A like instance of bad indexing will be found in Scott's edition of Swift's _Works_. Here there are 638 references to Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, without any indication of the reason why his name is entered in the index. This case also affords a good instance of careless indexing in another particular, for these references are separated under different headings instead of being gathered under one, as follows:
Harley (Robert) 277 references. Oxford (Lord) 111 " Treasurer, Lord Oxford 300 "
The late Mr. B. R. Wheatley read a paper before the Conference of Librarians (1877) on this subject of indexes, without details of the reason or cause of reference, entitled, "An 'Evitandum' in Index-making, principally met with in French and German Periodical Scientific Literature" (_Transactions_, p. 88). He pointed out that often in German Indexes the entries in the _Sach Register_ would be full and correct, while those in the _Namen Register_ would usually be meagre, and consist merely of the surnames of the authors and the initials of their Christian names. He then referred to many instances of the uselessness of these indexes. He further referred to the forty so-called indexes of subjects added to Allibone's valuable _Critical Dictionary of English Literature_, which are practically useless. He concluded his paper with these words:
"You are referred to the 'Morals and Manners' index for such varied subjects as Apparitions, Divorce, Marriage, Duelling, Freemasonry, Mormonism, Mythology, Spiritualism and Witchcraft. There are 1,365 names in this index, and how are you to discover which belong to any of the above subjects without wading through the whole? It is, in fact, an entire system of indexing backwards from particulars to generals, instead of from generals to particulars. It is something like writing on a sign-post on the road to Bath, 'To Somersetshire,' and if in one phrase I were to add a characteristic entry to these sub-indexes, or to give one form of reference which should be typical of this style of index, I should say--Needle, _see_ Bottle of Hay. You find the bottle of hay--but where is the needle?"
The form in which the various entries in an index are to be drawn up is worthy of much attention, and particular care should be taken to expunge all redundant words. For example, it would be better to write: