802 HISTORY OF THE SMITHSONIAN EXCHANGES. 



4. To collect together the documents intended for exchanges, and per- 

 form this in the way that shall be most beneficial to the empire. 



5. To receive and distribute those which may be sent by foreign com- 

 missions. 



6. To give all possible aid to scientific missions, both Brazilian and 

 foreign. 



7. To solicit from any authority or public department whatsoever 

 everything that may be necessary for the fulfillment of the charge in- 

 trusted to it. 



8. To appoint rei^resentatives (agents) in the provinces and give them 

 the necessary instructions. 



Art. III. The commission shall send to the minister and secretary 

 of state of imperial affairs, before the 31st day of March of each year, a 

 detailed report of the work accomplished and exchanges made during 

 the ijreceding year, suggesting the changes it deems it advisable to 

 make in the present instructions. 



Art. IV. The materials necessary for carrying on (expediting) the 

 business of the commission shall be furnished by the office of the secre- 

 tary of state of imjjerial affairs. 



Palace of Eio de Janeiro, November 13, 1879. 



Francisco Maria Sodia Pereira. 



[The State Departmeut to the Smithsonian Institution.] 



Department of State, Washington, June 17, 1880. 

 Prof. Spencer F. Baird, 



Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution : 

 Sir: I have the pleasure to inclose herein a copy of "regulations of 

 the Russian commission for the international exchange of works of 

 science and art," and a coj^y of a note from the charge d'affaires ad in- 

 terim of Eussia, relating thereto, and to say that the department will 

 be happj' to communicate to the legation the purport of any observations 

 which you may see proper to make in reference to the intelligence hereby 

 conveyed. 



I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

 John Hay, 

 Acting Secretary. 

 [JncZosMre No. 1. — Translation.] 



Legation of Eussia in the United States, 



Washington, May 19, 31, 1880. 



His Excellency William M. Evarts, 



Secretary of State, tfcc, dec : 

 Mr. Secretary of State: The geographical congress which met at 

 Paris in 1875, having recognized the necessity of organizing, in a uniform 

 manner, in the various countries, the system of exchanging the various 

 administrative, literary, or scientific publications of international inter- 

 est, a resolution of the council of the empire, adopted April 10, 22, 1877, 

 and sanctioned by His Majesty the Emperor, made provision for the 

 establishment of a Eussian commission of international exchange. The 

 imperial ministry now informs me that this commission has just been 



