r 



8 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Amount received as the bequest of James Hamilton, of 

 Carlisle, Fa., February 24 % 1874 $1, 000 00 



Total permanent Smithson fund in the Treasury of 

 the United States, bearing interest at 6 per cent., 



payable semi-annually in gold 651, 000 00 



In addition to the above, there remains of the extra fund 

 from savings, &c, in Virginia bonds and certificates, viz: 

 Consolidated bonds, $58,700 ; deferred certificates, $29,- 

 375.07; fractional certificate, $50.13; total, $88,125.20, 



valued January, 1878 .♦ 31, 5G2 00 



Cash balance in United States Treasury at the beginning 

 of the year 1878 for current expenses 25, 083 90 



Total Smithson funds January 6, 1878* $710, 645 90 



The receipts during the year 1877 were $49,007.62, and the expendi- 

 tures $44,952.90, leaving a balance of $4,054.72 to be added to the bal- 

 ance on hand at the beginning of 1877. 



The interest on the Virginia bonds received during the year was 

 $2,885.76, realized from the sale of coupons amounting to $3,522". 



The interest on the Hamilton bequest of $1,000 has been received to 

 the 31st December, 1877. There is now a balance on hand of interest 

 amounting to $96.17, which will be available during the present year in 

 accordance with the terms of the bequest. 



BUILDING. 



Attention having been specially called to the condition of the public 

 buildings in this city, on account of the destruction by fire of part of 

 tbe Patent Office, it was deemed advisable to give additional security 

 to tbe valuable collections deposited in the Smithsonian edifice. The 

 main building, which contains the National Museum, is entirely fire-proof, 

 but the connecting ranges and the two wings are not so. It was there- 

 fore highly desirable that the main building should be entirely isolated 

 from the ranges anl wings. For this purpose the large windows facing 

 the wings were bricked up, and all the doorways leading from the 

 museum into the ranges either bricked up or fitted with iron instead of 

 wooden doors. The carpenter's and machinist's shops were removed to 

 the main basement and inclosed in brick walls. The storage rooms were 

 made fireproof by replacing wooden partitions and floors, by those of 

 brick. In the high central tower brick partitions have been constructed 

 on the stairways, to prevent the passage of fire from one story to another. 



. PUBLICATIONS. 



The publications of the Institution are of three classes, viz, the Con- 

 tributions to Knowledge, the Miscellaneous Collections, and 



* The date at which the settlement of the accounts for 1877 was made. 



