158 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



kind. But this is obviously impossible, for they alone would exhaust 

 all the income of the Institution. 



Preparations have been made for the publication of the second 

 ^ohmie of the Contributions, and a sufficient number of memoirs have 

 been already accepted, or are in preparation, to furnish the materials. 

 Five of these are on astronomical subjects, and afford as important ad- 

 ditions to this science as have ever been made to it in this country. 

 Two of them relate to investigations on the new planet Neptune, which 

 are only second in value to the original discovery of this distant mem- 

 ber of our system. Abstracts of these have been given to the world, 

 and have been received with general approbation. A third is a deter- 

 mination of the zodiac of the asteroids, or the zone in the heavens to 

 which the positions of these small planets are confined. This paper is 

 of much practical importance in faciHtating the researches now in pro- 

 gress in different parts of the world relative to the nature of these frag- 

 ments (as tliey would seem to be) of a large planet between Jupiter 

 and Mars. It may be at once determined, by an inspection of the 

 table annexed to this paper, whether any star mapped in an old cata- 

 logue, and now no longer to be found in the same place, can possibly 

 be one of the asteroids. A fourth paper is an account of a new comet, 

 the discovery of which by an American lady is one of the first addi- 

 tions to science of this kind, so far as I am informed, ever made in this 

 country. The fifth memoir is an account of the Georgetown Observa- 

 tory, the instruments with which it is furnished, the mode of using them 

 which has been adopted, and the results of the observations which 

 have been made. An important paper is also in process of prepara- 

 tion for the same volume on the gigantic fossil cetacean remains which 

 are found in the southern and western States of the Union. 



Other papers are in progress which partake of the character of origi- 

 nal researches, since they are, in part, at least, prepared at the expense 

 and under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution. They will be 

 mentioned under the next head. 



In a few cases, memoirs have been presented which, though exhi- 

 biting research and considerable originality, are not of a character to 

 warrant their adoption as parts of our volumes of Contributions to posi- 

 tive knowledge. The rule given in the programme has been rigidly 

 adhered to, viz. to decline accepting any paper on physical science 

 which consists merely of an unverified h3-pothesis, however ingenious 

 and plausible such an hypothesis may be. A law of nature is not sus- 

 ceptible of a logical demonstration, like that of a proposition of geo- 

 metry, but is proved by its fitness to explain old, and to predict new, 

 phenomena. The verification of an hypothesis, as we have stated in 

 the last report, consists in deducing consequences from it, and ascer- 

 taining, by a direct appeal to observation or experiment, the truth or 

 falsity of these deductions. Any paper, therefore, on material 

 science which does*not contain original experiments and observations 

 cannot be admitted as a part of the Contributions to Knowledge. The 

 rule we have adopted is in accordance with the practice of cautious 

 nivestigators. The law of universal gravitation existed for several 

 5'^ears in the mind of Newton as a well conditioned hypothesis before 

 it was given to the world as a verified and established theory. Besides 



