REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution : 



GeA'TLEMEn : The ohjcxit of tlie Aiiiiiial Report of the Secrctaiy is 

 not only to present to the Regents an account of the transactions of the 

 period which elapses between their successive sessions, but also to 

 make such suggestions as may be important to the future management 

 of the affiiirs of the Institution, and state such flicts in reference to it 

 as may be interesting to the public, or which may furnish a connected 

 history of its transactions. 



Since the beginning of the Institution no change has taken place in 

 the policy originally adopted with reference to the system of active 

 operations. The details of this plan were well considered, and its im- 

 portance as the only means of properly carrying out the intention of 

 the donor fully understood at the first. The theory of the plan was 

 expressed in a few propositions, which have been constantly kept in 

 view, and acted upon as far as the law of Congi-ess and other restric- 

 tions would permit. 



Tliis plan, although prosecuted under very unfavorable circumstan- 

 ces, has produced results such as to render the name of the Institution 

 favorably known wherever science and literature are cultivated, and 

 to connect it indissolubty with the history of the progress of knowledge 

 in our times. As a proof of this we need only state the following facts: 

 The Institution has promoted astronomy, by the aid furnished the 

 researches which led to the discovery of the true orbit of the new 

 planet Neptune, and the determination of the perturbations of this 

 planet and the other bodies of the solar system, on account of their 

 mutual attraction. It has also aided the same branch of science by 

 ftirnishing instruments and other facilities to the Chilian expedition, 

 under Lieut. Gilhss ; and b}^ preparing and publishing an ephemeris 

 of Neptune, which has been adopted by all the astronomers of the 

 world. 



It has advanced geogi-apliv, by providing the scientific traveller with 

 annual lists of the occultations of the principal stars, by the moon, 

 for the determination of longitude ; by the preparation of tables for 

 ascertaining heights with the barometer; and by lh(^ collection and 

 publicatif)n of important tiicts relative to the topograpliy of diflerent 

 parts of the country, particularly of the valley of the Mississippi. 



It has established an extended system of meteorology, consisting ot 

 a corps of several hundred intelHgent observers, who are daily noting 

 the phases of the weather in every part of the continent of North 

 America. It has imported standard instruments, constructed hundreds 

 of compared thermometers, barometers, and psychrometers, and has 

 furnished improved tables and directions for observing with these 

 instruments the various changes of the atmosphere, as to temperature, 

 pressure, moisture, &c. It has collected, and is collecting, from its 



