56 RECORD OF SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS. 



ence, literature, arts, etc., as a memorial of the jubilee year of the 

 Queen, which was celebrated June 20, 1887. This semi-centeunial cor- 

 responds — not, indeed, with the period of the life of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, but with the interval from the time of securing the Smith- 

 son fund to the United States. The formal organization of the Insti- 

 tution was not effected till nearly ten years later. 



Notwithstanding the acknowledged educational value of these gen- 

 eral summaries of the annual advances of scientific investigation, and the 

 popular interest that has been manifested in this feature of the Smith- 

 sonian Keports, various difficulties in the i)ractical execution of the 

 scheme have arisen to render the continuance of the experiment of 

 doubtful expediency. In view of the numerous important tields of 

 scientific inquiry which have been necessarily omitted from the pro- 

 gramme, for lack of space for their presentation, (such as mathematics, 

 physiology, microscopy, etc.,) as well as of the entire domain of the 

 more popular topics embraced in the practical applications of science, 

 (such as horticultural and agricultural economy, engineering, mechanics, 

 and technology in general,) — the policy of attempting so inadequate a 

 survey of intellectual and industrial advancement, with its ever-increas- 

 ing range and complexity of development, may well be questioned. To 

 all this must be added the consideration that the numerous demands 

 upon the limited Smithsonian fund render it unable to bear the burden 

 that a just award to the collaborators engaged would require from it. 



Accordingly after perhaps another year of the more systematic treat- 

 ment of scientific progress as latterly undertaken, it is probable that it 

 may be thought advisable to revert to the earlier plan of publishing 

 each year a number of papers possessing a popular interest — selected 

 from foreign and domestic scientific journals or the Proceedings and 

 Transactions of learned societies, together with such original articles as 

 may appear to deserve general attention. 



