REPORT 



OF THE 



SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 



Charles D. Walcott, 

 FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1920. 



To the Board of Regents or the Smithsonian Institution. 



Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit herewith the annual re- 

 port on the activities and condition of the Smithsonian Institution 

 and its branches during the year ending June 30, 1920. An account 

 of the affairs of the Institution itself, together with a summary of 

 the work of the several branches, are given on the first 26 pages of 

 this report, while the appendixes are devoted to more detailed ac- 

 counts of the operations during the year of the National Museum, the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology, the International Exchange Service, 

 the National Zoological Park, the Astrophysical Observatory, the 

 Smithsonian Library, the International Catalogue of Scientific Lit- 

 erature, and an account of the publications of the Institution and its 

 branches. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT. 



The Smithsonian Institution was created by act of Congress in 

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

 land, who in 1826 bequeathed his property to the United States of 

 America "to found at Washington, under the name of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of 

 knowledge among men." In receiving the property and accepting 

 the trust Congress determined that the Federal Government was 

 without authority to administer the trust directly, and therefore con- 

 stituted an " establishment," whose statutory members are " the Presi- 

 dent, the Vice President, the Chief Justice, and the heads of the 

 executive departments." 



