FIFTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1893-1895. 1689 
the nation is the only instance of such an action in its history. The Institution, 
then, occupies a peculiar relation to the Government. It is composed as follows: 
MEMBERS OF THE INSTITUTION. 
Presiding officer (ex officio): The President of the United States. 
Chancellor: The Chief Justice of the United States. 
The Vice-President of the United States. 
The Secretary of State. 
The Secretary of the Treasury. 
The Secretary of War. 
The Secretary of the Navy. 
The Postmaster-General. 
The Attorney-General. 
The Secretary of the Interior. 
The Secretary of Agriculture. 
The high functionaries above-mentioned are its members ex officio, with the 
exception of the chancellor, who is elected. The law also creates a secretary of the 
above body, whom it calls ‘‘the Secretary of the Institution.” 
ADMINISTRATION. 
The law further directs that the business of the Institution shall be managed by a 
Board of Regents, composed of the Vice-President and the Chief Justice of the 
United States, three Senators, three members of the House of Representatives, and 
six other eminent persons nominated by a joint resolution of the Senate and the 
House of Representatives. 
The Secretary of the Institution is also the Secretary of the Board of Regents and 
their principal executive officer. His duties in this regard are analogous to those of 
a director. All correspondence should be addressed to him. 
It will be observed that the immediate and primary object of the Smithsonian 
Institution, as above constituted, is to administer a certain fund, of which the United 
States has accepted the custody, for the especial purpose of ‘‘ the increase and dif- 
fusion of knowledge among men,”’ so that its purpose in its most general sense is not 
limited to the people of the United States of America, but extends to all mankind. 
This has been interpreted as indicating such a direction of the activities of the Insti- 
tution as shall result— 
(1) In the increase of knowledge by original investigation and study, either in 
science or literature. . 
(2) In the diffusion of this knowledge by publication, not only through the United 
States, but everywhere, and especially by promoting an interchange of thought 
among those prominent in learning among all nations, through its correspondents. 
These embrace institutions or societies conspicuous in art, science, or literature 
throughout the world. 
Its publications are in three principal issues, namely, the Contributions to Knowl- 
edge, the Miscellaneous Collections, and the Annual Report. Numerous works are 
published annually by it under one of these forms and distributed to its principal 
correspondents, while there is also published, at the expense of the Government, an 
edition of the Report of the Board of Regents, containing an account of the operations 
of the Institution during each year, which is distributed throughout the country by 
the Congress. 
The Institution has been authorized by law to deposit its original fund in the 
Treasury of the United States, and it has further been authorized to accept certain 
special bequests made by individuals, where these have been such as to promote its 
general purpose, ‘‘ the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.’’ Thus, for 
