that would undertake its development. An independent organization was accordingly formed in 1912 under the laws of the State of New York, the Secretary of the Institution becoming one of the directors of the Research Corporation and a member of the executive committee. The board of directors includes a number of prominent men of wide business experience, such as James J. Storrow, of Lee, Higginson & Co., Boston; Charles A. Stone, of Stone & Webster, Boston; Arthur D. Little, of the Little Chemical Co., Boston; T. Coleman du Pont, of Wilmington, Del.; Elon H. Hooker, president of the Hooker Electrochemical Co., Niagara Falls, N. Y.; Benjamin B. Lawrence, mining engineer, New York; George F. Kunz, of Tiffany & Co.; Frederick A. Goetze, dean of the engineering department of Columbia University, New York; William Barclay Parsons, engineer, of New York; and Hennen Jennings, mining engineer, of Washington.

The principal object of the corporation is to acquire inventions and patents and to make them more available in the arts and industries, while using them as a source of income, and, second, to apply all profiits derived from such use to the advancement of technical and scientific investigation and experimentation through the agency of the Smithsonian Institution and such other scientific and educational institutions and societies as may be selected by the directors.

The chief assets of the corporation at present are the Cottrell patents relating to the precipitation of dust, smoke, and chemical fumes. by the use of electrical currents. Dr. F. G. Cottrell, the inventor and donor of these patents, has described their operation and advantages and the progress thus far made in their installation in an article printed in the Smithsonian Report for 1913.

There is now under consideration the acceptance and development of other patents besides those presented by Dr. Cottrell. It is planned that when the funds of the corporation received from royalties and other sources shall have reached $100,000, to apply the income "to the advancement of technical and scientific investigation and experimentation" as provided by the act of incorporation.

Owing to the wide experience of the members of the board and their standing in the business community, it has been possible to do work in connection with the Research Corporation that would have required the expenditure of large sums if undertaken by an ordinary business organization or private individual.

HARRIMAN TRUST FUND.

Aided by the income of a special fund established by Mrs. E. H. Harriman, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, research associate of the institution, has continued and practically completed his studies of the big bears of America, so that it is now possible to determine the relations 14270°-15-2

of most of the species and to arrange them in definite groups. Of the true grizzlies there appear to be about 38 species and subspecies representing a dozen groups, and of the brown bears about 10 species, representing 5 groups. Opportunity will now be afforded for study in other fields of biological research.

THE LANGLEY AERODYNAMICAL LABORATORY.

The Langley Aerodynamical Laboratory was reopened under resolution of the Board of Regents adopted May 1, 1913, and on May 23 an advisory committee was organized, as detailed in my report for that year. In my last report I reviewed what had been accomplished up to June 30, 1914, in certain lines of investigation, including the successful flights of the Langley aeroplane built in 1898-1903, and further trials of that machine were described by Dr. A. F. Zahm in an article in the general appendix of the Smithsonian Report for 1914.

During the past year it was found necessary for legal reasons to discontinue the advisory committee as originally organized, and it therefore seemed advisable to call upon Congress to authorize the establishment of a national advisory committee for aeronautics.

Following an urgent appeal by myself and others to the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, there was inserted in the naval appropriation act (Public, No. 271, 63d Cong.) approved March 3, 1915, the following provision for a national advisory committee for aeronautics.

An Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is hereby established, and the President is authorized to appoint not to exceed twelve members, to consist of two members from the War Department, from the office in charge of military aeronautics; two members from the Navy Department, from the office in charge of naval aeronautics; a representative each of the Smithsonian Institution, of the United States Weather Bureau, and of the United States Bureau of Standards; together with not more than five additional persons who shall be acquainted with the needs of aeronautical science, either civil or military, or skilled in aeronautical engineering or its allied sciences: Provided, That the members of the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, as such, shall serve without compensation: Provided further, That it shall be the duty of the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight, with a view to their practical solution, and to determine the problems which should be experimentally attacked, and to discuss their solution and their application to practical questions. In the event of a laboratory or laboratories, either in whole or in part, being placed under the direction of the committee, the committee may direct and conduct research and experiment in aeronautics in such laboratory or laboratories: And provided further, That rules and regulations for the conduct of the work of the committee shall be formulated by the committee and approved by the President.

That the sum of $5,000 a year, or so much thereof as may be necessary, for five years is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be immediately available, for experimental work and investigations undertaken by the committee, clerical expenses and supplies, and

necessary expenses of members of the committee in going to, returning from, and while attending, meetings of the committee: Provided, That an annual report to the Congress shall be submitted through the President, including an itemized statement of expenditures.

On July 27, 1914, the Institution published a report by Dr. Zahm on European aeronautical laboratories, in which he describes the buildings, equipment, and operations of laboratories in England, France, and Germany.

Although, as above stated, it was not practical to continue the advisory committee of 1913 as originally planned, nevertheless the individual members of the committee have been active in their investigations, and several valuable reports have been received, some of which are as yet confidential or incomplete, one of those being a report on wireless communications to and from air craft.

