REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 15 



table the following have been favorably acted upon : W. T. Swingle, 

 B. Sc, Kansas State Agricultural College, 1890, assistant pathologist, 

 United States Department of Agriculture, appointed for two months in 

 the winter of 1895-9G ; and F. M. McFarland, professor of biology and 

 geology, Olivet College, Michigan, assistant professor of histology, 

 Leland Stanford Junior University, appointed for three months during 

 tlie spring and summer of 189G. Prof. L. Murbach, who occupied the 

 table for two months in 1894, has submitted a memoir entitled u Obser- 

 vations on the development and migration of the urticating organs of 

 sea nettles, Cnidaria," which has been published in the Proceedings 

 of the United States National Museum. 



The table has been occupied constantly since October 1, 1893, the 

 date of the first appointment, with the exception of May, 1894. In 

 several instances Dr. Dohru, the director of the station, has courteously 

 arranged for the accommodation of two occupants at the same time. 



In order that all investigators may be given an equal opportunity to 

 avail themselves of the facilities for study at Naples, final action upon 

 applications is not taken more than six months in advance of the date 

 for which the table is desired, and when more than one application is 

 filed for the same period, presumably of equal merit, the assignment 

 is made according to priority of application. No appointment is made 

 for a period of more than six months. 



Art collection. — The fundamental act creating the Institution, in enum- 

 erating its functions, apparently considers it first as a kind of gallery 

 of art, and declares that all objects of art and of foreign and curious 

 research the property of the United States shall be delivered to the 

 Regents, and only after this adds that objects of natural history shall 

 be so, also. 



The scientific side of the Institution's activities has been in the past 

 so much greater than its aesthetic that it is well to recall the fact that it 

 was intended by Congress to be a curator of the national art, and that 

 this function has never been forgotten, though often in abeyance. 



in 1849 Secretary Henry, in pursuance of this function of an institu- 

 tion which in his own words existed for "the true, the beautiful, as well 

 as for the immediately practical," purchased of the Hon. George P. 

 Marsh a collection of works of art, chiefly engravings, of much artistic 

 merit and now of great commercial value. A portion of this collection 

 was some years ago deposited in the Corcoran Gallery of Art and in the 

 Library of Congress, subject to recall by the Regents at any time. In 

 accordance with the terms of the deposit some of these objects have 

 already been returned to the Institution. 



A collection of etchings and engravings was during the past year 

 presented to the Institution by Mr. Charles William Sherborn, of 

 London. 



Atlanta Exposition. — Under the provisions of an appropriation made 

 by < Songress for a Government exhibit at the Cotton States and Inter- 

 national Exposition at Atlanta, during the autumn of 1895, a very 



