48 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



air from the halls of Congress, &c, from which a report is to he 

 made, under the direction of the Institution, on the ventilation of the 

 public buildings of this city. 



The most important publications under this head are the researches 

 relative to electric currents, by Professor Secchi; on the explosibility 

 of nitre, by Dr. Hare; on the ammonia-cobalt bases, by Drs. Gibbs 

 and Genth; and on astronomical photography, by Dr. Henry Draper. 



A valuable report on recent improvements in the. chemical arts by 

 Booth & Morfit was published in 1852, and there have been given in the 

 annual reports of the Institution a series of translations and articles 

 presenting a view of the progress of physics and chemistry from 

 year to year, since 1853, among which we may particularly notice 

 the translation 6f Miiller on recent contributions to electricity, and 

 the reprint of Powell on Radiant Heat. 



Terrestrial magnetism. — The subject of terrestrial magnetism has 

 been prosecuted simultaneously with that of meteorology, and an 

 observatory was erected in the Smithsonian grounds, fitted up with 

 the most approved instruments, and conducted under the joint 

 auspices of the Institution and of the Coast Survey. After remain- 

 ing in operation for several years, the instruments were transferred 

 to Ke} T West, as a remote station where observations were still more 

 desirable. Instruments were also furnished an expedition to Mexico, 

 and used with much success by Mr. Sonntag, whose results were 

 published in the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. Appa- 

 ratus was also furnished to Dr. Kane, Dr. Hayes, and other explorers, 

 by means of which valuable results were obtained. 



Of the more important publications of the Institution, which have 

 tended to advance this science, may be mentioned the articles by 

 Dr. Locke, on the dip and intensity; the elaborate discussion, by 

 Professor Bache, of the magnetic observations made at Girard College 

 from 1841 to 1845 ; the report on magnetical observations in the 

 arctic seas by Dr. Kane, reduced at the expense of the Institution 

 by Mr. C. A. Schott, and those made in Pennsylvania and adjacent 

 States by Professor Bache, and in Mexico by Mr. Sonntag. 



Explorations. — In the deficiency of means for more extended oper- 

 ations, as lias been frequently represented in the annual reports, the 

 efforts of the Institution in the line of explorations and collections are 

 confined, as strictly as possible, to America ; but within this limit 

 there are few regions which have not furnished scope, in some form, 

 to its activity. Arctic America, all the unknown portions of the 



