College and Research Libraries


library list of subject headings and is ad-
mittedly subjective. 

A second difference to note is that each of 
these major heads is separated by long essays 
from the classified headings, the chronologic 
sub-headings, and the sequential references. 
Something comparable can be found in refer-
ence literature in the case of volume 19 of the 
World Book Encyclopedia. But the Syntopi-
con differs not only because of the interven-
ing essays but because of the chronologic 
rather than classified or alphabetic sequence of 
sub-heads. 

A third difference to note is the inclusion 
of two features, usually found elsewhere in 
reference books, as part of the index. One 
of these is the Bibliography of Additional 
Readings, which is arranged alphabetically by 
author, with no analysis by the 102 ideas or 
subheads. T h e other feature is the Inven-
tory of Terms, a sort of alphabetical finding 
list for the headings used. 

Overwhelmingly the impression left on this 
reviewer is that the Syntopicon is unneces-
sarily complex. At times one feels as though 
the indexing staff responsible for the Syn-
topicon is about to come to grips with some 
fundamental problems that have frustrated 
indexers for years. But at other times and 
especially while reading the 80-page appendix 
on "Principles and Methods of Syntopical 
Construction" one has the uncomfortable feel-
ing that the author is one of those intelligent 
readers who has spent his reading life either 
taking for granted or minimizing the impor-
tance of indexes until this moment when 
called upon to assume responsibility for con-
structing one, and then, suddenly aware that 
indexing is a fundamental, but still not fully 
initiated in the art, sets out to philosophize 
about elementaries explained in the first few 
days of library school. 

T h e inadequacy of the Syntopicon as an 
index seems, to this reviewer, to stem from a 
faulty concept of a reference book. "The 
Syntopicon does not contain the answers, but 
only a guide to where the answers can be 
found in the pages of the great books." 
(Preface X X I I ) . According to the editor, 
"This fact distinguishes the Syntopicon from 
all other familiar reference books, which con-
tain within themselves the answers to the 
questions on which they are consulted." Of 
course, this isn't quite so. The Essay and 

General Literature Index, for example, a 
"familiar reference book," shares the Syn-
topicons distinction, as do numerous other 
bibliographies and indexes. As a matter of 
fact, the Syntopicon as well as these other 
bibliographic reference tools, often do contain 
within themselves the answers to some of the 
questions for which they are consulted. 

From the standpoint of the readers' ad-
viser in the public library the Syntopicon will 
not be an easy tool to use. For quick refer-
ence the quotation book will be better for a 
few words on almost any idea in the Syw-
topicon. So will the good encyclopedia index, 
the Essay and General Literature Index, the 
new Granger's Index to Poetry, and volume 
50 of the Harvard Classics. 

The great contribution of the Syntopicon 
will probably be in the field of public relations. 
It may, through all the dramatic attention it 
has received in the press, serve to bring some 
of the long overdue appreciation due the much 
underrated art of indexing.—Louis Shores, 
Florida State University, Tallahassee. 

With the publication in 
Has Limitations as 54 volumes of the Great 
Reference Tool Books of the Western 

World, the Hutchins-
Adler-Barr group has taken another step in 
the direction of promoting the study of the 
books they consider fundamental to an under-
standing of western thought. This set, much 
like other similar ventures in the selection and 
publication of great works, consists of many 
books that are standard works to be found in 
most library collections. So the librarian 
may very well hesitate in acquiring it for the 
library. But there has been added to this 
collection a unique topical index, called the 
Syntopicon, which gives it an importance not 
previously achieved by any similar set of vol-
umes. It makes easily accessible the con-
tents of the works included in a way they have 
not been made accessible before, either 
through bibliographies, dictionaries, concord-
ances, encyclopedias, or indexes to individual 
works. T h e thoroughness with which the 
Syntopicon performs its task and the manner 
in which it does it, make it an outstanding 
intellectual achievement and an important new 
reference tool for the scholar, the student, 
and the reference librarian—this, regardless 
of the extent to which one may agree with the 

206 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



selection represented in the set and with the 
aims of the group that has promoted this, 
venture. 

