I just found the following phrase in a book on universal
expositions ("World's fairs and the end of progress", Alfred
Heller, World's Fair, Inc. 1999):
"Everything at the Centennial [the Centennial International Exhibition, Philadelphia, 1876] was classified in one of seven departments, ..., subclassified and subclassified again in a logical scheme that later became a model for the Dewey Decimal System used in libraries."
A Google search led me to several pages about Melvil Dewey and
his "Decimal classification". See for instance
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/about/biography.htm
I wonder why , if an American was able to develop such a logical
system of classification of books, Americans in general still cling to
their obsolete, illogical system of measures!
Louis
