128 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



thereon had been filed in the office by Dr. A. F. Zahm; tliat the 

 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had approved of the 

 cooperation between the Smithsonian Institution and the United 

 States Weather Bureau in connection with the investigations of the 

 atmosphere having a bearing upon aeronautics, and that this coopera- 

 tion had met with the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and 

 of the Chief of the Weather Bureau. To carry this into effect, $2,500 

 had been set aside from the allotment for the Langley Aerodynamical 

 Laboratory for the purchase of necessary instruments, sounding bal- 

 loons, etc., and for conducting such experiments as could not be pro- 

 vided for from funds of the Weather Bureau. 



Site for Freer Gallery of Art. — At the last meeting of the board a 

 resolution was adopted authorizing the chancellor to appoint a com- 

 mittee to consider the matter of a site for the proposed Freer Build- 

 ing, and the following were appointed on said committee: Senator 

 Lodge, Senator HoUis, Judge Gray, Mr. Connolly, and the secretary. 



The committee presented a report recommending that the building 

 be erected on a site in the southwest corner of the Smithsonian 

 grounds, west of the Smithsonian building, and south of the line 

 recommended by the National Park Commission in 1906 for future 

 buildings on the Mall. 



The committee's recommendation was approved by the board. 



In this connection the secretary read an extract from Mr. Freer's 

 letter of December 4, stating that if the board took favorable action 

 he would at once place at the Institution's disposal the $1,000,000 he 

 had already set aside for this purpose. 



The secretary referred to the Widener art collection and to the 

 newspaper comments as to the possibility of securing the collection 

 for Washington City. These art objects were left to Mr, Widener's 

 son with discretion as to donating them to Philadelphia, Washington, 

 or New York. The collection is now handsomely housed, and the 

 secretary very much doubted that any action would be taken toward 

 its being placed elsewhere for many years to come. 



Speaking on the subject of the National Gallery of Art, the secre- 

 tary mentioned the art collections already in the custody of the Insti- 

 tution and said that the time will soon be here when definite action 

 must be taken looking to their proper housing. 



Bi7'd and animal refuges. — The secretary stated that he had given 

 considerable attention to the development of the movement for the 

 creation of bird refuges, and that he had called the attention of the 

 executive committee to an inquiry that had been made as to whether 

 the Smithsonian Institution would consider the acceptance of a large 

 tract of land on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico for the administra- 

 tion of a great bird and wild animal refuge. 



