REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 35 



omers, the dispatches sent from Kiel to this country will be imme- 

 diately communicated to the Associated Press, and to the observatories 

 and such other institutions and persons as may make special arrange- 

 ments for obtaining them. 



" The importance of the work thus begun requires that a special offi- 

 cer of the observatory should be intrusted with it. Mr. John Eitchie, 

 jr., of Boston, has accordingly been appointed assistant in charge of 

 this service, and the details of the proposed system are explained by 

 him in the circular distributed with this. 



"American astronomers are requested to send to the ' Harvard Col- 

 lege Observatory, Cambridge, Mass.,' telegraphic information of dis- 

 coveries of comets, asteroids, or phenomena of any kind requiring im- 

 mediate attention. Arrangements will be made to refund the cost of 

 such telegrams to the senders when their contents are of importance. 

 It is very desirable that the messages should conform to the principles 

 stated in Mr. Ritchie's circular. 



"The success hitherto attained by Messrs. Chandler and Ritchie — 

 both of whom are now connected with the observatory — in their pro- 

 ject of improving the mode of transmitting astronomical telegrams 

 encourages the belief that the system now adopted will prove expedi- 

 tious and satisfactory. Mr. Chandler will continue his computations of 

 cometary orbits, w T hich will be distributed by telegraph, as heretofore, 

 when that course seems to be desirable. 



"Edward C. Pickering, 

 " Director of Harvard College Observatory. 



"Cambridge, Mass., February 14, 1883." 



INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES. 



Among the subjects occupying more than any other the attention of 

 the Smithsonian Institution is the system of international exchanges, 

 as initiated about the year 1850, and carried on with constantly expand- 

 ing scope to the present time. It was begun purely for the purpose of 

 enabling the Institution to distribute its own publications and obtain 

 exchanges in return, but gradually its sphere was extended first to 

 scientific institutions and specialists of the United States, then to in- 

 stitutions and individuals of the remainder of the ]Sew World, and 

 finally to the various Bureaus of the Government and the Congressional 

 Library. The number of packages from foreign countries for distribu- 

 tion in the United States during 1S83 was 8,262, and filled 232 boxes. 

 Those received from institutions and individuals in America, including 

 the United States Government, for transmission abroad consisted of 

 18,063 packages, and required 495 boxes for their accommodation, each 

 box averaging contents of perhaps 8 cubic feet and weighing 78,647 

 pounds. 



In the accompanying report of Mr. Boehmer, the officer in charge of 

 this branch, will be found full details of this work — so important a 

 factor in accomplishing the mission of the Smithsonian Institution. 



From the 1st of July, 1883, by enactment of Congress, the disburse- 

 ment of a specific appropriation for international exchanges (eonsti- 



