kp:port of the secretary. 13 



, research. 



It was a part of the original pkii of the Institution that its Secretary 

 should not give his time wholly to administrative duties, l)ut should 

 directly aid in its scientific investigations." 



Research work in various fields of science has been continued l)y the 

 Institution and its dependencies. 



1 have made some progress toward the solution of the prol)lem of 

 mechanical flight, and have been carrying on, with the consent of the 

 Regents, some experiments for the War Department, at its expense, 

 and have added other experiments, partly at the expense of the 

 Institution. Owing to an accident to the launching apparatus it was 

 not possil)le to make a satisfactory test of the au'odrome, and the 

 exhaustion of availal)le funds has compelled the abandonment, at least 

 temporarily, of the experiments. 



In the Astrophysical Observatory I have continued work believed 

 to be important, and inaugurated some experiments of novel interest, 

 which are referred to later. 



Through the Museum and the Bureau of American Ethnology the 

 Institution has been enat)led to carry on various l)iological, geological, 

 and ethnological researches, which will l)e found fully described else- 

 where in this report and need not be repeated here. 



HODGKINS FUND. 



Series of experiments conducted with the aid of grants fi-om the 

 Hodgkins fund of the Institution are still in progress. Among those 

 sufticiently advanced to permit pul)lication, tiie investigations of Dr. 

 Carl Barns may be mentioned. Two memoirs detailing the earlier 

 results of these experiments have already been issued in the Smith- 

 sonian Contril)utions to Knowledge, and a third report is now 

 awaited, which will record experiments on the ionization and nuclea- 

 tion of air in contact with phosphorus and with water nuclei. Other 

 interesting data in regard to the diffusion of vapor into luicleated air, 

 periodic color distribution in coronas, etc., will be given in this 

 memoir, which will probably be issued during the present year. 



Dr. E. W. Scripture, of Yale University, to whom a grant was 

 awarded for the construction of a "vowel organ," has l)een prosecut- 

 mg his researches for the last year in Bei'lin. He reports numerous 

 interesting experiments in the construction of resonators of various 

 materials with which he has succeeded in producing the ditierent vowel 



« Resolved, That the Secretary continue his researches in physical science, and pre- 

 sent such facts and principles as may be developed for pu])lication in the Smithsonian 

 contributions. (Adopted at meeting of the Board of liegents January 26, 1847.) 



