126 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1&16. 



diffusion of knowledge on such subjects as the Institution may decide 

 upon. 



On motion the report of the permanent committee was accepted. 



secretary's annual report. 



The secretary presented his annual report in printed form and 

 made statements thereon as follows : 



The Smithsonian Institution and its branches since the last annual 

 meeting of the Eegents have issued a total of 93 publications aggre- 

 gating about 8,000 pages and 650 plates. Twenty-four of these 

 publications (1,595 pages and 180 plates) were issued by the Institu- 

 tion proper; 66 of them (5,370 pages and 380 plates) by the National 

 Museum; and 3 (1^03 pages and 6 plates) by the Bureau of Ameri- 

 can Etlinology. The total number of all publications distributed 

 during the year was 145,272. In addition, the annual report of the 

 American Historical Association and of the National Society of the 

 Daughters of the American Eevolution were examined by the Institu- 

 tion and transmitted to the Congress. 



From among valuable contributions to nearly every branch of 

 science covered in these various publications, may be mentioned as 

 of special interest two papers issued by the Institution proper under 

 the Hodgkins fund, one, an extended study of the radiation of the 

 atmosphere, the other, a paper on the intensity of solar radiation 

 outside the atmosphere. In the course of experiments covered by 

 the latter, free balloons with recording apparatus reached altitudes 

 up to 15 miles and were recovered with the records in good condi- 

 tion. Another paper of considerable interest to physicists and 

 chemists is entitled "A magneton theory of the structure of the 

 atom,'' by A. L. Parson. 



Among National Museum publications there was issued from the 

 United States National Herbarium a Flora of New Mexico, which 

 describes some 3,000 species of plants from that State. 



There was also printed the usual pamphlet on explorations and 

 researches by the Smithsonian Institution and its branches, written 

 in a semipopular style and containing numerous illustrations. 



Last year there was published a work giving some results of the 

 secretary's studies in Pre-cambrian Algonkian algal flora, and there 

 has been prepared for the current annual report a general review of 

 the secretary's field and laboratory work in Cambrian geology dur- 

 ing several years past. 



The Annual Report of the Institution for 1914 was completed con- 

 siderably earlier than for any previous year. The general appendix 

 contains 30 papers relating as usual to all branches of science. The 

 public demand for the Smithsonian Report has become so great 



