March 20, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



477 



carefully, how the usefulness and value of the 

 Smithsonian Institution and its allied bureaus 

 could be improved, and offered the following 

 resolutions : 



The secretary shall nominate, and by and with 

 the advice and consent of the board of regents, 

 shall appoint the heads of the various bureaus 

 supported by Congress under the direction of the 

 Smithsonian Institution — to imt — the National 

 Museum, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the 

 Kational Zoological Park, the Bureau of Inter- 

 national Exchanges, and the Astrophysical Ob- 

 servatory. 



The secretary shall have power to fill up all 

 vacancies that may happen in these offices during 

 the intervals between meetings of the board, by 

 granting commissions which shall expire at the 

 next meeting of the board of regents. 



Tlie head of each bureau shall nominate, and by 

 and with the ad\'ice and consent of the secretary, 

 shall appoint the subordinates in the bureau un- 

 der his charge. 



The heads of the bureaus shall be termed direct- 

 ors; and the board of regents hereby creates the 

 offices of director of the National Museum, direct- 

 or of the Bureau of American Ethnology, director 

 of the National Zoological Park, director of the 

 Bureau of International Exchanges and director 

 of the Astrophysical Observatory, and instructs 

 the secretary to fill these offices by temporary 

 appointment to expire at the next meeting of the 

 board, when nominations shall be presented for 

 confirmation by the board. 



There was no time for adequate discussion 

 of these resolutions and it was believed by all 

 the members that the subject was of too great 

 importance to be passed upon at once by the 

 board.- Judge Gray thought that the resolu- 

 tions should be examined and reported upon 

 by a committee, before asking the board for a 

 decision, and suggested that they might be 

 referred to the committee having under con- 

 sideration the definition of the powers and 

 duties of the executive committee, for a re- 

 port. Dr. Bell thereupon withdrew his mo- 

 tion, and moved to refer the resolutions to the 

 committee as suggested by Judge Gray, and 

 this motion was adopted by the board. 



The question of the disposition of the re- 

 mains of James Sniithson, the founder of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, then came up for 

 consideration. It will be remembered that 



the regents had been notified that the body of 

 James Smithson would have to be removed 

 from his grave, in order to make room fol a 

 quarry, and that the regents had decided that 

 the remains should be transferred from the 

 cemetery in Genoa, Italy, where they now 

 rest, to another cemetery in the same city. 

 Dr. Bell offered to have the remains removed 

 to this country at his expense, if the regents 

 would take charge of them upon their arrival, 

 and in view of this proposition he moved a 

 reconsideration of the decision of the board 

 relating to the disposition of the body. The 

 regents seemed to be very favorably impressed 

 with the proposition, and in view of the fact 

 that there was no immediate necessity for the 

 removal of the grave, and that no time re- 

 mained for discussion of the matter, the reso- 

 lution was allowed to lie over to be acted 

 upon at the next meeting of the board in 

 December. The meeting then adjourned. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 The National Academy of Sciences will 

 hold its annual stated meeting at Washington 

 beginning on Tuesday, April 17. 



The American Philosophical Society will 

 hold at Philadelphia a general meeting on 

 April 2, 3 and 4. The preliminary program 

 contains the titles of thirty-one papers, in- 

 cluding one by President Daniel C. Gilman, 

 on ' The Carnegie Institution during the first 

 year of its development,' and one by Dr. W. 

 H. Welch on ' The objects and aims of the 

 Eockefeller Institute for Medical Research.' 

 The sessions will be held in the hall of the 

 society beginning in the morning at 10:30 

 and in the afternoon at 2. Luncheon will 

 be served to members on each day; there will 

 be a reception to members and ladies accom- 

 panying them on Thursday evening, and vis- 

 iting members will be the guests of resident 

 members on Friday evening. 



President Eoosevelt has appointed the fol- 

 lowing as a commission to report to him on 

 the organization, needs, and present condition 

 of government work, with a view to including 

 under the Department of Commerce bureaus 

 not assigned to that department by congress: 



