the Smithsonian Institution to receive money or other property by gift, bequest, or devise, and to hold and dispose of the same in promotion of the purposes thereof.

Under this section, 5591 of the Revised Statutes, modified as above noted, the above fund of $912,000 is deposited in the Treasury of the United States, bearing interest at 6 per cent per annum, the interest alone being used in carrying out the aims of the Institution. During the fiscal year 1896–97 Congress charged the Institution with the disbursement of the following appropriations:

The executive committee has examined all the vouchers for disbursements made during the fiscal year, and a detailed statement of the receipts and expenditures will be found reported to Congress, in accordance with the provisions of the sundry civil acts of October 2, 1888, and August 5, 1892, in a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The vouchers for all the expenditures from the Smithsonian fund proper have been likewise examined and their correctness certified to by the executive committee, whose statement will be published, together with the accounts of the funds appropriated by Congress, in that committee's report.

The estimates for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898, for carrying on the Government interests under the charge of the Smithsonian Institution, and forwarded as usual to the Secretary of the Treasury, were as follows:

AVERY Fund.

In regard to the bequest of Mr. Robert Stanton Avery, referred to in previous reports, a definite settlement has not been reached with the heirs at law, so that it is not possible to state the exact amount that this fund will reach.

BUILDINGS.

No important changes were made in the Smithsonian Building during the year. Two Museum storage sheds adjacent to the building have been removed, with a great improvement in the appearance of the south front, while at the same time a source of danger from fire is averted. It is still necessary to retain some workshops south of the western portion of the building, no rooms being elsewhere available, but it is hoped that these also will soon be removed.

I may call attention to the need of additional room for the proper storage of such publications of the Institution and its bureaus as must be retained in reserve. These are comparatively few in number for each particular work, but the accumulations of fifty years occupy in the aggregate so much space as to demand more storage room than is now available and create a positive danger in the excessive weight that is now placed upon the floors of upper stories, while the work of distribution of publications is now carried on in very inconvenient and inaccessible quarters. I have under consideration the feasibility of some changes in the interior arrangement of the main north and south towers of the building which would render suitable for storage purposes much space which can not now be utilized.

I may also mention the very decided improvement that would result from the remodeling of the steep and long iron stairways leading to the great hall of the building, which is now used for archæological collections.

The improvements in progress in the Museum by the erection of galleries in several of the halls are alluded to elsewhere.

RESEARCH.

Although the time of the Secretary must be almost wholly given to administrative affairs, yet, as in years past, in carrying out the wish of the Regents and in continuation of investigations begun prior to my connection with the Institution, I have devoted such time as I could spare to researches upon the solar spectrum and to experiments in connection with certain physical data of aerodynamics.

Both of these investigations have reached a stage at which it is possible to give to the world somewhat full statements of results. In my

Resolved, That the Secretary continue his researches in physical science and present such facts and principles as may be developed for publication in the Smithsonian Contributions. (Adopted at meeting of the Board of Regents January 26, 1817.)

remarks on the operations of the Astrophysical Observatory I discuss more fully the researches upon the solar spectrum.

In my report for the previous year I brought to the attention of the Board the fact that my experiments in aerodynamics had finally resulted in a successful trial on May 6, 1896, of a mechanism, built chiefly of steel and driven by a steam engine, which made two flights, each of over half a mile, and I appended a brief statement of my own and of Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, originally communicated in French to the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of France, describing the actual flight. Since that time a third and a much longer flight was made on November 28, 1896, with another machine, built of steel like the first and driven like that by propellers actuated by a steam engine of between 1 and 2 horsepower, making a horizontal flight of over three-quarters of a mile and descending in safety.

I have thus brought to the test of actual successful experiment the demonstration of the practicability of mechanical flight, which has been so long debated and till lately so discredited. To satisfy a nearly universal interest, I am now engaged in the preparation of a full description of these experiments since 1891, when my first memoir on aerody namics was published. This memoir, with those on "Experiments in Aerodynamics" and "Internal Work of the Wind," will form volume 27 of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, which will thus contain a complete record of all experiments carried on thus far under my direction upon this subject.

HODGKINS FUND.

The Hodgkins medals of award were received at the Institution on the 13th of July, 1896, and were transmitted on the same day to those competitors for the Hodgkins fund prizes who were recommended by the committee to receive medals. A replica of the medal was sent to each of the members of the Hodgkins advisory committee and to certain specialists who, without compensation, had rendered valuable aid in connection with the competition. A replica was also sent to the firm of Evarts, Choate & Beaman, the legal counsel of Mr. Hodgkins, and to Dr. Chambers, his medical adviser and long-time friend, as a memento of valued services rendered in connection with the Hodgkins bequest to the Institution.

In July, 1896, Mr. E. C. C. Baly, of University College, London, a Hodgkins competitor, whose memoir received honorable mention, was awarded a grant of $750 to enable him to prosecute further his inves tigations on the decomposition of the atmosphere by means of the passage of the electric spark. A report of the research, so far as it has progressed, has been received from Mr. Baly.

