REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 55 



HISTORY OF THE EXCHANGE SERVICE. 

 By W. 1. Adams. 



The following history of the exchange service and its methods has heen prepared 

 by Mr. W. I. Adams from the archives of the Institution: 



It seems altogether appropriate, while the Smithsonian Institution is commemo- 

 rating the iiftieth year of its usefulness, to succinctly review the progress and 

 accomplishments of its system for the exchange of the duplicate copies of literary 

 and scientific publications from the beginning. Though but a subordinate branch 

 of the Institution, the division of exchanges has done a large part iu the increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge, and materially assisted in the promotion of the object 

 for which the Institution was established by its founder. 



Tbe forwarding by the Smithsonian Institution of its publications and annual 

 reports to other scientific institutions and to individuals interested in science through- 

 out the world was inaugurated almost at the very commencement of these publica- 

 tions, under a plan of procedure adopted by the Board of Regents December 8, 1847, 

 upon the recommendation of Professor Henry, and in exchange the Institution 

 solicited the scientific works published by its correspondents. 



The details attendant upon this important function of the Institution were in the 

 beginning supervised by Professor Henry, and so fully did they command his atten- 

 tion that not a little of the work was done by him personally, until July, 1850, when 

 Professor Baird was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Institution, and almost 

 immediately assumed direct charge of the exchanges. 



Mr. George H. Boehmer, in his History of the Smithsonian Exchanges compiled to 

 1881, recites the fact that other attempts had been made for the exchange of literary 

 and scientific publications, notably by the Royal Library of France in 1694, and in 

 the United States early in the present century by the American Philosophical 

 Society, founded in Philadelphia in 1743, and by the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences, founded in Boston in 1780. The prime object in each case cited was the ulti- 

 mate enrichment of its own library by reciprocal exchange, while the results desired 

 by the Smithsonian Institution were not solely for the purpose of increasing its 

 collection, but for the diffusion of knowledge among men. 



So favorably did Professor Henry's plan impress scientists that a committee was 

 appointed by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to consider its methods in 

 detail, and on December 7, 1847, the committee reported as follows: 



"It can scarcely be doubted that an important impulse would be given by the 

 Smithsonian Institution in this way to the cultivation of scientific pursuits, while 

 the extensive and widely ramified system of distribution throughout the United 

 states and the world would insure them a circulation which works of science could 

 scarcely attain in any other way." 



At the commencement of its exchange system the Institution was much annoyed 

 by the excessive expense and troublesome delays caused by the requirements of the 

 United States custom-house service, and no relief was felt until, after earnest and 

 concerted effort, Congress was led to adopt the enlightened policy of admitting 

 through the custom-houses free of duty scientific publications from foreign countries 

 addressed to the Smithsonian Institution, either for its own use or as contributions 

 to learned societies and institutions throughout the United States. 



This appropriate act of the American Congress stimulated foreign scientific soci- 

 et ies to interest their Governments to the same end. Among the first to take active 

 -teps in this direction was England. 



On March 19, 1852, Mr. Edward Sabine, vice-president and treasurer of the Royal 

 Society, wrote Professor Henry, in reply to his letter urging action by the Royal 

 Society in the same direction, saying: 



'•The subject has since been brought by the Earl of Rosse under the consideration 

 of Her Majesty's Government, who have shown, as might be expected, much readi- 

 ness to meet in the same spirit the liberal example which has been set by the United 

 States, in exempting free of duty scientific books sent as presents from this country 



