REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 31 



During the past year we have made references of this kind to the 

 following gentlemen, viz : Dr. Torrey, of New York; Prof. Agassiz, 

 Dr. G-ray, and Prof. Wyman, of Cambridge; Dr. Leidy and Mr. Isaac 

 Lea, of Philadelphia; Professors Dana, Whitney, Brush, and Newton, 

 of New Haven; Drs. Woodward and Craig, of the Surgeon General's 

 office; Prof. Schaffer and Mr. W. B. Taylor, of the Patent office; Ad- 

 miral Davis and Prof. S. Newcomb of the Naval Observatory: and 

 Mr. George Gibbs, and Mr. J. H. Lane of Washington. 



Investigations. — During the past year a considerable portion of my 

 own time has been devoted to investigations connected with the rev- 

 enue service, light- house board, and other branches of the govern- 

 ment. These services, as well as those of a similar character in 

 former j^ears, have been entirely gratuitous, and may be considered 

 in some degree as having tended to repay the care bestowed on the 

 Smithson trust by the government in its character of guardian and 

 trustee. • 



Lectures. — Since the burning of the upper story of the building in 

 which the lecture room was situated, the public lectures have been_J 

 discontinued. I have given, however, a course on electricity to the 

 telegraphic association of this city, and also accepted, last autumn, an 

 invitation to deliver the opening course of lectures at the Peabody 

 Institute, in Baltimore. I was induced to accept this invitation con- 

 trary to my general habit, in order to present, from the experience 

 gained in the management of the Smithsonian Institution, some sug- 

 gestions which might be of importance in organizing the interesting 

 establishment so liberally endowed by our distinguished countryman. 

 The endowment of the Peabody Institute is $1,000,000, nearly double 

 the original Smithson fund, and sufficient, if the trust be wisely ad- 

 ministered, to render the favored city celebrated throughout the 

 world as a centre of literature and science. But I trust I shall be 

 pardoned for saying, that in the case of the organization of a new in- 

 stitution, of which the purposes are not clearly defined, and which is 

 entrusted to a board of trustees, it can scarcely be possible that the 

 best course can be adopted at once. There will always be honest 

 differences of opinion, and these will lead to compromises incom- 

 patible with a unity of plan, giving rise to difficulties in the 

 future. The wisest course, therefore, in such cases, is to proceed 

 cautiously, and on no account to adopt a plan which cannot be modi- 

 fied, or which shall call for any considerable expenditure of the prin- 

 cipal of the endowment. I may, perhaps be allowed to say, that the 

 publication of the remarks in full would probably be of importance in 



