22 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



The appendix to the report for 1876 contains translations of Arago's 

 Eulogy on Gay-Lussac; Fialho's Biographical Sketch of Dona Pedro I; 

 Pilar on the Eevolutions of the Crust of the Earth; and Blondel on 

 Jade; besides original articles on Kinetic Theories of Gravitation, by 

 William B. Taylor; the Asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, by Prof. 

 Daniel Kirkwood ; the Latimer Collection of Antiquities from Porto Eico, 

 by Prof. Otis T. Mason; Antiquities in Guatemala, by the Hon. George 

 Williamson; Collections of Historical Documents in Guatemala, by Dr. C. 

 H. Berendt; Observations on the Prehistoric Mounds of Grant County, 

 Wisconsin, by Moses Strong; Deposits of Flint Implements, by Dr. J. 

 F. Snyder; Ancient Mica Mines in North Carolina, by C. D. Smith; a 

 Double-walled Earthwork in Ashtabula County, Ohio, by Stephen D. 

 Peet; an Ancient Implement of Wood, by E. W. Ellsworth; Centennial 

 Mission to the Indians of Western Nevada and California; Indian Forts 

 and Dwellings, by Dr. W. E. Doyle; and the Sioux or Dakota Indians, 

 by Col. Albert G. Brackett. 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Anthropology, or what may be considered the natural history of man, 

 is at present the most popular branch of science. It absorbs a large 

 share of public attention and many original investigators are assiduously 

 devoted to it. Its object is to reconstruct, as it were, the past history 

 of man, to determine his specific peculiarities and general tendencies. 

 It has already established the fact that a remarkable similarity exists in 

 the archeeological instruments found in all parts of the world with those 

 iu use among tribes still in a savage or barbarous condition. The con- 

 clusion is supported by evidence which can scarcely be doubted, that by 

 thoroughly studying the manners and customs of savages and the instru- 

 ments employed by them, we obtain a knowledge of the earliest history 

 of nations which have attained the highest civilization. 



It is remarkable in how many cases customs existing among highly 

 civilized peoples are found to be survivals of ancient habits. Indeed it 

 is asserted, and with at least apparent truth, that every unmeaning 

 ceremony found in rural life in Europe and America, is a survival of 

 an important custom connected with an essential condition of life in the 

 aboriginal race. Hence, to clearly apprehend the manners and customs 

 of modern society, it is necessary to study them in connection with the 

 myths, the ceremonies, and the usages of ancient people. 



American anthropology early occupied the attention of the Smithson- 

 ian Institution. To collect all the facts which could be gathered in regard 

 to the archaeology of North America, and also of its ethnology, or, in other 

 words, an account of its present Indian inhabitants, was considered a 

 prominent object iu the plan of operations of the establishment. The 

 first volume of its Contributions, whereby its plan of intended operations 

 was illustrated, consists of an elaborate and expensive work on the 

 "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley"; and from the time of 



