8 EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Miscellaneous Collections, and the Annual Eeports. The first consists of 

 memoirs containing positive additions to science resting on original 

 research, and which are principally the result of investigations to which 

 the Institution has in some way rendered assistance. In all cases the 

 memoirs are submitted to a commission for critical examination, and 

 only accepted for publication on a favorable report. The Miscellaneous 

 Collections are chiefly composed of works intended to facilitate the 

 study of certain branches of natural history or of meteorology, and 

 are designed especially to induce individuals to engage in studies as 

 specialties, to which in leisure moments their thoughts may recur, and 

 by observations and collections in relation to which they may not only 

 contribute to their own pleasure but also advance the cause of science. 

 The Annual Eeports are published at the expense of the government, 

 with the exception of the illustrations, which are furnished by the Insti- 

 tution. Up to the year 1854 these reports were published in a pamphlet 

 form, and contained merely an account of the operations of the Institu- 

 tion for the year; but since that date an appendix has been added, prin- 

 cipally consisting of translations, from foreign journals, of articles not 

 accessible to the English reader, but of interest to. our meteorological 

 observers, and to persons generally who are interested in the progress 

 of knowledge. With the addition of this appendix each report forms a 

 volume of between 400 and 500 pages, bound in boards, with a cloth 

 cover. The first volume of this series contains a reprint of. all the pre- 

 vious reports of the Secretary, the will of Smithson, and the enactments 

 of Congress in regard to the bequest, and hence in the full set of these 

 reports a continuous history of the Institution is given from its organiza- 

 tion to the present time. The whole number of volumes, including the 

 present, is fifteen; of these it is to be regretted that the greater part of the 

 extra numbers were destroyed in the fire of 1885. All the reports 

 since 1862 have been stereotyped, and the plates of these have been 

 preserved. 



During the past year the 15th volume of the Smithsonian Contribu- 

 tions to Knowledge has been published, and, in conformity with the rules 

 adopted, has been distributed to institutions in this country and abroad. 

 The volume contains 604 pages, and is illustrated with 43 woodcuta 

 and 17 plates. The several articles contained in this volume which 

 were published separately, and an account of which was given in pre- 

 vious reports, are as follows : 



1. An investigation of the Orbit of Neptune, with general tables of 

 its motion, by Professor Simon Newcomb. 



2. On the fresh-water glacial drift of the northwestern States, by 

 Charles Whittlesey. 



3. Geological researches in China, Mongolia, and Japan, during the 

 years 1802 to 1805, by Raphael PumpeUy. 



4. Physical observations in the Arctic seas, by Isaac I. Hayes, M. D. 

 Another publication during the year, which is intended to form a part 



