REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 59 
tion. This it was supposed would be the means of securing im- 
portant additions to the library. It was found, however, in practice, 
to impose a burden on the funds of the Institution for which no 
adequate compensation accrued ; copies of the most valuable works 
. were not presented, because there was no penalty imposed for the 
neglect to comply with the requirement, and the expense of clerk- 
hire in recording and furnishing certificates was greater than the 
value of the articles received, consisting, as they did principally, of 
sheets of music, labels of patent medicines, novels, and element- 
ary works of instruction. The law was, therefore, on special appli- 
cation, so modified that authors were required in future only to send 
a copy of their works to the copyright bureau of the Department of 
the Interior and to the Library of Congress. 
A special library of the character above described, consisting of 
serials, must of necessity constantly increase with the additions made 
to the series of the existing associations which annually publish their 
transactions. The Smithsonian library, therefore, comprises a prin- 
ciple of indefinite augmentation, both as regards extent and value ; 
and although this increase will result mainly from the exchanges 
produced by the active operations, yet additional accommodations 
will be constantly acquired. Hence it may become a matter of consid- 
eration, hereafter, whether, since Congress has appropriated $160, 000 
to the enlargement of the accommodation for its own library, it may 
not be expedient to request that the Smithsonian collection be re- 
ceived and arranged as one of its departments, while the free use and 
general control of the same shall still be retained by the Institution. 
Museum.—The same remarks which have been made in regard to 
the library may, with little modification, be applied to the museum. 
The portion of the funds of the Institution which it is practicable to 
devote to the museum is not sufficient to support an establishment of 
this kind worthy of the seat of government of the United States. 
Indeed, it is generally now conceded by those who have critically ex- 
amined the subject, that the accommodation and perpetual mainten- 
ance Of a large collection of objects of nature and art intended for 
popular exhibition, or even for educational purposes, ought not to have 
been imposed upon the Smithsonian fund. It has been seen from the 
foregoing statement how much can be done in the way of advancing 
natural history independent of a costly edifice, and the support of 
a popular museum in which are to be continually exhibited even 
type specimens. It is true that specimens of this character ought 
