SECRETARY'S REPORT 13 



Docent Service and those members of our professional staff who par- 

 ticipated in the establishment of one more educational program within 

 the Smithsonian Institution. 



SUMMARY OF THE YEAR'S ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTION 



National Museum. — Accessions to the national collections showed 

 a normal growth, slightly more than 900,000 specimens being added 

 during the year. The total catalog entries in all departments now 

 number 43,756,010. Some of the year's outstanding accessions in- 

 cluded : In anthropology, collections of ethnological material from the 

 Sudan, Peru, and New Zealand, fine lots of pottery and ceramic tiles, 

 a collection of Mexican jadeite, a series of pathological human bones 

 from Illinois, and a group of early Eskimo skeletons ; in zoology, valu- 

 able collections of mammals from Siam and Africa, a Ross seal from 

 the Antarctic, a giant sea bass from the Marshall Islands, a collection 

 of over 230,000 termites, and more than 10,000 invertebrates from the 

 Antarctic; in botany, the James Smith Memorial Collection of fossil 

 diatoms from the Philippines and important lots of plants from 

 Brazil, New Guinea, Australia, Idaho, and Alaska; in geology, an 

 exhibit of synthetic diamonds, 11 meteorites new to the Museum, sev- 

 eral thousand miscellaneous but important invertebrate fossils in- 

 cluding many type specimens, a notable collection of fossil fishes and 

 reptiles from Kansas, and an example of a very rare Middle Eocene 

 bowfin from Wyoming; in engineering and industries, an unusual 

 number of turbine and other power machines ; and in history, additions 

 to the collection of White House state china, more than 30,000 phila- 

 telic specimens lent by former Postmaster General James A. Farley, 

 including original, autographed sketches of stamps made by President 

 Franklin D. Roosevelt. 



Members of the staff conducted fieldwork in Peru, Europe, Canada, 

 Palau Archipelago, Libya, West Indies, Panama, and many parts of 

 the United States. 



The exhibits-modernization program was successfully continued, 

 and the new Bird Hall was opened to the public. 



Bureau of American Ethnology. — The staff members of the Bureau 

 continued their researches and publication in ethnology and arche- 

 ology : Dr. Stirling his Panamanian studies, Dr. Roberts his work as 

 Director of the River Basin Surveys, Dr. Collins his archeological 

 fieldwork in the Hudson Bay area, and Dr. Drucker his Mexican 

 studies. 



Astrophysical Observatory. — Scientific headquarters of the Observ- 

 atory were moved to Cambridge, Mass., at the beginning of the year. 

 Broadened research programs of the agency now include not only 

 strictly solar research but also meteoritic studies and studies of the 



