REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 117 



AGENCIES, RESOURCES, AND FACILITIES. 



Smithsonian Institution. — The advisory committee has been pro- 

 vided by the Smithsonian Institution with suitable office headquarters, 

 an administrative and accounting system, library and publication 

 facilities, lecture and assembly rooms, and museum space for aero- 

 nautic models. The Langiey Aerodynamical Laboratory has an 

 income provided for it not to exceed $10,000 the first year (of which 

 $5,000 has been allotted), and $5,000 annually for five years. 



United States Bureau of Standards. — For the exact determina- 

 tion of aerophysical constants, the calibration of instruments, the 

 testing of aeronautic engines, propellers, and materials of construc- 

 tion, the committee has the cooperation of the United States Bureau 

 of Standards, from which the Secretary of Commerce has designated 

 one representative. 



This bureau has a complete equipment for studying the mechanics 

 of materials and structural forms used in air-craft; for standard- 

 izing the physical instruments — thermometers, barographs, pressure 

 gauges, etc. — used in air navigation; and for testing the power, 

 efficiency, etc., of aeronautical motors in a current of air representing 

 the natural conditions of flight. 



In these general branches the technical staff of the bureau is pre- 

 pared to undertake such theoretical and experimental investigations 

 as may come before the advisory committee on behalf of either the 

 Government or private individuals or organizations. 



United States Weather Bureau. — ^For studies of and reports on 

 every phase of aeronautic meteorology, besides the usual forecasting, 

 the committee has the cooperation of the United States Weather 

 Bureau, from which the Secretary of Agriculture has designated one 

 representative. 



This bureau has an extensive library of works on or allied to 

 aeronautics, an instrument division for every type of apparatus for 

 studying the state of the atmosphere, a whirling table of 30-foot 

 radius for standardizing anemometers, a complete kite equipment 

 with power reel, and a sounding balloon equipment with electrolytic 

 hydrogen plant, all of which are available for scientific investigations. 

 For special forecasts, anticipating field tests or cross-country voyages, 

 the general service of the biu-eau may be called upon. 



War and Navy Departments. — These departments, while especially 

 interested in aeronautics for national defense, can be of service in 

 advancing the general science. Each has an aeronautical library; 

 each has an official representative in foreign countries who reports 

 periodically on every important phase of the art^ whether civil or 

 military; each has an assignment of officers who design, test, and 

 operate air craft, and who determine largely the scope and character 



