in this way-if it does so without an increase of symbols in the number-is of course the most valuable.

As an extension of former plans, I propose to apply the idea of the old index-system of Locke to the numbering of books. The division of the alphabet into ten parts, each part to be represented by a figure, is common to the plans of both Mr. Schwartz and Mr. Cutter. The idea of this is easily applied to the vowel-index system. Throwing out the consonants, we have left two figures for each of the five vowels: 1-2

for A, 3-4 for E, 5-6 for I, 7-8 for O, 9-0 for U. Dividing the alphabet again into two parts, say after the letter L, a more distinct value can be given to each figure; that is, I will signify AA-AL, 2 AM-AZ, 3 EA-EL, 4 EM-EZ, 5 IAIL, 6 IM-IZ, 7 OA-OL, 8 OM-OZ, 9 UA-UL, o UM-UZ. Here we have the basis of the system, and the only part which calls for any exercise of memory. The following is an example applied to the names of authors:

Ackerman. (aea) 142.

Shakespeare. (aceae) 14323.
Akenside. (aeie) 1453.

Addison. (aio) 168.

Darwin. (ai) 26.

Emerson. (eeo) 448.

Holmes, Mary J. (oeau) 7429. Holmes, Oliver W. (oeoie) 74764. Longfellow. (oeo) 838.

Byron. (uo) 08.

Burns. (u) o.

Here is an instance of the application to geographical and sociological names.

California. (aioia) 15851.

Austria. (auia) 2051.

England. (ea) 42.

New England. (eea) 442.
Georgia. (eoia) 4851.
Ireland. (iea) 632.
Mississippi. (iii) 6665.

United States. (uieae) 06324.
Labor. (ao) 18.

Capital. (aia) 261.

(iieie) 65453.

Civil Service.

Morality. (oaiu) 8169.

Roman Law. (oaa) 822.

Property. (oeu) 849.

It will be seen that I have given Y the value of U.

These examples are introduced solely as illustrations of the idea, and of course have no practical use beyond that. The trouble arising from synonymous names is inherent in all systems of this sort. The examples above may make this plan appear formidable at a first glance, but the difficulty rapidly disappears, and it is astonishing how soon one learns to read a word by vowels, and the vowels by their proper figures. In practice, carrying out the plan beyond four vowels would probably be useless, for the reason that in most cases few persons would agree as to what part of the title should be vowelized after so many vowels had been used. A limit of three would in many cases be still better. This would give 999 combinations, the greater part of which could be used. In this form the method would apply very well to any system analogous to the Dui-Amherst, in which it might indeed be applied to both the classnumbers and the numbers of the individual books in the classes. Still it can be used where no attempt is made at any minute scientific classification, or it can be made subordinate to any.possible classification.

Probably the best way in which mnemonic

numbers could be arranged would be in what has been called the decimal order-that is, the order which the numbers would have if con sidered as decimal fractions. This arrangement I have followed in the examples given above, except with the cipher (0), which I have placed last. The words of which the vowels are precisely the same can not be distinguished, but I think these will be found very rare indeed. It may perhaps be considered an objection that the first letter of a name is ignored if it is not a vowel. This would be a serious fault if we were ever called upon to translate the number into the title of the book. That, however, is never the case, and would be a useless kind of mental gymnastics. As the translation is the other way, the objection does not hold.

I have written altogether concerning the use of numerals in numbering, but it is obvious that letters can be used in connection with the figures, even with their ordinary value, which is highly mnemonic. It is extremely doubtful if any system of mnemonic numbering could be devised which would be used by the general public. The most to be expected is a plan which shall give all possible help to the em. ployés of a library. The application of this method to Prose Fiction would be of vast assistance in a public circulating library. The names of the authors might refer to the mnemonic numbers, and an accurate knowledge of the numbers of a large collection of books could be got with little difficulty.

JOHN FITZPATRICK, Bronson Library, Waterbury, Conn.

UNITED KINGDOM ASSOCIATION. THE CAMBRIDGE MEETING OF THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.-The 5th annual meeting of the association was held in the Hall of King's College, under the presidency of Mr. H. Bradshaw, Librarian of the University. About 100 representatives of libraries from all parts of the country were present, together with many distinguished Cambridge residents. The proceedings commenced on Tuesday, Sept. 5th, with an address by the president, who gave the members a hearty welcome to Cambridge, where, he said, besides the collections belonging to such private institutions as the Union Society, they would find 29 libraries which would deserve more or less attention. On the conclusion of Mr. Bradshaw's address the report of the Council and treasurer's statement were taken up. Prof. Mayor then read his paper on Cambridge libraries in 1710, founded upon an interesting visit by Uffenbach, who describes in his Merkwürdige Reisen (Ulm, 1753-4, 3 v. 8°) the chief libraries of Lower Saxony, Holland, and England. Mr. R. Garnett gave an account of the printing of the British Museum catalogue; and Mr. E. Magnússon related the history of the spread of books in early times, with special reference to Iceland. In the afternoon the members visited Trinity College, where an account of the library by the Rev. R. Sinker (who

was unable to be present) was read by Mr.

