THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 23 



was purchased of the original inventor, but it was not found in a con- 

 dition to be applied, particularly to stereotyping catalogues, and in 

 order to improve it an arlizan trom Boston was employed under the 

 immediate direction of the librarian. The experiments were success- 

 ful, and the improved process has been employed by Mr. John C. 

 liives in printing the Congressional Globe. I was anxious that it should 

 be generally applied, in order that the art might not depend on the 

 contingency of the life or will of a single individual. Besides this, 

 should the process be generally introduced, the use of it for the Institu- 

 tion could be more cheaply procured by contract than by attempting 

 to do our own work by a separate establishment in the building. I 

 have, however, just learned that a patent has been applied for, in the 

 name of the artizan before mentioned, for the very improvements which 

 were made at the expense of the Smithsonian fund. This act, though 

 it may be in accordance with the usages of employees under the gov- 

 ernment, is not, in my judgment, compatible with the liberal spirit of 

 the will of Smithson. While due credit and proper remuneration should 

 be given to any employee for his labors, the results should redound to 

 the reputation of the Institution and to the general good of the public. 

 This remark is also especially applicable to the claims set up by an 

 employee in the meteorological department. 



During the past year the process of cataloguing the Congressional 

 library in accordance with the plan adopted by this Institution has boon 

 carried on under the direction of Professor Jillson, of Brown Univer- 

 sity. The whole number of titles catalogued has been 9,654, and 

 of volumes 21,805. The stereotyping of the titles has been suspended 

 for the present, in order to give the workmen who have been engaged 

 on it an opportunity of applying the new art to the printing of the Con- 

 gressional Globe. It is hoped that an additional appropriation will be 

 made during the present session of Congress sufficient to complete the 

 whole catalogue. We shall then have the statistics necessary to ascer- 

 tain the cost of preparation of a catalogue of this kind, and the means 

 necessary to give definite information, in reference to it, to the principal 

 libraries of the country. 



Tlie edition of Notices of tlie Public Libraries in the United States, 

 published by the Institution in 1851, is exhausted ; and it will be 

 necessary during the present year to collect the materials tor a new and 

 enlarged edition. A circular* for this purpose will be issued as soon 

 as possible, and it is hoped that the work will be prepared in time to 

 be submitted to Congress with the annual report for 1855. I have 

 entrusted the duty of collecting the materials for this purpose to Mr. 

 William J. Rhees, who now occupies the place formerly filled by Dr. 

 Foreman, the latter having been appointed to the position of examiner 

 in the Patent Office. 



The purchases, though few in number, are of considerable value; 

 and the additions from the system of exchange, as has before been 

 stated, have increased in importance. The articles received on ac- 

 count of the cbpyright law were more numerous last year than the 

 year before, but not more valuable. 848 separate pieces of music 



*A circular distributed by the Institution is given in the Appendix to tliis Report. 



