20 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



It is believed that this work will be received by the student of 

 ethnology as an interesting addition to this science, and that its pub- 

 lication will not only facilitate the labors of the missionary, but be 

 productive of valuable commercial results. The country in which the 

 language is spoken is rich in natural and artificial productions, and 

 as the inhabitants are anxious to establish relations of trade with 

 other parts of the world, it would seem to offer a new and tempting 

 field to mercantile enterprise. 



Under the head of publications, we may allude to the Appendix to 

 the Annual Report of the Eegents. Previous to 1853 this report was 

 in a pamphlet form, and only in one or two cases were a few extra 

 copies ordered. Since that date an annual volume has been presented 

 to Congress, of which twenty thousand extra copies have been printed. 

 The liberal distribution of this work has met with general approbation, 

 the applications to the Institution for copies have been constantly in- 

 creasing, and, in connexion with the Report of the Patent Office, no 

 document has become more popular or is better calculated to advance 

 the cause of knowledge among the people. The object is, as far as pos- 

 sible, to distribute this volume among teachers, and through them to 

 diffuse precise scientific knowledge to the rising generation. It is made 

 also the vehicle of instruction, in the line of observations, to all who 

 are desirous of co-operating in the investigation of the natural history 

 and physical geography of this country. The wide distribution of this 

 report has tended, more than any other means, to make known the 

 character of the Institution, and to awaken an interest throughout 

 the whole country in its prosperity. 



In order to render the series complete, the first volume — that for 

 1853 — contained a reprint of the previous reports of the Secretary, 

 from which a connected history of all the operations of the Institution 

 from the beginning may be obtained. These volumes are illustrated 

 by a large number of wood cuts, which have been provided at the 

 expense of the Smithsonian fund. We have, however, to regret that, 

 from the rapidity with which Congressional documents are hurried 

 through the press, we have not been allowed in all cases revised copies 

 of the proof. We cannot, therefore, be held entirely responsible for 

 inaccuracies of the press any more than for the style of printing or 

 the quality of the paper. 



It is a part of the settled policy of the Institution to appropriate 

 its funds, as far as the original law of organization will allow, to 

 such objects only as cannot as well be accomplished by other means ; 

 and accordingly, in several instances, the printing of papers previously 



