26 THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



Correspondence — The Institution has constantly received a large number of 

 communications, asking information on a variety of subjects, particularly in regard 

 to the solution of scientific questions, the names and characters of objects of natural 

 history, and the analysis of soils, minerals, and other materials which pertain to 

 the industrial resources of the country. Answers have in all cases been given to 

 these inquiries, either directly by the officers of the Institution, or by reports from 

 the Smithsonian collaborators. A considerable portion of the correspondence 

 burned in the office of the secretary was of this character. The loss in this case 

 is to be regretted, not only on account of the valuable information the letters and 

 answers contained, but also on account of the illustration they afforded of the in- 

 fluence of the Institution, and the condition of the public mind at a given time. 

 Every subject connected with science which strongly attracts popular attention, 

 never fails to call forth a large number of inquiries and suggestions. 



International Exclianges. — To facilitate the direct correspondence between the 

 learned institutions and scientific men of the two worlds, and the free exchange 

 of their publications, has, from the first, been a special object of attainment with 

 the Smithsonian Institution. Year by year its plans for this purpose have been 

 modified and improved, until the system has become as nearly complete and satis- 

 factory as the funds and force at its disposal will allow. At the present day it is 

 the great medium of scientific intercommunication between the New World and the 

 Old; its benefits and services being recognized alike by individuals, institutions, 

 and governments. Its parcels pass all the custom-houses without question or in- 

 terference, while American and foreign lines of transportation, with rare excep- 

 tions, vie with each other in the extent of the privileges accorded to it. To so 

 great an extent has its sphere of activity been enlarged, that it is no exaggeration 

 to say that a very large proportion of all international exchanges of the kind re- 

 ferred to are now made through its instrumentality. At the present time the In- 

 stitution is prepared to receive, at periods made known through its circulars, any 

 books or pamphlets of scientific, literary, or benevolent character which any in- 

 stitutions or individuals in America may wish to present to a correspondent else- 

 where, subject only to the condition of being delivered in Washington free of cost, 

 and of being accompanied by a separate list of the parcels sent. Where any party 

 may have special works to distribute, the Institution is always prepared to furnish 

 a list of suitable recipients. In many cases where works of value have been pub- 

 lished by the United States Qr State governments, likely to be of importance to 

 students abroad, application has been made by the Institution for copies, in most 

 cases with success. The articles and volumes, when received, are assorted and 

 combined into packages, and these, after being properly addressed and inclosed in 

 boxes, are despatched to the agents of the Institution in London, Leipsic, Paris, 

 and Amsterdam. The boxes are there unpacked, and the contents distributed 

 through the proper channels; the returns for these transmissions are received by 

 the same agents, and boxed and forwarded to Washington, from which point the 

 parcels for other parties are sent to their proper destination. All the expense of 



