The apparatus for determining the elements of terrestrial magnetism, mentioned in my last Report, as having been lent to Colonel Emory, has been delivered to Colonel Graham, to be used on the Mexican Boundary Survey. To replace these, the Institution has received permission to order another set, from London, at the expense of the government; and thus, by an addition to the number of instruments of this kind, the means of promoting the science of terrestrial magnetism, in this country, will be increased.

The purchase of standard meteorological apparatus, and also the instruments which have been distributed to different important stations, throughout the country, is a part of the same plan.

During the past year a considerable portion of the apparatus constituting the liberal donation of Dr. Hare, of Philadelphia, has been repaired and fitted up; and we hope, during the present season, to complete the repairs of the remainder, and to place the whole in a proper position for exhibition and use.

Library.

It has been stated, that the programme of organization is intended to harmonize the several requisitions of Congress, and the resolutions of the Board of Regents, with a system of active operations, the influence of which shall be as widely extended as practicable. Though almost every one will admit the value of libraries, and the importance of collecting in this country as great a variety of books as possible, yet it may well be doubted whether the accumulation of a large number of books which are to be found in almost every library of the country, is, in the present state of the funds, to be expected or aimed at. It is believed that a portion of the income devoted to the library, may be more efficiently expended in the promotion of the desired ends by other means, and hence, it was resolved to make special collections of books; particularly to procure such as are not in the country, and also, in order to render more available those which are now in our libraries, to prepare, as far as practicable, a general catalogue of all the books they

contain.

In accordance with these views, Professor Jewett has devised a plan of facilitating the publication of catalogues of libraries, which bids fair to be of much importance to the literature of the country. This plan has been submitted for examination to a commission of gentlemen well acquainted with the subject, and we have received from them a very favorable report recommending its adoption.

The propositions submitted to the commission for examination, were as follows:

1. A plan for stereotyping catalogues of libraries by separate movable titles; and

2. A set of general rules, to be recommended for adoption, by the different libraries of the United States, in the preparation of their catalogues.

For a full account of Professor Jewett's plan, and of the advantages anticipated from it, I must refer to his report herewith submitted. I may, however, briefly allude to the leading principle of the plan, which

is to stereotype the titles of books on separate movable blocks. These blocks once prepared, and kept in a central depository, may be used for the printing of new editions of the catalogues for which they were originally made, allowing the interposition of additional titles in their proper order; as well as for the printing of all other catalogues containing the same titles. The collection of the stereotype blocks of the titles of the several libraries will thus form the stereotyped titles of a general catalogue of all the libraries. They will lend themselves to the construction of bibliographies of particular branches of knowledge, and will adinit of being arranged alphabetically, chronologically, or in classes, in accordance with any required system.

These blocks are not to be made in advance of a demand for their use. They are to be gradually accumulated, by an arrangement, which, imposing only a temporary and light burden upon the funds of this Institution, will effect the great public object desired, at the same time that it diminishes to but a fraction of the present cost the expenses of publishing catalogues, and secures the construction of them upon a uniform and approved system.

The details of a plan so comprehensive may well be supposed to be difficult of adjustment, and not capable of being clearly described within the limits of a few paragraphs. These, however, have been fully considered by a competent tribunal; and the plan has received commendation and promises of co-operation, from some of the principal institutions of the country.

During the last year, the library has continued to increase by donation, by receipts under the copyright law, by exchanges for the publications of the Institution, and by purchase. It now numbers, in all, nearly ten thousand separate articles, and bids fair, from the same sources, to become a very valuable collection.

Though one half of the annual interest is to be expended on the library and the museum, the portion of the income which can be devoted to the former will, in my opinion, never be sufficient, without extraneous aid, to collect and support a miscellaneous library of the first class. Indeed, all the income would scarcely suffice for this purpose. Still, by means of exchanges, donations, and purchases, a library of great value may be collected and sustained; and this, with the constantly increasing library of Congress, the libraries of the Departments, and that of Georgetown College, will furnish a collection of books not unworthy of the capital of this nation.

From the report of Professor Jewett, it will be seen that a Gallery of Art has been commenced, and that it is already in possession of a valuable collection of engravings.

In this connexion, I may mention that at the last annual meeting of the Board a letter was presented from the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, informing the Regents that a portrait of Smithson had been offered through him for sale to the Institution. This portrait, which was in the possession of the widow of John Fitall, a servant of Smithson, mentioned in his will, was purchased for thirty guineas, and is now in the Gallery of Art. It represents the founder of this Institution, in the costume of a student of Oxford, and was probably painted when he was not more than twenty years of age. There is, also, in the pos

session of the Institution a medallion of Smithson, in copper, taken in after life. It is from this that the head on the title-page of the Smithsonian publications has been copied.

Lectures.

During the past session of Congress a series of popular lectures has been given to the citizens of this place and strangers, in the lecture room of the Smithsonian building. These lectures, were delivered by gentlemen distinguished for their standing, and for their attainments in literature and science, who were invited for this purpose. The interest in these lectures has been sustained to a wonderful degree. They have been attended from the first by large audiences; and the results thus far indicate that considerable good may be derived from the diffusion of knowledge in this way, in a central position like Washington, where persons from every part of the Union are found. Although the lectures appear to the public one of the most prominent objects of the Institution, and although they are attended with much trouble and considerable expense, they really form the least important feature of the plan adopted. So long, however, as there is a prospect of doing good by means of them, it is due to the city in which the Institution is located that they should be continued.

