44 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



series of photographs having been made of ethnological and natural his- 

 tory specimens for the use of the Institution, and a large amount of 

 work done for others, especially for the Government surveys. The 

 establishment of a photographic laboratory has been of great conveni- 

 ence to the Institution, and has been attended with but little expense. 

 It affords at once the facility of photographing specimens and copying 

 charts and other illustrations, while the support of the artist has been 

 furnished by work performed for other parties. 



Light-House duty. — I have been a member of the Light-House Board 

 since its first organization, and during all this time have discharged the 

 duties of chairman of the committee on experiments. On the resig- 

 nation of Admiral Shubrick I was elected chairman of the board. I 

 was honored with this election not entirely on account of the services I 

 had rendered in the way of scientific investigations, but principally 

 because I belonged neither to the Army nor the Navy, of which it was 

 desirable that neither should claim predominance. The duty, however, 

 pertaining to this office has been much more arduous than I anticipated. 

 Indeed, in order that I might attend to it without interfering too much 

 with my devotion to the affairs of the Institution, it was necessary that 

 the board should be recalled to a previous usage, namely, that of meet- 

 ing every week and transacting the principal business through its com- 

 mittees, instead of meeting quarterly and intrusting the operations of 

 the establishment almost entirely to the two secretaries and the chair- 

 man, under which plan the latter was obliged to be in continual attend- 

 ance at the Light-House office. 



I am gratified to be able to state that, although some dissensions have 

 occurred on account of the want of definite assignment by the original 

 law of Congress of the relative duties of the Army and Navy while on 

 light-house service, yet that the whole system at present is in an effi- 

 cient state of activity. 



It may be proper to remark that, for the labor which I have bestowed 

 upon the light-house service for upward of twenty years, I have received 

 no other remuneration than that which results from the conscious feel- 

 ing of having successfully labored in some degree to advance the effi- 

 ciency of a service which involves the protection of life and property, 

 and is one of the benevolent institutions tending to facilitate the rela- 

 tions of distant countries with our own. 



CONCLUSION. 



Prom the foregoing statement it will be evident that the Institution is 

 successfully prosecuting the plan adopted for realizing the benevolent 

 intention of its founder in the way of increasing and diffusing knowl- 

 edge among men ; that its funds are again in a prosperous condition, 

 and that its reputation and usefulness are still on the increase. 



Respectfully submitted. 



JOSEPH HENRY, 



Secretary Smithsonian Institution. 

 Washington, January, 1875. 



