REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Statistics of exchanges sent during the last nine years. 



23 





1869. 



1870. 



1871. 



1872. 



1873. 



1874. 



1875. 



1876. 



1877. 





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 



1,503 



45, 300 



323 



2,261 

 80, 750 



397 



Bulk in cubic feet 



"Weight 



2,779 

 99, 250 



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

 bsen adopted : 



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

 paper, and secured so as to bear separate transportation by express or 

 otherwise. 



2. The address of the institution or individual, for whom the package 

 is intended, must be written legibly on the cover, aud the name of the 

 sender on one corner of the same. 



3. ISTo single package must exceed half of a cubic foot in bulk. 



4. A detailed list of addresses of all the parcels sent, with their con- 

 tents, must accompany them. 



5. No letter or other communication can be allowed in the parcel, 

 excepting such as relates exclusively to the contents of the package. 



6. All packages must be delivered in Washington free of freight and 

 other expenses. 



7. Every parcel should contain a blank acknowledgment, to be signed 

 aud returned, either through the agent of the Institution, or, what is 

 still better, through the mail, to the sender. 



Should returns be desired for what is sent, the fact should be ex- 

 plicity stated on the list of the contents of the package, as, unless these 

 are specifically asked for, they will fail in many instances to be made. 



Specimens of natural history will not be received for transmission 

 unless with a previous understanding as to their character and bulk. 



8. Unless all these conditions are complied with, the parcels will not 

 be forwarded from the Institution ; aud, on the failure to comply with 

 the first and second conditions, will be returned to the sender for cor- 

 rection. 



A new edition of the list of foreign correspondents of the Institution 

 is now in press and will be distributed to libraries &c, in the course of 

 a few weeks. 



Exchange of government documents. — In the report for 1875 a 

 full account was given of the system adopted for carrying out the law 

 relative to the exchange of the official publications of the United States 

 Government for those of foreign nations. In accordance with this system , 

 during the past year, 71 boxes of documents were forwarded, the follow- 

 ing being a list of the distribution : 



