THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 449 



not impose any duties on exports or imports in excess of five per 

 cent; and the receipts from customs being thus arbitrarily made 

 insignificant, and those from such other sources as spirits, tobacco, 

 licenses, and the like being normally inadequate, the Government 

 of Japan has been compelled to resort to the old feudal system of 

 taxation as the only practical way of obtaining revenue to defray 

 its necessary expenditures.* 



But, notwithstanding this, the results that have followed the 

 fall of feudalism in Japan in 1868 are in the highest degree inter- 

 esting, and constitute an important contribution to the history of 

 civilization. Between 1871 and 1893 the population increased 

 eight millions, railways and steamers have annihilated famine, 

 old epidemics have become rare, the severity of old criminal law 

 has been greatly mitigated, while liberty has encouraged the 

 people to a wonderful activity and progress. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



PART II. ACTIVITIES OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



By Prof. HENRY CARRINGTON BOLTON, Pn. D. 



IN our first article we attempted to show the circumstances 

 which led to the founding of the Smithsonian Institution, to 

 trace its growth, and to sketch the peculiar field which it occu- 

 pies. The latter, however, can well be supplemented by a suc- 

 cinct statement of its condition at the present time, or rather in 

 1895, the date of the most recent Annual Report. 



Members of the Institution. Presiding officer {ex officio), 

 the President of the United States ; Chancellor, the Chief Justice 

 of the Supreme Court of the United States ; the Vice-President of 

 the United States ; the Secretary of State ; the Secretary of the 

 Treasury ; the Secretary of War ; the Secretary of the Navy ; the 

 Postmaster General ; the Attorney General ; the Secretary of the 

 Interior ; the Secretary of Agriculture ; the Secretary of the insti- 

 tution. 



Administration. The business of the institution is managed 

 by a Board of Regents, composed of the Vice-President and the 

 Chief Justice of the United States, three senators, three members 

 of the House of Representatives, and six other eminent persons 

 nominated by a joint resolution of Congress. The Secretary of 



* Recent treaties (1894) have in a degree abrogated the disabilities which foreign 

 nations imposed on Japan at the time of the abandonment of its policy of non-intercourse 

 with the rest of the world, but a denial of the right of Japan exclusively to regulate its 

 taxes (duties) on imports is still maintained. 



VOL. XLVIII. 32 



