22 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



lina,' ' by M. Tuomey and F, S. Holmes. This work received the com- 

 mendation of some of the distinguished members of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, at its meeting in Charles- 

 ton, in 1850, and its publication was undertaken at the risk and cost 

 of the authors. The actual expense, however, far exceeded their esti- 

 mate, and without the liberal aid of the legislature of South Carolina 

 they could not have escaped heavy loss, or been enabled to complete 

 the work in a proper style of art. To aid the same enterprise the 

 Institution was induced to make the subscription above mentioned for 

 copies to be distributed to foreign societies. We regret to state that 

 before the work was fully completed the science of the country was 

 called to mourn the loss of Professor Tuomey, of the University of 

 Alabama, who, during the past year, was prematurely snatched away 

 from his family and friends in the flower of his age. His works, 

 however, will remain as an inheritance to the cause of knowledge and 

 the best monument to his memory. We have been gratified to learn 

 that, at the late session of the legislature of South Carolina, a resolu- 

 tion was passed authorizing a continuance of the patronage of the 

 State to the publication of these researches, and consequently Professor 

 Holmes has signified his intention to publish two additional volumes 

 on the Eocene and the Post Pleiocene Fossils, to which the subscrip- 

 tion of the Institution will also be extended. 



Another work, belonging to the same class, is the series of " Contri- 

 butions to the Natural History of the United States of America," by 

 Professor Louis Agassiz. It has been mentioned in a previous report 

 that this distinguished savan was preparing a series of j^apers to be 

 presented to the Smithsonian Institution, and that the plates for some 

 of these had been engraved. But the number of these contributions, 

 and the cost of their illustration, would have absorbed a larger portion 

 of the Smithsonian fund than could have properly been devoted to 

 the labors of one individual. Fortunately, however, the reputation 

 and popularity of Professor Agassiz have enabled his friends to i^ro- 

 cure subscribers for an independent work, containing the result of his 

 valuable investigations, in numbers unprecedented in the annals of 

 science of this or of any other country. In order to assist this enter- 

 prise in the beginning, and to relieve its own funds, the Institution 

 subscribed for copies, to be distributed among foreign libraries, in ex- 

 change for rare works of a similar character, with which to enrich its 

 own library. 



The Institution has also facilitated the researches described in the 

 first two volumes of the work in question, and I may quote the 



