REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 83 



impurities tested were carbonic-acid gas and respiratory impurities, and the micro- 

 organisms were staphylococcus, diphtheria, and bacillus tuberculosis. Dr. Bergey 

 summarizes the results of his investigation as follows: 



"In the staphylococcus and diphtheria inoculations the, cultures used appear to 

 have been insufficiently attenuated to show any difference in the effect produced 

 upon the animals under experiment and the control animals. It is, however, very 

 doubtful whether cultures of these organisms could be attenuated to such a degree 

 as to still kill a weakened animal and not kill a control, healthy animal. 



" The anthrax A'accines used do not kill a healthy guinea pig, but it was expected 

 that the animals might present sufficient lowering of the vitality to become affected 

 by the vaccines. This, however, was not the case. The animals having failed to die 

 from the effects of the anthrax vaccines, they were then inoculated with an atten- 

 uated culture of tuberculosis. All the animals under experiment died much earlier 

 than the control animals. These results indicate a lowered vitality. Whether 

 this lowered vitality was brought about by the atmospheric conditions under which 

 they had lived, or whether it was brought about solely through changes in their 

 diet while under experiment, or whether both these causes were active in producing 

 the result, it is impossible to say. The animals lost flesh and decreased in weight 

 while under experiment. It is not improbable that the loss in weight and the 

 decrease in vitality are both traceable to the same causes." 



No. 978. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Vol. XXXVII. Washington 

 City. Published by the Smithsonian Institution, 1897. 8°. 918 pp. 



CONTENTS. 



Index to Genera and Species of Foraniiuifera. By Charles Davies Sherborn. Parts T and II. 

 "Washington, 1893, 1896. (Numbers 850, 1031.) 



Mountain Observatories of America and Europe. By Edward S. S olden. Washington, 1896. 

 (Number 1035.) 



Virginia Cartography. By P. Lee Phillips. "Washington, 1896. (Number 1039.) 



Catalogue of Earthquakes on Pacific Coast, 1769 to 1897. By Edward S. Holden. Washington, 

 1898. (Number 1087.) 



No. 979. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Vol. XXXVIII. Washington 

 City. Published by the Smithsonian Institution, 1898. 8°. 1008 pp. 



CONTENTS. 



Varieties of Human Species. By Giuseppe Sergi. "Washington, 1894. (Number 969.) 

 Bibliography of Aceto Acetic Ester. By Paul H. Seymour. Washington, 1894. (Number 970.) 

 Indexes to Literatures of Cerium and Lanthanum. By "W. JI. Magee. Washington, 1895. 



(Number 971.) 



Index to Literature of Didymium. By A. C. Langmuir. Washington, 1894. (Number 972.) 

 Recalculation of Atomic "Weights. Newedition. By F. "W. Clarke. Washington, 1897. (Number 



1075.) 



Bibliography of Metals of the Platinum Group. By Jas. Lewis Howe. Washington, 1897. 



(Number 1084.) 



Beview and Bibliography of the Metallic Carbides. By J. A. Mathews. Washington, 1898. 



(Number 1090.) 



No. 1093. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Vol. XL. Washington City. 

 Published by the Smithsonian Institution, 1898. 8°. 1259 pp. 



CONTENTS. 



A catalogue of Scientific and Technical Periodicals, 1665-1895. By H. C. Bolton. Second edition, 

 1897. 



III. SMITHSONIAN ANNUAL REPORTS. 



The Annual Reports of the Institution for the years 1896 and 1897 had not been 

 distributed at the close of the fiscal year, though both volumes were nearing com- 

 pletion by the Public Printer. The separate papers of the 1896 volume were about 

 ready for delivery and the whole volume was in the bindery. Presswork was in 

 progress on the report for 1897, and it is expected that both reports will soon be 

 published in the new style of binding recently adopted. 



