REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 11 



RESEARCH. 



It was a part of the original plan of the Institution that its 

 Secretary should not give his time wholly to administrative 

 duties, but should, as a student of nature, directly aid in its 

 scientitic investigations. ^ 



Research work in various tields of science has l)een contin- 

 ued by the Institution and its dependencies. The Secretary 

 has made some progress toward the solution of the problem 

 of mechanical flight, and in the Astrophysical Observatory 

 has continued work believed to be important, which is de- 

 scribed later. 



Through the Museum and the Bureau of American Ethnol- 

 ogy the Institution has l^een enabled to carry on various bio- 

 logical and ethnological researches which will be found fully 

 described elsewhere in this report and need not be repeated 

 here. 



HODGKINS FUND. 



Among the many applications for grants from the Hodg- 

 kins fund, it has been found practicable to approve several 

 which conform to the conditions of the bequest, and investi- 

 gations in various lines of original research are making satis- 

 factory advances as mentioned below. 



In Noveml)er, 1900, a grant was approved on behalf of 

 Prof. Wallace C. Sabine, of Harvard Uni versify, for the aid 

 of his investigations on sound, the particular phase of the 

 problem under investigation being the su})ject of loudness 

 and interference. This research requires apparatus of special 

 design, part of which is now complete and is satisfactory. 



Professor Sabine, who had charge of the design of the new 

 symphony hall in Boston, has for several 3'ears given much 

 attention to the problem of architectural acoustics, or the 

 science of sound as applied to buildings. It is expected that 

 his complete report will be of nuich practical interest in con- 

 nection with this subject. 



In December, 1900, Mr. C. Canovetti, chief engineer of the 

 city of Brescia, Italy, made an application for a Hodgkins 



^ Resolved, That the Secretary continue his researches in physical science, 

 and present such facts and principles as may be developed, for publication 

 in the Smithsonian Contributions. (Adopted at meeting of the Board of 

 Rej^ents January 26, 1847.) 



