REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 57 



At the present time the Institution is prepared to receive, at periods 

 made known through its circulars, any books or pamphlets of scientific, 

 literary, or benevolent character which any institutions or individuals 

 in America may wish to present to a correspondent elsewhere, sub- 

 ject only to the condition of being delivered in Washington free of 

 cost, and of being accompanied by a separate list of the parcels sent. 

 "Where any party may have special works to distribute, the Institu- 

 tion is always prepared to furnish a list of suitable recipients. In 

 many cases where works of value have been published by the United 

 States or State governments, likely to be of importance to students 

 abroad, application has been made by the Institution for copies, in 

 most cases with success. The articles and volumes, when received, 

 are assorted and combined into packages, and these, after being 

 properly addressed and enclosed in boxes, are despatched to the 

 agents of the Institution in London, Leipsic, Paris, and Amsterdam. 

 The boxes are there unpacked, and the contents distributed through 

 the proper channels ; the returns for these transmissions are received 

 by the same agents, and boxed, and forwarded to Washington, from 

 which point the parcels for other parties are sent to their proper 

 destination. All the expenses of packing, boxing, agencies, freights, 

 &c, are borne by the Institution, with the exception of the local 

 conveyance of single parcels by express or otherwise within the 

 United States. 



LOCAL OBJECTS. 



Under this head we' have classed those parts of the programme 

 which were indicated by Congress, and which do not, so directly as 

 the objects we have already described, contribute to the advance of 

 knowledge. It will be seen, however, that they have been made as 

 far as possible to harmonize with the active operations, and to assist 

 in their progress. 



Library. — Although the act of Congress directed that provision 

 should be made for the accommodation of a library, on a liberal scale, 

 it Avas soon seen, after the organization of the Institution, that it 

 would be impossible, from the income which could be devoted to it, 

 to establish a first-class general library. Even had this been practi- 

 cable, it would still have seemed superfluous to do so in the very 

 vicinity of the miscellaneous library of Congress, which is every 

 year increasing in extent under the liberal appropriations which are 

 annually made for the purchase of books. It was therefore deemed 



