Miscellaneous Intelligence. 259 



wise in thowing the chief benefits of this fund in the directions 

 named. 



The following are recent publications : No. 38. — Writings 

 on American History : 1903. A Bibliography of Books and Ar- 

 ticles on United States History published during the year 1903, 

 with some Memoranda on other Portions of America, prepared 

 by A. C. McLaughlin, W. A. Slade, and E. D. Lewis. Pp. 

 172. 



No. 42. — A Respiration Calorimeter with Appliances for the 

 Direct Determination of Oxygen ; by W. O. Atwater and F. G. 

 Benedict. Pp. 193, with 49 figures. 



No. 45. — Catalogue of Stars within Two Degrees of the North 

 Pole, reduced from Photographic Measures made at Vassar Col- 

 lege Observatory ; by Caroline E. Furness, Ph.D. Pp. 85, 

 with 16 tables. 



3. Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 

 for the year ending June 30, 1905 ; by S. P. Langley. — The 

 functions of the Smithsonian Institution are so varied and 

 important that much interest attaches to the advance Report 

 giving a statement of what has been accomplished by the Smith- 

 sonian Institution during the year ending June 30, 1905. In 

 addition to the work upon the new Museum, which is progressing 

 steadily, a mortuary chapel has been constructed to contain the 

 tomb of James Smithson, whose remains were brought from Italy 

 in January, 1904. Of the work done outside of Washington may 

 be mentioned the archeological exploration of Dr. Fewkes in 

 Mexico, the expedition to Alaska by Mr. A. G. Maddren and 

 the glacier expedition on the Canadian Rockies and Selkirks 

 under the direction of Prof. W. H. Sherzer. As usual, the Astro- 

 physical Observatory has carried on some important investiga- 

 tions, particularly in the measurement of solar radiation; in regard 

 to this, Mr. C. G. Abbot remarks: "The work of this and the 

 two preceding years strongly supports the view that the radiation 

 of the sun is frequently diminished and augmented for periods of 

 a few weeks or months, in consequence of a variability of the 

 transparency of the solar absorbing envelope, and that this varia- 

 tion of radiation causes and quickly produces changes of several 

 degrees in the mean temperature of the land areas of the earth. 

 It is hoped that the study of the solar radiation will soon prove 

 a valuable aid in forecasting climate. 



4. Report of the Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, showing the Progress of the Work from July 1, 1904, to 

 June 80, 1905 ; by O. H. Tittmann. Pp. 347, with 8 illustra- 

 tions. — This volume gives the usual summary of the work of the 

 Survey during the year, Including what has been done in the out- 

 lying dependencies, especially in the Philippines. These results 

 are summarized by the superintendent in the opening chapter, 

 and discussed in detail in the appendixes which follow. The 

 most noteworthy result accomplished is the completion of the 

 line of precise levels connecting the Atlantic Ocean at Sandy 

 Hook and the Gulf of Mexico at Biloxi, Miss., with the Pacific 



