12 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



ers, to contributors of valuable material to the library or collections, 

 aud to persons engaged in special scientific research. 



The distribution of the publications of the Institution is a matter 

 which requires much care and judicious selection, the great object 

 being to make known to the world the truths which may result from 

 the expenditure of the Smithson fund. For this purpose, the principal 

 class of publications, namely, the Contributions, must be so distributed 

 as to be accessible to the greatest number of readers, and this will 

 evidently be to large central libraries. 



The volumes of Contributions are presented to institutions on the 

 express condition that, while they are carelully preserved, they shall be 

 accessible at all times to students and others who may desire to consult 

 them, aud be returned to the Institution in case the establishments to 

 which they are presented at any time cease to exist. These works, it 

 must be recollected, are not of a popular character, but require pro- 

 found study to fully understaud them; they are, however, of importance 

 to the professional teacher and the popular expounder of science. They 

 contain materials from which general treatises on special subjects may 

 be elaborated. 



The publications of the Institution during the past year have been 

 less in number than in preceding years, but this has not been on account 

 of want of materials, but because most of the resources of the Institu- 

 tion have been devoted to the completion of two volumes of the quarto 

 series, which are nearly ready for the binder, one of which will be cred- 

 ited to 1875 and the other to 1876. 



The twentieth volume of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge 

 will consist entirely of the discussion of a series of tabular results relative 

 to the '^Wijids of the Glohe,^^ prepared at the expense of the Institution 

 by the late Prof. James H. Coffin, of Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, and 

 completed by his son. Prof. Selden J. Coffin, with the assistance of Dr. 

 Alex. J. Wceikof, of the Imperial Geographical Society of Kussia. 



The twenty-first volume of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowl- 

 edge will be made up of the following jiapers, viz: 



Statement and Exposition of Certain Harmonies of the Solar System. 

 By Prof. Stephen Alexander, of the College of New Jersey. 4to. 104 

 pp. 



On the General Integrals of Planetary Motion. By Simon Newcomb, 

 professor of mathematics, United States Navy. 4to. 40 pp. 



The tlaidah Indians of Queen Charlotte's Island, British Columbia, 

 with a brief description of their carvings, tattoo designs, &c. By 

 James G. Swan, Port Town send, Wash. Ter. 4to. 22 pp. 7 plates. 



Tables, Distribution, and Variations of the Atmospheric Temperature 

 in the United States and some adjacent parts of America. Collected 

 by the Smithsonian Institution and discussed under the direction of 

 Joseph Henry, Secretary. By Charles A. Schott, assistant United States 

 Coast Survey. 4to. pp. 360. 9 diagrams, 2 plates, 3 charts. 



