REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 3 



Tuesday after the first Monday in December and on the 6th day of March, 

 unless that date falls on Sunday, when the following Monday shall be 

 substituted. 



In accordance with this resolution, the Board met on December 4. 

 1906 ; January 23, 1907, and March 6, 1907. The proceedings of the 

 Board at these meetings will be found in its annual report to 

 Congress. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



It is with a deep sense of responsibility that I have assumed the 

 office of Secretary, and I greatly appreciate the honor conferred by 

 the Regents in electing me to the position. Once before, as acting 

 assistant secretary, I had administrative charge for nearly two years 

 of a most important branch of the Institution's work, the United 

 States National Museum. I have been associated with the scientific 

 work of the Museum for almost a quarter of a century, and for many 

 years have been in close personal contact with other important 

 branches of the Institution's activities. 



I fully recognize the obligation resting upon the man who holds 

 the position which has been successively occupied by Joseph Henry, 

 Spencer F. Baird, and Samuel P. Langley. By a wise and conserva- 

 tive policy, maintaining at once the independence of the Smithsonian 

 fund and yet freely cooperating with the Government in securing aid 

 in the development of its branches, the Institution has reached a posi- 

 tion of eminence far beyond what might have been expected from the 

 comparatively small endowment which it possesses. It has, moreover, 

 on numerous occasions conducted in its initial stages scientific work 

 that has proven to be of great practical value, and when the experi- 

 mental stage was passed and their economic utility had been demon- 

 strated, the organizations and results obtained were turned over to the 

 Government. Through one or another of its agencies the name 

 Smithsonian Institution has been brought to the attention of scien- 

 tific workers in this country and in other lands and to those edu- 

 cated people generally who, though without special training in 

 science, desire to keep abreast of the progress of the world. It has 

 abandoned projects which other institutions had undertaken, on the 

 theory that there was plenty of work for all to do, and it has aided 

 investigators throughout the United States and indeed in foreign 

 lands as heartily as it has supported the work of its own staff. 



In other words, I feel that I have come to an establishment unselfish 

 in its aims and willing to help all men in furtherance of the objects 

 for which it was founded — an institution devoted fully to the progress 

 and spread of knowledge in every field without limitation to one 

 branch of science or to all science, but having within its purview 

 the elevation of mankind through the increase and spread of knowl- 

 edge. The heads of the Institution thus far have been specialists 