The primary function of this index as a 
reference tool is to locate passages on specific 
topics treated in the works of this collection. 
This it does through an unusual combination 
of alphabetical, classified, and chronological 
arrangements of topics and citations. In ad-
dition there are tables of cross references and 
an inventory of terms, alphabetically ar-
ranged, that serves as an index to the topics 
under which references are listed. Thus the 
Syntopicon covers all possible approaches to 
the contents of the books—broad, specific, 
comprehensive, casual, and developmental. 

The subjects treated in the works have 
been classified under 102 concepts, or great 
ideas, considered elemental and basic to the 
whole tradition of thought. Fourteen of these 
—astronomy, dialectic, history, logic, mathe-
matics, mechanics, medicine, metaphysics, 
philosophy, physics, poetry, religion, science, 
and theology—deal with specific branches of 
learning or fields of inquiry. Concepts such 
as beauty, courage, God, justice, and sin com-
prise the remaining 88 great ideas. These 
concepts are presented in chapters arranged 
alphabetically for convenient reference. Each 
chapter consists of five parts—an introductory 
essay that traces the development of the idea 
and the various meanings it has had, and 
states the problems and controversies it has 
caused; an outline of the major themes in-
cluded in the idea; the references to passages 
in the works arranged according to topics; a 
table of cross references to topics under which 
related materials may be found; and a list of 
additional readings in works not included in 
the collection. 

Because of their content and style of pres-
entation, the introductory essays constitute in 
themselves a useful encyclopedia of thought 
for the general reader as well as a means of 
orientation to a particular idea. But the real 
value of the Syntopicon is in its references. 
These are presented in systematic order under 
the topics or subjects into which each idea 
has been divided. The arrangement of the 
topics, of which there are approximately 3000, 
follows a specific and uniform pattern under 
each of the ideas. Primary and coordinate 
topics consider first the meaning of the idea; 
second, the principal classifications or divisions 

of the thing which the idea signifies; and third, 
the significance of the idea in the fields of 
learning. Subordinate topics usually "repre-
sent an analytical development" of the theme 
stated in the primary topic. The following 
selection from the chapter on Democracy il-
lustrates the kinds of topics into which an idea 
is divided and the order in which they are 
presented: 

1. Conceptions of democracy 
2. T h e derogation of democracy 

2a. Lawless and mob-rule: the tyranny of 
the majority 

4. T h e praise of democracy 
4a. Liberty and equality for all under law 

4 a ( 1 ) . U n i v e r s a l suffrage: the aboli-
tion of privileged classes 

4 a ( 2 ) . T h e problem of economic jus-
tice 

7. T h e growth and vicissitudes of democracy. 

Citations under each topic are arranged in 
the order of the volumes in the set; this 
makes the order chronological except that 
Bible references always precede the others. 
If two or more works of an author are cited 
under the same topic, they are arranged 
chronologically also. T h e unit of the citation 
may be very small, e.g. 3 lines in a poem, or 
it may be an entire work. In a spot check of 
20 pages in as many different works it was 
also occasionally found that a page would not 
be cited except within a citation for the entire 
work. 

For the reader who wishes to follow an 
idea through comprehensively, the systematic 
arrangement of topics under each idea is a 
convenient outline of its scope and with the 
passages in the collection that cover the whole 
of it. Cross references at the end of the chap-
ter that refer to related headings, and a list of 
additional readings in works not included in 
the collection are additional aids to him. If 
he wants to read extensively on a specific sub-
ject in one or all of its aspects, he can find 
the headings relevant to his interests easily 
and quickly by consulting the alphabetical in-
ventory of 1798 terms at the end of the sec-
ond volume. 

