42 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



The Alaska Commercial Company has continued its liberal and im- 

 portant aid to all the operations of the Institution on the Pacific coast. 



The co-operation of the Hudson's Bay Company in the work of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, which commenced as long ago as 1858, has 

 been continued throfigh successive years; the latest instance being the 

 courtesy by which Mr. Lucien M. Turner was enabled to spend two 

 years at tJngava Bay, in Northern Labrador, in the service of the United 

 States Signal Office and of the Smithsonian Institution. The company 

 has also granted the necessary authority, and has given instructions to 

 its agents in this country in connection with the proposed exploration 

 of the region about the mouth of the Mackenzie Eiver. 



Cooperation icith the American Association. — At the meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Montreal 

 in 1882, a committee was appointed, consisting of Professors H. Car- 

 rington Bolton, Ira Eemsen, F. W. Clarke, Albert E. Leeds, and Alexis 

 A. Julien, " to devise and inaugurate a plan for the proper indexing of 

 the literature of the chemical elements." To forward this useful en- 

 terprise the Smithsonian Institution undertook to distribute for the com- 

 mittee any circulars or other documents issued by its authority^. At 

 the next meeting of the Association, held at Minneapolis in 1883, the 

 committee on indexing reported progress, and acknowledged the 

 friendly offices of the Institution as "an ofler of great importance, and 

 for which this committee expresses sincere thanks." 



In further aid of a work so valuable to chemical research and to the 

 advancement of science this Institution has also announced its readiness 

 to undertake the publication of the various bibliogra])hical indexes com- 

 piled under the auspices of the committee ; not, however, in excess of 

 fifty pages per annum. At the meeting of the Association held at Phil- 

 adelphia last September Q884) the committee on indexing reported a 

 number of special indexes as completed, and stated: 



"Two hundred and fifty copies of our report for 1883 have been sent 

 to chemists throughout the United States, the Smithsonian Institution 

 having kindly attended to the distribution by m.ail without expense to 

 the committee. This led to correspondence with several chemists, who 

 regarded the scheme of co-operative indexing favorabl}', and resulted 

 in several offers of assistance. 



" We are pleased to announce that in consequence of our representa- 

 tions the Smithsonian Institution has consented to publish indexes to 

 chemical literature which shall be indorsed by this committee. The 

 Smithsonian Institution places a limit to the number of i)ages which 

 will be printed per annum, but the limit is a generous one. By thus 

 securing the assistance of the Smithsonian Institution chemists are 

 assured of a reliable and authoritative channel of publication, together 

 with a wide circulation, and the plan of co-operative indexing will un- 

 doubtedly receive a great stimulus." 



The committee's report for 1884, extracted from the proceedings of the 

 American Association for the year, was published as a three-page cir- 

 cular in October, and the same has been distributed by this Institution 



