24 m REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



equilibrium of a liquid mass withdrawn from the action of gravity; 

 an account of the history of discovery relative to magnetism; recent 

 researches relative to the nebulas, by Professor Gautier; an article 

 from the annals of the Observatory at Madrid, by Miguel Merino, on 

 the investigations made to determine the form and volume of the 

 earth; Arago's account of aeronautic voyages performed with a view 

 to the advancement of science, to which is added from an English 

 publication Mr. Glaisher's account of his recent ascensions in Eng- 

 land; the first part of an interesting and valuable account of the ab- 

 original inhabitants of the Californian peninsula, bv Baegert, a Jesuit 

 missionary who lived there seventeen years during the second half 

 of the last century; and an article from a German scientific periodical 

 on purple and azure dyeing in ancient and modern times. At the end 

 of the volume a few of the more important tables of weights and 

 measures, especially needed for reference in some of the preceding 

 articles, have been added. 



Ethnology. — The publications of the Institution relative to eth- 

 nology during the past year are those given in the appendix to the 

 last report,, the most important of which is a translation by Professor 

 Rau, of an account of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Californian 

 peninsula, by Baegert, a German Jesuit missionary. The book from 

 which this translation was made was published in Germany in 1773, 

 and is now very scarce and almost unknown in this country. It will be 

 considered, we doubt not, at this time, an interesting contribution to 

 the ethnology as well as the early history of a part of the world which 

 has of late years occupied so much of the public attention. Mr. Rau 

 has not given a translation in the strict sense of the word, but a re- 

 production of the work only so far as it relates to ethnological matters, 

 his object being to rescue from oblivion facts relating to the history 

 of a portion of the American race. The second part of this work will 

 be published in the appendix to the present report. 



There is a growing taste for the study of ethnology in this country, 

 and consequently a desire to form collections illustrating the condition 

 of the American aborigines in different parts of the continent. In 

 order to encourage this tendency, and to bring together for critical 

 study and comparison the scattered specimens which exist in this 

 country, the Institution has requested, either as a gift or a loan, 

 specimens of the arts and other remains found in mounds, excavations, 

 or on the surface of the ground; and with the assistance of Professor 

 Matile, formerly of the University of Neufchatel, commenced in 1863 



