The Smithsonian Publications 483 



organization recommending 1 that " as an additional means of 

 diffusing knowledge, your committee suggest the publication 

 of a series of reports, to be published annually, or oftener, 

 containing a concise record of progress in the different 

 branches of knowledge, compiled from the journals of all 

 languages, and the transactions of scientific and learned 

 societies throughout the world." 



Great care was taken that these Reports should be properly 

 distributed, the Board of Regents resolving, even before the 

 actual publication of the first Report, 2 "That of this Report, 

 in such form as it may be ultimately adopted, five thousand 

 copies be printed, under the direction of the Secretary ; and 

 that he be required to transmit a copy of the same to each of 

 the principal scientific and literary societies both in this and 

 in other countries; and also to such individuals, of scientific 

 or literary reputation, as he may judge likely to find interest 

 in the proceedings of the Institution." 



The second Report was a very much larger document, 

 consisting of 208 pages, and containing the program of organi- 

 zation, correspondence, reports of committees, and a descrip- 

 tion of the building. When this Report was laid before the 

 Senate, Senator Davis of Mississippi moved that a thousand 

 additional copies be printed for the use of the Senate. In 

 the House, objection was made to it by Mr. Johnson of 

 Tennessee as a "cumbrous document." In 1849, when the 

 third Report was laid before the Senate, objection was again 

 made to printing it, this time by Senator Rhett of South 

 Carolina. The proposition, however, was defended by Sen- 

 ator Davis of Mississippi. Opinion finally favored the pub- 

 lication of the Report, and the edition was increased to 3000 

 copies. Of the Report of 1850, 5000 copies were printed; 

 and the number from that time on fluctuated, rising some 



1 " Smithsonian Report," 1846, page 23. 2 Ibidem, page 12. 



