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REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Smithsonian Annual Report. — The official report of the Board of Re- 

 geuts for the year 1880 was presented to Congress January 19, 1881, 

 and an edition of 15,560 copies was ordered to be printed. This in- 

 cluded the usual reports of the Secretary, of the Executive Committee, 

 of the Board of Regents, and of the National Museum Building Com- 

 mission, together with the Journal of proceedings of the Board of Re- 

 gents. The " General Appendix" to the report, made up subsequently, 

 comprised, first, a record of recent scientific progress, which is regarded 

 as a valuable feature of the annual, and one desirable to be perma- 

 nently maintained. The various subjects were assigned to different col- 

 laborators as follows : Introduction, by the Secretary ; recent progress in 

 Astronomy, by Prof. E. S. Holden ; in Geology and Mineralogy, by 

 Dr. George W. Hawes ; in Physics and Chemistry, by Prof. George P. 

 Barker ; in Botany, by Prof. William G. Farlow ; in Zoology, by Dr. Theo- 

 dore Gill; in Anthropology, by Prof. Otis T. Mason. The remainder of 

 the General Appendix was occupied, secondly', with a bibliography of 

 Anthropology, by Prof. O. T. Mason ; abstracts of Anthropological cor- 

 respondence of the Institution ; a report on the Luray cavern; a dis- 

 cussion of Professor Snell's barometric observations, by Prof. F. H. 

 Loud ; an account of investigations relative to illuminating materials, 

 by Joseph Henry (reprinted from the United States Light-House Report 

 for 1875) ; a synopsis of the scientific writings of Sir William Herschel, 

 by Prof. Edward S. Holden and Charles S. Hastings ; and, lastly, re- 

 ports giving an account of the principal astronomical observatories of 

 the world. 



ASTRONOMICAL ANNOUNCEMENTS BY TELEGRAPH. 



An important function of the Institution, initiated by my predecessor 

 in 1873, and since carried out with great regularity, as exhibited in the 

 annual reports for nearly a decade past, comprises the transatlantic in- 

 terchange by telegraph of important astronomical discoveries requiring 

 immediate attention from numerous or widely separated observers. 

 These astronomical announcements through the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion have been of great value in the promotion of science, and liavo 

 been highly appreciated. 



The announcements of astronomical discoveries made during- the past 

 year are as follows : 



List of minor planets discovered in 1881. 



