REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 17 



has nminfaind (lurinji: tlio last seventeen yeax's. Tlie Asulkan. in an adjoining 

 valley, whieli had been advancing for about two years, has remained jiracti- 

 cally stationary during the last year. The Victoria presents an oblique front 

 of nearly Imlf 'i mile, and its lower SdU feet, completely veneered with rock 

 jts above stated, has pushed out into the forest at a comparatively recent 

 date. This part has remained quiet apparently for, a munbcr of years, lint accu- 

 rate measurements to stones embedded in the face show lliat a very gradual 

 ■wastage occurred during the summer, with a small stream of clear, ice-cold 

 water as conHrmatory evidence. 



Farther up, for a distance of alxjut l,(»(i(» fi>et. there is a steep ice fnmt which 

 is so nearly parallel with the" main axis of the glacier that there is a (luestion as 

 to whether it is not. its side. Mere the front of the ice is receding, the anumnt 

 for the last year being about the same as the average maintained for the last 

 five or six years, and this in spite of an actual forward flowing movement of the 

 ice of 2 t<» 3 inches daily in sunmier and perhaps half this amount in winter. 

 The Weuokchemna glacier, in the Valley of the Ten I'eaks, proved of exceptional 

 interest because of its almost unique character, only one other of the type — the 

 .Malaspina in Alaska — Having been described. The Wenckchenuia consists of a 

 sluggish ice mass, relatively short. Imt broad, formed by the lateral coalescence 

 of about a dozen short ice streams, each of which retains its identity more ■)r 

 less perfectly entirely across the glacier, and maintains its own nose and 

 motion independently of its neighbors. Accurate measurements to stone^ em bedded 

 in the frontal slope showed that some of these ice streams are stationary, some 

 I'eceding. and others advancing, the most rapid advance being near the center, 

 where freshly cut trees were observed. To those who do not fully appreciate 

 all the factors of the problem it is freipiently a mjitter of surprise that a 

 glacier in one valley may be in reti'eat while tliat in an adjacent valley may be 

 .'.dvancing. as has just been the case in the Asulkan and Illecillewaet valleys; 

 but in the case of the Wenckchemna there is still more varied l»eh:ivior in 

 streams that are actually side by side almost throughout their length. 



PUBLICATIONS. 



It is largely through its publications that the Institution carries 

 out that vital principle of its foundation. '' the diffusion of knowl- 

 edge among men." Each year adds something of importance to the 

 long series of published works comprised in the Smithsonian Contri- 

 butions to Knowledge, the vSmithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 

 and its Annual Reports. All these are published by the parent Insti- 

 tution, but the series is augmented by the Proceedings and Bulletins 

 of the National MuscMun, the Keports and Hulletins of the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology, and the Annals of the Astroi)hy>ical Ob- 

 servatory, which bring before the i)ublic specializcMl matter no less 

 important. 



The details of the work of the past year arc given in tiic Editor's 

 report, the subjects treated in that time including practically every 

 branch of human knowledge. 



To the series of Contribution^ (here ha,- been added a third memoir 

 by Dr. Carl Barns, entitled "A Continuous Record of Atmospheric 

 Xucleation." in which the author further discusses his researches on 



