REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 25 



The remarks made ou this subject by the first secretary so loug ago 

 as 1850, are no less pertiuent to-day : " It must be evident that from the 

 small port^^n of the income which can be devoted to this object the 

 distribution must be circumscribed. Fifteen hundred copies of each 

 memoir have been printed; but this number, though all that the in- 

 come could furnish, has not been found sufficient to meet a tenth part 

 of the demand. It should be recollected that though these, memoirs 

 consist of the results of new investigations of the highest importance to 

 the well-being of man in extending the bounds of his knowledge of the 

 universe of mind and matter of which he forms a part, yet they are not 

 in all cases of such a character as to be immediately appreciated by the 

 popular mind, and indeed they are better adapted to instruct the teacher 

 than to interest the general reader. They should therefore be dis- 

 tributed in such a way as most readily to meet the eye of those who 

 will make the best use of them in diffusing a knowledge of their con- 

 tents." 



That our present circulation, however, is placed on a liberal basis, 

 is sufficiently shown by the published conditions on which we are en- 

 abled still to offer them gratuitously. This distribution is made, first, 

 to those learned societies of the first class which give to the Institution 

 in return complete sets of their own publications. Secondly, to colleges 

 of the first class furnishing catalogues of their libraries and students, 

 and publications relative to their organization and history. Thirdly, to 

 public libraries iu this country having twenty-five thousand volumes. 

 Fourthly, they are presented in some cases to still smaller libraries, 

 especially if no other copies of the Smithsonian publications are given 

 in the same place and a large district would be otherwise unsupplied. 

 Lastly, to institutions devoted exclusively to the promotion of particular 

 branches of knowledge, such of its publications are given as relate to 

 their special objects. 



These rules apply chiefly to distribution in the United States. The 

 number sent to foreign countries, under somewhat different conditions, 

 is about the same as that distributed in this country. 



Economy of jjuhlication demanded. — In view of the natural expansion 

 of the Smithsonian operations with advancing years, with its resources 

 fixed to a rigidly measured income which, as I have already observed, 

 is itself undergoing a slow depreciation in intrinsic value or actual pur- 

 chasing power, it would seem that some curtailment will be necessary 

 in the appropriations for preparing and printing the works that may be 

 offered. In looking to see in what direction this economy may be 

 most advantageously exercised it has seemed to me that a more critical 

 supervision over the series of "Miscellaneous Collections" might be 

 adopted so as to limit it to works of a more general interest or of 

 a higher scientific value. This series already extending (as above 

 stated) to thirty-three volumes, has included a number of the Museum 

 Bulletins and Proceedings as well as the proceedings of several scieu- 



