REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



THE BOARD OF REGENTS. 



In accordance with a resolution of the Board of Eegents, adopted 

 January 8, 1890, by which its annual meeting occurs on the fourth 

 Wednesday of each year, tlie Board met on January 27, 1897, at 10 

 o'clock a. m., and not being able to complete the business before it on. 

 that day, an adjourned meeting was held on February 1. The journal 

 of its i^roceediugs will be found, as hitherto, in the annual report of 

 the Board to Congress, though reference is made in this report to 

 several matters upon which action was taken at these meetings. 



The Secretary formally announced to the Board the death of Dr. Gr. 

 Brown Goode, assistant secretary of the Institution, in charge of the 

 ]S"ational Museum, and the following resolutions were adopted by a 

 rising vote: 



Whereas the assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. 

 G. Brown Goode, died on September 6, 1896 : 



Resolved, That the Board of Eegents wish to here record their sense 

 of the devotion to duty which in the late Dr. Goode came before any 

 consideration of personal advancement, or even before the care of his 

 own health, and of their recognition that his high administrative ability 

 and wide knowledge were devoted unseltishly to the service of the Insti- 

 tution, with results whose value they can not too highly acknowledge; 

 and they desire to express their feeling of the loss that the Institution, 

 the National Museum, and the cause of science has sustained in his 

 untimely death. 



Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be suitably engrossed and 

 transmitted to the family of Dr. Goode. 



In this connection, the Secretary brought up the matter of a succes- 

 sor to Dr. Goode, and stated that he had decided to ask the permission 

 of the Board to appoint as acting assistant secretary in charge of the 

 National Museum, Prof Charles D. Walcott, Director of the United 

 States Geological Survey, and for more than twelve years honorary 

 curator in the Museum. Professor Walcott having consented to assume 

 the duties of the office until a permanent selection could be made, the 

 Secretary's action was approved by the Board by the adoption of the 

 following resolution : 



Resolved, That the appointment by the Secretary of Prof. Charles D. 

 Walcott as acting assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 with duties confined to the charge of the National Museum, be approved. 



The Secretary also announced the death of Mr. W. C. Winlock, assist- 

 ant in charge of office and curator of exchanges, and stated that he 

 had already appointed as his successor in that office Mr. Eichard 

 Eathbun. Mr. Eathbun had been for twenty years connected with 

 the Institution, and, for reasons which the Secretary had submitted to 

 the Eegents, he now nominated Mr. Eathbun as Assistant Secretary in 

 charge of office and exchanges. The Board approved the Secretary's 

 action by the adoption of the following resolution: 



Resolved, That the appointment by the Secretary of Mr. Eichard 

 Eathbun as Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, with 



