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REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. ng 
Several appointments to the Smithsonian table at Naples were 
ratified for the period between June 30, 1906, and June 30, 1907, the 
entire occupation of the seat for the year beimg eleven months. 
Since inquiries as to available dates are frequently received a year 
or even two years in advance of the time desired, it may be well 
to repeat that in the interest of all applicants it is not customary 
to approve a request for the seat more than six months in advance of 
the period desired. 
By extension of his appointment, Dr. Stewart Paton, of Johns 
Hopkins University, occupied the Smithsonian seat until the end 
of June, 1906. His work at Naples dealt principally with the prob- 
lems hitherto unsolved in connection with the nervous system and its 
relations to the action of the heart. As before noted, the results of 
this interesting research will be published on completion. 
The occupation of the Smithsonian seat at Naples by Dr. Maynard 
M. Metcalf, formerly of the Woman’s College in Baltimore, and now 
of Oberlin College, began before the close of the final session of 
Doctor Paton. Doctor Metcalf reports that on beginning his term 
at the station he continued his study of the parasites of frogs prose- 
cuted at Wiirzburg and designed for publication in connection with 
work done there. 
There being apparently some doubt as to whether or not the advan- 
tages of the Smithsonian seat at Naples are available to hitherto 
unknown investigators, it may be well to state again that the applica- 
tion of any student, who is suitably recommended to the Institution 
as prepared to undertake original work in embryological, histological, 
or other fields, will not fail to receive prompt consideration. 
The continued prompt and helpful action of the advisory commit- 
tee in reporting on questions relating to appointments, etc., is appre- 
ciated. Iam glad to say that the personnel of the committee remains 
the same as mentioned in the report of last year. 
PUBLICATIONS. 
It is mainly through its publications that that vital principle of 
the Institution, “ the diffusion of knowledge among men,” is carried 
out. The Institution proper maintains three regular series of pub- 
lications, the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, the Smith- 
sonian Miscellaneous Collections, and the Annual Reports, while 
under its auspices are issued the Annual Reports, Proceedings, and 
Bulletins of the National Museum, the Reports and Bulletins of the 
Bureau of American Ethnology, and the Annals of the Astrophysical 
Observatory, the whole presenting a fund of information covering 
a wide range of human knowledge in both a specialized and general 
form. 
