REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 15 



A preliminary report has been received from Prof. William 

 Hallock, of Columbia University, New York, who, as before 

 stated, is conducting a research on the motion of a particle of 

 air under the influence of articulate sound. General investi- 

 gations allied to this subject, which are carried on in the 

 laboratory of Columbia University, although in no way aided 

 by the Hodgkins fund, have contributed helpfully to a knowl- 

 edge of the principles underlying these experiments, and espe- 

 cially to certain parts of the investigation referring to the 

 relation between the amplitude of vibration of an air particle 

 and the amplitude of vibration of a film, or dust particle, 

 suspended in the air. Dr. Hallock's research will be continued 

 during the present year, when a final report is expected. 



A third grant has been approved on behalf of the Journal 

 of Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity, the 

 editor, as in the two previous years, sending to educational 

 establishments a specified number of copies of the Journal, in 

 accordance with a list approved by the Institution. 



The conditions requisite to the approval of a grant from the 

 Hodgkins fund, and to which applicants give assent before 

 final action, are stated in the Hodgkins circular, a copy of 

 which was included in the report of last year. It ma} T , how- 

 ever, be here repeated that should an investigation be of con- 

 siderable duration, a summary of progress is to be submitted 

 to the Institution at the end of six months, as well as a subse- 

 quent report recording the final results of a research. 



These researches are, in the words of Mr. Hodgkins, all 

 devoted to the '"increase and diffusion" of more "exact 

 knowledge in regard to the nature and properties of atmos- 

 pheric air in connection with the welfare of man," and are 

 aided by the Hodgkins fund, it is hoped, in a manner which 

 their promoter intended when he made his gift to the Institu- 

 tion in the above words. 



NAPLES TABLE. 



Realizing that the opportunity for study in the Naples 

 Zoological Station is an especial advantage to students pre- 

 pared to do original work in embryological, histological, or 

 other fields, the Institution is desirous of granting the privi- 

 lege of the Smithsonian Table to all applicants so qualified, 

 and with this end in view the conditions, which are here 



