RECORD OF SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS FOR 1881. 



INTEODUCTIOK 



While it has been a i)romiuent object of the Board of Regents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution from a very early date in its history to enrich 

 the annual report required of them by law, with scientific memoirs illus- 

 tratiug the more remarkable and important developments in physical 

 and biological discovery, as well as showing the general character of 

 ihe operations of the Institution, this purpose had not been carried out 

 on any very systematic plan. Believing however that an annual report 

 or summary of the recent advances made in the leading departments 

 of scientific inquiry would supply a want very generally felt, and would 

 be favorably received by all those interested in the diffusion of knowl- 

 edge, the Secretary had prepared for the report of 1880, by competent 

 collaborators, a series of abstracts showing concisely the prominent 

 features of recent scieutiflc progress in astronomy, geology, physics, 

 chemistry, mineralogy, botany, zoology, and anthropology. 



The subjects of terrestrial physics and meteorology (which should i^rop- 

 erly have succeeded the survey of geology) were unfortunately omitted, in 

 consequence of the inability of the writer selected for these departments 

 to obtain sufficient leisure from other pressing duties to prepare a suit- 

 able abstract in time. This omission has been partially supplied in the 

 record for the present year by including a meteorological retrospect for 

 the years 1879 and 1880. 



The subjects of geology and mineralogy, which were referred to ]\Ir. 

 George W. Hawes, of the i^^ational Museum (who had acceptably pre- 

 pared this summary for the record of 1880), have been delayed this year 

 by the prolonged and much-regretted illness of Mr. Hawes; and it has 

 been found impossible to obtain in time a substitute in this department. 



With every effort to secure prompt attention to all the more impor- 

 tant details of such a work, various unexpected delays frequently render 

 it impracticable to obtain all the desired reports in each department 

 within the time prescribed. In such cases it is designed, if possible, to 

 briug up such deficiencies and supply them in subsequent reports. 



The value of this annual record of progress would be much enhanced 

 by an enlargement of its scope, and the inclusion, not only of such 

 branches as geography, microscopy, &c., but also of the more practical 

 topics of agricultural and horticultural economy, engineering, and tecli- 



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