REPORT 



OF THE 



SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



Charles D. Walcott 

 FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1919. 



To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Gentlemen : I hare the honor to submit herewith an annual report 

 on the activities and condition of the Smithsonian Institution and its 

 branches during the year ending June 30, 1919. The activities of the 

 Institution proper are reviewed in the first part of the report, together 

 Avith a brief summary of the affairs of each of the several branches. 

 In the appendices will be found more detailed accounts of the work 

 of the National Museum, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the 

 International Exchange Service, the National Zoological Park, the 

 Astrophysical Observatory, the Smithsonian Library, the Inter- 

 national Catalogue of Scientific Literature, and an account of the 

 publications of the Institution and its branches. The reports of the 

 Museum and Bureau of Ethnology are published in greater detail 

 in separate volumes. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



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 LTnited 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 acccept- 

 ing the trust Congress determined that the Federal Government 

 AY as 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 business of the Institution is conducted by a Board of Regents 

 composed of "the Vice President, the Chief Justice of the United 

 States, and three Members of the Senate, and three Members of the 



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