REPORT OP THE SECRETARY. 7 



made useful in promoting researches ou the Ether, after certain mathe- 

 matical and phonetic publications and certain researches connected 

 with a special form of telescope had been made. The moneys received 

 from the estate are as yet too small to carry out any part of this pur- 

 pose but the last. 



BUILDINGS. 



No alterations were made in the Smithsonian Building - during the 

 year except such slight repairs as seemed necessary to keep it in good 

 condition. The space in the rear of the building, however, which for a 

 number of years had been occupied by unsightly and dangerous storage 

 sheds and workshops, has been cleared of these and graded into a lawn, 

 thus very greatly improving the surroundings. 



In the park south of the building, and at a distance sufficient to 

 prevent annoyance, there has been erected a temporary wooden 

 building of two stories for the use of the taxidermists and for other 

 purposes. 



The investigations being prosecuted in the Astrophysical Observa- 

 tory requiring more space than is available in the old structure, plans 

 have been approved and some progress made toward the erection of 

 some very simple additions authorized by Congress at its last session by 

 a clause permitting the expenditure for this purpose of an unexpended 

 balance of the annual appropriation for the maintenance of the observ- 

 atory. 



Four additional galleries have been erected in the Museum Building, 

 three forexhibition purposes and one to serve as an increase for the 

 quarters for the Library, thus adding 6,650 square feet to the floor 

 space of the Museum, 6,040 square feet of which is available for exhi- 

 bition purposes. 



RESEARCH. 



The promotion of original research has always been one of the prin- 

 cipal functions of the Institution. Investigations in the anthropological, 

 biological, and geological divisions of science have been extensively 

 carried on through the departments of the National Museum, and in 

 the Bureau of American Ethnology there have also been special 

 inquiries into Indian customs and languages. These lines of research 

 being well represented by its bureaus, it has remained for the Institu- 

 tion proper to devote its energies more especially to some of the physical 

 sciences. 



The Secretary himself has carried on researches in the solar spectrum, 

 which, by the active assistance of the Aid in charge, have produced 

 results now shortly to be published. They are believed to be impor- 

 tant and are referred to in another portion of this report. 



The Secretary has not wholly discontinued the studies which he has 

 made in regard to aerodromic experiments, and it is perhaps not 

 improper that he should state that these have attracted the attention 