Only one approach to the contents of the 
collection has not been included in the Syn-
topicon—there is no way to determine under 
which topics a specific author and work are 
indexed except by checking every page of the 
two volumes. This, something every reference 

APRIL, 1953 207 



librarian might consider an added convenience 
to its use, is really a minor deficiency; 
it certainly does not represent an approach 
with which the editors were particular-
ly concerned. But there are other limita-
tions to the Syntopicon as a reference tool 
that are somewhat more important. These 
can be attributed mainly to two considerations 
of the editors in the preparation of the index. 
First was their desire to be detached in their 
presentation and to "avoid the formulation 
of any systematic order" since such an order 
"belongs more properly to the exposition of 
doctrine." As a result, no attempt is made 
to distinguish the significant statements on a 
topic from the minor and less important ones. 
This will not be a deficiency for the person 
wanting to find all passages in these works 
that may be at all relevant to the subject of 
his interest. But the person interested only 
in finding the more important and significant 
statements on a subject will have the tedious 
and time-consuming task of examining all 
references to it. The second weakness of the 
index results from the editor's aim to make 
the Syntopicon an instrument for teaching as 
well as an index in the limited sense of that 
term. This has led to a certain amount of 
over-indexing. In the spot check referred to 
earlier, a passage in Herodotus (p. 107c-
108c) approximately 150 lines long was found 

'cited under 11 ideas and 37 topics; portions 
of tjie same passage were found indexed un-
der ahsadditional 7 ideas and 34 topics, for a 
total of 18 ideas and 71 topics. This particu-
lar passage deals with the merits and de-
ficiencies of three forms of government— 
democracy, monarchy, and oligarchy. Pages 
2i4c-i5a of the Fifth Ennead of Plotinus are 
indexed in whole or in part under 15 ideas and 
25 topics. Three lines from Virgil's Eclogues 
IV are indexed under the topic "Sources of art 
in experience, imagination ,and inspiration." 
Such detailed indexing is often the result of the 
over-lapping character of the ideas and the 
parallel structure of the topics under each of 
them; sometimes it can only be accounted for 
by the editor's desire to explore and note every 
possible implication and interpretation of a 
passage in their attempt to make the Syn-
topicon a teaching instrument. None of the 
passages examined could be considered irrel-
evant to the topics under which they were 
indexed, but the relevance occasionally seemed 

too obscure and too insignificant to justify the 
citation. Of course this would be a useful 
feature to a person wanting to make a de-
tailed thematic analysis of any of these works. 

T he Syntopicon is unquestionably an impor-
tant new reference tool. It makes it possible 
to approach the contents of the great books 
in a variety of ways that will be useful to the 
scholar and the student interested in the his-
tory of ideas and in locating passages on spe-
cific topics in this group of books. But this is 
not a tool that the unsuspecting freshman, 
who is normally satisfied with a Sunday sup-
plement treatment of a subject, will be happy 
with if he is looking for materials for an essay 
on subjects such as virtue, God, or beauty.— 
Joseph S. Komidar, Northwestern University 
Library. 

Early American Public Library 
Evolution of the American Public Library 

1653-1876. By C. Seymour Thompson. 
Washington, Scarecrow Press, 1952. $3.00. 
Since the 1930's, and more particularly since 

the 1940's, several significant works in library 
history have appeared, among them Gladys 
Spencer's The Chicago Public Library (1943), 
Sidney Ditzion's Arsenals of a Democratic 
Culture (1947) and Jesse H. Shera^s Founda-
tions of the Public Library (1949). These 
volumes, based on extensive and intensive 
research in primary materials, sought to re-
late the rise of the library, meaningfully, 
within a broad social history frame of refer-
ence. Many fields still lie unexplored, especial-
ly in library biography, and many corners of 
covered fields still remain to be illuminated. 
Meanwhile some gaps are being filled and 
much valuable information is being made 
available by such studies as George B. Utley's 
documented and informal The Librarians' 
Conference of 1853 ( i 9 5 0 and E. McClung 
Fleming's comprehensive biography R. R. 
Bowker: Militant Liberal (1952). It is a 
pleasure to place next to these on the students' 
shelf M r . Thompson's carefully planned Evo-
lution of the American Public Library, a work 
calculated to paint a picture of the modern 
American public library as it emerges from 
the convergence of two channels which, flow-
ing from the Renaissance and Reformation, 
were constantly broadening and deepening: 

208 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES