REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 65 



permanent preservation at the national Capital is to be considered as 

 patriotic and judicious. I liave formally assured the commission of the 

 willingness of the Institution to receive the articles as soon as a suitable 

 place can be i)repared in the new Museum for their reception. 



National Academy of Sciences. — The regular meeting of the !N"ational 

 Academy of Sciences was held in Washington on the 20th clay of April, 

 the accommodations being furnished, as in 1879, by the officers of All 

 Souls' Church. It is hoped that at no distant day it may be in the power 

 of the Smithsonian Institution to again ofl'er the necessary facilities of 

 room, &c., to the Academy. Prof. Wm. B. Eogers, president of the 

 Academy, presided, and the meeting was in every way a successful one, 

 a very large proportion of the members being in attendance and 

 many interesting papers communicated. As the early history of the 

 Academy was closely connected with that of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, by reason of Professor Henry having been the president for many 

 years, the files, correspondence, and archives were searched for data 

 illustrating this relationship, and the results transmitted to Professor 

 Eogers. 



Paris International Congress and Exposition relative to Electricitx]. — 

 Through the courtesy of the State Department, this Institution received 

 early copies of circulars and programmes relative to a proposed inter- 

 national congress of electricians, and also to an international exhibition 

 of electrical apparatus and applications, to be held at Paris in 1881. 

 These papers have to some extent been appropriately distributed. By 

 an 'official decree of President Grevy, of the French Eepublic, dated 

 October 23, 1880, a congress of electricians is invited to meet at Paris 

 on the loth of next September (1881), the presiding officer of which 

 body will be the minister of the postal service and telegraphs, M. 

 Ad. Cochery. An international exposition of electrical apparatus of 

 all kinds, designed for the production, propagation, and utilization of 

 electricity (as well as of all memoirs and treatises relating to that subject) 

 is appointed, to be held in the palace of the Champs Elysees, from the 

 1st of August to the loth of November, 1881. M. George Berger has 

 been appointed the commissioner-general of the congress and of the ex- 

 hibition. 



As a token of interest and co-operation in this enterprise, the Insti- 

 tution has sent to the commission, for deposit in the bibliographical 

 class, a copy of each of its publications relating to electricity and ter- 

 restrial'magnetism, to wit, four numbers of its octavo series (of Miscel- 

 laneous Collections), and thirteen numbers of its quarto series (of Smith- 

 sonian Contributions). 



Recognition by Foreign Governments. — A gratifying testimonial to the 

 appreciation of the Smithsonian Institution in its labors connected with 

 the results of international exchanges, &c., was furnished by the action 

 S. Mis. 31 5 



