REPORT OF S. P. LANGLEY, 



SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, FOR THE TEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1890. 



To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution : 



Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit herewith the report for the 

 year eudiug June 30, 1890, of the operations of the iSmithsouiau Insti- 

 tution, and of the work placed by Congress under its charge in the Na- 

 tional Museum, the Bureau of Ethnology, the International Exchanges, 

 and the National Zoological Park. 



The National Zoological Park has been formally placed under the 

 care of the Board of Eegents during this year,* although its establish- 

 ment has been under consideration for some time and the preliminary 

 steps connected therewith have been referred to in previous reports. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT. 



By the organizing act of Congress of August 10, 1846, sec. l,t it was 

 provided that "The President, and Vice-President of the United Stales, 

 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 Chief Justice, and the Commissioner of the Patent Office 

 of the United States, and the Mayor of the city of Washington, during 

 the time for which they shall hold their respective offices, and such other 

 persons as they may elect honorary members, be, and they are hereby 

 constituted an 'establishment' by the name of the 'Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution,'" etc. In the Revised Statutes "the Governor of the District 

 of Columbia" was substituted for the Mayor of the city of Washing- 

 ton, the latter office having become extinct. 



Two members having been added to the cabinet of the President 

 since the passage of the act, namely, the Secretary of the Interioi", and 

 more recently the Secretary of Agriculture, there appears no good rea- 

 son why these should not be included in the list of officers of the estab- 

 lishment. This would obviously be consonant with the original inten- 

 tion of the framers of the act, though excluded by the phraseology 

 actually employed. It may be worthy of consideration of the Board of 

 Regents whether it would not be for the interests of the Institution to 

 ask of Congress a re-construction of the section referred to, whereby 



'Act of Congress approved April 30, 1890. 



t Title Ixxiii, sec. 5579, of the Revised Statutes. 1 



n. Mis. 120 1 



