THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 137 
Of the total number of pamphlets and serials, 3,787 were 
pamphlets and 9,619 were serials. 
The; donations to the library for the year have been 
received from two hundred and seven individuals and 
seventy-five societies and governmental departments. The 
exchanges from eight individuals and one hundred and 
seventy-eight societies and incorporated institutions, of 
which ninety-four are foreign ; also from editors and pub- 
lishers. 
Among the donations may be mentioned an addition to 
the] botanical section of nearly 100 volumes, from Mr. John 
Robinson ; about 600 volumes distributed among the va- 
rious departments, from Mr. T. F. Hunt ; the frequent 
gifts of Dr. Samuel A. Green of Boston ; and the con- 
gressional documents regularly received from the Depart- 
ment of the Interior. 
The librarian desires to call attention again to a subject 
which was mentioned in his last annual report, namely, the 
marking out of special lines of work for the Public Library 
and the Essex Institute, and in a lesser degree for the Salem 
Athenseum, and the Peabody Academy of Science. A few 
months since a meeting was held at the Public Library, at 
which were present representatives of all the societies 
mentioned and a unanimous agreement was arrived at, 
that each should as far as possible mark out a special line 
of its own in reference to the purchase of expensive books 
so that unnecessary duplication would be avoided. To 
the Public Library should be left the purchase of books on 
general literature as fiction, biography, travels, etc., and 
those on the industrial and mechanic arts ; to the Institute, 
local history, genealogy, sociology, the collection of bound 
volumes of newspapers and other subjects within the line 
of its special work and, together with the Peabody Acad- 
emy of Science, the scientific works largely obtained by 
