Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-04-11
From the Scientific American.
On Keeping an Index.

the authors all state tnat Inc WOrl
originated iii casual notes gathere'
during the study or active practice 0
their various professions, will sugges
to many the advantages of keeping al
index or memorandum Of facts me
with in reading or observation. I
we'll known engineer of this city latel.
showed us a huge volume, constructed
in n way well suited to this purpose
in which, for several years, he ha
noted down, indexing as he proceeded
all the useful articles and hints relat
ing to engineering or mechanical sub
jects which had appeared in the sarl
GUS publications which he deemed
worth remembering. He did not o
course copy the articles entire, bu
simply jotted down sentence or two
embodying their gist, and an accurate
reference to the source of information
often merely the latter. BY practice
he had acquired the habit of making
these rough notes on the spot, wher-
ever he might be. Once a month OF
so he gathers his scraps into his book
and posts his index an hour or two's
work at the most. The result is that
lie now has fund of information at
hand, acquired with very little trouble,
the value of which can hardly be over
estimated.
This is only one instance Of others
within our knowledge, and we would
strongly commend the extension of
the practice. An enormous amount
of the most useful material never finds
its way into books. We would not
contiDe our notes to newspaper articles
alone, but include in them all facts
likely to be of future use which come
under personal observation or are OBJ
tanned in conversation with Others
Ard the earlier this habit is acquired
the better. An apprentice i'll almost
any shop is sure to see the older
workmen doing work after fashion
OF their own. lie may not know why
one man who produces particularly
good castings-rams his mould, for
instance, iu a certain way-or ham.
mers an iron plate to straighten it
after a certain manner peculiar to him
self ; yet be can use his eyes and ask
questions, and put down what he sees
and is told. In after years, he may
turn back to his notes and find in
them aid which is OF money Value
In the same way, the student will fluid
a college course far more useful to him
if he will watch for "points" IN his
various studies. Many professor
las a short way of his own for work
ing this OF that problem, or neat ex-
PLANTATION or illustration of a knotty
1.ct, or a short cut around some tech
nical difficulty, by which he secures
his pupils more rapid advancement.
We once heard an old housewife
say that she saved all the stray bits of
carpet, broken furniture, and other
apparent trash, because it was, &C
cording to her experience, ''sure to
come useful sometime within seven
years" We do not adhere to the
mystical number seven; but doubtless
she was substantially right, and the
same rule will hold good regarding
TIE odd scraps of information gather
ed. We would more especially COM
mend the above to readers Of this
journal. If all our one hundred thou
sand readers, in their great variety of
callings, would keep such records, and
each one would once in a while favor
us with few lines therefrom regard
ing interesting facts which had been
Noted, an immense fund of valuable
suggestions could be given to the
world, and useful thoughts thus be
rapidly intcrchanged. Besides, the
effect would be to spare us the neces-
slty Of inserting that paragraph which
heads our query column every week,
wherein we inform a. B., for perhaps
the twentieth time, that recipe fol
dissolving rubber or bronzing gun
barrels will be found on page so and
so, this or that volume, etc. AS we
said in the beginning, many valuable
books arc prepared from notes thus
made, and these become a source of
considerable returns to the compiler.
Such books moreover, are generally
exceptionally good because they relate
to pure practice and what has been
done, and are free from speculations,
mere theories, aud secondhand state
ments. 1t is we'll to remember also
that tho noooccitv Of toaDino in6ioac