42 EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Agassiz's work, to include a general index to the whole ; and by this 

 means, when published, the naturalist will be able to reduce the time 

 and trouble of a given research enormously. Mr. Scudder oflered this 

 memoir to the Smithsonian Institution for publication, but as its own 

 funds were required for the other memoirs previously in hand, it was 

 accepted by the Department of the Interior, as a bulletin, and work 

 begun upon it. Some hundreds of pages have alrtady been ])rinted, 

 and it is hoped that the whole will be completed in the course of 18S1. 



Smithsonian Annual Report. — In consequence of the delay at the Gov- 

 ernment Printing Office, referred to in the last report, the Report for 

 1878 was not ready for distribution until March of the past year. Being 

 the first issued after the death of the late Secretary of the Institution, 

 Professor Henry, it was deemed proper to devote considerable of its space 

 to a presentation of his life and scientific work. For this purpose, the 

 biographical memoir prejjared, at the request of the Board of Regents, by 

 Dr. Asa Gray was appended to the Proceedings of the Board, while in 

 the General Appendix were inserted the accounts of his researches on 

 sound with reference to fog-signaling — his latest scientific work — re- 

 printed from the several reports of the Light- House Board, in which they 

 originally appeared, the whole being arranged in a connected article. 

 With the same view, also, an article prepared by W. B. Taylor on Prof. 

 Henry's connection with the telegraph was inserted, presenting his, as 

 yet, imperfectly recognized contributions to the scientific basis of that 

 invention. • 



The other articles in the Appendix are : Accounts of explorations in 

 Greenland by L. Kumlien, and in the Caribbee Islands by F. A. Ober; 

 a table of some x)hysical constants by J. Le Conte — a contribution to the 

 proposed collection of all the constants of IS'ature and Art; an account 

 of some experiments on the effect of irritation of a sensitive nerve by B. 

 F. Lautenbach; translations of Arago's biography of Condorcet, and of 

 Favre's biographical notice of Agassizj an abstract of the results of the 

 researches on Fever, made, with the cooperation of the Institution, by 

 Dr. H. C. Wood; and a republication of a list of the apparatus in various 

 institutions in the United States available for scientific research. The 

 whole forms a volume of 575 pages with 12 illustrations. 



A number of ethnological articles, intended for this report, were un- 

 avoidably thrown over to the next. 



The report for 1879 was presented to Congress on the 10th of March, 

 1880, and an edition of 15,500 copies were ordered, 2,500 for the 

 use of the Senate, 0,000 for the use of the House of Representatives, and 

 7,000 for the Institution. It is again a matter of regret that the publi- 

 cation of this work has been so long delayed. The amount of work or- 

 dered to be done at the Public Printing Office is enormous and increases 

 every year, while the facilities for doing it remain very much the same. 

 As an evidence of the increase of work in this office, the Public Printer 



