Abstract
THE production of indexes is a laborious and often a thankless task, yet to their compilers the scientific world owes a deep debt of gratitude. The work before us is carried out consistently upon a recognised principle, and is presented in a clear and workmanlike manner. In adopting the principle of the “Inverted Title “as the basis for the construction of his Index of Subjects, Mr. Bird is probably following the style of an earlier index to the Journal of the Institute. Our criticism, at any rate, is directed to show the defects of indexes prepared on this principle. Such indexes are, of course, in reality “Title Indexes “; they serve as subject indexes only by the accident of the language of their titles. As the following illustration will show, such indexes are cumbersome, owing to the repetition of the titles, inconvenient for study, and costly to produce. For example, “Cold: beer towards-, and the Wallerstein process; sensitiveness of. P. Petit. 1916. 468.” This entry, suitably modified, appears four times in the Index-occupying eight lines. In the modern type of index one entry would suffice, with a reference from the Wallerstein Process. Moreover, the modern index would bring together matter which in the above Index is distributed under “Chilling,” “Cooling,“ “Refrigeration,” “Temperature,” etc. The “Inverted Title “index still survives in the book trade, but it has long been discarded from library practice. It is, in our opinion, wholly unsuited for the purposes of Collective Indexes to the papers of learned, societies.
Collective Index of the Journal of the Institute of Brewing, 1911 to 1923.
Compiled by W. H. Bird. Pp. iv + 330. (London: Harrison and Sons, Ltd., 1924.) n.p.
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H., E. Collective Index of the Journal of the Institute of Brewing, 1911 to 1923. Nature 114, 677 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/114677b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/114677b0
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