REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 13 



Flanking the laboratory area there were exhibited two oil paintings 

 15 feet by 8 feet prepared by two Washington artists, Bruce Horsfall 

 and Garnet W. Jex, respectively. The Jex painting portrays rep- 

 tilian life in the Permian age of Texas. The Horsfall painting 

 visualizes Camarasaurus, the fossil skeleton of which was being pre- 

 pared, as he was supposed to have appeared in the flesh and in the 

 environment of his time, namely, the Jurassic age. Both paintings 

 were executed under the close supervision of C. W. Gilmore, curator 

 of vertebrate paleontology in the National Museum, and are as scien- 

 tifically correct in the topogi-aphy, vegetation, and reptile restoration 

 as can be done with oil paint and brush. 



In addition to the oil painting on the right flanking wall of the 

 area there was exhibited a well-executed diorama visualizing all 

 known life of the Jurassic age. This yielded to the visitor an under- 

 standing of the reptilian associates of the C amai'asaurus in Jurassic 

 times and vividly indicated the swampy, moist character of the land 

 area of that distant time. 



Thus the visitor to the Smithsonian Institution exhibit at the 

 Dallas exposition had revealed to him the manner in which the 

 Division of Vertebrate Paleontology in the United States National 

 Museum is acquiring scientific knowledge as to prehistoric life and 

 utilizing that information in the advancement of knowledge. 



SMITHSONIAN SCIENTIFIC SERIES 



The Smithsonian Scientific Series, a set of 12 volumes written in 

 popular style and profusely illustrated on the various branches of 

 science covered by the Institution's research activities, was first put 

 on the market in 1928. In entering into the agreement for the sale 

 of this series, a departure from the normal free distribution of its 

 publications, the Institution had two aims in view, namely, the wider 

 diffusion of knowledge and the increase of its financial resources for 

 the promotion of research. The books are published and sold by a 

 private corporation of New York, the Smithsonian Institution Series, 

 Inc., and the Institution receives a royalty on all sales. 



As the series has not been mentioned in my annual reports for the 

 past 2 years, it will be interesting to state the results of this enterprise 

 up to the close of the fiscal year 1936. From 1928, when the first set 

 was sold, to June 30, 1936, there have been sold a total of 12,917 sets. 

 In royalties, the Institution has received to date in the neighborhood 

 of $150,000, a definite proportion of which has been added to the 

 Institution's permanent endowment, and the balance expended for 

 the most pressing scientific investigations. As the sales of the series 

 are continuing at an ever-increasing rate, the Institution's endow- 



