LITERARY NOTICES. 



SOI 



for consultation, and constituting a full re- 

 pertory of passing occurrences. It is indis- 

 pensable to the student of current affiiirs, 

 and should have a place in the library of 

 every working thinker. Appletons' An- 

 nual Cyclopa3dia is a work entirely distinct 

 from their regular American CyclopcBdia, 

 which is of a more general character, and 

 treats of the past as well as of the present. 

 The volume just issued contains the an- 

 nals of the past year. Its wars and military 

 operations are faithfully described. The in- 

 ternal commotions of states also receive due 

 attention, and the student of foreign politics 

 Avill peruse, with keen interest, the succinct 

 account here given of the civic strifes of 

 France and Germany, and the sanguinary 

 conflict still going on in Spain. The chron- 

 icle of home events is very full. The ques- 

 tions which occupied the minds of our legis- 

 lators during the year, and which have in any 

 way affected the prosperity of the country, 

 are faithfully presented. Thus we have arti- 

 cles on the national finances, revenue, and 

 taxation ; banking, financial crises, com- 

 merce, manufactures, etc. The financial con- 

 dition of the several States also receives at- 

 tention. In short, no great public concern- 

 ment is overlooked, and, to give an exact 

 idea of what this volume contains, we should 

 have to enumerate every living practical in- 

 terest of our people — the movements of po- 

 litical parties, the transportation question, 

 the granger question, the results of elec- 

 tions, proceedings of legislative bodies, judi- 

 cial decisions, the progress of educational 

 and charitable institutions, the extension 

 of railroads and telegraphs, etc. The diplo- 

 matic correspondence of the United States 

 Government, derived from authentic sources, 

 is presented with great fullness. The prog- 

 ress of science, in various branches, is re- 

 corded ; special prominence being given to 

 the practical applications of scientific dis- 

 coveries, and, finally, we have the authentic 

 statistics of religious denominations in the 

 United States. 



Smithsonian Report for 1872. — The 

 Smithsonian Institution closed the first 

 quarter of a century of its existence with 

 the year for which this report was made. 

 During that time it has made itself known 

 in every part of the civilized world, and 



"the publications which result from 'the 

 facilities it has afforded to original re- 

 search are to be found in all the principal 

 libraries, and its specimens in all the great 

 public museums in the world." 



The report of the Secretary, Prof. Henry, 

 evidences admirable management in the 

 financial affairs of the Institution. The 

 original fund, instead of being impaired, 

 has been increased. It now amounts to 

 $704,811 ; the income from which, during 

 the year 1872, amounted to 846,916. The 

 expenditures for the same time were $45,- 

 420. However, this good management has 

 not always existed. Prof. Henry shows 

 that in the establishment of the Institution, 

 the United States Government, through a 

 misconception of the object of the founder, 

 expended $600,000 in the erection of build- 

 ings, while the object could have been at- 

 tained by an outlay for the same purpose 

 of only $50,000. The object of the founder 

 appears to have been the establishment of 

 an institution for the promotion of original 

 scientific research, and the distribution of 

 the knowledge thereby gained; while the 

 Government construed it to be the estab- 

 lishment of a museum, library, art-gallery, 

 lectorium, arboretum, etc. Prof. Henry 

 now suggests that the Government should 

 devote the present building to the use of 

 the National Museum, and repay the Smith- 

 sonian fund $300,000 ; one-third of which 

 could be used for the erection of another 

 building suitable to the Institution, and the 

 remainder be added to the present fund. 



The most important work of the Insti- 

 tution consists in the publication of contri- 

 butions to knowledge, or scientific papers, 

 containing positive additions to knowledge, 

 papers which are the results of investiga- 

 tions directly or indirectly fostered by the 

 Institution, or of individual investigations, 

 but are too expensive in character to be 

 otherwise published. Also, the publication 

 of miscellaneous collections intended to fa- 

 ciUtate the study of particular branches of 

 science. These pubUcations are distributed 

 with various specimens, ethnological and 

 otherwise, to libraries and museums through- 

 out this and foreign countries. The most 

 important works published or prepared for 

 publication by the Institution, in 1872, were 

 " Tables and Results of Precipitation of 



