Whereupon, on motion of Mr. Bache, it was Resolved, That the Secretary be requested to prepare for the use of the Institution, a descriptive catalogue of Dr. Hare's apparatus, illustrated by impressions from the original blocks. On motion, the board adjourned to meet on Saturday next, at 10 o'clock, a. m. SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 1849. The board met agreeably to adjournment. Present, the Chancellor, Messrs. Bache, Davis, Hilliard, McClelland, Marsh, Pearce, Seaton, and Totten. Mr. Totten presented the revised report of the Building Committee; which was accepted. Mr. Hilliard read a letter from Mr. Squier, which was referred to the Secretary and Executive Committee. On motion of Mr. Bache, it was Resolved, That as the discharge of the duties assigned to the Assistant Secretary, acting as Librarian, are now such as to give entire employment to his time, he receive from the first instant the full compensation pro vided by the resolution of the board, adopted January 26, 1847. On motion of Mr. Seaton, it was Resolved, That when the board adjourn, it adjourn to meet on Wednesday, the 7th of March next, at 10 o'clock, a. m., in the Vice President's room in the Capitol, for the purpose of electing a Chancellor, in the place of Mr. Dallas, whose term of office as Regent expires on the 4th of March next. The Assistant Secretary, acting as Librarian, read his report relative to the Library. The board then, on motion, adjourned to meet on Wednesday, the 7th of March next. SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF THE OPERATIONS OF THE YEAR 1848. PRESENTED DECEMBER 13, 1849. GENTLEMEN: By a resolution of the Board of Regents, at their last an nual meeting, I was charged with the execution of the details of the programme, which had been provisionally adopted, and was directed to report annually to the board the progress made in the execution of the duty as signed to me. In accordance with this resolution I present the following statement of the operations of the past year. The programme of the plan of organization of the institution has been submitted to a number of literary and scientific societies, and in every case has received their unqualified approbation. The principal officers of these societies have expressed a willingness to co-operate with the Smithsonian Institution in carrying out the plans which have been adopted, and it is confidently believed, that as soon as these are fully developed and brought into practical operation, they will meet with general approval. It was recommended in my last report that the details of the plan should be adopted provisionally, and should be carried into operation gradually and cautiously, with such changes from time to time, as experience might dictate. The Institution is not one of a day; but is designed to endure as long as our government shall exist, and it is therefore peculiarly important that in the beginning we should proceed carefully and not attempt to produce immediate effects at the expense of permanent usefulness. The process of increasing knowledge is an extremely slow one, and the value of the results of this part of the plan cannot be properly realized until some years have elapsed. Independently of these considerations, the financial arrangements adopted by the Board of Regents, are such as to prevent the full operation of the Institution until after three years from next March; up to that time more than one-half of the income is to be devoted to the erection of the building, and indirectly to the increase of the permanent fund. It will be recollected that the programme embraces 1st. The plan of publishing original memoirs on all branches of knowl edge, in a series of quarto volumes. 2d. The institution of original researches under, the direction of compe. tent persons. 3d. The publication of a series of reports from year to year, giving an account of the progress of the different branches of knowledge. art. 4th. The formation of a library and a museum of objects of nature and Publication of original memoirs. The first volume of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge has been published and partially distributed. It consists of a single memoir on the ancient monuments of the Mississippi valley, comprising the results of extensive original surveys and explorations by E. G. Squier, A. M., and E. H. Davis, M. D. It is illustrated by forty eight lithographic plates, and by two hundred and seven wood engravings. The mechanical execution of the volume will bear comparison with that of any publication ever issued from the American press. In the publication of the first volume of the Contributions, the question occurred as to the propriety of securing the copyright to the Institution. I had not an opportunity of conferring with the Executive Committee on this point, and was therefore obliged to settle it on my own responsibility. I concluded that it would be more in accordance with the spirit of the institution to decide against the copyright. The knowledge which the Smithsonian Institution may be instrumental in presenting to the world should be free to all who are capable of using it. The republication of our papers ought to be considered as an evidence of their importance, and should be encouraged rather than prohibited. The first memoir occupies an entire volume, and this accidental circumstance has given rise to a misconception of the plan. It has been supposed that each volume of the Smithsonian Contributions is in like manner to consist of a separate treatise on a