KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 35 



is divided into tliree parts. A brief introduction of 4 pages presents 

 tlie proceedings of Congress in relation to the holding of memorial serv- 

 ices in the hall of the House of Eepresentatives, and also in relation to 

 the i:>riuting of the same, together with such other testimonials of respect 

 as the Eegents might deem congruous with the object of the work. Part 

 first embraces the primary i)roceedings more immediately connected 

 with the obsequies, commencing appropriately with the reproduction 

 of the announcement of the death of Joseph Henry, by the Chancellor, 

 Chief Justice Waite, issued on the day follovviug that melancholy event, 

 and addressed as a formal or official obituary notice to all the cor- 

 respondents of the Institution, in our own country or abroad, followed 

 by an account of the proceedings of the Board of Regeuts on the occa- 

 sion of the iuueral services, with the sermon of the Eev. Samuel S. 

 Mitchell, and of the steps taken by the Regents on the day following to 

 obtain a i)ublic commemoration. Part second comprises an a(tcount of 

 the memorial services at the Capitol, presided over by the Vice-Presi- 

 dent, taken from the Congressional liecord, and consisting of an open- 

 ing prayer by President McCosh of Princeton, addresses by Senators 

 Hamlin and Withers, Eepresentatives Garfield and Cox, Professors 

 Gray of Cambridge and Rogers of Boston, and by General Sherman, 

 the reading of telegrams by Eeprescntativc Clj'mer, and a closing prayer 

 by the Chaplain of the Senate, Eev. Br. Suuderland. Part tliird com- 

 prises proceedings by, and addresses before, various bodies with which 

 Proli?ssor Henry had been promineutly connected. The volume con- 

 cludes with an appendix of 4 pages, recounting the proceedings of 

 Congress with reference to the erection on the Smithsonian grounds of 

 a statue of Joseph Henry. The whole is followed by a general index of 

 12 Images. 



Digest of Atomic Weights. — Among the Miscellaneous Collections a 

 carefully-prei)ared digest of "Atomic Weights," by George P. Becker, 

 of California, has been i)ublished during the past year, constituting No. 

 358 of the Smithsonian series. This work, comprising 150 octavo pages, 

 consists of a collection of all the determinations of the atomic weights 

 of the chemical elements heretofore made. The elements are alphabet- 

 ically arranged, with critical notices under each, and the authorities for 

 varying determinations, together with precise citations to the jiublica- 

 tions or records, are fully given. The whole is accompanied with a full 

 index of the journals and other publications, both foreign and domestic, 

 which have been laid under contribution ; and a second index gives an 

 alphabetical list of the authors of atomic weight determinations. The 

 work evinces a i)ains-taking diligence in collecting from every available 

 source (in whatever language) the iuformation desired ; and it will prove 

 a valuable work of reference to both the theoretical and the i)i'a(;tical 

 chemist. 



This publication is in continuation of a line of scientific manuals on 

 the " Constants of Nature," ijrojected by the Institution, and may be 



