tion a measure of success gratifying to the pride and patriotism of our people and full of promise to the great industrial and commercial interests of the nation. The very ample and generous contributions which the foreign nations made to the splendor and usefulness of the exhibition and the cordiality with which their representatives took part in our national commemoration deserve our profound acknowledgments. At this close of the great services rendered by the United States Centennial Commission and the Centennial Board of Finance it gives me great pleasure to commend to your attention and that of the people of the whole country the laborious, faithful, and prosperous performances of their duties which have marked the administration of their respective trusts.

January 22, 1878-House.

HOWGATE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

Mr. B. A. WILLIS, from Committee on Naval Affairs, reported (No. 96) on H. 447, to authorize and equip an expedition to the arctic seas. [Extracts.]

This plan is known as "polar colonization," and has received hearty indorsement from such distinguished experts, scientists, students, and explorers as Prof. Joseph Henry, president of the National Academy of Sciences; Professor Loomis, of Yale College; President Potter, of Union College; Admiral Porter; Rear-Admiral Davis, Superintendent of the National Observatory; Hon. Charles P. Daly, president of the American Geographical Society; Dr. Isaac I. Hayes, the explorer, and others, while it is heartily approved also by the honorable Secretary of the Navy; and your committee are inclined to commend it to the favor of Congress, more especially if its execution be intrusted, as the bill provides, to the President, under the direction of the National Academy of Sciences.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
Washington, January 31, 1877.

SIR: Your letter of the 30th instant, asking my opinion as to the plan of Captain Howgate for explorations in the arctic regions, and its utility in regard to scientific and commercial results, has been received, and I have the honor to give you the following reply:

From my connection with the Smithsonian Institution and the National Academy of Sciences, I am, of course, interested in every proposition which has for its object the extension of scientific knowledge, and therefore I am predisposed to advocate any national plan for exploration and continued observations within the arctic circle.

Much labor has been expended on this subject, especially with a view to reach the pole; yet many problems connected with physical geography and science in general remain unsolved.

(1) With regard to a better determination of the figure of the earth, pendulum experiments are required in the region in question.

(2) The magnetism of the earth requires for its better elucidation a larger number and more continued observations than have yet been made.

(3) To complete our knowledge of the tides of the ocean, a series of observations should be made at least for an entire year.

(4) For completing our knowledge of the winds of the globe, the results of a larger series of observations than those we now possess are necessary, and also additional observations on temperature.

(5) The whole field of natural history could be enriched by collections in the line of botany, mineralogy, geology, etc., and facts of interest obtained with regard to the influence of extreme cold on animal and vegetable life.

All of the above-mentioned branches of science are indirectly connected with the

well-being of man and tend not only to enlarge his sphere of mental pleasures but to promote the application of science to the arts of life.

As to the special plan of Captain Howgate that of establishing a colony of explorers and observers to be continued for several years-I think favorably.

The observations which have previously been made in the arctic regions have usually been of a fragmentary character and not sufficient in any one case to establish the changes of the observed phenomena during an entire year, whereas to obtain even an approximation to the general law of changes a number of years are required.

It may be proper to state, in behalf of the National Academy of Sciences, that should Congress make the necessary appropriation for this enterprise the Academy will cheerfully give a series of directions as to the details of the investigations to be made and the best methods to be employed.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. BENJ. A. WILLIS,

House of Representatives.

Recommitted.

February 28, 1878-House.

JOSEPH HENRY,

Secretary Smithsonian Institution, President National Academy of Sciences.

Report No. 96 referred to Committee of the Whole.

June 18, 1878-House.

Rejected. Yeas 86, nays 127.

VENTILATION OF HALL OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

February 4, 1878-House.

Mr. CASEY YOUNG, from the Select Committee on Ventilation of the Hall of the House of Representatives, submitted a report (No. 191):

[Extract.]

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Washington, D. C., January 26, 1878. SIR: I have the honor, in behalf of the advisory commission on the heating and ventilation of the Hall of the House of Representatives appointed by your honorable committee, to transmit to you herewith the final report of the commission, accompanied by sundry papers received from your committee, and also a report on the heating and ventilation of the British Houses of Parliament, and a report on the original plan of heating and ventilating the Capitol. The report of the commission herewith transmitted has involved much original investigation and the examination of the most reliable authorities on the subject. The members of the commission have inspected the buildings in this country most celebrated for effective ventilation, and have availed themselves of a visit to Europe, on other business, made by Dr. Billings, one of the members of the commission, to obtain the latest information on the same subject from that country.

It is hoped, therefore, that this report, with its appendices, will be deemed of sufficient importance to warrant its publication in full, with proper illustrations, for the use of the public. The subject is one of great difficulty, and in regard to which much general misconception prevails, as well as a want of a knowledge of the established principles upon which the art of heating and ventilation depends.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOSEPH HENRY, Chairman.

Hon. CASEY YOUNG,

Chairman Committee on Ventilation of the House of Representatives.

Final report of a board of United States officers convened by request of a special committee of the House of Representatives of the Fortyfourth Congress to advise with regard to the ventilation of the main Hall of the House.

Lieut. Col., Corps of Engineers, Member of the Board.

February 21, 1879-House.

EDWARD CLARK,

Member of the Board.

F. SCHUMANN,

Civil Engineer, Member of the Board.
J. S. BILLINGS,

Surgeon, U. S. Army, Secretary of the Board.

