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In 1872 his sphere of labor was extended by instructions for the employment of such measures as might increase the food-fishes of the country; and reports from time to time have been made of the results of, the work.

The growing interest in this subject, and the belief that the objects to be accomplished were of great importance to the country; have induced; larger and larger appropriations from Congress, and the sphere of the labors of the commissioner has been extended accordingly. His work is prosecuted under two distinct heads: first, that of an inquiry into the causes of the decrease of food-fishes; secondly, that of their multiplication.

In prosecuting the inquiry referred to he has established himself at points on the sea-coast where the fisheries it was desirable to investigate are carried on, and, by inquiries on his own part and those of his assistants, he satisfied himself as to the condition of the fisheries, and the extent to which they have been diminished, and the steps to be taken for their restoration.

He has embraced the opportunity thus offered, to carry on a thorough survey of the natural history and physics of the ocean, thus doing for the coast portion of the territory of the United States what the explorations of Professor Hayden, Lieutenant Wheeler, and Major Powell are accomplishing for the Territories of the West.

His operations during the summer of 1874 were carried on at Noank, Conn., his field of investigation extending from Narragansett Bay on the east, to the mouth of the Connecticut River on the west, and to the eastern end of Long Island on the south.

As usual his presence, with the facilities at his command, attracted a large number of visitors, among them some of the most eminent naturalists of the country, who were thus enabled to carry on important researches in natural history, all of them having a more or less direct bearing upon the objects of the commission. Professor Verrill, of Yale College, has been associated with Professor Baird from the beginning of this branch of investigation, and as usual labored indefatigably during the season.

The results of the labors of 1871 at Wood's Hole have already been published in a volume which constitutes a work of standard excellence. The report for 1872 is nearly ready for publication, and that for 1873 is well advanced. The second division of his duties, that of the work of propagation of food-fishes, was directed more especially to the multiplication of the shad and salmon. Owing to the late period at which the appropriation for this purpose was available, the operations in regard to the hatching of shad were not commenced until June, when camps were successively established on the Delaware, the Hudson, and the Connecticut; that on the Hudson in connection with the fish commissioners of New York, and that on the Connecticut with the commissioners of that State.

Owing to the death of Dr. Slack, who was in charge of the station on the Delaware, very little was done on that river. On the Hudson a yery considerable number of shad was obtained and distributed, apart from those introduced into the river by the State commissioners themselves. The greatest amount of the work, however, was done at South Hadley Falls, on the Connecticut River. The fish here being very abundant, many young fish were hatched and distributed, mainly under the direction of Mr. James W. Milner, to various localities in many States, extending as far west as Minnesota, south to Texas, and east to Maine, the total number thus supplied amounting to over two millions. The operations in regard to salmon were still more satisfactory, being carried on at two establishments; one on the McCloud River, in California, under the charge of Mr. Livingston Stone, and the other on the Penobscot River, in Maine, under Mr. Charles G. Atkins. The former furnished six millions of eggs, of which one million were hatched and placed in the Sacramento River, the others being transported to hatching-houses in the East, and the young subsequently placed in the waters of the New England and Middle States, in addition to those of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and lowa.

The establishment at Bucksport, on the Penobscot, has also yielded over three million eggs. These have not yet been distributed, as they are not sufficiently far advanced, but they will be planted principally in the waters of the New England, Middle, and more northern of the Western States.

The importance of these measures for the artificial propagation of fish may be readily understood from the fact that the actual results. from one pair of shad or salmon, treated artificially, fully equal those from one hundred, and, according to some, one thousand pairs, when left to perform this function naturally.

Deep-sea soundings.-Professor Baird has made a series of observations on temperatures of the sea-water at different depths, the results of which will be published in his report as United States Fish Commissioner.

The Institution has received, for investigation, from the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department, under Commodore Ammen, a large number of specimens of deep-sea soundings, collected in the Pacinc Ocean by the officers of the United States steamship Tuscarora, Commander G. E. Belknap. These specimens have been referred for microscopic examination to Prof. Hamilton L. Smith, of Hobart College, Geneva, N. Y., who has undertaken the investigation, and will report the result as soon as the work is finished.

Polaris Artic Exploration.

