Appendix VII. 

 EEPORT OF THE EDITOR FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1898. 



SiB: I have the honor to .submit the following report on the publications of the 

 Smithsonian Institution for the year ending June 30, 1898: 



The publications of the Institution itself are in three series, the Contributions 

 to Knowledge in quarto form, and the Miscellaneous Collections and Smithsonian 

 Report in octavo. Under the direction of the Institution are also published the 

 Proceedings and Bulletins of the National Museum, the Annual Report of the Bureau 

 of Ethnology, and the Annual Report of the American Historical Association. 



The libraries and institutions to which the "Contributions" and "Collections" 

 could be sent has always been very limited in number, though scattered widely 

 throughout the world, and in extending the number of libraries it has not been pos- 

 sible to furnish complete sets, but merely future volumes. Fifteen hundred copies 

 of tbese series are now printed, but this number, though all that the limited income 

 of the Institution can furnish, has not been found sufficient to meet the demand. 



The general distribution is made, first, to those learned societies of the first class 

 Avhich give to the Institution in return complete sets of their own publications; 

 secondly, to colleges of the first class furnishing catalogues of their libraries and 

 students and publications relative to their organization and history; thirdly, to 

 public libraries in this country having 25,000 volumes; fourthly, they are pre- 

 sented in some cases to still smaller libraries, especially if no other copies of the 

 Smithsonian publications are given in the same place, and a large district would be 

 otherwise unsupplied; lastly, to institutions devoted exclusively to the promotion 

 of particular branches of knowledge such of its publications are given as relate to 

 their special objects. These rules apply chiefly to distribution in the United States. 

 The number sent to foreign countries, under somewhat different conditions, is about 

 the same as that distributed in this country. 



The edition of the annual report at the disposal of the Institution is 7,000 copies, 

 which is sufficiently large to permit of a comparatively wide distribution, though 

 the number printed is less than in former years. 



Requests from individuals are complied with when possible, but, as a rule, it is 

 found necessary to restrict the distribution of all publications to libraries and insti- 

 tutions of learning. 



In the original "programme of organization" approved by the Regents in 1847 

 there was specified among the details of the plan for diffusing knowledge "the publi- 

 cation of a series of reports giving an account of new discoveries in science, and of 

 the changes made from year to year in all branches of knowledge not strictly pro- 

 fessional." And it was added that "The reports are to be prepared by collaborators 

 eminent in the different branches of knowledge." 



In the report for 1854 appeared for the first time an "appendix," containing an 

 account of American explorations for the years 1853 and 1854, by Prof. S. F. Baird; 

 a full report of lectures delivered before the Institution by Marsh, Brainard, Loomis, 

 Channing, Reed, and Russell; extracts from the scientific correspondence of the 

 Institution, and miscellaneous papers relating to American archaeology, geology, etc. 



The general appendix to the annual report has been regularly continued to the 

 present time, and has served to bring the Smithsonian report into great popular 

 demand. It has long been the custom to enrich the report with memoirs illustrating 



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