has collected interesting information as to the habits of thought‍and action of the people, and their capacity for moral and intellectual culture, which would have escaped the casual notice of the mere traveller.

Yoruba is a country of Western Africa, situated to the east of Dahomey, and extending from the Bight of Benin, in a northerly direction, nearly to the Niger. It is between the countries explored by the distinguished travellers, Barth, on the north, and Livingstone, on the south. The author describes it as a beautiful and fertile region, densely inhabited by a population devoted to agricultural pursuits, who do not dwell on the lands they cultivate, but live clustered together in villages and towns, some of which contain from 20,000 to 70,000 inhabitants. The people are generally of a primitive, simple and harmless character, and governed by institutions patriarchal rather than despotic. In their appearance they resemble the Caucasian race, while their mental powers and general moral impulses are considerably advanced in the scale of intelligence. They have, indeed, already attained no inconsiderable degree of social organization, while they have escaped some of the more depraved incidents of an advanced civilization.

The language, which is said to be spoken by about two millions of people, is represented by Professor Turner to be very homogeneous in its structure, almost all of it being derived from some five hundred primitive words. "Its articulations are sufficiently easy to imitate, and there is a system of vocalic concords recurring through the whole, which, together with the multiplicity of vowels, renders it decidedly euphonious. The great difficulty is found in the tones and accents, which can be discriminated only by a good ear, and must be uttered correctly to make the speaker intelligible. The Yoruba has neither article nor adjective, properly so called, and it is almost wholly destitute of inflection. The verbal root remains unchanged through all the accidents of person, mood, and tense, which are indicated by separate pronouns and particles. The plurality of nouns is also indicated by the aid of a plural pronoun. The numerals are based on the decimal system, yet many of them are formed by subtraction instead of addition or multiplication, as with us. Thus 15 is literally 10+5; but 1620-4, 1720-3, &c. Although this language is spoken by a rude people, it abounds in abstract terms, and the missionary finds no difficulty in expressing in it the ideas he desires to communicate."

It is believed that this work will be received by the student of ethnology as an interesting addition to this science, and that its publication will not only facilitate the labors of the missionary, but be productive of valuable commercial results. The country in which the language is spoken is rich in natural and artificial productions, and as the inhabitants are anxious to establish relations of trade with other parts of the world, it would seem to offer a new and tempting field to mercantile enterprise.

Under the head of publications, we may allude to the Appendix to the Annual Report of the Regents. Previous to 1853 this report was in a pamphlet form, and only in one or two cases were a few extra copies ordered. Since that date an annual volume has been presented to Congress, of which twenty thousand extra copies have been printed. The liberal distribution of this work has met with general approbation, the applications to the Institution for copies have been constantly increasing, and, in connexion with the Report of the Patent Office, no document has become more popular or is better calculated to advance the cause of knowledge among the people. The object is, as far as possible, to distribute this volume among teachers, and through them to diffuse precise scientific knowledge to the rising generation. It is made also the vehicle of instruction, in the line of observations, to all who are desirous of co-operating in the investigation of the natural history and physical geography of this country. The wide distribution of this report has tended, more than any other means, to make known the character of the Institution, and to awaken an interest throughout the whole country in its prosperity.

In order to render the series complete, the first volume-that for 1853-contained a reprint of the previous reports of the Secretary, from which a connected history of all the operations of the Institution from the beginning may be obtained. These volumes are illustrated by a large number of wood cuts, which have been provided at the expense of the Smithsonian fund. We have, however, to regret that, from the rapidity with which Congressional documents are hurried through the press, we have not been allowed in all cases revised copies of the proof. We cannot, therefore, be held entirely responsible for inaccuracies of the press any more than for the style of printing or the quality of the paper.

It is a part of the settled policy of the Institution to appropriate its funds, as far as the original law of organization will allow, to such objects only as cannot as well be accomplished by other means ; and accordingly, in several instances, the printing of papers previously

accepted for publication has been relinquished because it was subsequently found that the works could be given to the public, under certain conditions, through other agencies. In such cases the favorable opinion expressed by the Institution as to the character of the work, or the assistance rendered by the subscription on the part of the Regents, for a number of copies to be distributed in exchange for other books among our foreign correspondents, has been sufficient to induce some liberal minded parties to undertake the publication, rather as an enterprise connected with the reputation of their establishments, than as a matter of profit.

