56 ' REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 
can antiquities, and of those illustrative of the habits of the modern 
native tribes. Already an extensive collection has been accumulated, 
and the preparation and distribution of a series of colored casts of 
the more interesting specimens of aboriginal art have been com- 
menced. The former picture gallery had just been fitted up with 
cases two hundred feet in length, for the reception of these, when the 
disastrous fire occurred, which destroyed the upper part of the centre 
building; fortunately, however, before any of these specimens had 
been placed in the room. 
Correspondence. —The Institution has constantly received a large 
number of communications, asking information on a variety of sub- 
jects, 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 influence 
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 exchanges. —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 satisfactory 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 interference, while American and 
foreign lines of transportation, with rare exceptions, vie with each 
other in the extent of the privileges accorded it. To so great an 
extent has its sphere of activity been enlarged, that it is no exaggera- 
tion to say that a very large proportion of all international exchanges 
of the kind referred to are now made through its instrumentality. 
