24 EEPORT OF THE SECEETAEY. 



versity of South Carolina, now of the University of California. The 

 occnrrence of the war, however, interrupted the work, which has not 

 since been resumed until the i)resent year, when an offer was made by 

 Professor F. W. Clarke, of Boston, of a series of tables on specific gravi- 

 ties, boiling-points, and melting-points of bodies, compiled from the 

 best authorities. This oiTer was accepted, and the work has been printed. 

 It embraces all the reliable material in the English, French, German, and 

 Italian languages on the foregoing subjects, with the exception of the 

 specific gravity of solutions, for which reference is made to Storer's 

 Dictionary of Solubilities, a work which wnll form part of the same gen- 

 eral plan and ought to have been published by the Institution, but un- 

 fortunately at the time it was offered for this purpose our funds were not 

 in a condition to defray the expense of printing. It has since been pub- 

 lished as a private enterprise, and is highly prized by the working 

 chemist. 



Professor Clarke is still engaged on the same general subject, and 

 proposes to extend his compilation of tables to include those of specific 

 heat, conductivity of heat, thermal expansibility, and thermo-chemical 

 equations for solids and liquids. This, beginning we trust will induce 

 other members of the corps of the Smithsonian collaborators to under- 

 take other parts of the general plan of the constants of nature and art, 

 to be published, from time to time, as they may be prepared. The work 

 being stereotyped, the several parts can be finally combined and arranged 

 as portions of a whole, whatever may be the order of their publication. 



Among the "miscellaneous" publications during the year was the first 

 lecture of the course founded by Dr. J. M. Toner, of Washington, by 

 Dr. J. J. Woodward, assistant surgeon. United States Army, " On the 

 structure of cancerous tumors, and the mode in which adjacent parts 

 are invaded." In the report for 1872 an account was given of this fund 

 established by Dr. Toner, the interest to be applied for at least two lec- 

 tures or essays annually, relative to some branch of medical science, 

 and containing some new truth fully established by exi)eriment or obser- 

 vation. As these lectures are intended to increase and diffuse knowledge, 

 they have been accepted for publication in the "Smithsonian Miscella- 

 neous Collections." 



It was stated in the last report that Congress had adjourned without 

 ordering extra copies of the report for 1871. At the beginning of the 

 next session, however, a resolution was adopted directing the printing, 

 as usual, of 12,500 copies. An equal number of the report for 1872 

 was also ordered at the same session ; 2,500 for the use of the Senate, 

 5,000 for the House of Representatives, and 5,000 for the Institution. 

 This volume contains, besides the report of the secretary on the opera- 

 tions of the Institution for the year 1872, the report of the executive 

 committee and journal of proceedings of the Board of Regents, the usual 



