15 [ 108 ] 



tisticjil infbnnalion ^vhich has already been received in return for this 

 volume. 



A report has also heeii puhHshed on the recent improvements in the 

 cliemical arts. It is compiled from articles which have appeared during 

 the last ten years in the various journals of science and the arts in the Eng- 

 lish, French and German languages. Though this report is chiefly intended 

 to benefit the ])ractical man, yet it will he found interesting to the general 

 reader, as exhibiting the cotemporaneous advance of science and art, and 

 the dependence of the latter on the former for the improvement of its most 

 important processes. 



The accounts given in the report alluded to do not consist of descriptions 

 of methods which have been merely proposed and published without prac- 

 tical verification. On the contrary, care has been taken to select such as 

 have been actvially tried, or such as offer great probability of success from 

 the well-established })rinciples on which they are based. 



The preparation of this report was entrusted to Professor James C 

 Booth, assayer of the United States mint at Philadelphia, who associated 

 with himself Mr. Campbell Morfit, of Baltimore. The work has been ex- 

 ecuted in a manner highly creditable to the authors, and will, I doubt not, 

 prove very acceptable to the public. Notes will be made of the new 

 inventions of the same class, as they appear in the journals, so that in the 

 course of a few years another report of a similar kind, or one wdiich may 

 be considered a continuation of this, can be published. 



Copies, at the mere cost of printing, paper and commission, are offered 

 for sale. The matter has been stereotyped, in order to supply all the de- 

 mand, and to reproduce this member of the series, should the subject be con- 

 tinued. 



The progress of the elaborate report on the forest trees of North America, 

 mentioned in the last two reports, was for some time arrested by the ab- 

 sence of the author. Dr. Gray, in Europe. He has now, however, returned, 

 and will resume the preparation of the drawings, as soon as the funds of the 

 Institution will admit of the expenditure. This work has proved a more 

 expensive undertaking thanw^asat first anticipated, and can only be finished 

 on the original plan, by extending the time of its publication over several 

 years. It will form a valuable contribution to the botany and economical 

 and ornamiCntal arts of our country. 



Dr. F. G. Melsheimer, of Dover, Pennsylvania, has presented to the In- 

 stitution a catalogue of the Coleopterous insects of North America, with 

 references to the principal places of description. This has been put to 

 press, but progresses slowly on account of the great care necessary in cor- 

 recting the proofs. When printed, it will be of great service to the cause 

 of American entomology. 



Besides the reports, other works are m progress, among which may be 

 mentioned a small volume by Professor Baird, consisting of practical direc- 

 tions for the collection and preservation of specimens of Natural History. 

 This will be illustrated with numerous figures, and issued as soon as the 

 engravings can be procured. A part of the letter-press has been finished. 

 It is especially designed for the use of travellers and ofhcers of the Army 

 and Navy who may be inclined to make collections for the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, but will be of general interest to the cultivators of Natural History. 

 A volume of tables of use in Meteorology and other branches of scientific 

 observations, has been prepared, under the direction and at the expense of the 



