APPENDIX TO THE REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



' Smithsonian Institution, 

 * Washington, December 31, 1861. 



Sir: I have the honor herewith to present a report for 1861 of the 

 operations intrusted to my charge, namely: those which relate to the 

 printing, the exchanges, and the collections of natural history. 

 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



SPENCER F. BAIRD, 

 Assistant Secretary Smithsonian Institution. 

 Prof. Joseph Henry, L.L. D., 



Secretary Smithsonian Institution. 



printing. 



The publications of the past year have consisted principally of 

 works belonging to the octavo series of Smithsonian miscellaneous 

 collections and reports, and they amount to about 1,400 pages. 



EXCHANGES AND TRANSPORTATION. 



As might have been expected, the operations in this department 

 show a decrease in magnitude as compared with 1860. That year, 

 however, was an exceptional one, and the receipts of 1861, though 

 inferior to those of 1860, are yet equal to the average of preceding 

 years. Many works of great value have been added to the library 

 of 'the Institution, and numerous series of foreign transactions com- 

 pleted to date. The transmissions of books and pamphlets on behalf 

 of American institutions has been very large, and the returns of cor- 

 responding magnitude. 



It will be observed by the annexed table that the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution is not only the medium of literary and scientific communi- 

 cation between the Old World and parties in the United States, but 

 performs the same office for all the principal institutions in the re- 

 maining countries of America, as Canada, Cuba. Mexico, Chile, Bra- 

 zil, New Granada, &c. 



In 1861, as in previous years, very important services have been 

 rendered by various transportation companies in the reduction or re- 

 mission of freights. Among these may be mentioned from previous 

 years the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, the Panama Railroad 

 Company, the Cunard steamers, the Bremen or North German Lloyd, 

 the Hudson's Bay Company, the Adams Express Company, &c. 

 During the past year the directors of the New York and Hamburg 



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