REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 47 



From the study of mineralogy — in which field Dr. Smith made impor- 

 tant original observations — he was led to a careful examination of meteor- 

 ites, to which subject he devoted the greater portion of his later years, 

 and in which he became a recognized authority. He had accumulated 

 a very large and valuable collection of these interesting cosmical bodies, 

 now in the possession of Harvard College. A volume of 400 octavo 

 pages, comprising his principal scientific writings, was published in 1873. 

 Fully oue-fourth of this matter is occupied with his various papers on 

 meteorites. 



Dr. Smith filled successively several professorships ; was a United 

 States commissioner to the Universal Exposition of Paris in 1867, and 

 to that of Vienna in 1872; was president of the American Association 

 in 1872; and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences. 



George Shoemaker, an efficient assistant in the department of 

 birds, died October 12, 1883, at his parents' residence in Georgetown, 

 D. C, after an illness of more than a year. He was born in 1842, and had 

 passed his 21st birthday only 16 days. His disease was pulmonary con- 

 sumption, which first developed itself about the middle of September, 

 1882. Soon after being taken ill he went to Philadelphia, where he 

 spent two months, thinking the change might be of benefit. In the 

 spring of 1883 he went to Florida, and, after remaining two months, re- 

 turned without having derived any benefit from the journey, but, on the 

 contrary, much reduced in weight and strength. Early in September, 

 on the recommendation of his physician, he went to Loudoun County, 

 Virginia, iu order to try once more the effects of a change of atmosphere. 

 There he continued to lose ground so rapidly that he decided to return 

 at the end of two weeks. He reached home in a very much weakened 

 condition, but managed to keep up until within a very few days of his 

 death. Mr. Shoemaker was a young man of much promise ; faithful and 

 consciencious in the discharge of his duties, and possessed of many ex- 

 cellent traits of character. He death was no less a loss to the depart- 

 ment than a sad bereavement to his friends. 



Dr. Leonard Dunnell Gale was born at Millbury, Mass., in 1800. 

 He was graduated from Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., in 1825, and 

 devoting himself chiefly to the pursuit of chemistry became early a 

 professor of that science in several institutions of learning. In 1833 he 

 made a geological survey of Manhattan Island, and not long afterward 

 was appointed professor of chemistry and mineralogy in the New York 

 City University. Iu 1836 he there formed the acquaintance of Prof. S. F. 

 B. Morse, and by his familiarity with the discoveries of Professor Henry 

 was enabled to render his colleague's project of an electro-magnetic 

 telegraph successful in operation. In 1846 he came to Washington, and 

 for eleven years was an examiner in the Patent Office in charge of the 

 depart inent of chemical inventions. In 1857, having been removed from 

 that office, he practiced in this city for some years as expert and attor- 

 ney in chemical applications. 



