These distinctions must not be allowed to prevail throughout, but must be met and modified by the principle of subject-matter in all minor respects. It needs careful deliberation to unite these two principles so as to retain the highest degree of simplicity in arrangement; and this is the main point to be borne in mind: that the principle of classification is not a simple one, like that used by the classifiers of sciences-Coleridge, Ampère, Comte, and Aristotle-but a compound one, in which form and content mutually limit each the other. This compound principle, which is a concrete and practical one, gives for our guidance a series of rules like the following: I. Main Divisions. (a) Commence the system with the division that realizes in the highest degree the characteristic principle of the general class, and proceed from the fullest realization to the incomplete one which marks the transition to the following class; (b) commence the following class with those subjects most closely allied to what precedes, and then, secondly, take the type of the class, and proceed, thirdly, to the transition to the next. Illustration. "Philosophy'' is the highest type of Science, and hence begins the catalogue. Science ends with the useful Arts, which form a transition to the Division of Esthetic Art, and this should commence with the "Fine Arts' and be followed by Poetry. Geography and Travels are placed before History proper, because under this head are included works of freer and more literary character than Civil History as such; for the traveller is governed mainly by subjective caprice, and is not limited to a definite subjectmatter like the Historian or Biographer. II. Subdivisions. (a) In the minor classifications, General Treatises should come first, and these should include Compends and so-called "Philosophies' of the subject (these being for the most part mere compends). Secondly should come the chief and important example of the general class, and then should follow its less important realizations. (b) But in science this principle is modified by that of the order of scientific development, giving the abstract first, and the complex and concrete later. 1st. Compends, &c., of History. Illustration. 2d. Histories of Nations: this being the normal type of History. 3d. Historical Miscellany, including fragments of History. III. Appendixes. Collections and miscellaneous works should be placed like compends under the general head. Complete works of individuals and certain complete collections which it is desirable to keep together should be considered in respect to the compass of the subjects treated of, and placed under the most special head that will contain them. Illustration. Medical Encyclopædias would fall under the class of Medicine and not under General Oyclopædias (99) in the Appendix, nor among general works in Natural Science. IV. Hybrids. Any work not exactly falling under any one section, or including two or more heterogeneous subjects which do not unite in some general head, must be classified according to the predominant one, or according to the obvious purpose of the book, ''cross-references' being made in the catalogue. Illustration. 1. Books on Architecture may fall under Mechanic Arts, or under Fine Arts, according to the point of view taken by the author in composing the work. 2. The Art of Literary Composition" may fall under "Rhetoric," or under "Philology," according as Grammar or Rhetoric predominates therein. 3. Engraving" may fall under "Mechanic Art," or, if a treatise on pictures produced by the engraver, under "Fine Arts." 4. Natural History; although some of its treatises are merely descriptive, yet, since their object is scientific, they all fall under Science. 5. Juvenile Literature treats of Science, Travels, History, Fiction, &c.; yet, since the entire form of treatment is modified so as to interest and amuse youth while instructing him, all these books resemble novels and romances, which likewise may have scientific or historic content; they are, therefore, kept together and under the class of "Prose Fiction." 6. Ecclesiastical History" (usually made a division under History) is so nearly allied to the treatment of dogmatic Theology that it is important to keep the two together. The same principle applies to histories of other specialties. 7. "Theology' itself cannot be separated from "Religion,' "' and hence the latter finds its works-Holy Scriptures, Liturgies, Church history, and other non-scientific works -under Science, for the reason that they are all tributary to Theology, which is a science; with the development of humanity they become more and more taken up into scientific forms. S. "Jurisprudence' likewise is for the most part not a collection of scientific works at all, but the record of the realizations of the Practical Will in the shape of laws and usages. Its books, however, are used essentially for scientific and not for æsthetical or historical purposes. 