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Smithsonian Institution—Continued ; Employees. 
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INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC WORKS. 
December 18, 1896—House. 
Letter from the Secretary of State. 
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 
Washington, December 17, 1896. 
Str: I have the honor to transmit, herewith, the report of Prof. 
Simon Newcomb and Dr. John S. Billings, delegates from this country 
to the International Conference on a Catalogue of Scientific Literature, 
held in London in July last by request of the Royal Society, and hay- 
ing for its object an international agreement as to the steps necessary 
to the preparation, editing, and continuous publication of the current 
_ scientific literature of all countries. 
It will be seen that by the thirty-second resolution formulated by 
the conference the delegates were especially requested to bring the 
following two resolutions to the attention of their respective Govern- 
ments: 
* 16. That any country which shall declare its willingness to undertake the task 
shall be intrusted with the duty of collecting, provisionally classifying, and trans- 
mitting to the central bureau, in accordance with rules laid down by the Interna- 
tional Council, all the entries belonging to the scientific literature of that country. 
31. That it is desirable that the Royal Society should be informed, at a date not 
later than January 1, 1897, what steps, if any, are being taken, or are likely to be 
taken in the countries whose Governments are represented at the conference, toward 
the establishing organizations for the purpose of securing the end had in view in 
resolution 16. 
In the opinion of Professor Newcomb and Dr. Billings, it is desir- 
able that the Government of the United States should take its part in 
the proposed work by providing for the continuous cataloguing of 
scientific papers published in the United States, and they suggest the 
propriety and feasibility of the work being undertaken by the Smith- 
sonian Institution. 
Prof. S. P. Langley, Secretary of that Institution, to whom I sub- 
mitted the report of the delegates, concurs -in their view as to the 
great importance of a successful execution of the conclusions of the 
conference, and as to the propriety of this Government’s taking its 
share of the proposed work by providing for the cataloguing of scien- 
