566 The Smithsonian Institution 



of these circumstances that one can appreciate the value 

 of the services rendered by the Smithsonian Institution in the 

 encouragement of mathematical research in this country 

 during the fifteen years preceding the outbreak of the Civil 

 War. At the time of the publication of Peirce's "Analytical 

 Mechanics," in 1855, as appears from the list of subscribers, 

 there were in the United States only nine institutions or 

 libraries whose authorities or patrons evinced any desire for 

 such a work. Of these institutions the Smithsonian was the 

 leading subscriber, undertaking the distribution of twenty- 

 five copies of the treatise, while its merits were the subject 

 of special remark by the Secretary in his annual report of 

 the time. A little later, in 1857, through the good offices of 

 Joseph Henry, was brought out Davis's translation of the 

 master-work of Gauss already referred to. It was in this 

 period, likewise, that the Smithsonian Institution extended 

 its aid to the mathematical monthly founded by Professor J. 

 D. Runkle in 1858, which promised to give an important 

 stimulus to mathematical work in this country, but which 

 failed to secure adequate support with the advent of the ab- 

 sorbing questions of the Civil War. During these ante- 

 bellum days, also, were begun, largely through the influence 

 of Joseph Henry and the aid of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 those invaluable researches in terrestrial magnetism which 

 have since been so widely extended by the Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey through the indefatigable labors of Mr. Charles 

 A. Schott. In the laborious and refined calculations required 

 by such researches Henry evinced, as shown by his annual 

 reports, the warmest interest, even going so far as to call 

 conspicuous attention to the application of Peirce's criterion 

 for the rejection of doubtful observations in the discussion 

 of magnetic and meteorological data. In later years, also, he 

 did much to stimulate mathematical research in dynamical 



