ADVERTISEMENT. 



The ol)ject of the (texeual Appendix to the Annual Report of the 

 Smithsonian Institution is to fui'uish ])rief accounts of scicntitic discov- 

 ery in particular directions; reports of investio-ations made by collab- 

 orators of the Institution; and memoirs of a general character or on 

 special topics that are of interest or value to thc^ numerous corrt^spond- 

 ents of the Institution. 



It has been a prominent ol)jectof the Board of Regents of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, from a very early date, to enrich the annual report 

 required of them by law with memoirs illustrating- the more remarka- 

 ble and important developments in physical and biological discovery, 

 as well as showing the general character of the operations of the Insti- 

 tution; and this purpose has, during the greater part of its history, 

 been carried out largely l)y tlie publication of such papers as would 

 possess an interest to all attracted by scientific ])rogress. 



In 18S0 the Secretary, induced in part l)y the discontinuance of an 

 annual summary of progress which for thirty years previous had been 

 issued by well-known private })ublishing tirms, had prepared l)y com- 

 petent collaborators a series of a})stracts, showing concisely the prom- 

 inent features of recent scicntitic progress in astronomy, geology, 

 meteorology, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, botany, zoology, und 

 anthropology. This latter plan was continued, though not altogether 

 satisfactorily, down to and including the year iSSS. 



In the rc^port for l<S8i> a return was made to th(» earlier method of 

 presenting a miscellaneous selection of papers (some of them original) 

 embracing a considei'a])le range of scientific investigation and discus- 

 sion. This method has been continued in the present report for 1902. 



119 



