16 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
drome” (1904). The introduction to this reprint, written by As- 
sistant Secretary Adler, reads as follows: 
The international fame of Samuel Pierpont Langley rests primarily upon his 
epoch-making researches in solar physics, but during the last ten years of his 
life his name was best known to the world at large by his experiments in 
mechanical flight. 
Mr. Langley was the first to produce a machine heavier than air which, sup- 
ported and propelled by its own engine and possessing no extraneous lifting 
or sustaining power, actually made an independent flight for a considerable 
distance, this being accomplished for the first time on May 6, 1896. He after- 
wards constructed other models driven by both steam and gasoline engines, 
which made frequent successful flights, and was thus the first to demonstrate 
by actual experiment the possibility of mechanical flight. 
In addition to building various models and machines, most of which are now 
on exhibition in the United States National Museum, Mr. Langley recorded his 
studies and experiments in two technical works—“ Experiments in Aero- 
dynamics,” published originally by the Smithsonian Institution in 1891, and 
“The Internal Work of the Wind,’ the original edition of which was issued 
by the Institution in 1893. The copious and painstaking notes made by Mr. 
Langley in connection with his latest experiments in mechanical flight are 
now in course of preparation for publication and will be issued by the Institu- 
tion on completion, thus forming the third volume of this more technical series. 
Mr. Langley also wrote a few occasional popular papers relating to this same 
class of experiments, which were published in the Smithsonian reports and else- 
where, the editions of which are now quite exhausted. In order to meet the 
ever-increasing demand for information on a subject which is now claiming uni- 
versal attention, and in which Mr. Langley was the pioneer, some of these less 
technical articles are here brought together and reprinted under a single cover. 
The publications of the National Museum during the year included 
a large number of papers in the Proceedings, and several Bulletins, 
the general contents of which are enumerated in the appendix. 
The Bureau of American Ethnology published its Twenty-sixth 
Annual Report and a number of Bulletins. One of the Bulletins, 
No. 42, by Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, gives the results of his study of tuber- 
culosis among certain Indian tribes. 
The Annual Reports of the American Historical Association and 
of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolu- 
tion were received from those organizations and were communicated 
to Congress in accordance with their national charters. 
The allotments to the Institution and its branches, under the head 
of public printing and binding during the past fiscal year, aggrega- 
ting $72,700, were, as far as practicable, expended prior to June 30. 
The allotments for the year ending June 30, 1910, are as follows: 
For the Smithsonian Institution for printing and binding annual re- 
ports of the Board of Regents, with general appendixes___________ $10, 000 
For the annual reports of the National Museum, with general appen- 
dixes, and for printing labels and blanks for the Bulletins and Pro- 
ceedings of the National Museum, the editions of which shall not ex- 
ceed 4,000 copies, and binding, in half turkey or material not more 
expensive, scientific books and pamphlets presented to and acquired 
byethe National Museum) ibtary== 22) oa = se eee ee 34, 000 
