22 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 



In 1852 the Institution published the first edition of the* Smithsonian 

 meteorological tables, which were so widely used by physicists during 

 the next 40 years that it was decided to publish three sets of tables, 

 independent of one another, but forming a homogenous series. The 

 first of the new series, Smithsonian Meterological Tables, was pub- 

 lished in 1893 ; revised editions were issued in 1896, 1897, and 1907, 

 and another revised edition is now under consideration. The second 

 series, Smithsonian Geographical Tables, appeared in 1894, editions 

 slightly revised were issued in 1897 and 1906, and additional copies 

 of the last edition were printed during the past year to meet the 

 constant demand for this work. In 1896 there was published the 

 Smithsonian Physical Tables, which have passed through several 

 editions, the sixth revised edition being now in press. In this latest 

 edition are incorporated many new tables and the insertion of recent 

 data in the older tables to conform with the great advances in various 

 fields of physical science. A fourth series is the Smithsonian Mathe- 

 matical Tables (Hyperbolic Functions), published in 1909. 



Smithsonian Report. — The distribution of the Annual Report for 

 1912 was long delayed, awaiting a supply of the quality of paper 

 used in that publication. The volume contains 38 articles of the 

 usual character in the general appendix. The report for 1913 was in 

 type at the close of the fiscal year. The popularity of this publica- 

 tion continues unabated, the entire edition each year becoming 

 exhausted very soon after its completion. 



Special publications. — For several years past the Institution has 

 issued in printed form the Opinions rendered by the International 

 Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. During the past year 

 Opinions 57 to 65 w^ere thus published. To aid the work of this 

 commission the Institution also provides for clerical services in con- 

 nection with the oiRce of its secretary in this country. 



Another special publication of the year, printed in a limited edi- 

 tion, was a pamphlet giving an account of the exercises in the Smith- 

 sonian building on May 6, 1913, on the occasion of the presentation 

 of the Langley medal to Monsieur Eiffel and to Mr. Glenn H. Curtiss, 

 and the unveiling of the Langley memorial tablet. 



Harriman Alaska Series. — In 1910 there was transferred to the 

 Smithsonian Institution by Mrs. Edward H. Harriman the re- 

 mainder of the edition of volumes 1 to 5 and 8 to 13 of the elaborate 

 publication on the results of the Harriman Alaska Expedition of 

 1899. It may be recalled that this expedition was organized with 

 the cooperation of the Washington Academy of Sciences, but entirely 

 at the expense of the late Mr. Edward H. Harriman, of New York. 

 It was participated in by a large party of scientific specialists, on a 

 steamship specially chartered for the purpose. A narrative of the 

 trip and observations on the regions visited, together with descrip- 



