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of the stock of people from which, probably in the distant past, the rudiments of the American race branched off. This work touches what is rapidly becoming the most important subject of research in American anthropology. The first part of Dr. Hrdlička's visit was to be devoted to the Yenisei region, in which, judging from the reports of Russian observers, there exist remnants of very imperfectly known tribes, whose physical type apparently bears a close resemblance to that of the American Indian. From the Yenisei his intention is to pass through the Irkutsk Oblast and reach outer Mongolia, and then possibly Turkestan or China. Due to the immensity of the territory and the limited time now at the disposal of Dr. Hrdlička, it is expected that the present journey will have to be largely of the nature of anthropological reconnoissance and preparatory for future investigations.

ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN EUROPE.

A grant was made to enable Dr. Hrdlička to make personal studies of the originals of all the well-authenticated skeletal remains of geologically ancient man of Europe. The recent discoveries in this line have been of such an importance that a direct investigation into the subject by an experienced anthropologist was very desirable. The results of Dr. Hrdlička's studies will be prepared for publication.

RESEARCHES UNDER THE HODGKINS FUND.

A limited grant has been made from the Hodgkins fund to enable Mr. Anders Knutson Ångström to make certain observations on nocturnal radiation from the earth at Bassour, Algeria, in connection. with observations to determine the variability of the sun, which have been in progress there under Mr. Abbot, of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The results of Mr. Ångström's researches are awaited with interest. .

As mentioned in my last report, the Institution has arranged for the distribution to various parts of the world of standard silver disk pyrheliometers designed by Mr. Abbot, of the Astrophysical Observatory, with a view of securing accurate data and more exact knowledge of solar radiation and the influence of the terrestrial atmosphere upon it.

A portion of the income of the fund is devoted to the increase and diffusion of knowledge in regard to the nature and properties of atmospheric air in connection with the welfare of man. There was published a few years ago a number of papers on "Expired air," "Organic matter in air," "The air of towns," and other phases of this

general subject. There is now in preparation by Dr. Leonard Hill, associated with Dr. Martin Flack and other investigators of the London Hospital Medical College, a paper discussing the results of experiments to determine the influence of the atmosphere upon our health and comfort in confined and crowded places.

SMITHSONIAN TABLE AT NAPLES ZOOLOGICAL STATION.

For the past 19 years the Smithsonian Institution has maintained a table for the use of American biologists at the Naples Zoological Station. This table affords exceptional opportunities for the study of marine life, and it is believed that through its use the cause of biological science has been much advanced.

The appointment of Dr. Sergius Morgulis, a Parker Traveling Fellow from Harvard, which was approved for the months of May, June, and July, was continued until July 22, 1911.

Dr. Ch. Zeleny, of the University of Illinois, who was appointed for one month, including part of June and July, continued his occupancy until July 26, 1911. At the close of the fiscal year no report had been received from Dr. Zeleny in regard to the work accomplished.

Dr. Fernandus Payne, assistant professor of zoology at the Indiana University, carried on researches at Naples during the months of April, May, and June, 1912. His studies included: (a) Selective fertilization, (b) Cleavage factors, and (c) Some pressure experiments. In a brief report on his work, Dr. Payne states that he has (1) completed a paper on "The Chromosomes of Grylloptalpa borealis," (2) collected a large amount of material on Gryllotalpa vulgaris, and expects to study the question of synapsis, ring formation, chondriosomes, and the sex chromosomes in this form.

When the same period is selected by more than one student the earliest application is considered first, the approval of the later ones becoming necessarily dependent on the ability of the station to provide for more than one Smithsonian appointee at the same time. It should be added that the obliging courtesy shown in this connection to appointees of the Smithsonian Institution by the director of the station often permits appointments to the seat which would otherwise be impracticable.

The prompt and efficient aid of the advisory committee in examining and reporting on applications for the table is, as it has always been, of great service to the Institution and is very gratefully appreciated.

The Institution has renewed the lease of the table for another period of three years.

PUBLICATIONS.

One of the chief agencies of the Institution in promoting "the diffusion of knowledge among men " is the publication and distribution throughout the world of the series of "Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge," the "Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections," and the Smithsonian Annual Report. These three series constitute the publications of the Institution proper and, with the exception of the annual report, are printed entirely at the expense of Smithsonian funds. Other publications issued under the direction of the Institution, but at the expense of the Government, include the Proceedings, Bulletin, and Annual Report of the United States National Museum; the Bulletin and Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology; and the Annals of the Astrophysical Observatory.

The "Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge" is a quarto series begun in 1848, which now comprises 35 volumes of about 600 pages each, including, up to the present time, 148 memoirs. The chief characteristic of these memoirs is that they are discussions of extensive original investigations, constituting important additions to knowledge.

The "Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections" is an octavo series containing papers of varying length, from two or three pages to an entire volume, being special reports on particular subjects of biological or physical research, classified tabular compilations, tables of natural constants, bibliographies, and other miscellaneous information of value to the scientific worker or student. This series was begun in 1862 and now numbers 60 volumes of about 800 pages each, with an aggregate of several thousand articles.

Limited editions of each memoir in the "Contributions" and of articles in the "Collections" are distributed to specialists in the subjects treated, but the principal distribution of these series during the last 60 years has been to about 1,100 large libraries and institutions of learning in the United States and throughout the world.

The Annual Report of the Board of Regents, known as the Smithsonian Report, is printed under congressional appropriation and in much larger editions than the other series. It is in great measure a popular work, containing, besides the official report on the business operations of the Institution, a general appendix made up of 30 or more original or selected articles bearing on particular advances in human knowledge and discoveries and showing the progress of science in all its branches. It is a publication much sought after.

Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.-The Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, which had been in preparation for several years, was completed and published in August, 1911. It is a work of 330 pages of text and 101 plates of illustrations. It is the third memoir in volume 27 of the "Contributions," following Secretary

Langley's "Experiments in Aerodynamics," and "The Internal Work of the Wind," published in 1891 and 1893, respectively. The present memoir was in preparation at the time of Mr. Langley's death in 1906, and the part recording experiments from 1887 to 1896 was written by him. The chapters discussing experiments from 1897 to 1903 were written by Mr. Charles M. Manly, who became chief assistant to Mr. Langley in 1898.

In the preface to the Memoir, Mr. Manly says:

The present volume on Mechanical Flight consists, as the title-page indicates, of two parts. The first, dealing with the long and notable series of early experiments with small models, was written almost entirely by Secretary Langley, with the assistance of Mr. E. C. Huffaker and Mr. G. L. Fowler, in 1897. Such chapters as were not complete have been finished by the writer and are easily noted, as they are written in the third person. It has been subjected only to such revision as it would have received had Mr. Langley lived to supervise this publication, and has therefore the highest value as an historical record. The composition of the second part, dealing with the later experiments with the original and also new models and the construction of the larger aerodrome, has necessarily devolved upon me. This is in entire accordance with the plan formed by Mr. Langley when I began to work with him in 1898, but it is to me a matter of sincere regret that the manuscript in its final form has not had the advantage of his criticism and suggestions. If the reader should feel that any of the descriptions or statements in this part of the volume leave something to be desired in fullness of detail, it is hoped that some allowance may be made for the fact that it has been written in the scanty and scattered moments that could be snatched from work in other lines which made heavy demands upon the writer's time and strength. It is believed, however, that sufficient data are given to enable any competent engineer to understand thoroughly even the most complicated phases of the work.

Persons who care only for the accomplished fact may be inclined to underrate the interest and value of this record. But even they may be reminded that but for such patient and unremitting devotion as is here enregistered the now accomplished fact of mechanical flight would still remain the wild unrealized dream which it was for so many centuries.

To such men as Mr. Langley an unsuccessful experiment is not a failure, but a means of instruction, a necessary and often an invaluable stepping stone to the desired end. The trials of the large aerodrome in the autumn of 1903, to which the curiosity of the public and the sensationalism of the newspapers gave a character of finality never desired by Mr. Langley, were to him merely members of a long series of experiments, as much so as any trial of one of the small aerodromes or even of one of the earliest rubber-driven models. Had his health and strength been spared, he would have gone on with his experiments undiscouraged by these accidents in launching and undeterred by criticism and misunderstanding.

Moreover, it is to be borne in mind that Mr. Langley's contribution to the solution of the problem is not to be measured solely by what he himself accomplished, important as that is. He began his investigations at a time when not only the general public but even the most progressive men of science thought of mechanical flight only as a subject for ridicule, and both by his epoch-making investigations in aerodynamics and by his devotion to the subject of flight itself he helped to transform into a field of scientific inquiry what had before been almost entirely in the possession of visionaries.

The original plans for this publication provided for a third part, covering the experimental data obtained in tests of curved surfaces and propellers. Owing to the pressure of other matters on the writer, the preparation of this third part is not yet complete and is reserved for later publication.

Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections.-In this series there were published during the past year 35 papers forming parts of three volumes and covering a wide range of topics. I may mention the Hamilton lecture by Dr. Simon Flexner on "Infection and Recovery from Infection," three papers by your secretary on Cambrian Geology and Paleontology, several papers descriptive of new genera and species of birds, mammals, and other animals and plants from Smithsonian expeditions in the Panama Canal Zone, Africa, and Canada, as enumerated in the editor's report on another page, and an interesting paper on "The Natives of the Kharga Oasis, Egypt," by Dr. Hrdlička, who discusses the physical measurements and other observations made by him on these people dwelling in an oasis 130 miles west of Luxor, the ancient Thebes. Dr. Hrdlička says:

The type of the Kharga natives is radically distinct from that of the negro. It is, according to all indications, fundamentally the same as that of the nonnegroid Valley Egyptians. It is in all probability a composite of closely related northeastern African and southwestern Asiatic, or "hamitic" and "semitic " ethnic elements, and is to be classed with these as part of the southern extension of the Mediterranean subdivision of the white race.

Judging from the mummies of the Oasis inhabitants from the second to fifth centuries A. D., exhumed at El Baguat, the type of the present nonnegroid Kharga natives is substantially the same as that of the population of the Oasis during the first part of the Christian era. The nature of the population of the Oasis in more ancient times can only be determined by skeletal material from the ancient cemeteries.

Smithsonian report. The annual report for 1910, issued during the past year, contained in the general appendix 34 interesting papers of the usual high character, and of many of them it was necessary to publish extra editions to meet the public demand. The report for 1911 was all in type before the year closed, but unavoidable delays prevented its publication.

Zoological nomenclature.-In continuation of the series of Opinions Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, there were published two pamphlets containing Opinions 30 to 37 and 38 to 51. The Institution cooperates with this commission by providing clerical assistance for its secretary in Washington and in the publication of its Opinions. In connection with the summary of each opinion there is printed a statement of the case and the discussion thereon by members of the commission. The rules to be followed in submitting cases for opinion as laid down by the commission are as follows:

1 Cases should be forwarded to the secretary of the commission, Dr. Ch. Wardell Stiles, U. S. Hygienic Laboratory, Washington, D. C.

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