22 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



that the spring was a shrine at which a))orig-inal luinters accumulated 

 votive offerings. 



Other researches were carried on and several publications were 

 prepared, as mentioned in detail in the Appendix. 



INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES. 



The objects and methods of the International Exchange Service 

 were so fully explained in the Secretary's report for last year that it 

 seems unnecessary to again refer to them further than to say that the 

 service is the medium of exchange of the official pul>lications of the 

 United States Government with the governments of the larger foreign 

 powers of the world, and also the medium of exchange between the 

 principal scieutiffc institutions and libraries of the world. 



The maintenance of the American ])ranch of the service is now met 

 in the main by Government appro})riations, though the Smithsonian 

 Institution continues to bear a considera})le share of the expenses. 



During the last fiscal year there was handled an aggregate of 

 125,T!M) packages, weighing 3i)6,41S pounds, the packages sent abroad 

 num])ering 87,149 and those received from foreign countries 88,647. 

 The various classes of exchanges and other details of the service are 

 explained in detail in the report of the Acting Curator in the Appendix. 



It lias long seemed desirable to establish more adequate exchange 

 relations with Japan and China, but efforts in that direction have so 

 far been without success. In Great Britain, Germany, and Austria- 

 Hungary it is still necessary to employ salaried agents to carry on the 

 work, the Governments of those countries for various reasons not yet 

 having organized international exchange bureaus. 



Congress having made a slight increase in the annual appropriation, 

 it has l)een possible to considerably improve the service by sending 

 packages l)y fast express steamers rather than by the slow lines, an 

 advantage* nuu/h appreciated by all concerned, for in these days of 

 rapid transit on sea and land the literary, scientific, and political world, 

 as well as the l)usiness world, is eager to participate in all the advan- 

 tages of ({uick transportation. 



Five years ago, in 181*7, the total num])er of correspondents or par- 

 tici[)aiits in tlie exchange service was 28.008, while tlu* aggregate has 

 now I'eached ;-58,200 addresses of libraries and individuals in 151: coun- 

 tries scattered all oxer the civilizi^l world, (nen in some of the 

 i'emot(\st corners ol' India, Asia, Australia, and Polynesia. 



The general l)enetit of the service to the scientific world can hardly 

 be measured. Largely as a result of these international exchanges 

 there has accunudat(>d in the Library of Congress a mass of scientific 

 and (Jovernment i)ubliciiti(>ns that is [)i"obably not surpassed anywhere, 

 and which could scarcely have been secured in any other way. 