Among the works of this class is the "Theory of the Motion of the Heavenly Bodies," by the celebrated Gauss, translated by Captain C. H. Davis, U. S. N., late superintendent of the Nautical Almanac, which was originally accepted by us for publication, but was afterwards relinquished to Messrs. Little & Brown, of Boston, who have shown in this instance, as well as in others of a similar character, a liberality which cannot be otherwise than highly appreciated by a discerning public. This book, which is essential to the advance of practical astronomy, was published in Latin, in Hamburg, in 1809, and is now of difficult access, as well as of restricted use, on account of the language in which it appeared. It gives a complete system of formulas and processes for computing the movement of a body revolving in an ellipse, or in any other curve belonging to the class of conic sections, and explains a general method of determining the orbit of a planet or a comet from three observations of the position of the body as seen from the earth. The essay was called for at the time it was produced by the wants of science. The planet Ceres, discovered on the first day of the present century by Piazzi, of Italy, had been lost to astronomers in its passage through the portion of the heavens illuminated by the beams of the sun, and could not be found by the means then known, when Gauss, from a few observations of its former place, calculated its orbit, and furnished an ephemeris by which it was readily rediscovered. The methods employed in this determination were afterwards given in a systematic form in the work now translated. The copies subscribed for by the Institution, on account of exchanges, and those paid for by the Navy Department, for the use of the computers of the Nautical Almanac, were sufficient to secure the publication of the work, which could not have been undertaken without these aids.

In accordance with the same policy the Institution has subscribed for a few copies of a work on "The Pleiocene Fossils of South Caro

lina," by M. Tuomey and F. S. Holmes. This work received the commendation of some of the distinguished members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at its meeting in Charleston, in 1850, and its publication was undertaken at the risk and cost of the authors. The actual expense, however, far exceeded their estimate, and without the liberal aid of the legislature of South Carolina they could not have escaped heavy loss, or been enabled to complete the work in a proper style of art. To aid the same enterprise the Institution was induced to make the subscription above mentioned for copies to be distributed to foreign societies. We regret to state that before the work was fully completed the science of the country was called to mourn the loss of Professor Tuomey, of the University of Alabama, who, during the past year, was prematurely snatched away from his family and friends in the flower of his age. His works, however, will remain as an inheritance to the cause of knowledge and the best monument to his memory. We have been gratified to learn that, at the late session of the legislature of South Carolina, a resolution was passed authorizing a continuance of the patronage of the State to the publication of these researches, and consequently Professor Holmes has signified his intention to publish two additional volumes on the Eocene and the Post Pleiocene Fossils, to which the subscription of the Institution will also be extended.

Another work, belonging to the same class, is the series of "Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America," by Professor Louis Agassiz. It has been mentioned in a previous report that this distinguished savan was preparing a series of papers to be presented to the Smithsonian Institution, and that the plates for some of these had been engraved. But the number of these contributions, and the cost of their illustration, would have absorbed a larger portion. of the Smithsonian fund than could have properly been devoted to the labors of one individual. Fortunately, however, the reputation and popularity of Professor Agassiz have enabled his friends to procure subscribers for an independent work, containing the result of his valuable investigations, in numbers unprecedented in the annals of science of this or of any other country. In order to assist this enterprise in the beginning, and to relieve its own funds, the Institution subscribed for copies, to be distributed among foreign libraries, in exchange for rare works of a similar character, with which to enrich its own library.

The Institution has also facilitated the researches described in the first two volumes of the work in question, and I may quote the

following sentence containing the acknowledgment of the author for the services which have thus been rendered him: "Above all, I must mention the Smithsonian Institution, whose officers, in the true spirit of its founder, have largely contributed to the advancement of my researches by forwarding to me for examination not only all the specimens of Testudinata collected for the museum of the Institution, but also those brought to Washington by the naturalists of the different parties that have explored the western Territories, or crossed the continent with the view of determining the best route for the Pacific railroad. These specimens have enabled me to determine the geographical distribution of this order of reptiles with a degree of precision which I could not have attained without this assistance." Besides this, the Institution caused special collections of turtles to be made for Professor Agassiz, from those parts of the country from which no specimens had previously been obtained.

It was originally intended, as announced in the prospectus, to issue one volume a year, but the author found that the first volume was insufficient to contain all the matter which he had designed to give in it. Its publication was therefore delayed, that the whole of this part of his general subject might be presented at once, and hence two volumes have been issued together. The large subscription which has been obtained has enabled the publishers to extend the original plan, and to expend a much greater sum on the engravings than was at first thought possible. The work will serve to increase and extend the reputation of the illustrious author, as well as to afford a striking example of the liberality of our country and its growing appreciation of abstract science.

Under the head of publications, and in justice to the memory of a distinguished naturalist, a profound scholar, and a worthy man, the late Dr. Gerard Troost, of Tennessee, it ought to be stated in this Report, that after his death, several years ago, a memoir he had prepared on the organic remains known as Crinoidea, illustrated by a collection of specimens, was presented to the Smithsonian Institution for publication. It was submitted to two naturalists of high reputation, and found by them to be an important addition to knowledge, though left by its author in an unfinished condition. The gentlemen to whom it was referred generously offered to supply the deficiencies, and to prepare the work for the press. Their engagements, however, have since been such as to prevent up to this time the completion of the task which they undertook to accomplish. One of the gentlemen