REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 9 



Bergey on the composition of expired air was published as a memoir 

 in the Contributions, forming a volume of 81 pages. 



Two memoirs submitted in competition for the Hodgkins fund prizes 

 were in press but not ready for distribution at the close of the year. 

 One of these was by Lord Rayleigh and Professor Ramsay announcing 

 the discovery of argon and describing the methods of the investigation 

 leading to their discovery of that new element of the atmosphere. For 

 this achievement the authors were awarded the first prize of $10,000. 



The second memoir was on atmospheric actinometry, by Prof. Emile 

 Duclaux, for which the author was awarded honorable mention. 



Miscellaneous Collections. — In this series two works were completed 

 and four put to press during the fiscal year. The completed publica- 

 tions were Part II of the Index of the Genera and Species of the 

 Foraminifera, by Charles Davies Sherborn, and a revised edition of 

 the Smithsonian Meteorological Tables. The publications in press 

 are the Smithsonian Physical Tables, by Prof. Thomas Gray; an 

 illustrated description of the Mountain Observatories of the World, 

 by Prof. E. S. Holden; a paper by Dr. D. H. Bergey, on Methods of 

 Determination of Organic Matter in Air, and an exhaustive Catalogue 

 of Scientific and Technical Periodicals of the World, from 1665 to 1895, 

 compiled by Dr. Bolton. 



The prize essay on "Air and life," by Dr. Varigny, as also some of 

 the other essays submitted in the Hodgkins prize competition, have 

 been put to press and will be issued during the next year. 



There is also in preparation a supplement to Bolton's Bibliography 

 of Chemistry, an Index of Mineral Springs of the World, by Professor 

 Tuckerman, and a recalculation of atomic weights, by Prof. F. W. Clarke. 



The usual separate edition has been issued of the several papers in 

 the General Appendix of the Annual Report. 



Annual Reports. — The Smithsonian Annual Report is in two volumes, 

 the first devoted to the Institution proper and the second relating to 

 the National Museum. The General Appendix of Part I consists of 

 selected memoirs which have for the most part already appeared else- 

 where, but which are of such special interest and permanent value as 

 to appear worthy of republication by the Institution in the " increase 

 and di (fusion of knowledge among men." 



The report for 1804 was delivered by the printer after the close of the 

 fiscal year and some progress had been made on the report for 1895. 



Proceedings au/l bulletin of the National Museum. — The publications 

 of the Museum are mentioned in Appendix I, and need not be referred 

 to here further than to say that the several papers of volume 18 of 

 the Proceedings were published in pamphlet form, and that Bulletin 

 17. on the Fishes of North and Middle America, by Dr. Jordan and 

 Professor Evermann, were nearly ready for distribution. 



Bureau of Ethnology publications. — The Thirteenth Annual Report of 

 the Bureau of Ethnology was distributed during the year, and the 



