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To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution : 



Gentlemen : The duty of presenting to you the annual report of 

 the operations and state of the Smithsonian Institution recurs, on 

 this occasion, under peculiar circumstances. On the 24th of last 

 month, the day before that designated for the annual meeting of the 

 Board, a fire occurred, of which an account is given in the Report 

 of a Special Committee. It destroyed the documents contained in 

 the Secretary's office, and among these was the manuscript of the 

 annual report, which was ready for presentation. The destruction 

 of this involved the necessity of rewriting the whole article, and has 

 delayed its presentation until the present time. 



Another circumstance which characterizes our present meeting is 

 that, for the first time in the history of the Institution, not one of 

 those who constituted the original Board of Regents is now in attend- 

 ance. With the exception of a single member, (Professor Bache,) 

 who is seeking in a foreign country the restoration of his health, 

 an entire change has taken place in the personal composition of the 

 Board. This change has been much more rapid during the last four 

 years, or since the commencement of the war. "Within that period, 

 death has repeatedly cast its shadow over the Institution. Indeed, 

 the number of those connected with the establishment who have 

 departed this life since the epoch mentioned exceeds the number in 

 all the years that preceded. The death of Judge Douglas, of Illinois, 

 of Senator Pearce, of Maryland, and that of Dr. Pelton, of Cambridge, 

 all prominent members of the Board, were communicated at the last 

 and the preceding meetings ; and I have now to add, as having oc- 

 curred since the last session, the death of General Totten, who was 

 one of the Regents named in the original act of Congress organizing 

 the Institution, and who continued during life to be an active member 

 of the Board, and by repeated election, one of the executive commit- 

 tee; that of Chief Justice Taney, who ever evinced a lively interest 

 in the welfare of the Institution, was one of the original members 

 of the Board, and for a long time held the office of its chairman; and, 

 lastly, that of Judge Dayton, whose decease, in the full enjoyment of 



