160 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 



Of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, for the year 1849. 



To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution: 



Gentlemen : In accordance with the resolution that the Secretary 

 shall present at each annual meeting of the Board of Regents an account 

 of the operations of the Institution during the past year, I respectfully 

 submit the following. 



Agreeably to the scheme of finance adopted by the Board, the greater . 

 portion of all the income of the Smithsonian fund is at present devoted 

 to the erection of the building ; and until this is paid for, the money 

 which can be appropriated to the active operations of the Institution will 

 be comparatively small ; not only small in proportion to the demands 

 made upon it, but small in reference to the results which the public 

 generally expect it to produce. It is believed, however, that a proper 

 consideration of the facts presented in the following report will warrant 

 the conclusion, that the Institution, during the past year, has been gradu- 

 ally extending its sphere of usefulness, and successfully bringing into 

 operation the different parts of its plan of organization. 



It will be recollected that the several propositions of the programme 

 were adopted provisionally, and it is gratifying to be able to state that 

 experience thus far has indicated no important changes. The general 

 plan has continued to receive the approbation of the enlightened public 

 both in this country and in Europe, and to increase general confidence 

 in the power of the Institution to confer important benefits on our country 

 and the world. 



In presenting the different operations of the Institution, I shall adopt, 

 as in my last report, the principal divisions of the programme : 



1st. Publication of memoirs in quarto volumes, consisting of positive 

 additions to knowledge. 



2d. Institution of original researches, under the direction of competent 

 persons. 



3d. The publication of a series of reports, giving the present state 

 and progress of different branches of knowledge. 



4th. Formation of a library and museum of objects of nature and art. 



5th. Lectures. 



Publication of Memoirs. 



Agreeably to the plan of the Institution, these memoirs are intended 

 to embody the results of researches which could not otherwise be readily 

 published, and are to be distributed to societies, public libraries, and other 

 institutions. An account of the first memoir was given in the last report. 

 It relates to the ancient monuments of the Mississippi valley, and occu- 

 pies an entire volume. It has been presented, as far as opportunity would 

 permit, to the principal literary and scientific societies of the world, to 

 all the colleges and larger libraries of this country, and has everywhere 



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