22 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



It may be stated that the last volume of tbis series (Volume xxv) was 

 issued in 1S85, aud that one memoir of 196 pages, with five chromo- 

 lithographic plates, " Eesearches upon the Venoms of Poisonous Ser- 

 pents" (by Br. S. \Yeir Mitchell and Dr. Edward T. Reicbert) has since 

 been published (188()) as an installment for Volume xxvi. 



The second class of Smithsonian publications is the octavo series of 

 Miscellaneous CoUeetions, which was not organized until nearly a quarter 

 of a century later than the " Contributions," the first volume having 

 been published in 18G2. 



As estimated by the number of volumes published during the period 

 of its existence, now amounting to thirty-three, this series (as was to 

 have been expected) has grown about twice as rapidly as the former. 



In addition to these two classes of works, published at the expense 

 of the Smithsonian fund, three other series of works are issued under 

 the direction of the Institution, the publication of which is provided for 

 by Congressional appropriations. 



Of these, first in order may be mentioned the Annual Reports to Con- 

 gress of the Board of Regents of the Institution, in accordance with the 

 provisions of Revised Statutes, section 5593, enacting that the Board 

 shall submit to Congress at each session thereof a report of the opera- 

 tions, expenditures, and condition of the Institution. These are in 

 octavo form, and have gradually increased in bulk from a few hundred 

 pages to two thick volumes per annum. Although printed by the Gen- 

 eral Government, these reports have been a constant and increasing 

 charge upon the funds of the Institution, required by the preparation 

 of suitable material for the usual appendix, in illustration of particular 

 investigations, or of the principal advances made in science. For a 

 number of years past the expenditure for this purpose has amounted to 

 several thousand dollars for each year, and it has become a serious 

 question whether we can longer afford to bear the burden. If Congress 

 can be induced to make a small appropriation for the collection and 

 preparation of information relative to the annual progress in the United 

 States of scientific discovery, and of its technological appUcations, to 

 be appended to the Smithsonian Report, such a record would not only 

 be in keeping with the great objects of this Institution, but would main- 

 tain for its report its high popular and educational character as well as 

 promote the industrial interests of our country, and the trifling expend- 

 iture would seem to be well justified by the precedents of similar appro- 

 priations for obtaining and diffusing valuable information through the 

 medium of the Agricultural and other official reports. 



In the original " programme of organization," a])provedby the Regents 

 December 8, 1847, was specified among the details of the plan for diffus- 

 ing knowledge " the publication of a series of reports giving an account 

 of the new discoveries in science, and of the changes made from year to 

 year in all branches of knowledge not strictly professional." And it was 

 added, ''The reports are to be prepared by collaborators eminent in the 

 different branches of knowledge." 



