WCP4057

[1]

Rosehill, Dorking

Jan[uar]^y 7th, 1877

Dear Newton¹

I want to call your attention as a V.P. of the Zool[ogical]. Society & active member of the Publication Committee, to a subject I have long thought of, or rather a deficiency I have long felt the want of, & I should think you & every other worker must have done so too. I mean the want of a good subject-index to the Proceedings of the Zool. Soc[iety]. The present mechanical species-index has sometimes almost driven me wild. In the indices of 1860/ or 70/ there are sometimes a dozen or 20 references to one species, but on laboriously referring to these through perhaps 8 in ten volumes, not more than one or two contain any information whatever. The rest are either additions to Soc. Menagerie [2] "promises to ^{send to} Society's Menagerie" — "references to species as not known to, or not seen by a given writer or traveller",— references to the species as being unlike some other species, & a whole host of similar items which are worse than useless inasmuch as they occupy ^waste much valuable time. Again we are sent to every species mentioned in Gulliver's innumerable papers as blood-corpuscles,— and in every anatomical paper,— such as "Flowers in Anatomy of Moschus moschiferus"— every time the sp. name occurs during the paper is separately mentioned in Index.

But ^{on the other hand} — the attempt to get at the information scattered through the long series of volumes on any given subject is almost hopeless. If I want all [3] the information,— (1) on any family or order of Animals,— (2) on the zoology of any country or locality — (3) on the anatomy of any group (4) on the description of new species in any group (5) on classification (6) on habits,— and on many other subjects,— I have practically no index at all!

Now as we are approaching the end of another decade, I am in hopes you will propose & urge with all the weight of your authority, the absolute necessity of a really good and intelligent Index of subjects for the whole series of volumes down to 1880. Of course it would cost a good deal, but whatever it would cost it would [4] be money well-spent.

I would also of course have the Index to each volume prepared in the same way,— the specific names only being given where a description of some kind was given, and when the name was merely mentioned in a list; as that would be easier found by the locality-Index.

An Index Committee might be required to draw up a systematic scheme.

I hope this idea meets with you approbation & that you will press it.

Believe me | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Prof. Newton F.R.S.