ADMINISTRATION AND ACTIVITIES OF THE SMITH- 

 SONIAN INSTITUTION. 



By A. Howard Clark, 

 Editor, SmWisonian Institution. 



[Witli 22 plates.] 

 THE ESTABLISHMENT— BOARD OF REGENTS. 



The Smithsonian Institution was created by act of Congress, in 

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

 England, 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 dif- 

 fusion of knowledge among men." In receiving the property and 

 accepting the trust, Congress determined that the Federal Govern- 

 ment 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." The business of the Institution 

 is conducted by a Board of Eegents composed of " the Vice President, 

 the Chief Justice of the United States, and three Members of the 

 Senate and three Members of the House of Representatives, together 

 with six other persons other than Members of Congress, two of whom 

 shall be resident in the city of Washington and the other four shall 

 be inhabitants of some State, but no two of them of the same State." 

 The Regents elect one of their number as chancellor, usually the 

 Chief Justice, who is the presiding officer of the board, and elect a 

 suitable person as secretary of the Institution, who is also secretary 

 of the board and the executive officer and director of the Institution's 

 activities. 



RESOURCES. 



The annual income of the Institution is about $100,000, derived 

 from interest on the permanent fund (in the United States Treas- 

 ury) and on special fujids, and contributions from various sources, 

 which is applied to operations of the Institution proper, besides 

 annual congressional appropriations of about $600,000 for the main- 



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