, 1877-03-12

N tAs Editor af Tht TrfsuAs.
CHICAGO, March 9.-1f there Ia one thing
more than another needed by certain In
ftucnttal class Of men In every city, believe It
Is q good public library, containing standard
works Of reference. do not mcau simply
dictionaries, encyclopedias, md books Of this
c1aas, but, particularly, bound volumes OF En-
gisl,, German, and French periodicals In full
sets. To any one engaged In scientific research,
or oven in tho ordinary routine Of Office or
laboratory work. such books arc invaluable. It
oneself posted In the recent advances Of science
ono must hare access to the current literature
OF the lay, Or II one would prepare q lecture or
~ article for publication . act Of PerIodIcalss
subject must DO at hand to enable the writer 10
do Justice to himself or 10 his subject. No man
who values his time Will ever attempt an orig
inal Investigation IN any department Of sctcnse
Of tho literature Of that branch Just
what has been done before. Now, I
say. without tho. least hesitation. that
the facilities offered TO sucl, men by our Public
desire to find fault With what is, 80 much as to
point out defects, aud suggest tho necessity Of
rcmcdying them at once. J. spcak from expc-
rionco when say this, for have now a long
lating for over six months which mnst look up
In the libraries OF New York City ns soon rs op-
portun1ty offers. This is but an Individual
case, but a,n confident that there arc many
others wig viii tlnd the same 2; fault Wit, , our
that the original articles describing The expert
mcnts or reaults Of tho author arc always far
superior to any abstracts or rchash for bis Dur-
pose.
The question now arises, i It Just for tho
small number Of professional scientific lncn 10
this city to expect the city to supply them with
expensive books OF reference, which nre Of no
use to the general publIca Tho reply TO this
tic object Of tic Public Libraryi Taking theso
question:. toQctllcr,. would say. that, IN
my opinion, tho object Of tho library "a
to ditfuso knowledge, to atford tho people
iay, bnlt aiso to books Which viii teaeh Then,
something. II d mechanic desires to look up
somu subject in mechanics, he should find It lii
the library, md 50 with the geologlst, nstrono-
mer, physlc!st, and chemist. It Is sold that the
n'an1, and that these books arc not scientific
works, but mostly novels. Well, l cannot al-
nit the Justice ot this. and right here + where
We expect our Librarian to use tho best Of Ills
would divide books into three classes
ssa ea.s 'sa fsssns far ntaass v e5b,aeas ts
history, travels, etc, by our best authors; tho
authors, OF the ao-ealled sensational; and tic
class Of scientific literature. Now, will venture
TO say, and Il l am wrong would be glad II
Mr. Poole will correct nc, that out Of these
thrco classes the second will be called for by far
the most, say 1--WE times to ono Of tho t,rstlncn
toned, and tho third class yery seldom. # thls
b tIuc, and confess that Judge simply from
outside appearances, ia It my reason to in
duco the expenditure of q proporttonate
amount Of money for this cluss OF
booksl Ccrtatnly 1t is not right for
our library to panlcr to the jllterato rather
than to others, simply because that class IL In
excess. Looking at Il In another way, instead
Of endeavcrtng to cultivate a tas.a for what Is
rcliued and healthy by gradually reducing tho
number Of accond-c1ass books as they wear out,
do VIC not really encourage tho very opposite
eourses saw in tho newspapers = fey days
back that Our library wanted sotno $50, ,000. As
II is an Institution controlled by tho city, tlo
not catc to venture upon al estimate Of tho
actua cost OF maintaining It, but certainly there
must be considerable sun, remnlning to ln-
vest In books. In behalf OF tho tow
studenta Of natural sclcnco Ia tho city. would
enter plea that aome OF thls money be ex-
pended for their assistance and benefit. This
should be done each year, and tho city will be
the richer for 1t. 1u order that the selections
may be matlo 30 d to do most good, Il might bo
well to ask those most Interested Wllat books
arc Of greatc8t value. hope this coinmunl-
catton will bs followed up by an effort on the
part Of others interested In ttts subject to cos-
vince thu proper authorities Of this need ut
books. which certainly every scientific mau III
this city feels. pIkoF- Il, ulTCucocK,