THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 23? 



ties of our country, and to the language of the Indian tribes, by the 

 publications of the Institution on these subjects. 



The following is an account of the memoirs received since the date 

 of the last Report : 



1. Contributions to the Hisiorv of the Marine Algae of North America. — - 

 By Dr. W. H. Harvey: Part II. 



In the Rejiort for 1850, an account was given of the acceptance for 

 publication of an extended and expensive memoir of the Marine Algae 

 of the eastern and southern coasts oi" the United States, by Prof. 

 Harvey, of the University of Dublin. The first part of this memoir 

 was published last spring, and has found much favor with the botanicai 

 world, as well as with the inhabitants and visitors of our sea-board» 

 The second part of the same memoir is now printed, and will be 

 ready for distribution in the course of a few weeks. It is illustrated 

 by twenty-four plates, and comprises 240 pages of printed matter. 



The common name "of the class of plants which forms the subject of 

 this memoir, viz : sea-weeds, has subjected the Institution to the charge 

 of expending its funds on trifling and unworthy objects ; and as the 

 same objection may l:>e made to many of the papers forming the series- 

 of Smithsonian Contributions, a few words in vindication of researches 

 of this character may not be inappropriate. 



Nothing in the wliole system of nature is isolatrd or unimportant. 

 The fall of a leaf and the motion of a planet are governed by the same 

 laws. The structure of a lichen and the formation of an oak are equally 

 the result of definite plans. It is in the study of objects, considered 

 trivial and unworthy of notice by the casual observer, that genius finds 

 the most important and interesting phenomena. It was in the investi- 

 gation of the varying colors of the soap-bubble that Newton detected 

 the remarkable fact of the fits of easy reflection and easy refraction 

 presented by a ray of light in it& passage through space, and upon 

 which he established the fundamental principle of the present gen- 

 eralization of the undulatory theory of light. Smithson himself, the 

 founder of this Ii:istitution, considered the analysis of a tear as nowise 

 unworthy of his peculiar chemical skill ; and well might he so con- 

 sider it; for the knowledge of the composition of every secretion 

 of the body is of importance, in a ph3^siological point of view, as 

 well as in the preservation of heaUh and the cuje of disease. The 

 study of the cause of the spasmodic muscular contraction of a frog, 

 when brought into contact with two pieces of metal, revealed to 

 Galvani the first facts of the branch of science which now bears his 

 name. The microscopic organization of animals and plants is replete 

 with the highest instruction ; and, surely, in the language of one of the 

 fathers of modern physical science, " nothing can be unworthy of 

 being investigated by man which was thought worthy of being created 

 by God." 



These remarks are particularly applicable to the study of the lower 

 classes of the organic creation. Nature everywhere exhibits economy 

 of means in attaining the most complex and diversified ends. Every 

 result is produced in the simplest manner when viewed in relation to 

 the whole design. All parts of organized beings, whether plants or 

 animals, are formed of a few elementary structures, variously trans- 



