I 



20 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



It has published a large series of original papers on the following 

 branches of science, namely on 



Mathematics and Physics 4 



Astronomy 14 



Meteorology 5 



Chemistry and Technology 2 



Geography, Ethnology and Philology 11 



Microscopical Science 4 



Zoology and Physiology 8 



Botany.... 7 



Pala3ontology 4 



Geology 1 



Miscellaneous 11 



Making in all o 71 



Not only have these memoirs been j)ublished and distributed at the 

 expense of the Institution, but the production of most of them has 

 been facilitated by assistance rendered by its funds, its library, its 

 collections, and its influence. They are not mere essays or compila- 

 tions relative to previously known and established truths, intended to 

 difiuse popular information among the people of the United States, 

 but positive additions to the sum of human knowledge, presented in a 

 form best fitted for the student and the teacher, and designed through 

 them to improve the condition of man generally. Though in some 

 cases they may appear to have no connexion with his wants^ yet they 

 are really essential to his mental, moral, or physical development. 

 Every well established truth is an addition to the sum of human 

 power, and though it may not find an immediate ajiplication to the 

 economy of every day life, we may safely commit it to the stream of 

 time, in the confident anticipation that the world will not fail to 

 realize its beneficial results. We are assured, as we have said before, 

 both from the example of Smithson himself, and from the words convey- 

 ing the intention of his bequest, that the promotion of the discovery of 

 such truths was his principal design in founding the Institution which 

 is to perpetuate and honor his name. Copies of the published memoirs 

 are sent to all the first-class libraries of the civilized world, and in 

 this way the idea of " diffusion of knowledge among men " has been 

 most effectually realized. Besides the memoirs referred to, a large 

 number of important reports and miscellaneous papers have been 

 published. 



