400 The Smithsonian Institution 



the transmission and safe delivery of the publications of 

 other American institutions, in accordance with certain rules, 

 providing, in effect, that the packages should be properly 

 wrapped, addressed, and delivered to the Institution in Wash- 

 ington accompanied by a detailed invoice. 



No charge was made for the expense of sending from 

 Washington if the parcels were of moderate bulk, though 

 the right to make a charge proportional to the actual ex- 

 pense incurred by the Institution was reserved in some 

 instances. 



These facilities soon proved of such value that the ex- 

 change service assumed a much wider importance than could 

 have well been anticipated, though, as far as the exchange 

 of the Smithsonian publications proper was concerned, the 

 principal object was not so much to procure a large library 

 for the Institution as to diffuse among men a knowledge of 

 the new truths discovered by the agency of the Smithsonian 

 fund. 



Professor Henry said in 1852 i 1 



" The worth and importance of the Institution are not to be 

 estimated by what it accumulates within the walls of its build- 

 ing, but by what it sends forth to the world. Its great mis- 

 sion is to facilitate the use of all the implements of research, 

 and to diffuse the knowledge which this use may develop. 

 The Smithsonian publications are sent to some institutions 

 abroad, and to the great majority of those at home, without 

 any return except, in some cases, that of cooperation in 

 meteorological and other observations. 



"In carrying out this plan, the Institution is much indebted 

 to the liberal course adopted by the government of Great 

 Britain, and to the ready cooperation of the Royal Society 

 of London. All packages intended for Great Britain, for 

 some parts of the continent, and the East Indies, are directed 



1 " Smithsonian Report," 1852, pages 20 and 21. 



