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CORRESPONDENCE.

COMMUNICATION RELATIVE TO THE PUBLICATION OF SPANISH WORKS ON NEW MEXICO.

DEAR SIR: We ask leave to call your attention to the existence of some MSS. of a very early date, which belong to the history of this country, with the hope that you may consider their publication as a proper object for the Smithsonian Institution to undertake, and in the Spanish-the language in which they are written.

It is known to the Secretary that an invasion by the Spaniards of the territory since called New Mexico, took place in the years 1540, 1541, and 1542, accounts of which have come to us from two handsCastañeda and Iarramillo. They are together long, and possess a variety of interest.

The army marched through the present States of Cinaloa and Sonora, crossed the Gila river, and having passed through the celebrated towns of Cibola and crossed the Rio Grande near Santa Fé, came upon the Buffalo Plains, and are supposed to have reached the Mississippi river. They give us the first reliable information of the curious state of Indian civilization existing there; people living in communities, of diverse languages, inoffensive, industrious, gaining their support principally by husbandry, and practising all the virtues with a rigor that belonged to no other American nation, and we believe everywhere without a parallel.

A copy of these MSS. is in the Historical Collection of James Lenox, Esq. They have never been printed in the Spanish, and only in the French; but, from some careful comparisons of other translations that have come from the same source with the original works, we are satisfied that they cannot be relied on for accuracy; yet these have afforded nearly all that is quoted or known in this country of the discovery and early history of New Mexico. The publication of these papers in the language in which they are written will give opportunities for their being rendered into other languages; still, however exact may be a translation, it must always be important, in writings. of such authority as these, to have the original to refer to in matters of nicety and doubt.

At the same time that the viceroy of New Spain directed an army to the north by land, he sent forward another by sea up the Gulf of California to co-operate with Coronado. Alarcón disembarked at the mouth of the river Gila, and ascended the Colorado river in boats; but finding the famed cities not so near the South sea as they were supposed to be, the forces did not form a junction. The account of

this expedition appeared in the Italian, and from it an English translation afterwards in Hackluyt. The original has never been printed. A copy is now in this country in the hands of John R. Bartlett, esq.

On the return of Alarcón, one of his "cosmographers," Domingo del Castillo, drew a small map of the country they had traversed, and generally of the geography of the north, as it was understood at that time. It portrays with wonderful accuracy the lands of recent discovery, the seacoast, the position of the Spanish settlements, and the course of the rivers. It is on a single quarto page, and there is a copy of it in this country.

Thus we have here many important documents giving accounts of these early explorations, and it is believed they may be got together at the present time. They have been greatly needed in the country for a number of years past, and their publication would prove of utility and of great public interest.

From a particular calculation that has been made, it is found that the foregoing narratives would cover about 323 pages of the folio of the volume of the Smithsonian publications.

There is a second series of documents appertaining to a later period of the history of New Mexico, Texas, and adjoining territories, that are even less known than the first, to which we also ask the Secretary's particular attention.

1. Memoirs respecting the Provincias Internas of New Spain, by Lieutenant José Cortes, of the royal engineers, written in the year 1799. They will occupy 120 pages.

2. Diary & Route through the country newly discovered to the N.N.W. of New Mexico, of the Fathers Silvestre Velez de Escalante and Francisco Atanacio Dominguez, in the year 1776. This will cover 116 pages.

These, in manuscript, are in the library of Peter Force, esq.

3. Report of Lieutenant Cristobal Martin Bernal and Father Eusebio Fr. Kino, and others, in the year 1697, on the State of Pimeria. It will occupy 31 pages.

4. Letter from Father Kino, touching an expedition made with the Cap. Carrasco, in 1698, from Pimeria to the N.W. and Gulf of California and back, a journey of 300 leagues. It will fill five pages.

5. Letter of the same, dated 16th September, 1698, respecting the condition of Pimeria and the recent conversions therein. It will cover five pages.

