REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 13 



automatic kite records at a height of over 10,000 feet, an alti- 

 tude which so lately as four years ago had never Ween attained. 

 Successive grants have since been made, and while it is due to 

 the persistence and skill of Mr. Rotch and his assistants that 

 his own extraordinary record of 14,000 feet has been surpassed 

 by him, it is a matter of gratification that the Hodgkins fund 

 of the Institution has in some way been associated with such 

 results. 



Dr. Carl Barus, of Brown University, whose research on 

 ionized air, mentioned in my last report as having been aided 

 by a grant from the Hodgkins fund, has during the progress 

 of his investigation frequently summarized his provisional 

 results for the Institution. As in other cases, because of the 

 immediate interest attaching to this investigation, Dr. Barus 

 has I teen authorized to publish preliminary reports of his prog- 

 ress in the scientific journals. In April, 1901, this research 

 was completed and reported upon in detail to the Institution 

 so far as concerned the. discussion of data accumulated since 

 the approval of the Hodgkins grant. 'Phis completed report 

 is now in course of publication in the Smithsonian Contribu- 

 tions to Knowledge. 



This research on atmospheric conditions, in investigating 

 the production of nuclei, determining their number per cubic 

 centimeter, their velocity, their association with ionization, 

 the effect of the presence of the electric field, etc., proves 

 interesting not only in its own methods and results, hut 

 because of its agreement with the data obtained by other 

 investigators from different experiments and theoretically 

 different points of view. 



The research of Prof. Louis Bevier, of Rutgers College, in 

 connection with the analysis of vowel sounds is steadily pro- 

 gressing. During the year detailed studies of several vowel 

 sounds have been made with results which agree yell with the 

 conclusions arrived at through an entirely different method 

 by von Helmholtz in his analysis of German vowels. 



The lower resonance detected in our vowel sounds by Dr. 

 Bevier, and not recorded by von Helmholtz save for '-'a," will 

 later be the subject of detailed discussion which will endeavor 

 to establish and explain these facts. A further report upon 

 this research is awaited with interest. 



In December, 1900, a grant was approved on behalf of Dr. 



