54 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



One lecture, by Professor P. A. Chadbourne, of Williams College ,. 

 on Iceland. 



Five lectures by Dr. F. A. P. Barnard, President of the University 

 of Mississippi, on polarized light. 



1. Outline of optical discovery ; characteristics of polarized light. 



2. Undulatory theory of light ; physical doctrine of polarization. 



3. Chromatics of polarized light. 



4. Physical theory of double refraction, and of polarization by 

 double refraction. 



5. Circular, elliptical, and rotary polarization. 



Two lectures by Professor Stephen Alexander, of the College of New 

 Jersey, on solar eclipses and their attendant phenomena, with a par- 

 ticular account of the total eclipse of last July, and the observations 

 made in connection with it by the Government expeditions to Labrador,, 

 the Pacific coast, and elsewhere. 



Three lectures by S. Wells Williams, on China and Japan. 



1. The literature and government of China. 



2. The civilization of the Chinese. 



3. Kank of the Japanese among Asiatic nations. 



Five lectures by Kev. John Lord, of Connecticut, on the great, 

 representatives of modern civilization, &c. 



1. Michael Angelo and art. 



2. Bacon and philosophy. 



3. Cromwell and liberty. 



4. Madame De Stael and literature. 



5. Columbus and discovery. 



Beside the foregoing, a series of experimental lectures on physical 

 science has been given by the Secretary of the Institution to the 

 teachers of the District, and others interested in the subject. In these 

 articles of apparatus presented by Dr. Hare, and those purchased for 

 the use of the Institution, were used. During the present lecture 

 season, owing perhaps, in part, to unfavorable weather and the dis- 

 tracted condition of the public mind, the attendance has been less 

 numerous than in former years. The plan suggested in the last 

 report, of closing the doors after the lecture had commenced, has 

 been adopted and found conducive of good order and more prompt 

 attendance. 



Respectfully submitted, 



JOSEPH HENRY, 



Secretary Smithsonian Institution.. 

 February, 1861. 



