REPORT OF THE SECRET A KY. 18 



RESEARCH. 



It was a part of the orioinal plan of the Institution that its Secrotaiy 

 should not j>'ivo his time wholly to administrative duties^ l)ut should 

 directly aid in its seientitie investio-jitions." 



Research work in various fields of science has been continued by the 

 Institution and its depeiidencies. 



I have made some proo-ress toward the solution of the problem of 

 mechanical tlit>ht, and have been carrying- on, with the consent of the 

 Regents, some experiments for the War Department, at its expense, 

 and have addeil other experiments, partly at the expense of the 

 Institution. Owing to an accident to the launching apparatus it was 

 not possible to make a satisfactory test of the ferodrome, and the 

 exhaustion of available funds has compelled the a))andonment, at least 

 temporarily, of the experiments. 



In the Astrophysical Observatory I have continued work believed 

 to be important, and inaugurated some experiments of novel interest, 

 which are referred to later. 



Through the Museum and the Bureau of American Ethnolog}' the 

 Institution has been enabled to carry on various biological, geological, 

 and ethnological researches, which will be found fully described else- 

 where in this report and need not ))e repeated here. 



HODGKINS FUND. 



Series of experiments conducted with the aid of grants from the 

 Hodg'kins fund of the Institution are still in progress. Among those 

 sufficiently advanced to permit publication, the investigations of Dr. 

 Carl Barns may be mentioned. Two memoirs detailing the earlier 

 results of these experiments have already been issued in the Smith- 

 sonian Contributions to Knowledge, and a third report is now 

 awaited, which will record experiments on the ionization and nuclea- 

 tion of air in contact with phosphorus and with water nuclei. Other 

 interesting data in regard to the diffusion of vapor into nucleated air, 

 periodic color distribution in coronas, etc., will be given in this 

 memoir, which will probably be issued during the present year. 



Dr. E. W. Scripture, of Yale University, to whom a grant was 

 awarded for the construction of a "vowel organ," has been prosecut- 

 mg his researches for the last 3'ear in Berlin. He reports numerous 

 interesting experiments in the construction of resonators of various 

 materials with which he has succeeded in producing the different vowel 



« Resolved, That the Secretary continue his researches in physical science, and pre- 

 sent such facts and priiicii)les as may be developed for publication in the Smithsonian 

 contributions. (Adopted at meeting of the Board of Regents January 26, 1847.) 



