EEPOET OF THE SECEETAEY. 



21 



means at command. Acknowledgment is again due for the liberality 

 of the following companies : 



Pacific Mail Steamship Company, 

 Panama Railroad Company, 

 Pacific Steam Navigation Coinp'ny, 

 New York and Mexico Steamship 



Company, 

 New York and Brazil Steamship 



Company, 

 North German Lloyds Steamship 



Company, 



Hamburg American Packet Com- 

 pany, 

 French Transatlantic Company, 

 North Baltic Lloyds Steamship 



Company, 

 Inman Steamship Company. 

 Cunard Steamship Company, 

 Anchor Steamship Company. 



We present the foregoing list with much pleasure, not only as an 

 acknowledgment of the liberality of the companies mentioned, but also 

 as a very gratifying illustration of the high appreciation of the opera- 

 tions of the Institution. 



LIBRARY. 



The union of the library of the Institution with that of Congress still 

 continues to be productive of important results. The Smithson fund 

 is relieved by this arrangement from the maintenance of a separate 

 library, while at the. same time the Institution has not only the free use 

 of its own books, but also those of the library of Congress. On the 

 other hand, the collection of books owned by Congress would not be 

 worthy the name of a national library were it not for the Smithsonian 

 deposit. The books which it receives from this source are eminently 

 those which exhibit the progress of the world in civilization, and are 

 emphatically those essential to the contemporaneous advance of our 

 country in the higher science of the day. The collection of books 

 now in the library of Congress is over a quarter of a million, and, with 

 the present rate of increase, in less than twenty years will be double 

 that number. 



To accommodate this immense collection, Congress has in contempla- 

 tion the construction of a new building, and has authorized a commis- 

 sion to select plans and to supervise the location and erection of an 

 edifice. 



Statement of the boohs, maps, and charts received by exchange in 1873. 



Volumes : 



Quarto, or larger ... 256 



Octavo, or less . - - 633 



889 



Parts of volumes : 



Quarto, or larger 1, 467 



Octavo, or less 1, 407 



2, 874 



