1867.] 167 Annual Ilcpyrt. 



1866, an amount equivalent to over 400,000 octavo pages. 

 We are deeply indebted to the Smithsonian Institution for 

 their liberality in transmitting, free of charge, all shipments 

 to and from Europe ; by the last Annual Report of the In- 

 stitution, it appears that the transmissions to and by our 

 Society exceed those of any similiar organization in the 

 country. 



In this connection I m.ay refer to my year's absence in 

 Europe, where I sought by every opportunity to advance the 

 intei'ests of the Society. I took with me a detailed list of 

 our incomplete sets of publications of foreign Societies, and 

 in every city through ■\\'hich I passed, made personal applica- 

 tion to the officers of these Institutions, for what we needed. 

 Several cities were visited almost solely for this purpose. 

 Whenever other Societies were found Avith which we made 

 no exchanges, and where such relationship seemed desirable, 

 I made overtures on the Society's behalf, and almost invaria- 

 bly with success. As this method could but partially effect 

 what I desired, I prepared circular letters, setting forth the 

 character of the Society, and its desire to extend its list of 

 exchanges with similar organizations, and sent them to one 

 hundred and eighty institutions in Continental Europe. 

 And here our thanks are specially due to Dr. Felix Fliigel of 

 Leipzig, and M. Hector Bossange of Paris ; they translated 

 these letters into German and French, aided me in procuring 

 the needed addresses, forwarded them to the quarters desig- 

 nated*, and permitted the use of their names as agents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, through whom replies might be for- 

 warded. Their uniform courtesy in assisting me in every 

 way during my stay in Di-esden and Paris, deserves my 

 warmest acknowledgments. In re])]y to these applications 

 forty-three responses have already been received. Three of 

 the Societies declined the offer simply because they made no 

 exchanges. As the letter requested the exchange of back 

 issues of our respective transactions as well as of future publi- 

 cations, we have been favored with many complete series : 

 this explains the large accession to our Library, and the un- 

 usual distribution of our own publications. At the same 

 time, so many promises of extensive series, made to me 



