REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 19 



expense of the Institution. The question in the main seems to be one 

 affecting the promptness of distribution, which is of primai'3^ im- 

 portance in the case of scientific works, and it is hoped no serious 

 disadvantages may result by the adoption of the new law. 



LIBRARY. 



The library of the Smithsonian Institution is made up of several 

 constituent parts. The most important of these are the Smithsonian 

 deposit in the Library of Congress and the libraries of the National 

 Museum and Bureau of American Ethnology. There was added to 

 the Smithsonian deposit during the past year a total of 21,863 pub- 

 lications, the equivalent of 14,560 volumes, consisting very largely 

 of works on the various branches of science and art. 



To the Museum library there were added 1,791 books, 3,608 pam- 

 phlets, and 276 parts of volumes, making the present total in that 

 library about 42,000 volumes, 70,000 unbound papers, besides manu- 

 scripts, maps, charts, and other material. Arrangements are being 

 made to divide the Museum library into two principal parts by as- 

 sembling all books on zoology, paleontology, geology, ethnology, and 

 archeology in the new building. 



LANGLEY MEMORIAL TABLET. 



A design in plaster for the memorial tablet commemorative of the 

 aeronautical work of the late Secretary Langley was submitted at 

 the December meeting of the Regents by the sculptor, Mr. John 

 Flanagan, and accepted by the committee appointed by the board. 

 The tablet will be cast in bronze and erected .in the vestibule of the 

 Smithsonian building. The tablet, which is in relief, measures 4 

 feet 6 inches high by 2 feet 5 inches wide. It represents Mr. Langley 

 seated on a terrace where he has a clear view of the heavens, and in 

 a meditative mood is observing the flight of birds, while in his mind 

 he sees his aerodrome soaring above them. 



The lettering upon the tablet is as follows : 



SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY 



1834-1906 



Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 



1 887-1906 



Discovered the relations of speed and angle of inclination to the lifting power 



of surfaces moving in air 



" I have brought to a close the portion of the work which seemed to be spe- 

 cially mine, the demonstration of the practicability of mechanical flight. 



" The great universal highway overhead is now soon to be opened." — Langley, 

 1901. 



