18 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



The Government of Norway invited this Government to participate 

 in an international fisheries exposition, to be held at the city of Bergen, 

 Norway, from May to September, 1898, and a resolution accepting this 

 invitation and authorizing the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries to 

 arrange for a suitable exhibit was introduced into Congress. This reso- 

 lution contained a phrase which authorized the Commissioner to employ 

 the collections of the National Museum, at his discretion, for the pur- 

 poses of this exhibit, and while the Institution has always been willing 

 to aid any international exposition, a precedent might have been estab- 

 lished which would seriously embarrass the Museum and lead to the 

 temporary dismemberment of its collections. I accordingly took steps 

 to have the wording of the bill so changed that the Commissioner of 

 Fish and Fisheries might, " with the consent of the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, use any portion of the fisheries collection in 

 the National Museum at said exposition," and this was readily agreed 

 to by Congress, and enabled the Institution to be of service to the Fish 

 Commission in making a proper exhibit without establishing a precedent 

 dangerous to the Institution. 



AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 



Under the act of incorporation of the American Historical Associa- 

 tion, approved January 4, 1889, the association reports annually to the 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution concerning its proceedings 

 and the condition of historical study in America, and the Secretary is 

 directed to "communicate to Congress the whole of such reports, or 

 such portions thereof as he shall see fit." Nine volumes of these 

 reports have so far been printed, and the report for the year 1897 is now 

 in press. The reports from 1889 to 1893 were not at the disposal of 

 the Institution, but beginning with the 1894 report a small edition has 

 been available, which is distributed to State historical societies and 

 some foreign institutions, the publications received in return being 

 placed with the Smithsonian deposit at the Library of Congress. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Documentary history of the Institution. — In 1879 there was published 

 a history of the origin and progress of the Smithsonian Institution 

 from its establishment to the year 1877, including a full account of 

 legislative proceedings from the Twenty-fourth to the Forty-fourth Con- 

 gress wherein the Institution itself or any of its bureaus were con- 

 cerned. There has now been prepared a similar history of the period 

 from 1876 to 1896, which it is proposed to publish shortly. 



Gifts and bequests. — Among the collections received by the Institu- 

 tion during the year and deposited in the National Museum may be 

 mentioned a very interesting series of carbides and borides, presented 

 by M. Henri Moissan, the products of his investigations with the elec- 

 tric furnace, and a large collection of archaeological objects pertaining 



