52 



REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



and in a few years may be expected to nearly or quite equal the trans- 

 missions. 



In accordance with the law relative to the exchange of the official pub 

 lications of the United States Government for those of foreign nations, 

 sixty boxes of documents were forwarded during the past year, as shown 

 by the following list of distribution : 



International exchange of government publications in 1879. 



Boxes. 



Argentine Republic 1 



Bavaria 1 



Belgium 1 



Brazil 1 



Buenos Ayres 1 



Canada (Ottawa) 1 



Canada (Toronto) 1 



Chili 1 



Denmark 10 



France 11 



Germany 1 



Greece 1 



llavti 1 



Holland 1 



Japan 1 



Mexico 1 



Ne w South Wales 1 



Boxes 



New Zealand... 



Norway 



Portugal 



Prussia 



Queensland 



Saxony 



South Australia . 



Spain 



Sweden , 



Switzerland 



Tasmania 



Turkey 



Venezuela 



Victoria 



Wtirtemberc 



Total. 



60 



LIBRARY. 



A steady increase in the number of additions to the library of the 

 Institution has, as usual, characterized the year just past, the aggre- 

 gate, amounting to 10,203 books, pamphlets, and charts, as compared 

 with 8,729 in the previous year. The greater portion of these works 

 have already been transferred to the library of Congress, in accordance 

 with the arrangements of previous years, where, however, owing to the 

 very crowded condition of the shelves, they are not very serviceable. 

 It is much to be hoped, in the interest of the Institution, that some 

 measures may soon be adopted by Congress for increasing the accom- 

 modations of the library, and consequent accessibility to its volumes on 

 the part of students. 



As heretofore, tho great mass of additions to the library consists of 

 the transactions of learned societies, which, indeed, constitute its most 

 important feature. Books published in the regular way can be pur- 

 chased without any difficulty through established agencies. Transac- 

 tions of societies, however, are for the most part, only to be had by an 

 exchange, and it would be almost impossible to secure the works ob- 

 tained by the Institution through its exchanges, with any reasonable 

 amount of money and to any degree of completeness. Every year new 

 scientific associations are being formed, and these, for the most part, 

 take the initiative in seeking an exchange with this establishment. 



Of course the older societies are seldom able to furnish volumes of 



