ADVERTISEMENT. 



The object of the General Appendix to the Annual Report of the 

 Smithsonian Institution is to furnish brief accounts of scientific dis- 

 covery in particuhir directions; reports of investigations made l)y 

 colhiborators of the Institution and memoirs of a general character 

 or on special topics that are of interest or value to the numerous 

 correspondents of the Institution. 



It has been a prominent ol^ject of the Board of Regents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, from a very early date, to enrich the annual 

 report required of them by law with memoirs illustrating tlie more 

 remarkable and important developments in physical and l)iological 

 discovery, as well as showing the general character of the operations 

 of the Institution; and this purpose has, during the greater part of 

 its history, been carried out largely by the publication of such papers 

 as would possess an interest to all attracted by scientific progress. 



In 1880 the Secretary, induced in part by the discontinuance of an 

 annual summary of progress which for thirty years previous had been 

 issued by well-known private i)ublishing firms, had prepared ))y com- 

 petent collaborators a series of abstracts, showing concisely the prom- 

 inent features of recent scientific progress in astronomy, geology, 

 meteorology, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, botany, zoology, and 

 anthropology. This latter plan was continued, though not altogether 

 satisfactorily, down to and including the year 1888. 



In the report for 1880 a return was made to the earlier mclhod of 

 presenting a miscellaneous selection of papers (some of them original) 

 embracing a considerable range of scientific investigation and discus- 

 sion. This method has been continued in the present report for 1905. 



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