HISTORY OF THE SMITIISONIAJT EXCHANGES. 793 



cordaiice with the proposed phin. This, as I miderstaiid it, is to be as 

 follo^ys: The Smithsoniau Institution, in continuation of its arran/ije- 

 nieut with the Library of Congress, will forward at least once a year to 

 the agency iu Paris a complete set of the publications of the United 

 States Government, provisions having been made to that end by law of 

 Congress directing the Public Printer to reserve fifty sets for interna- 

 tional exchange of all works printed by the government office, whether 

 by direct order of Congress or by the departments. This, of course, docs 

 not include any coutidential papers for the State or other departments, 

 but does embrace their general circulars, reports, &c., prej^ared for their 

 own use. 



Secondly, the Smithsonian Institu'sion will receive from the various 

 societies of the United States publishing transactions, and from men in- 

 terested in research, and maintaining relations with corrt'spondents 

 abroad, whatever they may wish to forward to France. All the parcels 

 for any one address will be concentrated in one or more bundles, each 

 bearing the address of the proper party, and indorsed as sent by the 

 Smithsonian Institution. The parcels will then be inclosed in the nec- 

 essary number of boxes and addressed to the bureau of the French 

 agency, and forwarded from New York by suitable vessel; steamer, if 

 the amount is small; sailing-vessel, if large. A bill of lading will, of 

 course, be sent to the agency, together with a detailed invoice of the 

 several addresses. 



The Smithsonian Institution will deliver its boxes at the seaport free 

 of charge ; after that, the expense of transmission to Paris will be borne 

 by the French bureau. 



In return, it is expected that the French bureau will, in the first 

 place, charge itself with the gathering together and transmission of all 

 the public documents of France, and that it will receive all parcels 

 delivered to it hy societies, institutions, and individuals in France for 

 transmission to correspondents in America. 



It is to be understood that, as heretofore, the Smithsonian Institution 

 will include in its transmissions all the publications of the various de- 

 partments of the United States Government and those of American 

 countries outside of the United States, such as Canada, Mexico, Chili, 

 «S:c. It will also bo willing to receive from the Paris agency corre- 

 sponding parcels for Canada and other portions of America. 



I beg to inclose also certain rules which have lately been put in force 

 by the Smithsonian Institution in connection with its system of inter- 

 national exchanges, in which certain restrictions are indicated, wliich 

 may i)roperly be followed by the French bureau. The principal of these 

 consists in the refusal to receive any parcels that are in any way duti- 

 able, such as books purchased for the use of private individuals, as 

 well as scientific and philosophical ai)i)aratus, &c. It is also proposed 

 to place a restriction upon the transmission of objects of natural history 

 which are extremely bulky, and the interchange of which is in most 



