6 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



It may be of interest to note that a mark was placed, by my direction, 

 at the side of the window of the northeast corner room in the base- 

 ment of the Smithsonian building, 31 feet above the datum plane used 

 by the engineer office of the District of Columbia, situated at the cor- 

 ner of Fifteenth and B streets NW., or about 19.87 feet above the 

 highest flood mark recorded, that of June 2, 1889. 



RESEARCH. 



It appears to be an essential portion of the original scheme of the 

 government of the Institution that its Secretary should be expected 

 to advance knowledge, whether in letters, or in science, by personal 

 research; and resolutions of the Kegents formally request the Secre- 

 tary to continue his investigations in physical science, and to present 

 their results for publication in the Smithsonian ''Contributions." 



The advancement of science through original research at the hands 

 of those eminent men, Henry and Baird, the former Secretaries of this 

 Institution, is known to all, but though the Secretary may be still 

 expected to personally contribute to the advancement of science, or art, 

 or letters, by his individual efforts, it is certain that the increasing 

 demands of time for labors of administration had greatly limited the 

 possibility of this, even in the time of Henry, and that at the present 

 day administrative duties, and especially those connected with the care 

 of Government interests, constitute a barrier to such investigations, 

 which is all but impassable. 



I have never abandoned, however, the hope to thus continue the tra- 

 dition of the Institution and the usage of former Secretaries by person- 

 ally contributing, as far as 1 could, to the objects stated, and I have, 

 where administrative duties would permit, continued during the pres- 

 ent year the researches, of which a portion has been published, in 

 August, 1891, in a treatise entitled " Experiments in Aerodynamics." 

 Interesting results have since been reached here, which appear to be of 

 wide utilitarian importance, but though I trust, before the close of 

 another year, to be able to make some communication of them to the 

 public, they arc not yet complete. 



In this same connection, in pursuit of an investigation begun some 

 veins ago, and in continuation of the Institution's interest in the 

 promotion of meteorological studies, I have made experiments upon the 

 variations continually going on in the atmosphere, in what is regarded 

 for ordinary meteorological purposes as a steady wind. Specially 

 light anemometers have been constructed and mounted upon the 

 north tower of the Smithsonian building, and connected with a suit- 

 able recording apparatus. The results, which promise conclusions of 

 pracl ical importance, are being collated and will be published at a later 

 date. I am under obligations to the Chief of the U. S. Weather Bureau 

 for the loan of a portion of these anemometers, the others having been 

 constructed in the small workshop of the Institution. 



