S. Mis. 53. 15 



antiquities of our country, and to the languages 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 : 



Contributions to the Pllstory of the Marine Alga3 of North America: 

 By Dr. W. H. Harvey: Tart 2. 



In the report for lS-50 an account was given of the acceptance for 

 publication of an extended and expensive memoir on the Marine Algae 

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

 Harve}^ of the University of Dublin. The first part of this memoir 

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

 world, as well as with the inhabitants and visitors of our seaboard. 

 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 

 b}" tw^enty-four plates, and comprises 240 pages of printed matter. 



The common name of the class of plants wliich forms the subject 

 of this memoir, viz : seaweeds, has subjected the Institution to the 

 charge of expending its funds on trifling and unw^orlhy objects ; and 

 as the same objection may be 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 whole system of nature is isolated 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 o&,k 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 investigation 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 its passage through 

 space, and upon whicli he established the finidamental principle of the 

 present generalization of the unduiatory theor}^ of light. Smithson 

 himself, the founder of this Institution, considered the analysis of a 

 tear as nowise unworthy of his peculiar chemical skill ; and well might 

 he so consider it; for the knowledge of the composition of every 

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

 viewj as w^ell as in the preservation of health and the cure of disease. 

 The study of the cause of the spasmodic muscular contraction of a 

 frog, when i>rought 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 

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

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

 being iavestigated 1)3^ man which was thought worthy of being created 

 by God." 



These remarks are particularly a|>plicablc 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, ai-e formed of a few elementary structures, variously trans- 