Mr. Buckingham completed and published a masterly paper on the mathematical principle governing the relations of experimental models of all sorts to those of full-scale machines. Dr. Humphreys published a long paper on the Physics of the Atmosphere. Dr. Zahm helped to design for the United States Army a 200-horsepower biplane, and published a mathematical method of analyzing the stresses sustained by such an aeroplane during flight.

At the annual meeting of the Regents on December 10, 1914, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, Senator William J. Stone, Representative Ernest W. Roberts, Mr. John B. Henderson, jr., and Secretary Walcott were appointed a committee to consider questions relative to the Langley Aerodynamical Laboratory.

PUBLICATIONS.

The publications of the Smithsonian Institution and its branches during the year comprised a total of 6,753 printed pages, accompanied by 655 plates of illustrations, and the number of copies distributed of these various publications, both pamphlets and bound volumes, aggregated 132,010.

The Institution has for one of its primary objects the "diffusion of knowledge," and this aim is carried out by printing and distributing the results of scientific investigations, accounts of explorations and researches, of progress in the various branches of science, and of development in any phase of human endeavor which would tend to increase "knowledge among men." Of its three series of publications, the Contributions to Knowledge, Miscellaneous Collections, and the annual reports, the first two are issued in limited editions at the expense of the Institution and are sent out to libraries, institutions, and interested individuals throughout the world. The annual reports, containing in addition to the administrative reports a general appendix of original and selected papers showing the recent progress made in all branches of natural and applied science, are

printed under congressional appropriation, so that a larger edition and more widespread distribution is possible.

Under the direction of the Institution are issued the various publications of its branches, (a) the annual report, the Proceedings, and the Bulletins of the National Museum, including the series of Contributions from the National Herbarium; (b) the Annual Reports and Bulletins of the Bureau of American Ethnology; and (c) the Annals of the Astrophysical Observatory. These series are all public documents and are printed by means of annual allotments by act of Congress.

Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.-The requirements for memoirs in this series are that they be accounts of extended original research constituting important additions to knowledge. Since the first appearance of this series in 1848, 35 quarto volumes containing 150 memoirs have been issued, the most recent one being the "Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight," in which are recorded the results of the late Secretary Langley's experiments establishing the practicability of heavier-than-air flying machines.

Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections.-Fourteen papers forming parts of four volumes of this series were issued during the year, among them one paper on Cambrian geology by your Secretary. Another interesting paper was that by Messrs. Abbot, Fowle, and Aldrich recording new solar radiation researches, in the course of which free balloons carrying recording apparatus, ascended to a height of over 15 miles and were found on their descent with the records in good condition. As a result of these and other experiments, the authors abide by their former results, namely, that "the mean value of the 'solar constant' is 1.93 calories per square centimeter per minute." In this series, the sixth revised edition of the Smithsonian Physical Tables was issued, and was practically exhausted at the close of the year, showing the continued popularity and usefulness of this work. The publication of a further edition was being considered at the close of the year. The usual annual account of the Institution's explorations and field work was issued, and being profusely illustrated, was of considerable popular interest. Smithsonian report. The report for 1913 was received from the printer and distributed during the year. Separates of the articles forming the general appendix of the 1914 report were issued, the completed volume, however, not being received from the printer until shortly after the close of the fiscal year. Incorporated in the congressional act providing for printing for the Institution and its branches was a clause increasing the edition of the Smithsonian annual reports from 7,000 to 10,000, a very desirable change, as the edition of this volume has heretofore been exhausted almost immediately following its appearance.

Special publications. Of the opinions rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, which the Institution has published for some years past, Opinion 66 was issued, and the Institution has continued to provide clerical services in connection with the office of the secretary of the commission.

Among other special publications was a short biographical sketch of James Smithson, abridged from the chapter on Smithson by S. P. Langley in the history of the first half century of the Institution.

National Museum publications.-The National Museum issued an annual report, 1 volume of the Proceedings and 41 separate papers forming parts of this and other volumes, 6 bulletins, and 1 volume of Contributions from the National Herbarium.

Bureau of Ethnology publications.-The Bureau of American Ethnology published two bulletins and three miscellaneous publications. Among the latter was a circular of information regarding Indian popular names, to be distributed in response to the numerous letters requesting information of this kind. Four annual reports and five bulletins were in press at the close of the year.

Reports of historical and patriotic societies.-The annual reports of the American Historical Association and the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution were submitted to the Institution and transmitted to Congress in accordance with the charters of these organizations.

Allotments for printing.-The allotments to the Institution and its branches under the head of "Public printing and binding" were utilized as far as practicable, although there was a large amount of material which the Public Printer was unable to complete, and this will therefore become a charge against the 1916 allotment. The allotments for the year ending June 30, 1916, are as follows: For the Smithsonian Institution: For printing and binding the annual reports of the Board of Regents, with general appendices, the editions of which shall not exceed 10,000 copies_---. For the annual reports of the National Museum, with general appendices, and for printing labels and blanks, and for the Bulletins and Proceedings of the National Museum, the editions of which shall not exceed 4,000 copies, and binding, in half morocco or material not more expensive, scientific books, and pamphlets presented to or acquired by the National Museum library---.

$10,000

37, 500

For the annual reports and Bulletins of the Bureau of American Ethnology and for miscellaneous printing and binding for the bureau 21,000 For miscellaneous printing and binding: