REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 7 



RESEARCH. 



It was a part of the original plan of the Institution that its Secretary 

 should not give his time wholly to administrati^'e duties, but should 

 directly aid in its scientitic investigations/' 



Research work in various fields of science has l)een continued by 

 the Institution and its dependencies. 



I have made some progress toward the solution of the problem of 

 mechanical flight, and have been carrying on, with the consent of the 

 Regents, some experiments for the War DepartnuMit, at its expense, 

 and am adding other experiments, partly at the expense of the Insti- 

 tution. 



In the Astrophysical Observatory I have continued work believed 

 to be important, and inaugurated some experiments of novel interest, 

 which are referred to later. 



Through the Museum and the Bureau of American Ethnology the 

 Institution has been enabled to carr}^ on various biological and ethno- 

 logical researches, which will be found fully described elsewhere in 

 this report and need not l)e repeated here. 



HODGKINS FUND. 



Reports giving the final results of some important investigations 

 which have been prosecuted by the aid of the Hodgkins fund and 

 others, giving the details of the progress of researches still incomplete, 

 have been received. Several of these memoirs have already been 

 issued by the Institution, and others are in course of publication. 



The second memoir by Dr. Carl Barus, referred to in my last report 

 as supplementary to the investigation on ionized air, has been pub- 

 lished as one of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, under 

 the title "The Structure of the Nucleus." Questions necessarily left 

 outstanding in the first memoir are answered in the second, the two 

 volumes forming together a valuable contribution to the literature of 

 the subject. 



The thermometric researches of Prof. M. W. Travers, of University 

 College, London, have been reported on in a memoir entitled "On 

 the Attainment of Very Low Temperatures," which' is now in course 

 of publication. It is the design of Professor Travers to prosecute his 

 investigation still further, and the question of another grant for the 

 purpose has been submitted for consideration. 



The research on vacuum spectroscopy, by Dr. Victor Schumann, of 

 Leipzig, has been reported on in detail in a memoir soon to be issued 

 as one of the Contributions to Knowledge. The special apparatus, 



(i Resolved, That the Secretary continue his researches in physical science, and pre- 

 sent such facts and principles as may be developed for publication in the Smithsonian 

 contributions. (Adopted at meeting of the Board of Regents January 26, 1847.) 



