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Terres or Bad Lands, where his hrother had previously found the remains 

 of the fossils sent to the Academy. He afterwards ascended the Missouri, 

 to a point several hundred miles above Fort Union. He returned in 

 Aui^ust last in renewed health to gladden the hearts of his parents 

 and friends, with the prospect of long life and usefulness, but though 

 he had withstood the privations and exposures of the wilderness, he 

 sank under an attack of a prevalent disease and died after a few 

 weeks illness. 



He left a journal of all the important events of his tour, which is 

 thought of sufficient importance to be appended to this report. 



For a particular account of the interesting specimens which he procured, 

 n\any of which are new and undescribed, I must refer to the appended 

 report of Professor Baird. A part of the specimens, those of the fossil 

 remains, have been referred to Dr. Leidy, of Philadelphia, who will pre- 

 sent the result of his investigations relative to them, for publication in the 

 third volume of the vSmithsonian Contributions. 



A small appropriation has also been made to defray in part the expense 

 of exploration, relative to the erosions of the surface of the earth, espe- 

 cially by rivers, and also for investigations relative to terraces and ancient 

 sea beaches, under the direction of President Hitchcock. An abstract of 

 these investigations, as far as they have been made, has been received by 

 the Institution, and a full account of the whole, it is expected, will soon 

 ]je ready for publication. 



Also, an exploration for the increase of the Smithsonian collection, 

 ]>articularly in fishes and reptiles, of whifch our knowledge is most imper- 

 t'eet, was undertaken by Professor Baird, accompanied by a number of 

 young gentlemen, his former pupils. The result of this expedition which 

 cost the Institution little more than the price of materials and transpor- 

 tation, was a large number of specimens, including numerous species before 

 unknown to science. 



Experiments. — A series of experiments has been made, during the 

 past year, under the direction of Professor Jewett, to test the value of 

 a new plan of stereotyping. If the result of these experiments be favo- 

 rable, it is proposed to purchase the right to use the invention, for the 

 jiurposes of the Institution. Should the invention be found to possess the 

 (^haracter to which it appears entitled, it will not only be of much impor- 

 tance to the Institution, but to the world ; and we shall have done good 

 service to the cause of knowledge, by giving it our countenance and 

 assistance. Professor Jewett has found it especially applicable to the 

 accomplishment of his system of stereotyping catalogues of libraries, by 

 separate titles, and, in this application, it will certainly be of great value, 

 even should it fail in other respects to realize the sanguine expectations 

 of its inventor. 



The result of the experiments will be submitted to a commission of 

 l)ersons properly qualified to judge of its merits, and if their report be 

 favorable, a small sum will be allowed for the use of it. 



Besides the experiments mentioned under the head of meteorology, 

 made by Mr. Espy, on the cold produced by the rarefaction of air, Dr. 

 Hare, of Philadelphia, is employing articles of apparatus belonging to the 

 Institution, in a series of researches on the phenomena exhibited in the 

 air, and in a vacuum by rubbing silicious minerals against each other. Tho 

 "esults of these experiments, with the drawings of the apparatus employed, 



