REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 3 
Aldrich together worked on the problem of searchlights for Army 
use, and, after numerous experiments, they were able to improve the 
existing searchlights, both by diminution of size and increase in light- 
ing power. The new form of searchlight was constructed and used in 
France several months before the close of hostilities. 
At the time of the signing of the armistice several valuable devices 
were being perfected by Dr. Abbot and the observatory staff, among 
them a recoilless gun devised by Dr. R. H. Goddard, of Clark College, 
which was a development of work being done by him for the Insti- 
tution on a multiple-charge rocket intended to reach great heights for 
meteorological observations; an instrument for determining geo- 
graphical positions from an airplane or a ship at sea without refer- 
ence to landmarks, whether celestial or terrestrial; and a rotating 
projectile constructed on the turbine principle to be fired from a 
smoothbore gun, which would have been specially valuable for use in 
trench mortars. 
On December 16, 1918, Dr. C. G. Abbot, Director of the Astrophysi- 
cal Observatory, was appointed assistant secretary of the Institution 
to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dr. F. W. True some years 
ago. In addition to his administrative duties in connection with the 
Institution, Dr. Abbot will be in charge of the Smithsonian Library, 
the International Exchange Service, and the Astrophysical Obser- 
vatory. 
The work of the National Research Council, of which your secre- 
tary was first vice chairman, was continued under the war organi- 
zation during the first part of the year. After the signing of 
the armistice every effort was concentrated on the organization of 
the council upon a peace basis, and this was accomplished very suc- 
cessfully before the close of the year under a definite plan in accord- 
ance with an Executive order from the President of the United 
States requesting the National Academy of Sciences to perpetuate 
the National Research Council. 
The secretary of the Institution was also chairman of the executive 
committee of the national advisory committee for aeronautics, which 
performed work of great value to the Government on airplane pro- 
duction and improvements. 
An important peace-time event was the organizing just before the 
close of the year of an extensive exploring expedition to the heart 
of Africa. The material collected will come to the Institution to 
be used for purposes of comparison in working up the results of 
various expeditions to the Dark Continent by Col. Roosevelt, Paul 
Rainey, and others. 
Bequests. — An important bequest was made to the Institution dur- 
ing the year by Mrs. Virginia Purdy Bacon, of New York, which 
will do much toward extending our knowledge of the fauna of the 
