ideas precisely similar to those that gave them birth. And although the
book cannot think for itself, but must merely preserve the idea intrusted
to it, without change, it is vastly superior in stability to the brain
that gave it birth, so that thousands of years after that brain has
mouldered into dust it is capable of reproducing the original ideas in a
second brain where they may germinate and bear fruit. How familiar all
this is, and yet how perennially wonderful! The miracle of it is
sufficient excuse for this digression.

Now books, beside this modern form of distribution by loan, are widely
distributed commercially both by loan and by sale, and especially in the
latter form advertisement is now very extensively used in connection with
the distribution. In fact we have all the different types specified
above--economic, uneconomic and illegitimate, both through
misrepresentation and the harmful character of the subject matter. The
reason for all illegitimate forms of advertising is of course not a desire
to misrepresent or to do harm per se, but to make money, the profit to the
distributor being proportioned to the amount of distribution done and not
at all dependent on its economic value. Distribution by public officers is
of course not open to this objection, nor are the distributors subject to
temptation, since their compensation does not depend on the amount of
distribution. If they are capable and interested, furthermore, they are
particularly desirous to increase the economic value of the work that they
are doing. Since this is so and since the danger of uneconomic or harmful
forms of advertising is thus reduced to a minimum, there would seem to be
special reason why the economic forms should be employed very freely. But
the fact is that they have been used sparingly, and by some librarians
shunned altogether.

Let us see what library advertising of the economic types may mean. In the