80 EEPORT OF THE ACTING SECKETAEY. 



In carrying out the plan to effect new exchanges and to secure missing parts 

 to complete sets, 1,541 letters were written, resulting in 287 new periodicals 

 being added to the receipts, while 631 defective series were partly- or entirely 

 completed. In addition to the letters referred to, 99 postal cards were mailed 

 and 73 missing parts were received in response. 



As a result of a suggestion of the Librarian of Congress, it was decided that 

 reprints of articles in periodicals or transactions and circulars, etc., ephemeral 

 in nature and purpose, would be retained at the Institution. 



The plan adopted by the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature 

 of sending to authors lists of their scientific writings that have been indexed 

 in the Catalogue, and requesting any that have not been cited, has proven of 

 special benefit to the library of the Institution, as a number of separates on 

 American material have been added in this way. 



In the reference room 201 volumes of the transactions and proceedings of 

 learned societies were withdrawn, and from the reading room 25 bound volumes 

 of periodicals and 3,885 parts of scientific periodicals and popular magazines 

 were borrowed. The use of these publications and those in the sectional 

 libraries of the Institution by persons from other bureaus of the Government 

 has been continued, but in the main the consultation has been by members of 

 the staff. 



The mail receipts numbered 34,716 packages, the publications contained 

 therein being stamped and distributed for entry from the mail desk. Four 

 thousand eight hundred acknowledgments were made on the regular form, ex- 

 clusive of those for publications received in response to the requests of the 

 Institution for exchange. 



There has been no change in the number of the sectional libraries main- 

 tained in the Institution, they being the Secretary's library, oflice library, and 

 the employee's library, together with those of the Astrophysical Observatory, 

 aerodromics, international exchanges, and law reference. 



At the request of the Aero Club of America the Smithsonian Institution 

 exhibited in the aeronautical section of the automobile show, held in New 

 York City, 43 volumes of publications on aeronautics from the section of 

 aerodromics. 



The current periodicals in the Astrophysical Observatory have been collated, 

 missing numbers secured, and 38 volumes were bound. The library at the 

 National Zoological Park had an addition of 19 volumes and 25 pamphlets, 

 which were received by gift and purchase. 



The employee's library. — The number of books borrowed from the employee's 

 library was 1,216, and the sending of a selected number of the books from this 

 library to the National Zoological Park and the Bureau of American Ethnology 

 each month continues to be appreciated. 



The John Donnell Smith library. — While this library is still in the possession 

 of Mr. John Donnell Smith, a book plate has been provided and under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. Smith copies have been placed in each of the volumes, about 1,700 

 in number, so that their identification, when they are finally forwarded to the 

 Institution, may be complete. 



The Watts de Peyster collection. — Through the continued munificence of Gen. 

 John Watts de Peyster, the Watts de Peyster collection has received an addition 

 of 1,234 volumes. 



Tibetan manuscript. — Early in the year a unique Tibetan manuscript, entitled 

 " Prajna Paramlta," i. e.. Transcendental Wisdom, was received as a gift from 

 the government of India. It is written in gold characters on black ground of 

 366 cardboards, which are held between two covers of lacquered wood, and 



