REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 19 



nies aud the British Provinces not so fully, while the country south of 

 Washington is, in this respect, almost entirety unexplored. The author 

 as -well as the Institution is iiulobtcd to ^Ir. Sanuiel Powel, of Newport, 

 Ehode Island, an amateur and patron of science, for the devotion of 

 much time and practical skill to the preparation of magnified photo- 

 graphs of the wings, from which the illustrations presented on the steel 

 jjlates were reduced. This volume contains oio pages, illustrated with 

 four plates and seven woodcuts. 



Among the memoirs accepted for piiblication, and formerly described, 

 is one by Dr. John Dean, giving the results of a series of microscopical 

 investigations of the medulla ohlongata. This paper was stereotyped and 

 about to be published as a part of the 13th volume of the Contributions, 

 when the expensive steel plates for its illustration were destroyed by 

 the fire of 18G5. Owing to the absence of Dr. Dean in Europe, a consid- 

 erable delay has occurred in procuring a new set of these illustrations. 

 The stereotype plates of the letter-press were, fortunately, preserved, 

 and we are now ready to i^ublish an edition of the memoir for distribu- 

 tion as a i)art of the IGth volume of the Contributions. 



Since the last report an elaborate work founded principally on original 

 research has been presented to the Institution, by Lewis H. Morgan, 

 esq., of Eochester, Xew York. It is ou the systems of relationship 

 adopted by difierent races and tribes of men. About 20 years ago the 

 author found in use among the Iroquois Indians, of the State of New 

 York, a system for the designation and classification of family relationship 

 of a singular character and wholly unlike any with which he was previously 

 familiar. Under this system, for example, all the children of the several 

 brothers and sisters of an individual are considered as his own children ; 

 all the brothers of his father are habitually regarded and addressed as liis 

 own father; all the sisters of his mother as his mother, &c. Mr. IMorgan 

 afterwards found the same system in use among other Indian nations, in » 

 which, while every term of relationshii) was radically diiferent from the 

 corresponding terms in the Iroquois, the classification was the same. 

 Extending the research to other fields of inquiry, he found before the 

 close of 1859 that the same system prevailed among the principal Indian 

 nations east of the liocky mountains, and that traces of it existed both in 

 the Sandw ich Islands and in south India. He therefore resolved to prose- 

 cute the investigation upon a still \i\ovq comprehensive scale, and to 

 attempt, if possible, to investigate the systems adopted by the different 

 families of mankind. This, however, required a more extensive foreign 

 correspondence than a private individual could hope successfully to 

 maintain. He therefore made application to the diii'erent boards of for- 

 eign missions, and also to the Smithsonian Institution, for such co-ope- 

 ration in the furtherance of his object as it mipht be in their power to 

 alford. The Institution accordingly issued circulars and schedules, 

 which were distributed to its correspondents in all parts of the world. 

 Through his own immediate labors and the assistance just mentioned, 



