FOETY-SEVENTH CONGRESS, 1881-1883. 925 



the libraries in the various Congressional districts which receive the 

 Government publications through the Interior Department are on our 

 books. 



Our exchange of publications with societies covers the whole civi- 

 lized world, and by this method the most valuable collection extant of 

 transactions of societies and journals of all kinds has been concen- 

 trated in Washington. Its magnitude may be estimated from the fact 

 that it now embraces nearl}^ 100,000 volumes, in the pages of which 

 are presented all the original announcements of discovery in theoret- 

 ical and applied science, data being thus furnished for magazine arti- 

 cles, reviews, and text-books. While a library possessing these original 

 sources of information from all parts of the world is admirably 

 adapted for enabling inventors and students to keep pace with the 

 progress of discovery in all countries, it also saves them an expenditure 

 of time in unwillingly prosecuting investigations already elaborated 

 and published. Comparatively few of these books, received as 

 exchanges, can be purchased, the vast majority of these being obtain- 

 able in no other way than through a system of exchange, such as that 

 which has been carried on by the Smithsonian for many years. 



Thus the publishing fund is converted into books which are bar- 

 tered for other books of a similar character, the result being a collec- 

 tion of works, to buy even a portion of which would require a sum 

 much larger than the fund used in publishing. 



The special plea for this application is: 



(1) The scientific and educational value of the Smithsonian and 

 National Museum publications; 



(2) Their gratuitous distribution to the public libraries which have 

 been established as recipients of Government publications; 



(3) The fact that the whole of the library accumulated by the 

 Smithsonian Institution in the manner above described is now a part 

 of the Congressional Library, constituting one of its most important 

 factors; and 



(4) That all the additional receipts of books, through exchange or 

 otherwise, are sent at once to the Library of Congress and are imme- 

 diately incorporated therein. 



The publications of the Smithsonian consist of an annual volume of 

 the quarto series, entitled "Smithsonian Contributions to Knowl- 

 edge," of which twenty-three have appeared; also an annual volume 

 of "Miscellaneous Collections" (octavo), of which the same number 

 have been issued, and the "Proceedings of the National Museum," of 

 which four volumes are ready, together with the "Bulletins of the 

 National Museum," whereof one only has thus far been issued, and 

 several parts which appear separately. 



I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



Spencer F. Baird, 



Secretary. 



