REVIEWS — REPORT OE THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 45 



" It is more important that the information should be reliabl e than that it should 

 be quickly published," and " what may be lost by delay is more than compen- 

 sated by the precision and value of the results. 



The reduction of the meteorological observations have been continued by Pro- 

 fessor Coffin. He has completed the discussion of all the records for 1854, and 

 those of 1855 as far as they have been sent in. 



LIBRARY. 



It is the present intention of the Kegents to render the Smithsonian library the 

 most extensive and perfect collection of Transactions and scientific works in this 

 country, and this it will be enabled to accomplish by means of its exchanges, 

 ■which will furnish it with all the current journals and publications of societies. 

 The Institution has already more complete sets of transactions of learned societies 

 than are to be found in the oldest libraries in the United States. 



MUSEUM. 



It is no part of the plan of the institution to form a Museum merely to gratify 

 the euriosity of the casual visitor to the Smithsonian building, but it is the design 

 to form complete collections in certain branches, which may serve to facilitate the 

 study and increase the knowledge of natural history and geology. 



With respect to the condition of the Museum, the report asserts 

 that no collection of animals in the United States, nor indeed in the 

 world, can even now pretend to rival the richness of this Museum in 

 specimens which tend to illustrate the natural history of North 

 America. 



In the report of Professor Baird, the Assistant-Secretary, many 

 details are given relative to the additions to the Museum. These 

 additions have been made in great measure through the agency of the 

 government exploring expeditions, and partly also through that of 

 individuals under the orders of the institution. 



LECTURES. 



The titles of the lectures, of which the substance is given in the 

 volume before us, are as follows : 



(2). A course of lectures on Marine Algae, by W. H. Harvey, of the University 

 of Dublin. 



(2). Natural History as applied to farming and gardening, by Rev. J. G. Morris 

 of Baltimore. 



(3). Insect instincts and transformations, by the same. 



(4). On oxygen and its combinations, by Professor Chase, of Brown University 



(5). On meteoric stones, by Lawrence Smith, of the University of Louisville, Ky 



(6). On planetary disturbances, by Professor Snell, of Amherst College. 



The first lecture, by the Rev. Mr. Morris, on natural history as 

 applied to farming and gardening, will be read with peculiar interest 

 at the present time, when attention has been so much attracted to 

 insect ravages on the corn crops. One practical evil, spoken of by the 

 lecturer, arising from ignorance of the habits of insects, is that 

 farmers and gardeners, by destroying one class of noxious animals? 



