20 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



The experiment was tried under his immediate successor of 

 publishing in place of these an annual resume of the science 

 of the world, which undertaking was soon found to be an 

 impractical charge, if done on a desirable scale, and nearly 

 useless with anything less; and the present Secretary, })eliev- 

 ing, with Secretary Henry, that the Institution's function for 

 the diffusion of knowledge was only less important than that 

 for its increase, resumed and extended the early plan of giving 

 short memoirs by writers of authority who are al;)le to present 

 new facts in a nontechnical manner, thus furnishing a sum- 

 mary of the more important progress made in all departments 

 of .science during the year elapsed, supplemented by a few 

 papers relating to more remote periods, as in the case of 

 oriental research. 



This summary has had the Secretary's increasing attention 

 for the last two or three years, not only because of its intrinsic 

 importance, but since the Institution thus becomes more 

 widel}^ known to those whose help it desires. 



The Secretary has given an unusual amount of personal 

 care to the General Appendix of the Report for 1900,^ which 

 contains 43 articles on various branches of science as enu- 

 merated on another page, in the report of the editor. 



The Annual Report of the Institution for 1899 has been dis- 

 tributed and the report for 1900 has been put in type, but the 

 latter volume was not received from the Public Printer in 

 time for its distribution to the general public before the close 

 of the fiscal year. 



There was also received from the Printer a delayed portion 



^ As the Report for 1900 marks the close of the century, considerable 

 space is given to reviews of the progress in various branches of science 

 during the nineteenth century, prepared by men distinguished in their 

 various fields. The subjects thus reviewed are astronomy, chemistry, 

 geology, physics, electricity, geography, biology, medicine, psychical 

 research, which, with an article on the "Century's great men of science,'"? 

 furnish in brief a picture of scientific activity of the last century. 



China, which has figured so much in the public eye daring the year 

 past, is given especial prominence. There is a brief sketch of the Pekin 

 Observatory, the looting of which created so much comment; an article by 

 the Chinese minister, \Vu Ting-Fang, on mutual helpfulness between China 

 and the United States; Chinese folklore and some AVestern analogies, 

 and an exceptionally interesting account of the loot of the Imperial Sum- 

 mer Palace at Pekin in 1860. This latter is an abridged translation from 



