14 Mis. No. 48. 



present state of France is attended with such an interruption of 

 the ordinary means of scientific publication, that the manuscript vohimeg 

 on natural history of one of the most distinguished professors of the 

 Jardin des Plantes are offered to us for publication in tlie Smithsonian 

 Contributions for no remuneration, save a few copies for distribution 

 among friends. Were the Institution fully in operation I should not hesi- 

 tate, in accordance with tbe liberality which should characterise an estab- 

 lishment founded on the bequest of a foreigner, to reconmiend the adop- 

 tion of these memoirs for publication at the expense of the institution, and 

 perhaps we might now distribute them through several of our volumes and 

 finish the publication of them in the course of a few years. 



Oris:^ial researches. 



The second part of the plan consists in instituting original researches, 

 the results of which are to be published, with the other memoirs, in the 

 volumes of the Smithsonian Contributions. Under this head may be first 

 mentioned the publication of the tables ordered at the last meeting of the 

 board, for facilitating the calculation of the time of appearance of occulta- 

 tions of the fixed stars by the moon. The object of these tables is to 

 assist in the accurate determination of the longitude of important places on 

 the continent of North America, and their importance has been attested by 

 the recommendation of some of the most distinguished astronomers of this 

 country. The accurate establishment of the longitude of any place renders 

 it a landmark to the surveyor, the geographer and the astronomer, and 

 furnishes a most important element in determining its relative position on 

 the map of the country. The observation of occultations affords one of the 

 most ready means of solving this most difficult practical problem. The 

 tables were calculated at the expense and under the direction of the Insti- 

 tution, and were sent to all persons known to be interested in practical 

 astronomy, with a request that the observations which might be made in 

 connexion with them might be sent to the Institution for computation, or 

 published in some accessible journal. These tables have been so well re- 

 ceiy^d by astronomers, tliat with the concurrence of the Executive Commit- 

 tee, I have ventured to order the computation of a set of the same kind on 

 a more extensive scale for the year 1849. Copies of these will be sent to 

 United States ofHcers on the coast of Oregon and California, and will be 

 distributed among all the other observers in this country. They will be 

 found of much practical imporiance to the corps engaged by the general 

 government in establishing the boundary lines of our new possessions. 

 It is hoped that the remuneration allowed for the labor of computing these 

 tables will not be considered extravagant, when it is mentioned that it has 

 occupied the whole time of Mr. Downes for nearly six months, at the rate of 

 eight hours a day. 



With the concurrence of the Executive Committee, I have also publish- 

 ed an ephemeris of the planet Neptune, or in other words, a table indica- 

 ting its position in the heavens during each day of the present year, by 

 which those interested in astronomy are enabled readily to find the place 

 of the new planet in the heavens, or the direction in which the telescope 

 must be pointed in order to observe it. Copies of this have been sent to 

 all the principal astronomers in the world, and it has received the highest 

 commendation. It was calculated by Mr. S. C. Walker from the orbit 



