S. Mis. 53. 21 



merous that the edition printed will supply but a part of tlio demand, 

 and it becomes a difficult matter to select the places which will best 

 subserve the object of rendering them accessible to the greatest number 

 of persons who would be benefited b}' tbeir perusal. 



]n connexion with the distribulion of its own publications, the Insti- 

 tution has adopted an arrangement to promote and establisli a more 

 general exchange of literary and scientihc productions between this 

 and other countries. For this purpose it receives packages from soci- 

 eties and individuals in the different parts of the United States, and 

 transmits them to England or the continent, and through its agents dis- 

 tributes them to the parties f.n- whi»iii thev arc intended. It also 

 receives the articles sent in return, and lurwurds them to those to whom 

 they are addressed. To facilitate this opcn-ation, the packages to the 

 Institution are addressed to the collector of customs in New York, and 

 by him, on the certificate of the Secretary, admitted free of duty, and 

 without the delay of an examination. 



In carrying out this plan, the Institution is much indebted to the 

 liberal course adopted by the government of (ireat Britain, and to the 

 ready co-operation of the Royal Society of Lond(jn. All packages 

 intended for Great Britain, tor some i)arls of the continent, and the 

 East Indies, are directed to the care of the Royal Societ}', and on the 

 certificate of its president are, by a special (-rder of the government, 

 admitted duty free, and without the delay and risk of inspection. The 

 packages are afterwards distributed by the agent of the Institution, 

 or by those of the society. 



This S3^stem of exchange does not stop here. The Royal Society 

 has adopted the same plan with reference to Great Britain, and all 

 other parts of the world; and tljc Smithsonian Institution, in turn, 

 becomes an agent in receiving and distributing all packages the 

 society desires to send to this country. A general system of interna- 

 tional communication, first started by tlie Institution for the distribution 

 of its own publications, has thus been established, which will tend to 

 render the results of the labors of each country in the line of literature 

 and science common to all, and to produce a connnunity of interest 

 and of relations of the highest importance to the atlvance of know- 

 ledge, and of kindly feeling "among men." 



The resalls of the operations of the system of foreign exchanges 

 during the year 1S52, are exceedingly gratifying. The whole number 

 of packages sent out, including tlie Smithsonian publications, is 572, 

 containing 9,195 articles, and weighing 9,855 pounds. There have been 

 received, in addition to the 4,715 articles for tliis Institution, 637 j)ack- 

 ages, containing an ufdvn'jwn number of volumes, f()r other institutions 

 in this country. The details of the business of the exchanges are 

 intrusted to Professor Baird, and I would refer, fi^r a particular state- 

 ment of all the facts connected with it, to his report, herewith sub- 

 •mittcd. 



The i)lanet Neptune. — It ha,s been mentioned in the last annual reports 

 that Mr. S. C. Walker,, of the U. S. Coast Survey, ]);epared, at the 

 expense of the Smithsonian Institution, a memoir containing an exposi- 

 tion of the elements of the true (^-oit of the planet Neptune, and that 

 from this orbit and the mathematical investigation of Professor Pierce 



