18 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



To meet the continued demand for the memoir bj- the hite Secretary 

 Langley on "The Internal Work of the Wind,'' first issued in 

 1893, a new edition has been put to press, adding to the original a 

 translation of a " Solution of a Special Case of the General Prob- 

 lem," by Rene de Saussure, which appeared in the French edition of 

 the work in 1893. 



Fortj' papers were published in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Col- 

 lections during the year, 32 of them aggregating 500 pages, in the 

 quarterly issue of that series, and 8 paj^ers, 647 pages, in the regular 

 series. These pai3ers cover a wide range of topics, as enumerated by 

 the editor in his report on publications. 



There was published in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 

 a paper on " The Development of the American Alligator " describ- 

 ing the results of investigations by Prof. Albert M. Reese, of Syra- 

 cuse University, who had been aided in his work by a grant from 

 the Smithsonian Institution. A brief paper recording the observa- 

 tions by Professor Reese on the breeding habits of the Florida alli- 

 gator was published in the Quarterly Issue of the Miscellaneous Col- 

 lections under date of May 4, 1907. 



A volume of the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections will be 

 devoted to a series of papers by the secretary on Cambrian geology 

 and paleontology. Two pajDers of this series. No. 1, " Nomenclature 

 of Some Cordilleran Formations," and No. 2, " Cambrian Trilobites," 

 were published before the close of the fiscal year. Three additional 

 papers were in proof form at the close of the year, namely. No. 3, 

 " Cambrian Brachiopoda : Descriptions of New Genera and Species ; " 

 No. 4, " Classification and Terminology of the Cambrian Brachio- 

 poda ; " and No. 5, " Cambrian Sections of the Cordilleran Area." 



The series of Smithsonian Tables continues to be in demand. A 

 revised edition of the Meteorological Tables has been published, and 

 a revised edition of the Physical Tables was in preparation for the 

 printer when the year closed. To this series of Meteorological, Physi- 

 cal, and Geographical Tables, there will be added a fourth volume, 

 " Smithsonian Mathematical Tables : Hyperbolic Functions," pre- 

 pared by Dr. George F. Becker and Mr. C. E. Van Orstrand. This 

 volume of between 300 and 400 pages is now in press. In the intro- 

 duction to the work the authors say: 



The lij-perbolic functions are named the hyperbolic sine, cosine, tangent, 

 cotangent, secant, and cosecant from tlieir close analogy to the circular func- 

 tions, the tangent being the ratio of tlie hyperbolic sine to the cosine and the 

 other three functions being the reciprocals of these, as in circular trigonom- 

 etry. They are usually denoted by adding /(, to the symbols of the circular 

 functions, as cosh u for the hyiM«rbolic cosine of m, sinh u for the hyperbolic 

 sine of u, etc. 



The first and most imi)or(aMt apidicalion of tlie functions now known as 

 hyiierbolic was made by Gerhard Mercator (Kremer) when he issued his map 



