14 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1919. 
Thirteen meetings were held during the year and 79 manuscripts 
were acted upon. The membership of the committee is as follows: 
Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, head curator of biology, National Museum, 
chairman ; Mr. N-. HoUister, superintendent of the National Zoologi- 
cal Park; Dr. George P. Merrill, head curator of geology, National 
Museum; Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, chief of the Bureau of American 
Ethnology ; and Mr. A. Howard Clark, editor of the Institution and 
secretary of the committee until his death in December, 1918, when 
Mr. "Webster P. True succeeded him as editor and secretary of the 
committee. 
LIBRARY. 
The library of the Smithsonian Institution is maintained for the 
purpose of assembling a collection of periodicals and publications of 
a scientific nature, as well as the journals and other publications of 
scientific institutions of the world, the whole forming a library of 
reference and research. In addition to the main bulk of titles housed 
in the Library of Congress, and known as the Smithsonian Deposit, 
there are 35 sectional technical libraries and 4 branch libraries — the 
National Museum library, the Bureau of American Ethnology 
library, the Astrophysical Observatory library, and the National 
Zoological Park library. 
The number of accessions during the year which were added to the 
previous collection of over half a million titles numbered 7,502. Of 
these 2,077 were for the Smithsonian Deposit, 639 for the Smith- 
sonian office, Astrophysical Observatory, and National Zoological 
Park, and 4,786 for the National Museum. 
Seventy-eight titles have been added during the year to the insti- 
tution's collection of aeronautical publications, in which continued 
interest has been shown by aeronautical research workers in the 
Army, Navy, and scientific institutions. Author cards for 1,722 
titles of books in the De Peyster Collection have been made, and the 
869 volumes on French history have been made accessible. 
In the Museum library the most important acquisition was a set 
of catalogues of the J. Pierpont Morgan art collection, presented by 
J. Pierpont Morgan, jr. The technological library added 346 vol- 
umes, and the books in the sectional library, division of plants, 
have been revised and all available works on botanical subjects 
brought together and rendered accessible. The collection in the art 
room, statuary, as well as books, has been carefully gone over and put 
in thorough order. 
NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
The National Museum suffered the loss at the beginning of 
the year of the assistant secretary in charge, Mr. Richard Rathbun, 
who died July 16, 1918. His duties devolved upon Mr. W. de C. 
