44 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



rented his further action. He had, however, engraved many hundreds 

 of plates, illustrating the life history of the insects most prominent as 

 beneficial or injurious to the farmer. Professor Glover published a por- 

 tion only of this work, printing at his own expense the text and illus- 

 trations. He has been desirous of obtaining help from the government 

 to issue the complete work, but so far has been unable to secure the 

 necessary appropriation, although the subject has been warmly recom- 

 mended by several of the committees on agriculture. Finding it neces- 

 sary to remove to Baltimore, he has deposited all his plates in fi.re-proof 

 apartments of the Institution, subject to further action. It is very de- 

 sirable, in the interest of the farmer and horticulturist, that tliis work 

 should be published at .an early date, and the immense mass of practi- 

 cal information made available. 



It has been the custom of the Smithsonian Institution to give to 

 eminent American men of science letters to its foreign correspondents, 

 commending them to any of6cial attentions that may be convenient, 

 and requesting for them the privileges of libraries and museums. Dur- 

 ing the year 1881 such letters were given to Dr. J. S. Billings of the 

 Medical Department of the x\rmy, a member of the National Board of 

 Health, who visited Europe on official business connected with the 

 latter establishment, and to Dr. Durgiu, President of Hillsdale College, 

 Michigan. 



INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS, ETC. 



Eeference was made in the report for 1880 to the part taken by the 

 National Museum and the United States Fish Commission in the Inter- 

 national Fishery Exhibition, held at Berlin in the spring of 1880. The 

 collections sent to Berlin haA^e all been returned and restored to their 

 places. The reports of this exhibition by various foreign countries have 

 been received, and all unite in referring to the disjilay made by the 

 National Museum and Fish Commission as being by far the best and 

 most instructive of all, this being corroborated by the receipt of the 

 highest awards. The grand prize, a silver gilt vase of beautiful design 

 aud of great cost, was made personally to your Secretary as head of the 

 United States Fish Commission, and an act of Congress was passed 

 authorizing him to receive it free of the duty, which alone would have 

 amounted to about one thousand dollars. He has presented it to the 

 National Museum, of which it will doubtless constitute an attractive 

 object. 



A second exhibition in which the Smithsonian took part was that of 

 the International Electrical Convention, held in Paris in August, 1881. 



A series of the publications of the iDstitution, relating to electricity, 

 was transmitted and placed in charge of the American commissioner, 

 Hon. George Walker. The appreciation by the jury of the services of 

 Pofessor Henry to electrical science by his discoveries and of the Institu- 

 tion by its publications was shown by the grant of one of the highest 