Much complaint has been made on account of the size of the lecture room. It is certainly too small to accommodate all who have wished to attend. We have, however, endeavored, in several instances, to obviate this difficulty, by procuring a repetition of the lectures; but this plan is attended with additional expense, and cannot, in all cases, be adopted. Should large audiences continue, it may be well to provide a larger lecture room in the main building, and, by removing the seats from the present lecture room, convert it into a museum of apparatus. This change, if thought advisable, can be made at very little, if any, additional expense; since the present wood-work of the interior of the main building is to give place to a fire-proof structure, which will admit of being arranged as a lecture room. Indeed, the original plan contemplated a room of this kind in the main building; but the arrangement of it was such as to seat scarcely more than the room at present used.

Many enquiries are made as to the publication of these lectures. In some cases, reports of them have been given in the newspapers, and it will be advisable to extend this practice to all; but the publication, in a separate form, of lectures, which in many cases are not written out, and not intended by their authors as additions to knowledge, would be attended with much expense and little useful effect. The Institution, in several instances, is doing better service, by publishing in full the original researches on which the lectures are based. The papers of Professor Agassiz, of Professor Harvey, and of Lieutenant Davis, are of this character, and will be given to the world through the Smithsonian Contributions.

The following is a list of the Titles of Lectures given before the Institution during the last session of Congress, with the names of the distinguished gentlemen by whom they were delivered:

A single lecture on Holland, by the Rev. Dr. George W. Bethune of Brooklyn, New York.

A course of lectures on the Relations of Time and Space, the Vastness of the Visible Creation, and the Primordial Arrangement of Existing Systems; by Professor Stephen Alexander, of Princeton, New Jersey.

A course of lectures on Science applied to Agriculture; by Professor J. F. W. Johnston, of the University of Durham, England.

Two lectures, one on the Tendencies of Modern Science, and the other on the Spirit of the Age; by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Alonzo Potter, of Pennsylvania.

One lecture on the Ability of the Individual to Promote Knowledge; by the Rev. John Hall, of Trenton, New Jersey.

A course of lectures on the Unity of the plan of the Animal Creation; by Professor Louis Agassiz, of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

A course of lectures on the Tides of the Ocean and their Geological Relations; by Lieutenant Charles Henry Davis, of the United States navy.

A course of lectures on Marine Algae or Sea Weeds, and also on the Morphology of the Vegetable Kingdom; by Professor William H. Harvey, of the University of Dublin, Ireland.

Two lectures, one on the Origin and Growth of the Union during the Colonial Period, and the other on some points of the History and Peculiarities of the English Language; by Professor Henry Reed, of the University of Pennsylvania.

A course of lectures on the Chemical Operations of Nature; by Professor Lewis C. Beck, of Rutgers College, New Jersey..

The first part of a general course, giving an exposition of the Dynamical Phenomena of Geology; by Professor Henry D. Rogers, of Boston.

Whatever may have been the effect of these lectures in the way of diffusing knowledge, it is evident, from the character of the men by whom they were delivered, that they presented truths intended to elevate and improve the moral and intellectual condition of the hearers. All of which is respectfully submitted:

JOSEPH HENRY,

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT

Of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, for the year 1851.

To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution:

GENTLEMEN: Besides the care of all the property of the Institution, and the responsibility of the direction of its operations, under the control of the Regents, the Secretary is required to give an account, at their annual session, of the condition of the Institution, and of its transactions during the preceding year.

In the discharge of this duty on the present occasion, I am happy to inform the Regents, that the Institution under their care is still in a prosperous condition, and that since their last meeting it has continued silently, but effectually, to enlarge the sphere of its influence and usefulness, and to elicit from every part of the civilized world commendations, not only of the plan of organization it has adopted, but also of the results it has produced.

In my last Report I gave a brief account of the means employed to increase the income, so that in addition to the requirements of Congress in regard to the formation of a library and a museum, and the erection of a building on a liberal scale, operations of a more active character could be incorporated into the plan of organization.

During the past year the same policy has been observed; and though the officers of the Institution have been subjected to the inconvenience of transacting business in an unfinished building, and in rooms not intended for the purpose, yet this has been considered of minor importance in comparison with the saving of the funds. Every dollar now expended on the building lessens the amount of accruing interest, and diminishes the means of producing results which are to affect the world at large; hence the importance of an adherence to the plan of finishing it by degrees. Since the last session of the Board, it has, therefore, not been thought advisable to urge the contractor to a rapid completion of his work, and all the expenditures on account of the building have been made from the accrued interest of the current year, and from a portion of that of the year preceding. There is, consequently, still on hand the two hundred thousand dollars of accumulated interest mentioned in the last and preceding reports. Of this, it will be recollected, $50,000 are to be applied towards finishing the building, and the remainder to be invested as part of the principal.

The importance of increasing the funds and of gradually developing the operations embraced in the programme, was set forth in the last report. The Institution, it is to be hoped, is not one of a day, but is to endure as long as our government shall last; it is therefore necessary, in the beginning, that we should constantly look to the future, and guard against the temptation, to which we are continually exposed, of expanding too rapidly.

By a resolution of the board, at their session in 1849, the Secretary was directed to petition Congress to take from the Institution $150,000,