REPORT 



OF THE 



SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



Charles D. Walcott 

 FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1924 



To the Board of Regents of the SmithsonioAi Institution: 



Gentlemen: I have the honor to submit herewith the customary 

 annual report showing the activities and conditions of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution and its branches during the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1924. The first 26 pages of the report contain an ac- 

 count of the affairs of the Institution proper, with brief abstracts 

 of the work carried on by the various branches of the Institution, 

 while appendixes 1 to 10 present somewhat more detailed summaries 

 of the operations of the United States National Museum, the Na- 

 tional Gallery of Art, the Freer Gallery of Art, the Bureau of Ameri- 

 can Ethnology, the International Exchanges, the National Zoologi- 

 cal Park, the Astrophysical Observatory, the United States Regional 

 Bureau of the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature, the 

 Smithsonian Library, and of the publications of the Institution and 

 its branches. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



THE ESTABLISHMENT 



The Smithsonian Institution was created by act of Congress in 

 1846, according to the terms of the will of James Smithson, of Eng- 

 land, who in 1826 bequeathed his property to the United States of 

 America "to found at Washington, under the name of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of 

 knowledge among men." In receiving the property and accepting 

 the trust Congress determined that the Federal Government was 

 without authority to administer the trust directly, and therefore 

 constituted an " establishment " whose statutory members are " the 

 President, the Vice President, the Chief Justice, and the heads of 

 the executive departments." 



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