particular subject selected with a view to popular interest. But such is not the case; each volume will generally contain a number of separate memoirs, on different branches of knowledge, similar to the usual published transactions of learned societies. The only reason why the first volume is occupied with a subject of general interest rather than one on some more abstruse branch of science is, that the memoir it contains was the first which was presented of the character prescribed by the plan. No preference is to be given to any branch of knowledge. The only questions to be asked, in considering the acceptance of a memoir, are, whether it is a positive addition to knowledge, resting on original research, and of sufficient importance to merit a place in the Smithsonian Contributions. The rules adopted for the acceptance of a memoir are the same as those generally followed by learned societies. The memoir is surrendered by the author to the Institution, and no additions or alterations are allowed to be made after it has been submitted to the commission appointed to examine it, unless by their consent. A certain number of copies is presented to the author for distribution, with the privilege of striking off, at his own expense, additional copies for sale; which in most cases, particularly when the memoir is of popular interest, will be all the remuneration expected by the author. . From what has been said, it will be evident that the papers published in the Contributions cannot generally be of a popular nature. The popular effects to be produced by the Institution are principally those which may be attained by the reports on the progress of the different branches of knowledge, and by the occasional publications in connexion with these of separate treatises on some subject of special interest. Applications have been made for the first volume of the Contributions from many academies and private institutions, and were our means sufficient, we would be pleased to supply all demands of this kind. But this is obviously impossible, for they alone would exhaust all the income of the Institution. Preparations have been made for the publication of the second volume of the Contributions, and a sufficient number of memoirs have been already accepted, or are in preparation, to furnish the materials. Five of these are on astronomical subjects, and afford as important additions to this science as have ever been made to it in this country. Two of them relate to investigations on the new planet Neptune, which are only second in value to the original discovery of this distant member of our system. Abstracts of these have been given to the world, and have been received with general approbation. A third is a determination of the zodiac of the asteroids, or the zone in the heavens to which the positions of these small planets are confined. This paper is of much practical importance in facilitating the researches now in progress in different parts of the world relative to the nature of these fragments (as they would seem to be) of a large planet between Jupiter and Mars. It may be at once determined, by an inspection of the table annexed to this paper, whether any star mapped in an old catalogue, and now no longer to be found in the same place, can possibly be one of the asteroids. A fourth paper is an account of a new comet, the discovery of which by an American lady is one of the first additions to science of this kind, so far as I am informed, ever made in this country. The fifth memoir is an account of the Georgetown Observatory, the instruments with which it is furnished, the mode of using them which has been adopted, and the results of the observations which have been made. An important paper is also in process of preparation for the same volume. on the gigantic fossil cetacean remains which are found in the southern and western States of the Union. Other papers are in progress which partake of the character of original researches, since they are in part at least prepared at the expense and un der the direction of the Smithsonian Institution. They will be mentioned under the next head. In a few cases, memoirs have been presented which, though exhibiting research and considerable originality, are not of a character to warrant their adoption as parts of our volumes of Contributions to positive knowl. edge. The rule given in the programme has been rigidly adhered to, viz: to decline accepting any paper on physical science which consists merely of an unverified hypothesis, however ingenious and plausible such an hypothesis may be. A law of nature is not susceptible of a logical demonstration, like that of a proposition of geometry, but is proved by its fitness to explain old, and to predict new, phenomena. The verification of an hypothesis, as we have stated in the last report, consists in deducing consequences from it, and ascertaining by a direct appeal to observation or experiment, the truth or falsity of these deductions. Any paper, therefore, on material science which does not contain original experiments and observations cannot be admitted as a part of the Contributions to Knowledge. The rule we have adopted is in accordance with the practice of cautious investigators. The law of universal gravitation existed for several years in the mind of Newton as a well conditioned hypothesis, before it was given to the world as a verified and established theory. Besides this, the rules of logic which are employed in discussing the questions of ordinary life are not applicable to the precision of scientific