REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 5 



National Museum— Continued. 



Heating and lighting- $15, 000 



Postage '. 500 



Galleries 8, 000 



Repairs to building 8, 000 



Rent of workshops 2, 000 



National Zoological Park 75, 000 



Astrophysical Observatory 10, 000 



BUILDINGS. 



The crowded condition of the ^National Museum will be somewhat 

 relieved by the addition of galleries provided for under an appropria- 

 tion of $8,000 made by the last Congress, but there is still an extremely 

 urgent need for a new building, as stated more fully on a subsequent 

 page. There was also granted an additional appropriation for rent 

 of storage rooms and workshops for the Museum. 



RESEARCH. 



The time of the Secretary is almost wholly given to administrative 

 duties, although in the original plan of the Institution he was expected 

 by the Eegents to personally contribute to the advancement of knowl- 

 edge.' The Secretary has continued to give what opportunities he could 

 spare from the administrative duties and what he could contribute 

 from his private hours to the investigations which have already been 

 referred to in previous reports. 



The first of these, upon the solar spectrum, has been carried on at the 

 Astrophysical Observatory, and to this reference is made more at length 

 in auother part of this report. 



The second, beginning as an investigation of certain physical data of 

 aerodynamics, has arrived at an important stage in its development. 



The possibility of mechanical flight was, until a comparatively few 

 years ago, considered a visionary one by most men of science. The 

 writer, who was led to an opposite conclusion, and who had commenced 

 experiments before he became connected with the Institution, published 

 under its auspices in 1891 a treatise entitled "Experiments in aerody- 

 namics,'' which gave the results of direct experiment on the pressure 

 ol the air on inclined surfaces, showing that rules hitherto relied on, 

 partly on the faith of the great name of Sir Isaac Newton, were not in 

 fact supported by a direct study of nature. These new experiments 

 gave evidence that mechanical flight — that is, not of balloons, but of 

 bodies heavier than air, impelled and supported by power — was at least 

 theoretically possible. This, however, was not saying that such machines 

 could be launched into the air and made to continue a horizontal course 

 or lo descend to the ground with safety, matters to be determined by 

 trial and further experiment. 



Hmolml, That the Secretary continue his researches in physical science, and pre- 

 sent such facts and principles as maybe developed, for publication in the Smith- 

 sonian Contributions. Adopted at meeting of the Board of Regents, January 

 26, 1847. 



