THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 171 



whole subject should be prosecuted by the Institution, until all acces- 

 sible information has been collected. The Smithsonian Institution owes 

 this to the world. The work should be done quickly ; for the plough, 

 as well as the elements, are every year rendering less visible the out- 

 lines and distinctive forms of these remnants of the arts and policy of 

 the ancient inhabitants of this continent. 



Bibliographia Americana. 



In the last report an account is given of the preparation of a work 

 on the bibliography of America, by Henry Stevens, of Vermont. This 

 work, it will be recollected, is to contain a brief account of every book 

 published in, or relating to, North America, prior to 1700, with refer- 

 ences to the different libraries in this and other countries in which these 

 works are to be found. The Institution agreed to publish this work at 

 its own expense, provided, on examination by a commission of compe- 

 tent judges, it is found properly executed. Mr. Stevens is now en- 

 gaged in the British Museum cataloguing all the works embraced in 

 this plan, and informs me that he is making good progress in his enter- 

 prise. 



Reports on the Progress of' Knowledge. 



Of the reports on the progress of knowledge, proposed in the plan of 

 organization, none have as yet been published, though several of those 

 mentioned in my report ot last year have been completed, or are very 

 nearly ready for the press. The appropriations, however, for the last 

 year were not found sufficient for carrying out further this part of the 

 plan. 



The most important report now in progress is that on the forest-trees 

 of North America, by Dr. Gray, Professor of Botany in Harvard Uni- 

 versity. It is intended in this work to give figures from original draw- 

 ings of the flowers, leaves, fruit, &c, of each principal species in the 

 United States proper, for the most part of the size of nature, and so 

 executed as to furnish colored or uncoiored copies — the first being in- 

 tended to give an adequate idea of the species, and the second for 

 greater cheapness and more general diffusion. 



This work will be completed in three parts, in octavo, with an atlas 

 of quarto plates — the first part to be published next spring. A portion 

 of this will be occupied with an introductory dissertation giving the 

 present state of our knowledge, divested as much as possible of all 

 unnecessary technical terms — of the anatomy, morphology, and physi- 

 ology of the tree — tracing its growth from the embryo to its full de- 

 velopment and reproduction in the formation of fruit and seed. This 

 will be illustrated by drawings from original dissections under the 

 microscope, and sketches made, in every instance, from nature. As 

 the work will be adapted to general comprehensioa, it will be of inter- 

 est to the popular as well as the scientific reader. 



Report on the history of the discovery of the planet NejpUme. — The first 

 part of a report on recent discoveries in astronomy has been completed, 

 and is ready for the press. This is written by Dr. B. A. Gould, of 



