Ix. 



Appendix : — -Proceedings of 



Smithsonian Report on Recent Improvements in the Chemical Arts. 

 By Booth and Morfit, 8vo., pp. 216. 



Directions for Collecting Specimens of Natural History, 8vo., pp. 24. 



Registry of Periodical Phenomena. 



List of Works published by the Smithsonian Institution. 



List of Foreign Institutions with which the Smithsonian Institution is 

 in Correspondence. 



Abstract of the 7th Census of the United States. 



B. 



Kaigalle, March 26th, 1853. 



Dear Sir, 



I regret having been prevented from attending the General Meeting 

 of the Asiatic Society on the 5th instant, as I might have* been able to 

 communicate more satisfactory information respecting the Provincial 

 Committee at Jaffna, than seems to have been afforded to the Meeting. 

 If my correspondence, as Chairman of that Committee, with the lamented 

 Captain Neill, and subsequently with his successor, be forthcoming, you 

 will be acquainted with all the proceedings of that Committee. Since 

 Captain Neill's demise, the Jaffna Committee was kept perfectly in the dark 

 respecting the views of the Auxiliary Society at Colombo. Had it been 

 made acquainted with the sentiments of the latter Institution, the Jaffna 

 Committee might have chalked out for itself an eligible sphere of useful- 

 ness. On reference to the last communication I addressed to Mr. Layard 

 in the month of June, you will perceive, that on my quitting that station, 

 Mr. Byrne undertook the charge of President, to which nomination I 

 could not obtain the concurrence of the Committee, as no Meeting took 

 place, consequent on the non-attendance of the requisite number of 

 Members to form a quorum. These circumstances, I notice, are omitted 

 in the proceedings published in the Observer of the 24th. 



With a degree of encouragement and co-operation on the part of the 

 Colombo Committee, I am disposed to think that of Jaffna would prove 

 a useful Auxiliary, in exploring valuable materials of information relative 

 to the Northern part of the Island. The disposal by the Local Commit- 

 tee of the funds raised on the spot, seems desirable, as certain disburse- 

 ments are unavoidable, where a working body is trying to be useful. It 

 is upon this principle, that the Parent Society in London recognizes 

 the exercise of this privilege by its Auxiliaries. In the anticipation that 

 the Colombo Committee would concur in a similar arrangement, that of 

 Jaffna has incurred some expense in the preparation for forming a 

 Museum. This proceeding seems not to meet the approval of the Co- 

 lombo Institution, inasmuch as it is not disposed to sanction the expen- 

 diture at the out-station of the subscriptions obtained on the spot. To 

 restrict a working Committee in the disposal of the funds at its disposal 



