REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 17 



PUBLICATIONS 



Tlie publications of the Smithsonian Institution constitute its 

 chief means of carrying out one of its primary functions, the "diffu- 

 sion of knowledge." From its private funds, the Institution issues 

 the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, a series containing all 

 the scientific papers published by the Institution proper; from Gov- 

 ernment funds are issued the Smithsonian Annual Report (with 

 general appendix reviewing progress in science), the Bulletins and 

 Proceedings of the National Museum, the Contributions from the 

 National Herbarium, the Bulletins of the Bureau of American Eth- 

 nology, the Annals of the Astrophysical Observatory, and Catalogs 

 of the National Collection of Fine Arts. The Freer Gallery of Art 

 pamphlets and the series, Oriental Studies, are supported by Freer 

 Gallery funds. 



All publications of the Institution are issued through the editorial 

 division, which comprises the central office where publications of 

 the Institution proper are handled, the office of the editor of the 

 National Museum, and that of the editor of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology. The editorial division also directs the Institution's 

 informational activities and its radio work. 



The year's publications totaled 78, of which 48 were issued by the 

 Institution proper, 25 by the National Museum, 3 by the Bureau of 

 American Ethnology, 1 by the National Collection of Fine Arts, 

 and 1 by the Freer Gallery of Art. Information as to titles, authors, 

 and other details concerning these publications will be found in the 

 report of the chief of the editorial division, appendix 11. The total 

 number of publications distributed was 125,837. 



Among the outstanding publications of the year may be mentioned 

 a paper by the Secretary entitled "An Important Weather Element 

 Hitherto Generally Disregarded," wherein are summarized evi- 

 dences of the dependence of our weather on the variations of solar 

 radiation; a revised edition of Assistant Secretary Alexander Wet- 

 more's "A Systematic Classification for the Birds of the World"; 

 another volume in the series of life histories of North American 

 birds by Arthur Cleveland Bent entitled "Life Histories of North 

 American Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, Hummingbirds, and Their Allies" ; 

 a paper dealing with the very interesting Chicora (Butler County, 

 Pa.) meteorite, by F. W. Preston, E. P. Henderson, and James R. 

 Randolph; and part 2 of the monograph entitled "Archeological 

 Remains in the Whitewater District, Eastern Arizona," by Frank H. 

 H. Roberts, Jr. 



LIBRARY 



The year's accessions to the Smithsonian library totaled 6,839 

 volumes, pamphlets, and charts, bringing the holdings at the end of 



