EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 15 



James Smithson. He successfully completed the legal steps neces- 

 sary to establish the claim of the United States in the English courts, 

 and in August, 1838, arrived in New York with half a million dollars 

 in gold sovereigns which were formally transferred to the Treasurer 

 of the United States. Mr. Rush later rendered important service in 

 the organization of the Institution and was one of its first Regents, 

 serving on the Board from 1846 until his death in 1859. 



The continued demand for the Smithsonian Physical Tables, pre- 

 pared by the late Prof. Thomas Gray, necessitated the reprinting of 

 a fourth edition from the stereotype plates. A thorough revision 

 of these Tables is in preparation to bring the work within the range 

 of the important advance made in the science of physics during the 

 last decade. 



The volume of " Smithsonian Mathematical Tables : Hyperbolic 

 Functions," prepared by Dr. George F. Becker and Mr. C. E. Van 

 Orstrand, which was in press at the close of the last fiscal year, has 

 been completed as a " special publication." 



Three papers descriptive of my researches in Cambrian Geology 

 and Paleontology have been added to those mentioned in my last 

 report. These are: No. 3, Cambrian Brachiopoda: Description of 

 New Genera and Species; No. 4, Classification and Terminology of 

 the Cambrian Brachiopoda; and No. 5, Cambrian Sections of the 

 Cordilleran Area. The last-named paper is accompanied by a num- 

 ber of illustrations of various parts of the Rocky Mountains showing 

 the Cambrian Cordilleran sections which had been examined to a 

 total thickness of more than 12,000 feet. 



Among the works in press at the close of the year was a paper on 

 " Landmarks of Botanical History," by Dr. Edward L. Greene, and 

 a work on the " Mechanics of the Earth's Atmosphere," comprising a 

 selection of important French and German papers translated and 

 edited by Prof. Cleveland Abbe. 



There was practically completed, ready for press, at the close of 

 the year a Bibliography of Aeronautics containing references to 

 about 13,500 books and papers on that subject, dating from the earli- 

 est days of printing down to the publications of the present year. 



The greater part of the Annual Report for 1908 was in type at 

 the close of the year, but press work could not be completed. The 

 volume contains 27 papers showing progress made in astronomy, 

 physics, biology, geology, and other branches of knowledge. 



To meet the demand for copies of papers by Secretary Langley on 

 aerial navigation, there was reprinted a special edition, under one 

 cover, of four articles that had appeared in the Smithsonian Reports 

 from 1897 to 1904, as follows : " Story of experiments in mechanical 

 flight" (1897); "The Langley aerodrome" (1900); "The greatest 

 flying creature " (1901) ; and " Experiments with the Langley aero- 



