4 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 2 



What lies ahead in the next century for the Smithsonian Institution 

 no one can safely predict. It was my privilege in 1946 to help cele- 

 brate the one-hundredth anniversary of the Institution's founding, 

 and at that time I wrote : "The Smithsonian had a definite beginning 

 but has no foreseeable end. Its stated purpose knows no time or 

 space limits, and it will go on through the centuries, changing with 

 a changing world and so adjusting itself that it may fill a useful role 

 in the upward struggle of mankind." It has been one of the greatest 

 satisfactions of my life to have served an organization with such a 

 prospect and with such potentialities. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT 



The Smithsonian Institution was created by act of Congress in 1846, 

 in accordance with 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 Smithsonian 

 Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge among men." In receiving the property and accepting the trust. 

 Congress determined that the Federal Government was without au- 

 thority 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 depart- 

 ments." 



THE BOARD OF REGENTS 



No changes in personnel occurred on the Board of Regents in the 

 past year. The vacancy in the class of citizen regents still exists. The 

 roll of regents at the close of the fiscal year, June 30, 1952, was as fol- 

 lows : Chief Justice of the United States, Fred M. Vinson, Chancellor ; 

 Vice President Alben W. Barkley ; members from the Senate : Walter 

 F. George, Clinton P. Anderson, Leverett Saltonstall ; members from 

 the House of Representatives : Clarence Cannon, John M. Vorys, E. E. 

 Cox; citizen members: Harvey N. Davis, Arthur H. Compton, Van- 

 nevar Bush, Robert V. Fleming, and Jerome C. Hunsaker. 



On the evening of January 17, preceding the annual meeting, an 

 informal dinner meeting of the Board was held in the main hall of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, with the Chancellor, Chief Justice Vin- 

 son, presiding. This occasion gave opportunity for members of the 

 Smithsonian staff to make a fuller presentation of the scientific work 

 of the Institution than was practicable at the regular meeting the 

 next day. 



The Board held its regular annual meeting in the Regents' Room 

 on January 18, 1952. The Secretary presented his annual report cov- 

 ering the activities of the Institution and its bureaus, including the 



