1S2 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



This addition to our force was absolutely necessary to a more efficient 

 discharge of the duties which devolve on us. No person, except from 

 actual experience, can form an idea of the amount of labor required for 

 the transaction of the ordinary business. The correspondence alone 

 is sufficient to occupy two persons continually during the usual office 

 hours. 



" During the past year one-half of the whole income has been appro- 

 priated to the building ; and after deducting the general expenses, the 

 remainder has been equally divided between the two great classes of 

 objects designated in the plan. The portion of the income after these 

 divisions, which could be devoted to any one object, has been necessa- 

 rily small ; for example, all that could be expended for researches, 

 publications, and lectures, and indeed for every thing of which the pub- 

 lic at a distance could take immediate cognizance, has not exceeded 

 $4,500, and yet out of this sum we have been expected to produce re- 

 sults for which the whole income would be entirely inadequate. I trust, 

 however, that a proper consideration of the facts presented in the re- 

 mainder of this report, will show that much has been done in proportion 

 to the means at our command. 



Publication of Original Memoirs. 



The important aid which can be rendered to the promotion of know- 

 ledge by the publication, and in some cases by assistance in the prepa- 

 ration of important memoirs, is now beyond all question. Experience 

 has thus far abundantly shown that much more matter of the most 

 valuable character will be presented for publication, free of all charge, 

 than the portion of the income devoted to this object will allow us to 

 publish. Indeed, there is now on hand, or in preparation, more material 

 of this kind than we shall be able, with our limited income, to give to 

 the world in two or three years. In view of this fact, I cannot repress 

 the expression of regret which I have always felt, that the restrictions 

 arising from the requisitions of Congress do not permit a greater expend- 

 iture for this most important object. It is chiefly by the publications 

 of the Institution that its fame is to be spread through the world, and 

 the monument most befitting the name of Smithson erected to his 

 memory. 



Most of the distinguished foreign literary and scientific societies have 

 placed the Institution on their list of exchange, and in many instances 

 have presented not only the current volume of their Transactions, but 

 also full sets of the preceding volumes. We have reason to believe 

 that before the expiration of another year, we shall receive in exchange 

 the Transactions of nearly all the learned societies of the world, and 

 that the Institution will be recognised by them as an active co-operator 

 in the promotion of knowledge. Professor Baird has furnished a list 

 of the literary and scientific societies to which the quarto volumes have 

 been presented. 



The following Memoirs, an account of which was given in my last 

 report, have been printed, or are now in press: 



1. Researches relative to the planet Neptune; by S. C. Walker. 



2. Contributions to the Physical Geography of the United States; by 

 Charles Ellet, jr. 



