EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 27 



War was also authorized to make a detail of oflacers and men from the 

 Army, to accompany the expedition. The plan of operations was to 

 send the vessel to Lady Frankliu Bay, with a shore party, which was 

 then to be landed and to be provided with houses on shore, the vessel 

 herself returning to the United States for additional supplies. The War 

 Department did its part, by detailing Lieutenant Doane and a number of 

 men for the purpose in question, the general supervision being placed 

 in charge of the Signal Office. A critical inspection of the vessel was 

 made by the several bureaus of the if avy Department, and after a careful 

 consideration she was declared to be not sufficiently reliable to be ac- 

 cepted and the Secretary of the Navy declined to take the responsibility 

 of forwarding her on the voyage. In this emergency Captain Howgate 

 himself provisioned the vessel and furnished the necessary commander 

 and crew, and she started on her journey via Newfoundland. Severe 

 storms, however, were encountered and her boilers became so injured 

 as to require repair in Newfoundland. She experienced numerous mis- 

 haps, some of which greatly injured the vessel itself and rendered the 

 further prosecution of the enterprise inexpedient. The vessel accord- 

 ingly returned to Washington with the party, and the expedition was 

 practically abandoned for the present. Dr. Pavy, the surgeon and 

 naturalist of the expedition, and one other, however, remained in Green- 

 land to carry on independent researches. 



Captain Howgate, with his usual appreciation of all branches of science, 

 invited the Institution to furnish a collector to the expedition, promising 

 to snpply the necessary quarters and subsistence. It was, however, 

 found impossible, in the brief notice given, to secure the services of a 

 competent person, and nothing was done beyond supplying some ap- 

 paratus for deei)-sea research. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



The activity ot the Institution is more marked and its influence more 

 extended through its pubhcations than by any other of its agencies for 

 the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. However useful 

 and important its researches, explorations and collections, these would 

 be very limited in advantage to the public were it not for the dissemina- 

 tion of the new truths discovered and the facts collected through the 

 various classes of publications carried on by the establishment. These 

 publications are growing in number, size, frequency of issue, and value 

 every year, and more has been done in this way in 1880 than during 

 anj' previous period. 



For many years past the Smithsonian Institution has been in the 

 habit of having all its memoirs (both octavo and quarto) stereotyped, 

 as thereby the number of copies of any memoir required for the use of 

 the public could be conveniently regulated. The demand by the public 

 (beyond the regular supply of everything to a definite number of insti- 

 tutions) being very unequal, there was danger of printing either too 



