EEPORT OF THE ACTING SBCRETAEY. 19 



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ineiits as prescribed in the President's order of January 24, 1906, an 

 advisory committee on printing and publication was appointed by 

 the Acting Secretary on February 7, 1906, whose personnel is as 

 follows : 



Dr. C3'rus Adler, Assistant Secretary, chairman; Dr. I'. W. True, 

 of the United States National Museum; Mr. F. W. Hodge, of the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology; Dr. Frank Baker, of the National 

 Zoological Park; Mr. C. G. Abbot, of the Astrophysical Observa- 

 tory; Mr. W. I. Adams, of the International Exchanges; and Mr. 

 A. PIoAvard Clark, of the Smithsonian Institution. 



The committee has held twenty-six meetings and has examined and 

 reported on fifty-four manuscripts submitted for publication, be- 

 sides numerous blank forms to be printed for use in the bureaus of 

 the Institution. It has also advised the Acting Secretary on many 

 matters connected with the question of printing and binding. 



For the guidance of the several branches of the Institution in the 

 preparation of manuscript and the correction of proofs the following 

 rules, recommended by the advisory committee, were issued in March, 

 1906 : 



1. Typewritten copy is preferred. Ordinary manuscript will be accepted if 

 the handwriting is clearly legible throughout. 



2. The sheets of manuscripts should be of uniform size and consecutively 

 numbered. The writing should be on one side of the sheets onlj. 



3. The subject-matter of manuscripts should be maturely considered and 

 carefully revised by authors, everything unnecessary and irrelevant being ex- 

 cluded. Particular attention should be paid to paragraphing, punctuation, 

 the insertion of side headings, references to illustrations, etc., as only a limited 

 amount of correction in these particulars will be allowed in proof. 



4. The whole of the manuscript must be submitted at one time, and with it 

 all the tables and illustrations that are to be used. 



5. Illustrations should be used only when necessary for the elucidation of 

 the text ; never for mere embellishment. The copy for colored or other expen- 

 sive illustrations should not be prepared, nor should they be employed, without 

 special authority. 



6. A list of illustrations, giving their titles in brief and such explanations as 

 may be necessary, should accompany the manuscript. Upon each illustration 

 should be noted its number and a reference to the manuscript page to which it 

 relates. The places where plate and figure references are to be inserted in the 

 text should be indicated in the manuscript. 



7. The use of tables should be avoided whenever it is practicable to present 

 results in a summarized form, and all tables should be condensed as far as pos 

 sible. 



8. In order to avoid unnecessary work in the preparation of extended treatises, 

 authors are urgently recommended to submit in adA^ance to the head of the 

 bureau to which such treatise pertains an outline in writing of its proposed 

 contents, stating the probable size of the manuscript and the number of illustra- 

 tions required. Extended treatises should be accompanied with a table of con- 

 tents in which the relative importance of headings is indicated. 



9. Galley proof, upon which reasonable corrections and indispensable addi- 

 tions may be made, will be sent to the authors whenever practicable. If in 



