REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 9 



November 1, 1897, a grant of $500 was made to Prof. William 

 Hallock, of Columbia University, New York City, for an investigation 

 having for its object the complete analysis of a particle of air under 

 the influence of articulate sounds, thus contributing a study of the 

 atmosphere in one of its most important functions, that of a conveyer 

 of speech. 



In February, 1898, a final grant of $250 was made to Drs. Lummer 

 and Pringsheim, of the Physical Institute of the University of Berlin. 

 The investigation begun by them, in 1893, to determine the ratio of the 

 specific heats, at constant pressure and volume, for air, oxygen, car- 

 bondioxide, and hydrogen, has now so far progressed that the memoir 

 submitted by Drs. Lummer and Pringsheim, noting the results already 

 attained by them, has been published by the Institution in the Smith- 

 sonian Contribution to Knowledge. 



A German edition of this original memoir, with the consent of the 

 Institution, is to be published by the authors, and it is understood 

 that, if found desirable, their research will be further prosecuted under 

 the direction of the Physikalisch-Technische Eeichsanstalt, of Berlin, 

 Professor Dr. Kohlrausch, the x^resident, having courteously signified 

 the readiness of that institution to furnish the means necessary for the 

 purpose. 



In February, 1898, an additional grant of $250 was made to Mr. E. 

 C. C. Baly, of University College, London, to enable him to continue 

 his research upon the decomposition of the atmosphere by electricity, 

 and upon the ozonizing of mercury. The report of Mr. Baly, stating 

 the result of these investigations, is now awaited by the Institution. 



A grant of $250 to Prof. Arthur G. Webster, of Clark University, 

 Worcester, Mass., was approved in May, 1898, for the continuation of 

 a research on the properties of air in connection with the propagation 

 of sound, special effort being directed to the securing of data relating 

 to the influence of the viscosity of air on expiring or vanishing sounds. 

 An instrument devised by Professor Webster for use in this investiga- 

 tion gives the physical measure of a sound, not only when constant, but 

 when rapidly varying. It is expected that this research will furnish 

 results of high practical value in connection with the question of the 

 acoustics of auditoriums, and will contribute information upon points 

 that have not heretofore been satisfactorily investigated. 



A paper embodying the results of the interesting research, described 

 in the Secretary's report for 1894, primarily conducted under a grant 

 from the Hodgkins fund to Dr. J. S. Billings and Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, 

 and continued, under their supervision, by Dr. D. H. Bergey, of the 

 Laboratory of Hygiene, University of Pennsylvania, has been pub- 

 lished in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 



Although the terms of acceptance of the Hodgkins bequest preclude 

 any general allotment of the accruing interest in the way of grants, no 

 request for an appropriation is left unconsidered, and any application 

 for the aid of a promising research in the hands of an investigator who 



