THE MAIL

The following letter was sent out recently to all members of Psychology 9 calling attention to a serious mutilation of an important reference book by one of the members of that course. A copy of the letter was sent to the Crimson by William C. Lane, Librarian, in the hope that publication of it might help to prevent the recurrence of such a thing in the future.--Ed. Note.

Dear Sir:

This letter is addressed to you as a member of Psychology 9. A peculiarly outrageous instance of mutilation has recently occured at the Library in connection with this course. Within a few days the eight final pages of the article on Aesthetics have been torn from the reading-room copy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, presumably by some member of the course. Such an act will, I am sure, be promptly and vigorously condemned by every one of the other 35 members of Psychology 9, and even, I hope, by the who who did it, when he reflects that his deed wronged his fellow students who had the same right to the use of this article that he had, and wronged the Library by permanently destroying the value of an expensive reference work. Copies of odd volumes, still less of stray pages, of the Britannica are not to be procured from the publishers, and cannot be picked up at the booksellers. To buy a new set, to reprint the missing pages, or even to mend the old pages if they should be returned and to rebind the volume, will be a serious expense, yet the Library must in some way repair the loss. Any course of action or any expression of opinion that will prevent such destruction in the future, we should be prompt to adopt.

It is to be hoped that, at least, the stolen pages will be returned to the Library.