SECRETARY’S REPORT 9 
The sixteenth Arthur lecture was given in the auditorium of the 
National Museum on April 14, 1949, by Sir Harold Spencer Jones, 
Astronomer Royal of Great Britain, the arrangements being made 
through Dr. S. A. Mitchell, of the Leander McCormick Observ- 
atory, University of Virginia. The title of Sir Harold’s lecture was, 
“The Determination of Precise Time,” a subject on which he is a 
world authority. His lecture will be published in full in the Annual 
Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for 1949. 
SUMMARY OF THE YEAR’S?ACTIVITIES OF THE BRANCHES OF 
THE INSTITUTION 
National Museum.—Approximately 446,000 specimens were added 
to the collections, for the most part as gifts or as transfers from Gov- 
ernment agencies, bringing the total number of catalog entries to 
31,679,046. Outstanding accessions for the year included: In an- 
thropology, an important collection of 51 artifacts representing the 
work of American Indians, Eskimo of Alaska, and natives of Pacific 
islands, given by Georgetown University; 17 gold-embossed silver 
vessels given by the Government of Tibet to President Truman and 
in turn presented by him to the Smithsonian Institution; and valu- 
able skeletal remains recovered in northern Australia by Frank M. 
Setzler, a member of the Commonwealth of Australia-National Geo- 
graphic Society-Smithsonian Institution Expedition to Arnhem 
Land; in zoology, maramal specimens from many distant parts of the 
world including Northern Territory of Australia, Nepal, Malay Pen- 
insula, Korea, Okinawa, Philippine Islands, and New Guinea, 778 
birds from Arnhem Land, Australia, and 1,164 from India and Nepal, 
14,000 fishes from the Solomon Islands and the East Indies, and 
5,000 from the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea; in botany, 2,382 plants 
of Fiji, 5,854 plants of Colombia, and 2,157 plants of China; in geology, 
20 kinds of minerals hitherto unrepresented in the National collec- 
tions, a 42-carat brazilianite gemstone, the largest ever found in 
Brazil, an 8,750-gram stony meteorite that fell at Girgenti, Italy, and 
many thousands of fossil specimens collected by staff members in 
various parts of the United States; in engineering and industries, 
the original Wright Brothers’ aeroplane of 1903, a collection of elec- 
trical measuring instruments, early lamps, and electronic tubes, some 
of them made in the 1880’s, and an exhibit showing the development 
of electric hearing aids; in history, a group of relics bequeathed by 
Gen. John J. Pershing, including uniforms, flags, and medals, a note- 
worthy collection of European gold and silver coins from the four- 
teenth to the twentieth century presented by Paul A. Straub, of 
New York City, and a complete set of Allied military currency pre- 
sented by the Department of the Army. 
