THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 191 



3. Meilioir on the Explosiveness of Nitre ; by Dr. Robert Hare. 



4. On the Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New York; by E- 

 G. Squier. 



5. Memoir on the Reciprocal Action of two Galvanic Currents ; 

 by A. Secchi, of Georgetown College. 



6. On the Classification of Insects, from Embryological Data ; by 

 Professor Louis Agiissiz. 



7. Monograph of Mosasaurus and the allied Genera ; by Dr. R. W. 

 Gibbes. 



Besides these, several other papers not described in jny Inst report 

 have been printed^ and are ready for separate distribution. The first 

 of these I shall mention is by Professor Lieber, of the College of South 

 Carolina, on the vocal sounds of Laura Bridgmnn, the blind and deaf 

 mute, wliose mind, apparently forever consigned to darkness, has been 

 almost miraculously enlightened, by the sagacity, ingenuity, and perse- 

 verance of Dr. Howe. 



There is, perhaps, at this tiine, no living human being who offers to 

 the ps^^jhologist so attractive an object of stud^' as this individual; and 

 hence every observation relative to her peculiar habits is of great interest. 

 Dr. Lieber has, from year to year, during his summer vacations, been 

 in the habit of visiting Laura Bridgman, and on one occasion spent 

 three months in her immediate neighborhood f()r the purpose of study- 

 ing the sounds which she utters as indicative of ideas. These sounds con - 

 sist principally of such as she volutarily adopted to designate different 

 individuals. The results of the observations given in this paper are 

 accompanied by a series of philosophical deductions and suggestions 

 which cannot fail to interest the psycliologist and plivsiologist. This 

 memoir is illustrated by an engraved y^/c slmde of a letter from Laura 

 Bridgman's own hand. 



The next paper is by Professor Baile;y of West Point. This gentleman 

 has rendered himself favorably known to the world of science by his 

 researches on minute animals and plants, which, though mostly unseen 

 by the naked eye, are found as widel}' distributed, and as permanent 

 and definite in character, as the largest organized objects in nature. This 

 paper gives the results of a series of microscopic observations which the 

 author made during his sojourn in the southern part of the United 

 States, whither he was ordered last winter on account of his health. It 

 designates numerous localities of" microscopic animals and plants, and 

 furnishes lists of the species found in each. It also contains a series of 

 tables presenting a number of species with the different localities where 

 each was f()und. The species so classed include those of the Desmi 

 diae, Diatomaceae, Inflisoriae, and x\lgae. Following these is a descrip- 

 tion of numerous other species, most of which are represented by litho- 

 graphic figures. 



Among the interesting facts arrived at by the author, are the discovery 

 of an extensive stratum of fossil infusoria} near Tampa Bay, Florida; 

 the existence oi'inflisoriaB in the rice fields of the south ; and the demon- 

 stration of the cosmopolite character of many microscopic objects hitherto 

 beheved to exist only in Europe. 



Another paper by the same author, but presented to the Institution by 

 Professor Bache, Superintendent of the U. S. Coast Survey, has refer- 



