8 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 193 5 



award, it was stated in the resolution accompanying the medal, was 

 " in recognition of the surpassing improvement of the performance, 

 efficiency, and safety of American aircraft resulting from the funda- 

 mental scientific researches conducted by the National Advisory 

 Committee for Aeronautics under the leadership of Dr. Ames." 



He was one of the 12 original members of this committee 

 appointed by President Wilson in 1915. He has served on 20 of its 

 subcommittees and acted as chairman of many of them. He has 

 been executive head of the organization since 1919, during which 

 time it has developed the famous Langley Laboratory, where many 

 airplane improvements now universally in use have been devised. 



In accepting the medal. Dr. Ames said: 



Mr. Chancellor : 



It is with the utmost pleasure that I accept the Langley Medal, and I beg 

 to express to you and your associates my sincere thanks for the great honor 

 paid me. There is no honor in the field of aeronautics as great as this. 



When your secretary, Dr. Abbot, informed me that it had been voted to 

 bestow the medal upon me, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of unworthiness. 

 I had not made any contribution of note either to the science or to the art 

 of aeronautics. But I soon realized that the award was not made to me as 

 the result of such services as these, but rather as the result of my connection 

 with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. I think everyone will 

 grant that no single factor has had such a great influence in the notable 

 progress in both theoretical and applied aeronautics in this country during 

 the past 20 years as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and I 

 am proud to think that your Committee of Award consider me as in some way 

 responsible for the guidance of this work. This point of view I can under- 

 stand. For I have been a member of the committee since it was established 

 and its executive head for many years. But only I know how far from justi- 

 fied anyone is in attributing the good work of the committee to me. I have 

 simply done my best to make it possible for our scientists and engineers to 

 perform their investigations and to so cooperate with my associates on the 

 committee as to direct its policy wisely. 



In recognizing this type of administrative work as of such value as to merit 

 the award of the Langley Medal, I think that your committee, Mr. Chancellor, 

 is not alone justified but also wise, and I am particularly pleased by the fact 

 that this honor comes to our committee while I am its chairman. 



WALTER RATHBONE BACON TRAVELING SCHOLARSHIP 



The Walter Rathbone Bacon traveling scholarship of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution was awarded in May 1935 to Dr. Eichard E. 

 Blackwelder, at that time engaged in entomological work at the 

 United States National Museum, for an intensive study of the 

 staphylinid beetles of the West Indies. Dr. Blackwelder will collect 

 these beetles, comprising one of the largest and least-known animal 

 families on earth, on 25 West Indian Islands, including Cuba, 

 Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica. Because of the small size 