inquiry. The materials in this case, to borrow an expression of an author of celebrity, “must be weighed in the scale of the assayer, and not like the mixed commodities of the market, on the weightbridge of common opinion and general usage." It has been objected to our publishing original memoirs, that in so doing we are merely performing the duties of a learned society. The answer is, that the learned societies in this country have not the means, except in a very limited degree, of publishing memoirs which require expensive illustrations, much less of assisting to defray the cost of the investigations by which the results have been obtained. The real workingmen in the line of original research hail this part of the plan as a new era in the history of American science. The assistance which the Institution will thus render to original research, will occupy the place of the governmental patronage of other countries, and will enable true genius, wherever found, to place its productions before the world, free of cost, and in a manner most favorable for securing due attention and proper appreciation. From our experience thus far, I am convinced that circumscribed as is the class of memoirs accepted by the Institution, we shall have no want of materials to fill at least one quarto volume a year. There has been in our country within the last few years a remarkable increase in the attention given to original research, not only in material science, but in every branch of knowledge susceptible of increase. And this is evinced by the character and variety of the papers which have been presented for pub. lication. The wide difference between the increase of knowledge and its diffusion is beginning to be seen and appreciated, and the time is not far distant when we shall be as distinguished for our additions to science as for its diffusion and application. The revolutions of Europe are not only sending to our shores the choicest specimens of art, but also men of reputation and skill in scientific investigation. Besides this, the present state of France is attended with such an interruption of the ordinary means of scientific publication, that the manuscript volumes on natural history of one of the most distinguished professors of the Jardin des Plantes are offered to us for publication in the Smithsonian Contributions for no remuneration, save a few copies for distribution among friends. Were the Institution fully in operation I should not hesi tate, in accordance with the liberality which should characterise an establishment founded on the bequest of a foreigner, to recommend the adop tion of these memoirs for publication at the expense of the institution, and perhaps we might now distribute them through several of our volumes and finish the publication of them in the course of a few years. Original researches. The second part of the plan consists in instituting original researches, the results of which are to be published, with the other memoirs, in the volumes of the Smithsonian Contributions. Under this head may be first mentioned the publication of the tables ordered at the last meeting of the board, for facilitating the calculation of the time of appearance of occulta. tions of the fixed stars by the moon. The object of these tables is to assist in the accurate determination of the longitude of important places on the continent of North America, and their importance has been attested by the recommendation of some of the most distinguished astronomers of this country. The accurate establishment of the longitude of any place renders it a landmark to the surveyor, the geographer and the astronomer, and furnishes a most important element in determining its relative position on the map of the country. The observation of occultations affords one of the most ready means of solving this most difficult practical problem. The tables were calculated at the expense and under the direction of the Institution, and were sent to all persons known to be interested in practical astronomy, with a request that the observations which might be made in connexion with them might be sent to the Institution for computation, or published in some accessible journal. These tables have been so well received by astronomers, that with the concurrence of the Executive Committee, I have ventured to order the computation of a set of the same kind on a more extensive scale for the year 1849. Copies of these will be sent to United States officers on the coast of Oregon and California, and will be distributed among all the other observers in this country. They will be found of much practical importance to the corps engaged by the general government in establishing the boundary lines of our new possessions. It is hoped that the remuneration allowed for the labor of computing these tables will not be considered extravagant, when it is mentioned that it has occupied the whole time of Mr. Downes for nearly six months, at the rate of eight hours a day. With the concurrence of the Executive Committee, I have also published an ephemeris of the planet Neptune, or in other words, a table indicating its position in the heavens during each day of the present year, by which those interested in astronomy are enabled readily to find the place of the new planet in the heavens, or the direction in which the telescope must be pointed in order to observe it. Copies of this have been sent to all the principal astronomers in the world, and it has received the highest commendation. It was calculated by Mr. S. C. Walker from the orbit |