During the past year Dr. Emil Bessels has been engaged at the Smithsonian Institution in working up that part of the scientific material which was saved from the collections of the voyage of the Polaris in the years 1871-73. The results of the investigations will be given in three

volumes, of which the first is nearly ready to be put in the hands of the printer. This volume contains

Part I. Hydrography and meteorological observations at sea.

a. Hydrographical remarks relating to Baffin's Bay, Smith's Sound, and Robeson Channel.

b. Temperature of the sea and its specific gravity at different depths. c. Ice of Smith's Sound and its motion.

d. Tidal observations made at Polaris Bay, comprising eight lunations.

Part II. Meteorology.

a. Temperature both at Polaris Bay and Polaris House, the second winter quarters.

b. Effect of the direct heating power of the sun

c. Effect of terrestrial radiation.

d. Hygrometrical observations.

e. Atmospheric pressure.

f. Winds.

g. Face of the sky.

h. Ozone.

i. Rain and snow.

Part III. Psychrometrical tables, giving the relative humidity, force of vapor, and dew-point for each tenth of a degree from 32° to -45°. Part IV. Astronomical observations.

Part V. Magnetism and aurora.

Part VI. Pendulum experiments.

The second volume will be devoted to natural history, comprising zoology, botany, geology, palæontology, mineralogy, &c.

The third volume will comprise the ethnology of the Esquimaux. The whole will be copiously illustrated by wood-cuts and charts, and published under the auspices of the Navy Department.*

Chemical Laboratory.—During the past two years the laboratory of the Institution has been in charge of Dr. Oscar Loew, the chemist and mineralogist of the Wheeler survey, and during this time he has made. various analyses for the Institution of minerals, mineral waters, and other substances referred to the Institution for examination by the Government and other parties.

In behalf of the Wheeler expedition he has investigated and analyzed the waters of thirty-four mineral springs of New Mexico and Colorado, many soils of the arable lands of Arizona and New Mexico, rocks such as basalts, rhyolites, trachytes from New Mexico, coals of various local. ities in Colorado and New Mexico, lake and river deposits, minerals, such as turquois, garnets, zeolites, plants used for medicinal purposes by Mexicans, &c., &c.

Photography.-The photographic laboratory, under the direction of Mr. T. W. Smillie, has been in continued operation during the past year; a

*For the expense of the illustrations, Congress appropriated $15,000 in March, 1875.

series of photographs having been made of ethnological and natural history specimens for the use of the Institution, and a large amount of work done for others, especially for the Government surveys. The establishment of a photographic laboratory has been of great convenience to the Institution, and has been attended with but little expense. It affords at once the facility of photographing specimens and copying charts and other illustrations, while the support of the artist has been furnished by work performed for other parties.

Light-House duty.-I have been a member of the Light-House Board since its first organization, and during all this time have discharged the duties of chairman of the committee on experiments. On the resig nation of Admiral Shubrick I was elected chairman of the board. I was honored with this election not entirely on account of the services I had rendered in the way of scientific investigations, but principally because I belonged neither to the Army nor the Navy, of which it was desirable that neither should claim predominance. The duty, however, pertaining to this office has been much more arduous than I anticipated. Indeed, in order that I might attend to it without interfering too much with my devotion to the affairs of the Institution, it was necessary that the board should be recalled to a previous usage, namely, that of meeting every week and transacting the principal business through its committees, instead of meeting quarterly and intrusting the operations of the establishment almost entirely to the two secretaries and the chairman, under which plan the latter was obliged to be in continual attendance at the Light-House office.

I am gratified to be able to state that, although some dissensions have occurred on account of the want of definite assignment by the original law of Congress of the relative duties of the Army and Navy while on light-house service, yet that the whole system at present is in an efficient state of activity.

It may be proper to remark that, for the labor which I have bestowed upon the light-house service for upward of twenty years, I have received no other remuneration than that which results from the conscious feeling of having successfully labored in some degree to advance the efficiency of a service which involves the protection of life and property, and is one of the benevolent institutions tending to facilitate the rela tions of distant countries with our own.

CONCLUSION.

From the foregoing statement it will be evident that the Institution is successfully prosecuting the plan adopted for realizing the benevolent intention of its founder in the way of increasing and diffusing knowl edge among men; that its funds are again in a prosperous condition, and that its reputation and usefulness are still on the increase. Respectfully submitted.

WASHINGTON, January, 1875.

JOSEPH HENRY, Secretary Smithsonian Institution.

Table showing the number of entries in the record-books of the United States National Museum at the close of the years 1873 and 1874, respectively.

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Approximate table of the distribution of duplicate specimens to the end of

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