9. Essays" and "Criticisms' are not works of Art according to form, but are, strictly speaking, scientific, and would fall under Philosophy, or some other department of Science. Since, however, their content is some form of Art or Literature, they are useful solely to æsthetic students and are classified under Art. With these guiding principles before us, our system develops as follows: SCIENCE unfolds into I. Philosophy, or the most general principles, the forms and archetypes of all the rest. It has the strictest, most systematic method, and is the source of all system to the other sciences. II. Theology-the science of the Absolute, just as Philosophy is the science of Science. III. Social and Political Sciences, including the treatises upon the institutions which relate man to his fellow-men in society and the state. His essential life as a spiritual being is conditioned upon his ascent above his merely natural, individual condition, by means of combination in the social organism. These are 1. Jurisprudence (in which the social organism appears as a constraining necessity acting upon the individual from without). 2. Politics (in which the individual reacts against this constraint, and exhibits himself as the free producer of the Universal, which is placed over him in the shape of Law). 3. Political Economy. [Social science. (Social science as Political Economy, exhibits the principles of combination, by means of division of labor, and how this results in the conquest of nature and the dedication of it to the service of man. As Education, it exhibits the process of initiating the individual into the conventionalities of the social organism-man's apprenticeship in acquiring the use of the tools of intelligence.) 5. Philology. (Philology is placed in the division of the Social and Political Sciences, because, as Science of Language, it is the science of the instrument that lies at the basis of all combination or organization. Language (The Word) is the image of Reason, and is not a natural product, but the invention of self. conscious thought; it is not found but made-partly by the poetic phantasy, and partly by the reflective understanding. For the reason that Mind becomes, as it were, crystalized or fixed in Language, we place Philology as a connecting link between the Spiritual and Natural. The language of a people embalms all the achievements of that people acting as a social, political, or spiritual organization.) These latter four sciences treat of the means through which man arrives at a comprehension of the necessity of the social organism, and through which the constraint becomes internal, and hence becomes freedom. IV. Natural Sciences and Useful Arts: the former unfold the laws of Nature; the latter apply them to social uses. The transition is formed by Medicine, which is partly science, partly art. 1. Mathematics is the science of the pure forms of Nature-time and space. 2. Physics is Nature treated dynamically, and hence quantitatively or mathe- ̈ matically. 3. Natural History is Nature organically considered, hence qualitatively and descriptively. Chemistry forms the transition from quantitative to qualitative; it is the realm where quantity constitutes qualitative difference. Astronomy is a hybrid, belonging to Mathematics and Natural History. In Natural History we commence with the Mineral or Earth-organism, and ascend through the Plant and Animal to Man as a merely natural being [Ethnology]. 4. Medicine is closely allied to Natural History, and its subjects take up in a new form the same content. 5. The useful arts and trades start from Natural Science and proceed to unite with it a purely empirical element. ART unfolds I. The Fine Arts. II. Poetry. III. Prose Fiction. IV. Literary Miscellany, comprising rhetorical works (orations) and literary essays which have either an Art form more or less impure, or are so related to works of Art in their subject-matter as not to be separated from this class. HISTORY I. Geography and Travels form the first or most external class under History. III. Biography and Correspondence. Heraldry and Genealogy also fall properly under this head. An APPENDIX is subjoined for certain works, or collections of works, which treat of topics belonging to each of the three general divisions. Minute Subdivisions. Caution should be taken with regard to such works as do not fall readily into a special class under the general number of the section; they should be left without special letters, until, by the addition of similar works, they become too numerous, when a special subclass may be made, giving it a letter. Numbering. Instead of the inconvenient method of marking the classification of books by indicating all the grades (e. g. Hygiene=Sci. X. 5. d), it is better to have the classes numbered from 1 to 100, so as to have only two figures for most classes, and to add letters for sub classes as they arise. In this way the general numbering need not change, although new subclasses may be made frequently. The books on the shelves should be alphabetically arranged within the subsclasses (e. g. those of Hygiene numbered "'57.d' should be alphabetically arranged) according to the name of the chief author (i. e. the most distinguished name, when there are several authors' or editors' names in the title). This name and the subclass number should be written plainly on the book-label, so that the dullest library-boy can put any book into its exact place on the shelves, or find it instantly when he has obtained its classification from the catalogue. This system of numbering is one of the most practical and valuable features of the system here described. |