REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 11 



With reference to applications for employment, it may be said that 

 while iu no single year of its history could the Institution claim en- 

 tire exemption from the receipt of this class of communications, the 

 year 1880 marks an epoch iu this respect as being the period in which 

 the maximum number has claimed attention. Indeed, it is far from an 

 exaggeration to saj' that written and oral applications of this kind 

 have averaged half a dozen a day. As a majority of those in writing 

 are iu the nature of requests through members of Congress, or other 

 persons of prominence, a double answer frequently becomes necessary, 

 one to the applicant and a second to the party through whom the claim 

 is i)resented, the latter generally necessitating a detailed exj)lauation 

 of the cause for the refusal. 



Lastly, an important part of the correspondence consists in the con- 

 stantly increasing demands for the Smithsonian publications. With 

 the increase of popular education throughout the land, and the springing 

 up of new villages or towns, new public libraries and scientific societies 

 are started, and very soon an application is made to the Smithsonian 

 Institution for its publications. Applications of this kind are required 

 to be entered on printed forms, and forwarded through the member of 

 Congress representing the district in which the establishment is located, 

 the member thus becoming sponsor for the library or society, so far 

 as its existence and standing are concerned. 



The requests from iudividuals for publications, however, are not in- 

 frequently difficult to deal with. In a country where all are equal it 

 is sometimes difficult to satisfactorily explain why each individual 

 cannot receive this or that publication gratis. It is often useless to 

 state that the publications of the Institution are issued at the expense 

 of Us own fund, and not at that of the general government; that this 

 fund is so limited as to forbid the issuing of more than a comparatively 

 small number of copies; that with these both hemispheres must be 

 supplied ; that they are distributed free of expense to public libraries 

 and colleges throughout the country on condition that they shall be 

 accessible at all times to any who may desire to consult them ; that 

 to individuals, other than specialists and contributors of material for 

 the national collections, they are sold at about the cost of paper and 

 printing ; or, that the desired memoir, or memoirs, will be cheerfully 

 furnished in return for desirable objects for the National Museum. It 

 might reasonably be supposed that a statement of this character would 

 prove satisfactory ; but, unfortunately, this has not been our experience, 

 such a result being the exception, not the rule, and shortly the demand 

 is renewed through the member of Congress from the district in which 

 the applicant resides. 



ASTRONOMICAL ANNOUNCEMENTS BY TELEG-RAPH. 



The existing arrangements for disseminating telegraphic announce- 

 ments of astronomical discoveries, particularly between America and 



