22 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1925 



MEETINGS AND RECEPTIONS 



AlthougK the National Museum does not at present sponsor defi- 

 nite lecture or entertainment programs of its own, since available 

 funds do not permit the necessary expenditures for maintenance of 

 such educational features, it offers its auditorium and lecture rooms 

 to other governmental, patriotic, and scientific agencies and assists 

 as far as possible in providing facilities for meetings. The assembly 

 rooms are thus in more or less constant use. Meetings and conven- 

 tions have been numerous during the past year. 



As one of the general features of the Washington meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science members 

 and guests were received in the Art Gallery in the Natural History 

 Building, by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and Mrs. 

 Walcott, on the evening of December 29. The entire first floor of 

 the building was open and a large number of persons assembled. In 

 addition on the evening of January 2 the rooms occupied by the 

 entomological collections were opened in an informal reception ten- 

 dered to members of the Entomological Society of America and the 

 American Society of Economic Entomologists by Government en- 

 tomologists. Austin H. Clark addressed members of the association 

 on December 30 on " The Navy's Oceanographic Program ; " Dr. 

 C. D. Walcott on December 31, lectured on " Geologic Explorations 

 in the Canadian Eockies." Dr. E. E. Slosson, of Science Service, 

 later in the same evening showed several reels of motion picture film 

 taken in the Canadian Rockies, and on January 1 Dr. A. E. Doug- 

 lass, of the University of Arizona, gave an account of the " Eclipse 

 of September, 1923," and Dr. Willis T. Lee spoke on " Explorations 

 in the Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico,"' an account of work per- 

 formed under the auspices of the National Geographic Society. 

 The regular meetings of the Section of Anthropology were held in 

 the small lecture room on January 1, 2, and 3. 



The exhibition halls of the Natural History Building were thrown 

 open on July 19, 1924 for a reception held by the Washington Chap- 

 ter of the American Institute of Banking for members of the general 

 organization gathered in conference in Washington. On December 

 16 Count Byron de Prorok gave an illustrated lecture on " Carthage 

 Excavations, 1924," and " The Dead Cities of the Sahara " before 

 members of the Anthropological Society of Washington, the Wash- 

 ington Academy of Sciences, the Art and Archeology League, and 

 the Archaeological Institute of America. The lecture was fol- 

 lowed by a reception held in the Art Gallery. 



On the evening of June 10 there was a reception arranged for 

 delegates and guests of the National Association of Credit Men in 

 convention in Washington. 



