REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 5 



Division of Radiation and Organisms. — The following investiga- 

 tions were undertaken by the scientific staff of the Division: The 

 dependence of the growth of algae and wheat on the wave lengths of 

 radiation, determined by experiments conducted with Christiansen 

 filters specially adapted to this work by improvements made in the 

 Division; growth experiments on tomato plants under control as to 

 temperature, humidity, and color and intensity of radiation ; experi- 

 ments in cooperation with the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture on the promotion and inhibition of the germination of seeds 

 under different selected wave lengths of light; and an experiment 

 on the growth of wheat under out-of-door conditions with controlled 

 quantities of carbon dioxide. Several papers embodying the results 

 of these investigations were published during the year in the Smith- 

 sonian Miscellaneous Collections, and others were in preparation. 



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, 

 constituted an " establishment " whose statutory members are " the 

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

 executive departments." 



THE BOARD OF REGENTS 



The affairs of the Institution are administered by a Board of 

 Regents whose membership consists of " the Vice President, the 

 Chief 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 

 is elected chancellor of the board. In the past the selection has 

 fallen upon the Vice President or the Chief Justice, and a suitable 

 person is chosen by the regents 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. 



Changes in the personnel of the Board during the year included 

 the appointment on January 23, 1935, of Senator Charles L. McNary, 

 of Oregon, as a regent to succeed Senator David A. Reed, whose term 



