The International Exchange System 403 



designed for institutions and individuals on the continent of 

 Europe ; such packages being directed to the Royal Society, 

 and stated on the outside of the case or package to be from 

 the Smithsonian Institution. The customs' duties will, in 

 such cases, be either altogether remitted or returned on re- 

 exportation. 



"If it be a convenience to the cultivators of science in the 

 United States, that publications presented to them by insti- 

 tutions or individuals on the continent of Europe, or else- 

 where, should be addressed to the Royal Society as a channel 

 of communication, the same facilities will be given by the 

 Board of Customs, and the Royal Society will, with pleasure, 

 make the required arrangements. It will be necessary, in 

 such cases, that packages arriving from the continent of 

 Europe or elsewhere should be marked on the outside, for the 

 Smithsonian Institution, and the foreign Secretary of the 

 Royal Society should be apprised of their being sent. Ex- 

 penses of freight would of course be defrayed by the agent 

 of the Smithsonian Institution. 



"I remain, my dear sir, with great respect and regard, 

 "Very sincerely yours, 



"EDWARD SABINE, 

 " Vice-Presidcnt and Treasurer of the Royal Society" 



An interesting special use of the exchange system took 

 place in 1867, when, at the suggestion of the Honorable 

 John Bigelow, a former Minister to France, a request was 

 made by the Institution that some of the principal publishers 

 of school-books in this country should furnish copies of their 

 elementary text-books, in order that they might be presented 

 to Professor Laboulaye, of the College of France, for exami- 

 nation, with a view to the application of some of their pe- 

 culiar features to the purposes of instruction in his own 

 country. In response to this request, nearly two hundred 

 volumes of school text-books were furnished by the princi- 



