4 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



THE BOARD OF REGENTS. 



The affairs of the Institution are administered by a Board of* 

 Regents whose membership consists of " the Vice President, the Chiel" 

 Justice, three Members of the Senate, and three Members of the 

 House of Representatives, together with six other persons other than 

 Members of Congress, two of whom shall be resident in the city of 

 Washington and the other four shall be inhabitants of some State, 

 but no two of them of the same State." One of the regents, usually 

 the Chief Justice, is elected chancellor by the board,. and a suitable 

 person is chosen by them as secretary of the Institution, who is also 

 secretary of the Board of Regents and the executive officer directly 

 in charge of the Institution's activities. 



During the year Senator Medill McCormick was appointed a regent 

 to succeed Senator HoUis, whose term as Senator had expired. 

 Representative John A. Elston was appointed to succeed Representa- 

 tive Scott Ferris. Representatives Padgett and Greene were reap- 

 pointed as regents, and Charles F. Choate, jr., was reelected a citizen 

 regent by the Congress. The roll of regents at the close of the fiscal 

 year was as follows : Edward D. White, Chief Justice of the United 

 States, chancellor; Thomas R. Marshall, Vice President of the 

 United States ; Henry Cabot Lodge, Member of the Senate ; Charles 

 S. Thomas, Member of the Senate; Medill McCormick, Member of 

 the Senate; Lemuel P. Padgett, Member of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives; Frank L. Greene, Member of the House of Representa- 

 tives; John A. Elston, Member of the House of Representatives; 

 Alexander Graham Bell, citizen of Washington, D. C. ; George Gray, 

 citizen of Delaware; Charles F. Choate, jr., citizen of Massachu- 

 setts; John B. Henderson, citizen of Washington, D. C. ; Henry 

 White, citizen of Maryland; and Robert S. Brookings, citizen of 

 Missouri. 



The board held its annual meeting on December 11, 1919. The 

 proceedings of that meeting, as well as the annual financial report of 

 the executive committee, have been printed as usual for the use of 

 the regents, while such important matters acted upon as are of public 

 interest are revicAved under appropriate heads in the present report 

 of the secretary. A detailed statement of disbursements from the 

 Government appropriations under the direction of the Institution 

 for the maintenance of the National Museum, the National Zoological 

 Park, and other branches will be submitted to Congress by the secre- 

 tary in the usual manner in accordance with the law. . 



(4ENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



The usual routine operations of the Institution in the " increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge among men " were continued during the 

 year, including a mass of correspondence with individuals and scien- 



