EIGH'rn ANNUAL REPORT OP 



This afldition to our force was absolutely necessary to a more efficient 

 discharge of the duties which devolve on us. No person, except from 

 actual experience, can form an idea of the amount of labor required 

 for the transaction of the ordinary business The correspondence alone 

 is sufficient to occupy two persons continually during the usual office 

 hours. 



During the past year one half of the whole income has been appro'- 

 priated to the building; and after deducting the general expenses, the 

 remainder has been equally divided between the two great classes of 

 objects designated in the plan. The portion of the income after these 

 divisions, which could be devoted to any one object, has been necessa- 

 rily small ; for example, all that could be ex{)en(led lor researches, 

 publications, and lectures, and indeed for every tiling of which the pub- 

 lic at a distance could take imm.ediate cognizance, has not exceeded 

 ^4,500, and yet out of this sum we have been expected to produce 

 results for wFiich the whole income would be entirely inadequate. I 

 trust, however, that a proper consideration of the facts presenled in the 

 remainder of" this report, will show that much has been done in propor- 

 tion to the means at our command. 



Puhlication of Original Memoirs* 



The important aid which can be rendered to the promotion of know- 

 ledge b_y the publication, and in some cases by assistance in the prepa- 

 ration of important memoirs, is now be3'ond all question. Experience 

 has thus far abundantly shov^'n that much more matter of the most 

 valuable chEuacter will be presented for publication, free of all charge, 

 than tiie portion of the income devoted to this object will allow us to 

 publish. Indeed, there is now on hand, or in preparation, more material 

 of this kind than we shall be able, with our limited income, to give to 

 the world in two or three years. In view of" this fact, I cannot repress 

 the expression of regret which I have always felt, that the restrictions 

 arising from the requisitions of Congress do not permit a greater expen- 

 diture lor this most important object. It is chiefly by the publications 

 of the Institution that its fame is to be spread through the world, and 

 the monument m.ost befitting the name of Smithson erected to his 

 memory. 



Most of the (Hstinguished foreign literary and scientific societies have 

 placed the Institution on their list of exchange, and in m.any instances 

 have presented not only the current volume of their transactions, but 

 also full sets of the preceding volumes. We have reason to believe 

 that bot()re the expiration of another year, we shall receive in exchange 

 the transactions of nearly all the learned societies of tfie world, and 

 that the Institution will be recognised by them as an active co-ope- 

 rator in the promotion of knowledge. Prot"essor Baird has f"urnished a 

 list of" the literary and scientific societies to which the quarto volumes 

 have been presented. 



The following Memoirs, an account of which was given in my last 

 report, have been printed, or are now in press: 



1. Researches relative to the planet Neptune; by S. C. Walker. 



2. Contriliutions to the Physical Geography of the United States ; by 

 Charles Ellet, Jr. 