On the 6th, the proceedings commenced with a paper by Mr. C. Walford on early book fairs, followed by Mr. R. R. Bowker (New York), who told the meeting what will be the work of the librarian of the nineteenth century for the librarian of the twentieth century. Mr. P. Cowell took up the question of electric lighting in public libraries, and described what had been already done at Liverpool. Mr. J. Yates (Leeds) next dealt with the question of publications printed at the expense of the nation, and a resolution requesting the Council to promote measures to ensure their proper distribution to libraries established under the Public Libraries Acts was carried. More libraries were subsequently inspected, and in the evening a soirée was given by the Committee of the Free Library at the Guildhall.

On the 7th, the first business was a report on the training of library assistants, recommending a scheme for their examination, which was unanimously adopted. In connection with the subject came Mr. Tedder's paper on librarianship as a profession. The time has arrived when librarians may speak of their occupation as a profession, and since the need of the proper organization of libraries and the more systematic study of library science is now fully recognized, it is to be expected that librarians should be duly trained and examined as are the members of all other liberal professions. Upon Mr. H. Stevens raising the question, Who spoils Our new English books? the printers were warmly defended by Mr. Wyman and Mr. Blades (London), and the bookbinders by Mr. Edmond (Aberdeen). The programme was so extensive that some interesting papers on binding had to be passed over. Mr. E. C. Thomas then criticised some recent schemes of classification, including those of Messrs. Dewey, Perkins, and L. P. Smith, and it was resolved that the Council should attempt the formidable undertaking of drawing up a classification adapted for books in a library. In the evening the members dined together at the Lion Hotel, after having paid visits to another round of libraries.

At the final sitting on the 8th, the first paper taken was one by Mr. W. H. K. Wright (Plymouth), who urged upon librarians the importance of producing bibliographies of their own districts. Some remarks by Mr. Bradshaw upon libraries as local book-museums had to be passed over, and the question of fixing upon a scale of size for books, which had been considered in a special report, was discussed, but no decision come to. The meeting, as last year, declined to enter into the subject of opening libraries, museums, etc., on Sundays, but passed a resolution in favor of amending and consolidating the law relating to public libraries. It was decided to meet at Liverpool in 1883, under the presidency of Sir J. Picton, and after a lengthy list of votes of thanks, this extremely pleasant and highly successful meeting came to an end. -H: R: Tedder in Notes and Queries, Sept. 17.

V ANNUARIO delle biblioteche populari d'Italia, dal 1879 in poi; di Ant. Bruni, con cronica estera. Roma, E. Berni, 1882. sm. 8°.

LA BIBLIOTECA Leopardiana in Recanati; ricordo della sua istituzione. Recanati, tip.

R. Simboli, 1882. 31 p. 8°.

Established in the house of Leopardi at Recanati, his birthplace, to include the original mss of his writings, a complete collection of his works in all forms, and books relating to him.

LE BIBLIOTECHE e le archivi. (In Rassegna settimanale, 4 dec. 1881.) 2 col.

Maintains that commissions of inquiry do little good, not having power to punish the criminals, if they find them, and not having credit enough with the public to vindicate the reputation of the unjustly suspected. And what will be the value of a'report of 10 or even of 20 men prepared in six months or even in a year on the state of 210 libraries, most of which have no records, few have an inventory (shelf-list), and still fewer a catalog ("and what catalogs!")? The writer proposes two remedies.

CUTTER, C: A. The coming public library in New York. (In Nation, May 18.) 2 col.

HIBBERT, James.

Notes on free public libraries and museums. Privately printed. Preston, 1881. 13+110+ folded plan.

Notes collected in the preparation of a report upon the Harris free public library and museum project, and originally published in the Preston Guardian. The report recommends the erection of a building costing £50,000, upon land costing £25,000, the purchase of £5000 worth of books, and £5,000 worth of examples of the fine and industrial arts and objects of scientific pursuits for the Harris Reference Library, the funding of £10,000, for the purchase of additions to the reference library and museum, and an engagement by the corporation to provide books, periodicals, and newspapers for the lending library and the news-room. The notes give a full sketch of the history of free libraries, interesting but somewhat antiquated in parts; at least we notice one library in regard to which the information is a quarter of a century old.

HODGSON, J. E. The two worlds; addressed to the students of the Royal Academy. London, A. Seale [1882]. 16 p. 8°.

The new librarian points out to the students the usefulness of the library of the Academy.

LIBRARIES in Boston. 6. (In Boston d. Globe, Sept. 10.) 14 col.