REPORT OF THE ACTING SECRETARY. 23 



at the Institution for the Catalogue, with the request that attention 

 be called to any omission or errors. These two plans, were it possible 

 to devote sufficient time to them, would render the work as exact as 

 it is possible to make a complex index. Besides the value of these 

 plans for the Catalogue itself, they keep the Institution in relation 

 with the entire body of scientific workers in the United States and 

 incidentally result in considerable accessions to the Library. 



The supreme control of the Catalogue is vested in an international 

 convention, and during the interval between two successive meet- 

 ings of the convention the administration is conducted by an inter- 

 national council. A meeting of the International Convention was 

 held in London in July, 1905, and was attended by Dr. Leonhard 

 Stejneger, of the United States National Museum, as delegate of 

 the Smithsonian Institution. In view of the success already achieved 

 by the Catalogue, the convention determined to continue it for a 

 further period of at least five years. 



PRESERVATION OF AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



For several years there has been increasing necessity for legisla- 

 tion to prevent the wanton destruction of the interesting aboriginal 

 ruins in the southwestern part of the United States, and a law, ap- 

 proved June 8, 190G. prohibits the excavation, injurj^ or destruction 

 of any prehistoric ruin or monument on lands under the control 

 of the United States without the permission of the secretary of the 

 Department of the Government having jurisdiction. It further 

 provides that the President may by proclamation declare such his- 

 toric sites and prehistoric structures to be national monuments. 



The sundry civil act approved June 30. 1906, contains an appro- 

 priation of $3,000, to be expended under the supervision of the Sec- 

 retary of the Smithsonian Institution for the protection of the Casa 

 Grande ruin in Pinal County, near Florence, Arizona, and for exca- 

 vations on the reservation. 



GIFTS TO THE INSTITUTION. 



The Institution has from the beginning been the recipient of many 

 gifts from individuals and establishments, but these have not been 

 enumerated in detail in the Secretary's report. The donations of 

 books and pamphlets are referred to in the report of the Library, 

 and of objects and specimens in that of the Museum, while the two 

 large collections of art acquired during the year are discussed on a 

 subsequent page under the heading " National Gallery of Art." 



Mention should be made here, however, of the fact that the heirs 

 of Secretary Langley presented to the Institution the medals and 



