REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 11 



ROUTINE WORK OF THE INSTITUTION. 



Administration. — ]So change of importance has taken place in the 

 personnel of the Institution during the year, and all of the several di- 

 visions have discharged their functions satisfactorily. The usual in- 

 crease in the magnitude of the work has, however, been strongly 

 marked, and this, in connection with the inconvenient accommoda- 

 tions referred to above, has naturally taxed the abilities of all con- 

 cerned to the utmost. 



Correspondence. — The work in this department — steadily increasing — 

 is not marked by any special departures from its accustomed range. 

 The number of visionary projects and of novel or ancient scientific 

 speculations presented and urged for publication has rendered neces- 

 sary the following circular, to accompany the letter of reply : 



"This Institution being in frequent receipt of communications an- 

 nouncing discoveries or theories supposed b} r the writers to be both 

 new and important, it should be stated that owing to the number of 

 such papers the usual course is to refer them to one or more specialists 

 in the particular subject discussed, and to communicate briefly by let- 

 ter to the authors the results of such examination. This may some- 

 times involve a delay of several weeks before the expected answer is 

 returned. 



" In order to correct a very common misapprehension, it is proper to 

 state that the Institution has not offered any standing prizes for the 

 solution of difficult problems or for the discovery of new scientific 

 principles. The proper course for those who wish to obtain pecuniary 

 advantage from their supposed contributions to knowledge is to make 

 some practical application thereof, for which they may secure a patent 

 from the United States Patent Office. It may also be remarked that a 

 rule adopted by the Board of Regents forbids the Secretary or his as- 

 sistants giving, for personal benefit, an official opinion as to the merits 

 or demerits of inventions or other projects." 



EXPLORATIONS. 



A very important part of the work of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 representing no inconsiderable portion of its expenditures, consists in the 

 prosecution of explorations having for their principal object the gather- 

 ing of material illustrating the natural history and the physics of the 

 regions involved. 



The hearty co-operation of the Signal Office and of other branches 

 of the Government, and the associated work of the Ethnological Bureau, 

 during the year have greatly increased the amount of research in this 

 direction, and it may safely be claimed that in no year in the history of 

 the Institution has more been accomplished. The actual expenditures 

 on the part of the Institution have amounted to $2,733.35, no incon- 

 siderable portion of the entire income, the largest amount expended in 



