REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 35 



vanced last year to two dollars and forty-three cents. It became, 

 therefore, an important matter to the Light-house Board to determine 

 whether some other burning material could not be introduced in the 

 place of so expensive an article. The investigation of this subject 

 was given in charge to myself, as the chairman of the Committee on 

 Experiments. The result of the investigations not only revealed 

 a number of new phenomena of interest to science, but also estab- 

 lished the important practical fact of the superiority of winter 

 strained lard oil over standard sperm oil in the intensity of the light, 

 the steadiness and persistence of the flame, and the less care required 

 in attendance. This fact must have an important bearing on the cost 

 of lighting the extended coast of the United States, as well as upon 

 the commercial value of one of the staple products of the western 

 part of our Union. The price of lard oil is, at present, considerably 

 less than one-half of that of sperm, and while the supply of sperm oil 

 has remained stationary, or even diminished with an increasing de- 

 mand, the sources of lard oil in the country are abundant, and the 

 quantity which can be produced will be sufficient to meet almost an 

 unlimited consumption. 



Another series of experiments was made for determining the proper 

 arrangements of reflectors and lenses for illuminating distant ob- 

 jects either by the electric or the calcium light. These experiments 

 were instituted at the suggestion of the Navy Department, but as no 

 appropriation was made for their being carried into practice, they 

 were discontinued, and the knowledge obtained remains unapplied. 



Collections of specimens of natural history, dfcc. — In several of the 

 preceding reports a distinction has been drawn between the collec- 

 tion of specimens of natural history made through the agency of 

 this Institution, and what is called the Smithsonian museum. The 

 object of making large collections of duplicate specimens is, first, to 

 advance science by furnishing to original investigators new materials 

 for critical study; and second, to assist in diffusing knowledge, by 

 providing colleges, academies, and other educational establishments, 

 with labelled specimens to illustrate the various productions of nature, 

 while the principal end to be attained by the public museum of the 

 Institution is the gratification and instruction of the inhabitants and 

 visitors of the city of Washington. 



The collecting and distributing of a large number of specimens, for 

 the purpose stated, is an important means of increasing and diffusing 

 knowledge, and, as such, is in strict accordance with the will of the 

 founder of the Institution. It has, therefore, from the first received 



