REPORT 
OF THE 
SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
Charles D. Walcott, 
FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1919 
To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. 
Gentlemen : I have the honor to submit herewith an annual report 
on the activities and condition of the Smithsonian Institution and its 
branches during the year ending June 30, 1919. The activities of the 
Institution proper are reviewed iii the first part of the report, together 
with a brief summary of the affairs of each of the several branches. 
In the appendices will be found more detailed accounts of the work 
of the National Museum, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the 
International Exchange Service, the National Zoological Park, the 
Astrophysical Observatory, the Smithsonian Library, the Inter- 
national Catalogue of Scientific Literature, and an account of the 
publications of the Institution and its branches. The reports of the 
Museum and Bureau of Ethnology are published in greater detail 
in separate volumes. 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 
THE ESTABLISHMENT. 
The Smithsonian Institution was created by act of Congress, in 
1846, according to the terms of the will of James Smithson, of Eng- 
land, who in 1826 bequeathed his property to the United States of 
America " to found at Washington, under the name of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion 
of knowledge among men." In receiving the property and acccept- 
ing the trust Congress determined that the Federal Government 
was without authority to administer the trust direct^, and therefore 
constituted an " establishment," whose statutory members are " the 
President, the Vice President, the Chief Justice, and the heads of the 
executive departments." 
THE BOARD OP REGENTS. 
The business of the Institution is conducted by a Board of Regents 
composed of "the Vice President, the Chief Justice of the United 
States, and three Members of the Senate, and three Members of the 
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