Under an additional grant to Dr. S. Weir Mitchell and Dr. John S. Billings investigations have been conducted in the Laboratory of Hygiene of the University of Pennsylvania, upon the effect which a

prolonged exposure to vitiated air has upon the power of individuals to resist infectious diseases. Dr. D. H. Bergey, who conducted the experiments, reports that he subjected certain animals to an impure atmosphere and found that while it apparently lowered their vitality, he was unable to attenuate the fluids used for inoculating the diseases so that they would kill such a weakened animal while not affecting a vigorous one. Still, animals inoculated for tuberculosis died much earlier when exposed to impure air. As these results may doubtless be applied to all warm-blooded animals, including man, it would appear that we have here an important confirmation of the clinical observation that tuberculosis thrives most in vitiated air.

January 15, 1897, a grant of $500 was made to Mr. A. Lawrence Rotch, director of the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory at Readville, Mass., to be used in securing automatic kite records of meteorological conditions at an altitude of 10,000 feet or more. An additional grant of $400 was later made to Mr. Rotch for continuing his experi ments in connection with the explorations of the upper air.

With a view to being prepared to apply most advantageously the accruing interest from that portion of the fund devoted to investigations connected with the atmosphere the Secretary has conferred, during the year, with specialists in this country and Europe, upon the subject of researches suitable to be aided from the Hodgkins fund.

The six Hodgkins memoirs which have been published by the Institution were issued in February and March, 1897, and a copy of each was sent to all persons who had submitted papers in connection with the competition.

NAPLES TABLE.

As stated in my last report, the Institution has renewed the lease of the Smithsonian table at the Zoological Station of Naples for a second term of three years, this action being in accordance with the urgent solicitation of the faculties of several colleges and universities and of many of the leading biologists of the country.

At my earnest request Dr. Billings has continued as chairman of the advisory committee, which has rendered most efficient aid in examining testimonials and in recommending action with regard to applications for the occupancy of the table. The following applications have been favorably acted upon:

Dr. F. H. Herrick, professor of biology at Adelbert College, Cleveland, occupied the table in November, 1896, and Dr. S. E. Meek, formerly of the Arkansas Industrial University but more recently connected with the United States Fish Commission, received the appointment for two months in the spring of 1897. The application of Dr. H. S. Jennings, of the University of Michigan and later of Harvard, was approved for three months during the spring and summer of 1897. Through the continued courtesy of Dr. Dohrn, in permitting two persons nominated by the Institution to occupy tables at the same time, the residence of

Dr. Jennings began before the termination of Dr. Meek's appointment. Applications for the coming year are now under consideration.

EXPLORATIONS.

Ethnological and natural-history explorations have been continued under the direction or with the assistance of the Institution in various parts of the world by the Bureau of Ethnology and the National Museum. This work is more fully described elsewhere, but I may mention here that a large number of objects of interest from various parts of the world have been added to the Museum collections, and much valuable information has been acquired regarding the history and the language of the American Indians. Among the explorations of the year were those by Dr. William L. Abbott in Siam, Prof. O. F. Cook in Africa, Dr. E. A. Mearns in Minnesota and elsewhere, Mr. Frank H. Cushing in Maine, Mr. J. W. Fewkes in Arizona, Mr. E. T. Perkins in Idaho, Mr. W J McGee in Iowa, Mr. J. B. Hatcher in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, and Dr. Willis E. Everette in Oregon, British Columbia and Mexico.

PUBLICATIONS.

The publications of the Institution and its bureaus during the year comprised two works in quarto form, four in royal octavo, and fourteen in octavo, aggregating 9,630 pages, covering to a greater or less degree nearly all branches of human knowledge.

The Smithsonian Institution proper issues three series of works: The Contributions to Knowledge, the Miscellaneous Collections, and the Annual Report. By the bureaus of the Institution there are issued the Annual Report and the Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology and the Proceedings and Bulletin of the National Museum, and the Secretary transmits to Congress the Annual Report of the American Historical Association. The Smithsonian Contributions and Miscellaneous Collections are printed at the expense of the Institution and the other publications from Congressional appropriations.

Contributions to Knowledge.-Two memoirs of this series were issued during the year, both having been submitted in competition for the Hodgkins fund prizes.

The memoir by Lord Rayleigh and Professor Ramsay describes the discovery of argon, for which achievement the authors were awarded the first Hodgkins prize of $10,000. It gives an account of the reasons which led the investigators to suspect the existence of a new element in the atmosphere and a detailed description of the apparatus and methods by which the presence of this hitherto unknown gas was definitely established. The importance of the discovery was recog nized independently by the Institute of France, which awarded a prize of 50,000 francs, and by the National Academy of Sciences, which granted to the discoverers the Barnard medal.