REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



19 



cerned, the convention relating to the immediate exchange of parlia- 

 mentary journals, a communication was directed to the honorable the 

 Secretary of State under date of December 12, 1889, stating the neces- 

 sity of procuring from Congress an appropriation of about $2,000 to meet 

 the expenses of transmitting abroad copies of the Congressional Record 

 and other iiublished documents pertaining to the daily routine of Con- 

 gress; and a joint resolution introduced at the instance of the honorable 

 the Secretary of State was i)romptly passed by the Senate, appropriating 

 the sum named, $U,000. I regret, however, that at the close of the fiscal 

 year no action had been taken in the matter by the House of Eepre- 

 sentatives, and in consequence no attempt has been made to give effect 

 to the treaty. 



Tables showing in detail the transactions of the year will be found in 

 the report of the curator of exchanges appended hereto. 



The progress of work on the new exchange list is mentioned under the 

 head of the library. 



LIBRARY. 



The accessions to the library have been recorded and cared for as dur- 

 ing the last fiscal year. 



The following statement shows the number of books, maps, and charts 

 received from July 1, 1889, to June 30, 1890: 



Vohimes 



I'arts (if volumes 



Pamphlets 



Maps 



Octavo 



or 

 smaller. 



1,236 

 5,202 

 3,776 



Total 



Quarto 



or 

 larger. 



527 



8,256 



554 



Total. 



1,763 



13,458 



4,330 



636 



20, 187 



Of these accessions, 8,695 (namely, 785 volumes, 6,900 parts of volumes, 

 and 1,010 pamphlets) were retained for use at the I^fational Museum 

 library, and 1,05!) medical dissertations were deposited in the library of 

 the Surgeon-General, U. S. Army; the remainder were promptly sent 

 to the Library of Congress on the Monday following their receipt. 



The reading room is now almost filled with periodicals. There are 

 at present displayed the current volumes of 468 journals. The con- 

 struction of shelves above the cases in the reading room has rendered 

 it practicable to withdraw from the Smithsonian deposit in the Library 

 (if Congress the complete series of the large quarto Transactions or 

 Memoirs of most of the great European academies ; the Librarian of 

 Congress kindly giving every facility for this transfer.* 



'The, publications now deposited in the reading room are as follows: The "Hand- 

 lingar" of the Royal Swedish Academy; Transactions of the Royal So(!ii'ty of Edin- 

 hiirgh; Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy; " Skrifter" of the Royal Danish 

 Society of Sciences; " Deukschriften " of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Vienna; 

 Memoirs of the St. Petersburg Academy; " Atti" of the two Academies of the Lincei 

 at Rome, the royal aud the poutitical; Nova Acta Academic Cicsarea; Leopoldiuo- 



