REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 

 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



C. G. ABBOT 



FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1936 



To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution: 



Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit herewith my report show- 

 ing the activities and condition of the Smithsonian Institution and the 

 Government bureaus under its administrative charge during the fiscal 

 year ended June 30, 1936. The first 16 pages contain a summary 

 account of the affairs of the Institution, and appendixes 1 to 10 give 

 more detailed reports of the operations of the National Museum, the 

 National Gallery of Art, the Freer Gallery of Art, the Bureau of 

 American Ethnology, the International Exchanges, the National 

 Zoological Park, the Astrophysical Observatory, the Division of 

 Radiation and Organisms, the Smithsonian library, and of the publi- 

 cations issued under the direction of the Institution. On page 97 is 

 the financial report of the executive committee of the Board of 

 Regents. 



OUTSTANDING EVENTS 



Notable progress has been made by the Institution in its varied 

 fields of endeavor. Continuation of the study of the relation of our 

 weather to changes in the sun's radiation led to apparent proof that 

 the short-interval changes of solar radiation are of major influence 

 on the weather for the following 2 weeks. Funds to establish seven 

 additional observing stations to test this promising method of weather 

 forecasting were provided in a bill passed by the Senate, but unfor- 

 tunately the item was lost in conference. The Division of Radiation 

 and Organisms has determined specifically the efficiency of different 

 wave lengths of radiation in promoting photosynthesis and photo- 

 tropism, and has developed new types of research apparatus of un- 

 equaled adaptability and power. The Institution published the latest 

 results of the high-altitude rocket experiments of Dr. R. H. Goddard, 

 whose early work was supported for 12 years by the Smithsonian. 

 In his most recent trial flights the liquid-propelled rocket attained a 

 height of 7,500 feet, its automatic stabilizer keeping the flight verti- 

 cal. With the P. W. A. grant reported last year, three new modern 



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