Mr. CASEY YOUNG, from the Select Committee on Ventilation of the Hall of the House of Representatives, presented report No. 116, including the report of the board of United States officers made in the Forty-fourth Congress, second session (Report No. 462), and House report No. 119, Forty-fifth Congress, second session, and offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That Prof. Spencer F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution; Lieut. Col. Thomas L. Casey, of the Corps of Army Engineers; Mr. Edward Clark, Architect of the Capitol; Mr. F. Schumann, civil engineer Treasury Department, and Prof. John S. Billings, surgeon United States Army, be, and they are hereby constituted an advisory board, without additional pay or compensation, with power and authority to make and carry out through the Architect of the Capitol Extension, during the approaching recess of Congress, all the changes and alterations in the heating, lighting, and ventilating the Hall of the House of Representatives, that are set out and recommended in the report submitted by them and adopted by the select committee appointed by resolution of the House to inquire into the present method of heating, lighting, and ventilating the Hall of the House of Representatives; and the said board may employ a clerk during the time they are engaged in the performance of such work.

And be it further resolved, That for the purpose of paying the cost of said changes and alterations the sum of $30,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated out of the contingent fund of the House, to be expended under the direction of said board.

Recommitted.

February 27, 1879-House.

Mr. CASEY YOUNG, from the Select Committee on Ventilation of the Hall of the House of Representatives, submitted a report:

The select committee charged with the duty of inquiring into the present method of heating, lighting, and ventilating the Hall of the House of Representatives, and whether or not its acoustic properties can be improved, have given the subject a

most patient and careful investigation, aided by all the information attainable from any source within their reach, as well as by the assistance and advice of the most experienced and competent scientists with whom they have been able to confer.

The defects in the structure of the Hall of Representatives in respect to heat, light, ventilation, and acoustics have been the subject of grave and serious complaint ever since its completion, and the difficulties in overcoming them have never yet been solved in a manner entirely satisfactory to those who have undertaken it with anything of a correct apprehension of the character and magnitude of the task. Many efforts have been made in the past fifteen years to accomplish this result, and at a considerable cost; and while those who have conducted some of them were of the opinion that no improvements in the particulars mentioned were either necessary or practical, and while others of them believed that they had succeeded in effecting all that was desired, your committee have concluded that both classes were mistaken and that the most radical changes and improvements are urgently demanded for the comfort and health of Members, and that but few, if any, have been made since the original completion of the Hall until within a very recent period.

The committee do not believe that the Hall with its present architectural structure can ever be ventilated so as to be entirely healthy or free from many objections and inconveniences, but they are of opinion that it may be so greatly improved that the health of those who occupy it will not be subjected to any serious danger. The same, too, is true, but in a less degree, as to light and its acoustic capacity, though they think that these latter may be so remedied that little inconvenience will result from them in the future.

The committee referred to a report May 4, 1876 (No. 380), of a subcommittee from the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds during the second session of the Forty-fourth Congress.

In this report it is stated that after having carefully examined a great number of plans and propositions submitted to them upon the subject they referred "the entire matter to a board composed of scientific Government officers, viz: Prof. Joseph Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution; Lieut. Col. Thomas L. Casey, of the Army Engineer Corps; Prof. J. S. Billings, of the Medical Department, U. S. A.; Mr. F. Schumann, Assistant Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department, and Mr. Edward Clark, Architect of the Capitel, to advise the subcommittee of the most practical and economical method of attaining the object in view."

This board, of which Prof. Joseph Henry was president, made reports April 30, 1876, and January 26, 1878.1

Mr. Young further reported that the recommendations made by the board were only partially carried out and that his committee after the death of Professor Henry, in May, 1878, had appointed Prof. Spencer F. Baird, his successor as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to succeed him as chairman of the board.

On motion of Mr. Young resolutions were adopted "that Abram S. Hewitt; Prof. Spencer F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution; Lieut. Col. Thomas L. Casey, U. S. A.; Mr. Edward Clark, Architect of the Capitol; Mr. F. Schumann, civil engineer, Treasury Department; and

1See Congressional Record, February 28, 1879, p. 30.

Prof. John S. Billings, U. S. A., be constituted an advisory board without additional pay or compensation, to make through the Architect of the Capitol Extension, all the changes and alterations in the heating, lighting, and ventilating the Hall of the House of Representatives recommended by them in their report.

By special vote the names of Benjamin F. Butler, Frank Jones, and George B. Loring were added to the commission.

(See Congressional Record, February 27, 1879, pp. 29, 42.)

REPORT OF SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

February 15, 1878-Senate.

Mr. HANNIBAL HAMLIN offered a resolution to print 10,500 copies of the Smithsonian Report for 1877-1,000 for the Senate, 3,000 for the House of Representatives, and 6,500 for the Institution-not to exceed 500 pages, and the Institution to furnish the illustrations. Referred to Committee on Printing.

March 6, 1878-Senate.

Passed.

April 24, 1878-House.
Passed.

February 8, 1879-Senate.

Mr. HANNIBAL HAMLIN Submitted concurrent resolution to print 10,500 copies of the Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 18781,000 copies for the Senate, 3,000 copies for the House, 6,500 copies for the Smithsonian Institution.

Referred to Committee on Printing.

February 10, 1879-Senate.

Mr. TIMOTHY O. Howe offered amendment to deficiency bill for 1878:

To repay to the Smithsonian Institution expenses incurred in the transportation of public documents under the joint resolution approved July 25, 1868, $1,781.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, Washington, D. C., May 23, 1878. SIR: I have the honor to call your special attention to an item inserted by the Senate in the recent deficiency bill, but omitted in the conference report, which is of importance to the Smithsonian Institution.

We have advanced to pay freight and costs, or the transmission on the publications of the United States Government sent by the Library Committee of Congress to foreign governments, the sum of $1,781, and this amount is now due to the Institution