PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS. 229 



I shall be glad to bear from you about them after they have been examined. 

 I have sent a specimen to Dr. Dawson, Montreal, but fear the season is too 

 late for him to get it this year. 



I remain, my dear sir, your obedient servant, 



HENRY POOLE. 

 Joseph Henry, 



Secretary Smithsonian Institution, Washington. 



The above relates to a very interesting specimen of a remarkable concretion 

 of a clayey material, which occurs in thin slabs, entirely formed of cones, the 

 axes of which are all at right angles to the parallel surfaces of the slabs. The 

 only explanation which occurs to us of the mode of formation of this structure 

 is that of percolation of water charged with earthy material through a porous 

 rock, and filling a horizontal crevice with parallel sides, with a series of stalac- 

 tites and stalagmites. J. H. 



Hungarian National Museum, 



Pesth, October 15, 1863. 



Sir : In reply to your esteemed letter of the 29th of May, I have the honor 

 to inform you that the birds sent us through Dr. Flugel have been duly re- 

 ceived, and I beg leave to return the heartfelt thanks of our institution for the 

 same. Full acknowledgments have also been made in our reports, and in the 

 newspapers, of our obligations to the Smithsonian Institution, which stands so 

 high in public opinion everywhere. 



AUGUST V. KUBINYI, Director. 

 Joseph Henry, Esq., 



Secretary Smithsonian Institution, Washington. 



Christiana, Norway, November 4, 1863. 



Sir : Having been appointed director of the Ethnological Museum at the 

 University of Christiana, I have perused a letter of the 6th May, 1862, from 

 the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to the secretary of this university. 



As this letter alludes to the endeavors of your excellent Institution for the 

 collection of ethnological objects from North America, and the utility of estab- 

 lishing a system of exchange for European curiosities, I have made use of the 

 opportunity to offer you what we have in this line. 



The aboriginal population of this country are the Laps or Laplanders, living 

 at present on the mountains and sea-coasts farthest north of Norway, Sweden, 

 and Russia. Their language proves them undoubtedly to be of the Mongolian 

 stock in Asia, and, as such, related to the red man of America. The Laps are 

 a remarkable instance of this race, as they are converted to Christianity and 

 have adopted the habits and industry of civilization, modified by the severity 

 of the arctic climate in their country and their peculiar mode of subsistence as 

 nomads with flocks of reindeer. We have procured a set of models made by 

 the individuals of the people themselves, and illustrative of their present mode 

 of existence. 



In offering this small collection for your acceptance, we hope that it may 

 serve a scientific purpose in comparing the red man with his yellow brother in 

 the old continent. If it should be in your power to afford us some correspond 

 ing objects from your field of research, that is so immensely more extensive, a 



