REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 3 



interested in the progress of science, there are issued every year about 

 100 vohimes and pamphlets, of which there are sent out nearly 

 150,000 copies. A large proportion of this number go to libraries 

 throughout the world, where they are readily available to the public, 

 and many of its publications are now standard works in various 

 branches of science. Besides this steady flow of publications, the 

 Institution, through the public exhibits of the National Museum, 

 the National Gallery of Art, and the National Zoological Park, 

 imparts an incalculable amount of knowledge on natural history, 

 anthropology, art, and history to the hundreds of thousands of visi- 

 tors from all parts of the country who come to the Nation's Capital 

 every year. In late years also the value of the arts and industries 

 department of the Museum is becoming more and more appreciated 

 by the public and by industrial organizations, and the exhibits por- 

 traying the scope of entire industries are being augmented at an 

 increasing rate by the cooperation of trade associations who assemble 

 these comprehensive exhibits from a number of manufacturers. The 

 auditorium of the National Museum is used every year by a large 

 number of local and national scientific and other societies for the 

 dissemination of useful knowledge through conferences and lectures, 

 and the scientific staffs of the Museum, the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology, and other branches of the Institution contribute their 

 share in the program of the diffusion of knowledge through scientific 

 and semipopular lectures, both officially and unofficially. The archeo- 

 logical excavations conducted in Florida during the past winter by 

 the Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology were known 

 throughout Florida as the " Smithsonian excavations " and attracted 

 thousands of visitors, to whom Doctor Fewkes lectured several times 

 each week on the prehistoric Indian inhabitants of the region. The 

 latest addition to the Institution's program in the diffusion of knowl- 

 edge was the inauguration during the year of a series of radio talks 

 on scientific subjects presented in popular form, and the response to 

 these was so widespread that the series will be continued with in- 

 creased scope during the coming year. This program of dissemina- 

 tion of knowledge in scientific matters is carried on, as stated at the 

 beginning, with the greatest difficulty because of the very limited 

 endowment of the Institution, and were more means at its disposal, 

 the Institution would be enabled to greatly expand its work along 

 these lines, as well as in its other fundamental purpose, the increase 

 of knowledge through scientific research and exploration. 



Perhaps the most important development of the year in the In- 

 stitution's affairs is the promising outlook for a building to house 

 the growing National Gallery of Art. As noted in last year's re- 

 port. Congress has provided a site in the Smithsonian Park for such 