6. Letter of the Father Silvestre Velez de Escalante, dated 2d April, 1778, giving a history of New Mexico, by order of his superior, from the archives in Santa Fé-pp. 25.

Of these documents-3, 4, 5, 6-Buckingham Smith, esq., has copies from those in the royal archives in the city of Mexico.

7 and 8. Diary of Friar Francisco Garces to the river Colorado in the year 1775, and Diary of Father Pedro Font, at the same time, to San Francisco, with a small map by him. About 200 pages.

9. Diary of Ensign Juan Mateo Monge to the N. in a journey with Father Kino in the year 1697. Supposed to be about 75 pages.

Both these documents are in the Department of Foreign Affairs in the city of Mexico, where copies of them can be procured with facility. We are, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servants,

Prof. JOSEPH HENRY,

EDWARD ROBINSON,

Prest. Am. Ethnological Society. HERMANN E. LUDEWIG,

Sec'y Am. Ethnol. Society.

E. GEO. SQUIER.

HEN. C. MURPHEY.

WM. B. HODGSON, of Georgia.

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

SUNNYSIDE, August 26, 1854.

From a perusal of the accompanying letter, drawn up, as I understand, by Buckingham Smith, esq., late Secretary of Legation in Mexico, I am induced to believe that the documents therein specified are well worthy of publication, both in their original language and in translation, by the Smithsonian Institution.

WASHINGTON IRVING.

LYNN, September 7, 1854.

I concur in the opinion expressed by Mr. Irving, especially in regard to the first series of documents mentioned in Mr. Smith's letter. WM. H. PRESCOTT.

CAMBRIDGE, September 13, 1854.

The Spanish documents enumerated in the communication drawn up by Buckingham Smith, esq., appear to me valuable, as furnishing new and interesting materials for a history of portions of the United States hitherto little known, and I believe the Smithsonian Institution would confer an important benefit on the country by publishing them. JARED SPARKS.

NEW YORK, October 5, 1854.

I shall be very glad to see the documents referred to by Messrs. Irving, Prescott, and Sparks, made accessible through the press. The Diary of Father Pedro Font seems to be not the least inviting of the series. Give us light, all the light that history can shed, on the vast territory we have annexed.

GEORGE BANCROFT.

NEW YORK, October 11, 1854.

The publication of the documents referred to in Mr. Smith's letter is very desirable.

Those named in the first series (and especially Castañeda's account) are very valuable.

FRANCIS L. HAWKS.

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PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF FREIBURG.

[Translated from the German for the Smithsonian Institution.]

It is a part of the original plan of organization of the Institution to furnish occasional reports on the progress of special branches of knowledge, and in accordance with this the following report has been translated from the German, in which it was written.

It relates to a branch of science which, perhaps, more than any other, is in the process of practical application to economical purposes, and is principally composed of materials not accessible to the English reader. The original article is by Professor Muller, the celebrated German physicist. The translation was made by the late Woods Baker, Esq., of the Coast Survey, whose untimely death, science has been called to mourn.

We are indebted to Vieveg & Son for the wood-cuts, who have liberally furnished us with copies of the original at the cost merely of the metal and the casting.

A second portion of the work will be published in the appendix to the next annual report of the Regents, and so on until the whole is completed. The present portion will be found particularly valuable in relation to the construction and use of galvanic batteries.

The report pre-supposes such a preliminary knowledge of the subject as may be obtained from the elementary books used in our schools; and in order to render some of the passages of the text more easily understood, a few notes have been added at the end. The rapidity with which government work is printed does not allow the additions or corrections to be inserted on the proper page, and hence in studying the article the notes should be examined first to ascertain the part of the text to which they belong.

GALVANISM.

SECTION FIRST.

THE CHEMICAL AND CONTACT THEORIES.

Introduction. [The author commences his report on the recent progress of galvanism with a brief account of the discussions which have

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