14 EEPOET OF THE SECEETAEY. 



and nations affords the means of obtaining data of much interest to 

 the ethnologist, while the facts which are gathered from the unusual 

 experience of the battle-field and hospital afford materials for the 

 advance of physiology, surgery, and medicine, which a century of 

 ordinary observation would fail to furnish. 



In illustration of what has been done in the line we have mentioned, 

 I would refer to the extended labors of the Sanitary Commission and 

 of the department under the direction of the Surgeon General. 

 The one, besides aiding in the improvement of the health and com- 

 fort of the soldiers, has collected a large number of interesting facts 

 relative to the moral and economical condition of the army; while the 

 other, in addition to its immense labors in the care of the sick and the 

 wounded, has recorded the statistics of every part of its varied 

 operations, and formed a collection of illustrations of surgical anatomy 

 which is perhaps unrivalled in any part of the world. 



In reference to all the inquiries to which I have alluded, the Smith- 

 sonian Institution has been called upon for aid and counsel, and has 

 continually rendered active co-operation and assistance. Its labors, 

 however, in this line, as well as in several other branches of its ordi- 

 nary operations, are not attended with results which can be given to 

 the world through its publications. 



During the continuance of the war we must expect to find that 

 more attention is given to the collection of facts than to the deduction 

 from them of general principles ; the latter must be deferred to a 

 period of more tranquillity, when the mind is in a better condition 

 for continued application to the development of a single idea; con- 

 sequently the number of papers which have been presented to the 

 Institution since the date of the last report is less than that of any 

 previous year. 



The meteorological system which had been established, and was in 

 successful operation for several years before the commencement of 

 the war, has been much deranged, few records of observations having 

 been received from the middle States and none from the southern; 

 still, as I have before intimated, the labors of the Institution have 

 been industriously pursued in lines more in accordance with the 

 peculiar condition of the country. A large portion of all the time of 

 the Secretary has been devoted to inquiries referred to the Institu- 

 tion by the different departments of government. The work of pre- 

 paring the duplicate specimens of the Institution for distribution 

 has been continued. The library has been thoroughly overhauled, 



