KEPOET OF THE SECRETARY. 29 



Statistics of exchanges sent during the last seven years. 





1869. 



1870. 



1871. 



1872. 



1873. 



1874. 



1875. 



No. of boxes 



112 



1, 033 



23, 376 



121 



1,189 



31, 383 



108 



772 



28, 950 



179 

 954 



26, 850 



196 



1,476 



44, 236 



131 



933 



27, 990 



208 



Weight 



1, 503 

 45, 300 







We may also mention as an evidence of the high appreciation of the 

 character of the Smithsonian exchanges, that the packages bearing the 

 marks of the Institution are admitted free of duty and without exam- 

 ination into all foreign ports. 



The value of this system, as a means of advancing civilization, can 

 scarcely be too highly estimated. Accounts of all the results of scien- 

 tific investigations in the old and new world are through it interchanged, 

 and men in both hemispheres are rendered efficient co-operators in the 

 great work of enlarging the bounds of knowledge, and thus one great 

 impediment to human advancement, that of isolation, is, in a measure, 

 overcome. 



The system has now become so extended that it requires the constant 

 attention of several assistants and a large amount of correspondence. 

 It has, however, been reduced to such general regulations as usually to 

 prevent loss or the missending of packages. It has happened in a few 

 cases that loss has occurred on account of shipwreck, and among these 

 we have to mention that of the four large cases shipped from Germany 

 in December last, on the Deutschland, three of which contained recent 

 publications of German learned societies, and the fourth specimens of 

 ornithology for the National Museum. The latter alone was insured. 

 In connection with this loss we have received the following expression, 

 of regret from Dr. Felix Fliigel, the warm friend and for more than 

 twenty years efficient agent of the Institution : 



" It is now a disagreeable thought that I hurried the transmission of the last case as 

 much as possible, in order to insure its being forwarded by the unfortunate vessel. I 

 feel quite sorry that I cannot any longer boast that not a single leaf intrusted to my 

 care for your Institution had been lost." 



During the past year 4,661 packages, each containing several articles, 

 have been received from abroad for distribution to institutions and indi- 

 viduals in this country. 



Two hundred and eight boxes, averaging 7 cubic feet each, with 

 a total weight of 45,300 pounds, were sent abroad by the Institution 

 during the year. The total number of separate parcels contained in 

 these boxes was about 12,000. 



To facilitate the business of the exchanges, the following rules have 

 been adopted : 

 1. Every package, without exception, must be enveloped in strong 



