REPORT OF THE ACTING SECRETARY. 



It is with deep regret that I have to record the death of the Hon. 

 Robert Adams, jr., on June 1, 1906. Mr. Adams was a member of 

 the Board of Eegents on the part of the House of Representatives for 

 nearh' ten years, and always displayed a deep interest in the welfare 

 of the Institution. He was succeeded by the Hon. John Dalzell, of 

 Pennsylvania, who was appointed by the Speaker on June 12, 1906. 



The membership of the Board at the end of the fiscal year was as 

 follows: 



The Chief Justice, Mr. Melville W. Fuller, Chancellor of the 

 Institution; the Vice-President, Mr. Charles W. Fairbanks; Senator 

 S. M. Cullom; Senator Henry Cabot Lodge; Senator A. O. Bacon; 

 Representative R. R. Hitt; Representative John Dalzell; Repre- 

 sentative William M. Howard; Dr. James B. Angell, of Michigan: 

 Dr. Andrew D. White, of New York; the Hon. John B. Henderson, 

 of the city of Washington ; Dr. A. Graham Bell, of the city of Wash- 

 ington; the Hon. Richard Olney, of Massachusetts, and the Hon. 

 George Gray, of Delaware. 



At a meeting of the Board of Regents held March 12, 1903, the 

 following resolution was adopted: 



Resolved, That in addition to the prescribed meeting held on the fourth 

 Wednesday in January, regular meetings of the Board shall be held on the 

 Tuesday after the first Monday in December and on the 6th day of March, un- 

 less that date falls on Sunday, when the following Monday shall be substituted. 



In accordance with this resolution the Board met on December 5, 

 1905, January 24, 1906, and March 6, 1906. A special meeting was 

 also held on May 16. 1906. The proceedings of the Board at these 

 meetings will be found in its annual report to Congress. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



The year just passed marked an important epoch in the life of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, the completion of its sixth decade. 



Few establisliments of learning have secured so wide a recognition 

 in so limited a time, short in comparison with the history of the older 

 universities and societies in America and covering but a brief period 

 in the life of the seats of learning and of the academies of the Old 

 World. This circumstance is principally due to the fact that no 

 institution founded in trust ever had so powerful a guardian as the 

 Government of the United States, and to the stability of policy given 

 to the Institution by the permanence of position guaranteed to its 

 head. It is doubtful if any other such organization in this country 

 can point to sixty years of existence under the direction of but three 

 men, and probably no other has been presided over in succession by 



