20 THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



has resulted the substitution of lard oil for sperm oil and the consco|nf»<. 

 annual saving of a large amount of money to the government. 



In compliance with requests made by different departments of the government, 

 and of Congress, particularly since the war, it has conducted various series of in- 

 vestigations, principally in relation to questions involving mechanical, chemical, 

 and physicu'l principles, and has made reports on subjects of this kind amounting, 

 in the afrjrrfcgate, to several hundred. 



To facilitate researches, a laboratory has been established and kept constantly 

 in working condition, the privilege of using it having been given to various com- 

 petent persons for experimenting in different branches of physical science. 



The most important publications under this head are the researches relative to 

 electric currents, by Professor Secchi; on the explosibility of nitre, by Dr. Ilare; 

 on the ammonia-cobalt bases, by Drs. Gibbs and Genth; and on astronomical 

 photography, by Dr. Henry Draper. 



A valuable report on recent improvements in the chemical arts, by Booth & 

 Morfit, was published in IS52, and there have been given in the Annual Reports 

 of the Institution a series of translations and articles presenting a view of the 

 progress of physics and chemistry from year to year, since 1853, among which 

 we may particularly notice the translation of Muller on recent contributions to 

 electricity, and the reprint of Powell on radiant heat. 



Terrestrial Mngvetisvi. — The subject of terrestrial magnetism has been prose- 

 cuted simultaneously with that of meteorology, and an observatory was erected in 

 the Smithsonian grounds, fitted up with the most approved instruments, and con- 

 ducted under the joint auspices of the Institution and of the Coast Survey. After 

 remaining in operation for several years, the instruments were transferred to Key 

 West, as a remote station where observations were still more desirable. Instru- 

 ments were also furnished an expedition to Mexico, and used with much success 

 by Mr. Sonntag, whose results were published in the Smithsonian Contributions 

 to Knowledge. Apparatus was also furnished to Dr. Kane, Dr. Hayes, and other 

 explorers, by means of which valuable results were obtained. 



Of the more important publications of the Institution, which have tended to 

 advance this science, may be mentioned the articles, by Dr. Locke, on the dip and 

 intensity; the elaborate discussion, by Professor IJache, of the magnetic observa- 

 tions made at Girard College from 1841 to 1845; the report on magnctical obser- 

 vations in the Arctic Seas, by Dr. Kane, reduced at the expense of the Institution, 

 by Mr. C. Schott; and those made in Pennsylvania and adjacent States, by Pro- 

 fessor Buche, and in 3Iexico, by Mr. Sonntag. 



Explorations. — In the deficiency of means for more extended operations, the 

 efforts of the Institution in the line of explorations and collection arc confined, as 

 strictly as possible, to America. Arctic America, all the unknown portions of the 

 United States, Mexico, Central and South America, and the West Indies have been 

 laid under contribution for facts and materials by which to advance science. 



