6 REPORT OF THE SECK!, I A in . 



executive committee. After conferring, however, with my col- 

 leagues on that committee and with the members of the Board of 

 Regents, it was considered on all hands desirable and as productive of 

 harmonious and useful cooperation between two kindred institutions 

 that I should retain my membership of the board of trustees and of 

 the executive committee of the Carnegie Institution. 



During the year the Smithsonian Institution cooperated with and 

 received the aid of most of the Government Departments, though I 

 may especially mention the Departments of State, Agriculture, In- 

 terior, and Commerce and Labor, and the valuable advice and assist- 

 ance received from the Department of Justice. Through its Ex- 

 change Service, its publications, its collections, and in many other 

 ways, the Institution continues in relation with most of the important 

 scientific establishments and universities in this country and other 

 lands, thus aiding the progress of science and preventing waste. 

 With the consent of the Regents I have tendered to the National 

 Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science office accommodations in the Smithsonian building, 

 which have been accepted by the officials of both of these important 

 national organizations. The Institution continues its cooperation 

 with the American Historical Association in accordance with the 

 provisions of the act incorporating that society. In general I deem 

 it one of the important functions of the Institution that it should 

 freely place its administrative machinery and opportunities at the 

 service of all the great national learned societies in the hope that the 

 work of all of them will be aided and duplication of labor and waste 

 of energy avoided. 



ADMINISTRATION. 



In the administration of the Institution the Secretary has the 

 valued aid of experienced officers and a well-trained staff. The 

 Museum is in the immediate charge of Mr. Richard Rathbun, an 

 Assistant Secretary of the Institution, and the Exchange Service, the 

 Library, and the Regional Bureau for the International Catalogue of 

 Scientific Literature are under the supervision of Dr. Cyrus Adler, 

 an Assistant Secretary. Mr. W. H. Holmes is Chief of the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology, Dr. Frank Baker is Superintendent of 

 the National Zoological Park, and Mr. C. G. Abbot is Director of 

 the Astrophysical Observatory. 



A system in vogue of conferences between the Secretary and these 

 officers on all subjects pertaining to the different branches has been 

 maintained. The Secretary, as executive officer of the Board of 

 Regents, deems the administration of the parent Institution his first 



