Febeuaey 25, 1898.] 



SCmNGE. 



259 



cations for the occupancy of the table. 

 The following applications have been favor- 

 ably acted upon : 



Dr. F. H. Herrick, professor of biology 

 at Adelbert College, Cleveland, occupied 

 the table in November, 1896, and Dr. S. E. 

 Meek, formerly of the Arkansas Industrial 

 TJniversity, but more recently connected 

 with the United States Fish Commission, 

 received the appointment for two months 

 in the spring of 1897. The application of 

 Dr. H. S. Jennings, of the University of 

 Michigan and later of Harvard, was ap- 

 proved for the three months during the 

 spring and summer of 1897. Through the 

 continued courtesy of Dr. Dohrn, in per- 

 mitting two persons nominated by the In- 

 stitution to occupy tables at the same time, 

 the residence of Dr. Jennings began before 

 the termination of Dr. Meek's appoint- 

 ment. Applications for the coming year 

 are now under consideration. 



EXPLORATIONS. 



Ethnological and natural history explora- 

 tions have been continued under the direc- 

 tion or with the assistance of the Institution 

 in various parts of the world by the Bureau 

 of Ethnology and the National Museum. 

 This work is more fiiUy described else- 

 where, but I may mention here that a large 

 number of objects of interest from various 

 parts of the world have been added to the 

 Museum collections, and much valuable in- 

 formation has been acquired regarding the 

 history and the language of the American 

 Indians. Among the explorations of the 

 year were those by Dr. William L. Abbott 

 in Siam, Professor O. F. Cook in Africa, 

 Dr. E. A. Mearns in Minnesota and else- 

 where, Mr. Frank H. Gushing in Maine, 

 Mr. J. W. Fewkes in Arizona, Mr. E. T. 

 Perkins in Idaho, Mr. W J McGee in Iowa, 

 Mr. J. B. Hatcher in Patagonia and Tierra 

 del Fuego, and Dr. Willis E. Everette in 

 Oregon, British Columbia and Mexico. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



The publications of the Institution and 

 its bureaus during the year comprised two 

 works in quarto form, four in royal octavo, 

 and fourteen in octavo, aggregating 9,630 

 pages, covering to a greater or less degree 

 nearly all branches of human knowledge. 



The Smithsonian Institution proper is- 

 sues three series of works : The Contribu- 

 tions to Knowledge, the Miscellaneous Col- 

 lections, and the Annual Report. By the 

 bureaus of the Institution there are issued 

 the Annual Report and the Bulletin of the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology and the 

 Proceedings and Bulletin of the National 

 Museum, and the Secretary transmits to 

 Congress the Annual Report of the Amer- 

 ican Historical Association. The Smith- 

 sonian Contributions and Miscellaneous 

 Collections are printed at the expense of 

 the Institution and the other publications 

 from Congressional appropriations. 



Contributions to Knowledge. — Two memoirs 

 to this series were issued during the year, 

 both having been submitted in competition 

 for the Hodgkins fund prizes. 



The memoir by Lord Rayleigh and Pro- 

 fessor Ramsay describes the discovery of 

 argon, for which achievement the authors 

 were awarded the first Hodgkins fund prize 

 of $10,000. It gives an account of the 

 reasons which led the investigators to sus- 

 pect the existence of a new element in the 

 atmosphere and a detailed description of 

 the apparatus and methods by which the 

 presence of this hitherto unknown gas was 

 definitely established. The importance of 

 the discovery was recognized independently 

 by the Institute of France, which awarded 

 a prize of 50,000 francs, and by the Na- 

 tional Academy of Sciences, which granted 

 to the discoverers the Barnard medal. 



The memoir by Professor E. Duclaux, of 

 Paris, entitled Atmospheric Actinometry 

 and the Actinic Constitution of the Atmos- 

 phere, describes the methods and results of 



