ANNUAL REPORT. 
Natrionat ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 
Washington, D. C., March 28, 1864. 
Hon. Hannrpat HAMiin 
_Vice-Pres. United States, President of the Senate. 
Hon. Scuuyiter Coirax, 
Speaker House of Representatives. 
HE Constitution of the National Academy of Sciences, 
(Article V, Section 6,) incorporated at the Third Session 
of the Thirty-seventh Congress, requires that “ An Annual 
Report, to be presented to Congress, shall be prepared by 
the President, and submitted by him first to the Council, 
and afterward to the Academy at its January meeting.” In 
accordance with this provision, I have submitted the follow- 
ing report to the Council, and to the National Academy at 
their first stated meeting, and now present it on their 
behalf to Congress. 
The want of an institution by which the scientific strength 
of the country may be brought from time to time to the aid 
of the government, in guiding action by the knowledge of 
scientific principles and experiments, has long been felt by 
the patriotic scientific men of the United States. No 
government of Europe has been willing to dispense with a 
body, under some name, capable of rendering such aid to 
the government, and in turn of illustrating the country by — 
scientific discovery and by literary culture. 
