REPORT

OF THE

SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION CHARLES D. WALCOTT

FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1918.

To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to submit herewith the customary annual report by the secretary on the present condition and the operations and activities of the Institution and its branches during the year ending June 30, 1918. The first portion of the report is devoted to the Institution proper and the summaries of the work of the National Museum and other branches, while the appendixes give detailed accounts by those in direct charge of the activities of the Museum, the Bureau of Ethnology, the International Exchanges, the Zoological Park, the Astrophysical Observatory, the Library, and the Catalogue of Scientific Literature.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

THE ESTABLISHMENT.

The Institution was created an establishment by act of Congress approved August 10, 1846. Its statutory members are the President of the United States, the Vice President, the Chief Justice, and the heads of the executive departments.

THE BOARD OF REGENTS.

The Board of Regents, which is charged with the administration of the Institution, consists of the Vice President and the Chief Justice of the United States as ex officio members, three Members of the Senate, three Members of the House of Representatives, and six citizens, "two of whom shall be residents of the city of Washington and the other four shall be inhabitants of some State, but no two of them from the same State."

There were changes in the personnel of the board during the year, as follows: Senator Charles S. Thomas to succeed Senator William

J. Stone, died April 14, 1918; Representatives Lemuel P. Padgett and Frank L. Greene to succeed Ernest W. Roberts and James T. Lloyd whose terms expired December 26, 1917. The roll of regents on June 30, 1918, was as follows: Edward D. White, Chief Justice of the United States, Chancellor; Thomas R. Marshall, Vice President of the United States; Henry Cabot Lodge, Member of the Senate; Charles S. Thomas, Member of the Senate; Henry French Hollis, Member of the Senate; Scott Ferris, Member of the House of Representatives; Lemuel P. Padgett, Member of the House of Representatives; Frank L. Greene, Member of the House of Representatives; Alexander Graham Bell, citizen of Washington, D. C.; George Gray, citizen of Delaware; Charles F. Choate, jr., citizen of Massachusetts; John B. Henderson, citizen of Washington, D. C.; (Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana, died June 4, 1918, vacancy not filled at close of fiscal year) and Henry White, citizen of Maryland. The board held its annual meeting on December 13, 1917. Mr. Henry White was elected a member of the executive committee to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Ernest W. Roberts, whose term of office would expire on December 26, 1917. The proceedings of that meeting, as also the annual financial report of the executive committee, have been printed, as usual, for the use of the regents, while such important matters acted upon as are of public interest are reviewed under appropriate heads in the present report of the secretary. A detailed statement of disbursements from the Government appropriations under the direction of the Institution for the maintenance of the National Museum, the National Zoological Park, and other branches will be submitted to Congress by the secretary in the usual manner in compliance with the law.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.

The routine operations of the Institution and its branches were carried on as usual during the year, but a number of activities were held in abeyance until after the war. The time and energy of members of the scientific staff were devoted, as far as practicable, to researches bearing on the effectiveness of certain devices and materials for the Army and Navy, and 24 employees were granted furloughs to enter active military service.

Through my connection with the National Research Council and other commissions and boards I have been able personally to render some war service to the Government.

The work of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, of which the secretary of the Institution is a member and chairman of the executive committee, has greatly broadened. At its suggestion the Council of National Defense appointed a committee, now known

as the Aircraft Board, to consider all questions of aircraft production and to make recommendations to the military departments for the production and purchase of aircraft and aircraft appliances. The experimental laboratory of the advisory committee has been erected at Langley Field, near Hampton, Va.

The original Langley man-carrying flying machine has been brought back from Hammondsport, after several successful flights, and is exhibited in the National Museum. This is the first heavier-than-air man-carrying machine built, although it did not have a successful flight until more than 10 years after its construction. It is also an important historical relic, as it confirms the claim that Secretary Langley was the first to design and construct a heavier-than-air machine capable of carrying a man in flight. There has never been any question that he was the first to successfully fly a heavier-than-air machine propelled by its own power.

In February the War Department allotted to the Smithsonian Institution the sum of $10,000 for experimental work in aviation in connection with the Signal Corps, which work is being successfully carried on. Upon the invitation of the War Industries Board, Mr. C. G. Gilbert, of the National Museum, was appointed a member of the Joint Information Board of Minerals and Derivatives, in which capacity he has done work of unusual value. In April the Secretary offered to the Government the services of Dr. Ales Hrdlička, who has since prepared important reports upon ethnography for the National Research Council and for a congressional committee of investigation into the effect of language on nationality. The Smithsonian chapter of the Red Cross has done commendable war work. Early in the year an ambulance was given for service in Russia and later the funds were raised to defray for one year the expenses incidental to the maintenance of a bed in the American Red Cross Hospital at Neuilly.

Bequests.-Among the bequests to the Museum during the past year is that of Miss S. J. Farmer, who willed to the Museum all the remaining models of her father, Moses G. Farmer, inventor of electrical apparatus.

The Institution has been made the residuary legatee of the estate of Rev. Bruce Hughes, of Philipsburg, Pa. (died March 20, 1916), under the following terms of his will probated March 27, 1916:

All the balance and residue of my estate of which I may die seized shall be paid to the Smithsonian Institute of the city of Washington, District of Columbia, the sum to be invested and the income alone used to found the Hughes Alcove of the said Smithsonian Institute.

The final share of the Institution in the estate has been estimated at about $11,500. It is proposed that the "alcove" referred to in the will shall be established in and as a part of the National Gallery

of Art and that the fund be devoted to the amassing of a reference library of art works.

Gifts. Dr. Frank Springer has given the Institution the title and custody in perpetuity of his large collection of fossil crinoids and related groups of Echinoderms and has arranged for a fund of $30,000, the income of which is to be devoted to the administration of the collection.

Dr. W. L. Abbott has continued his generous gifts of collections and his support of an expedition in the Celebes under H. C. Raven.

FINANCES.

The invested funds of the Institution consist of the following: Deposited in the Treasury of the United States under authority of Congress__

$1, 000, 000. 00

CONSOLIDATED FUND.

Brooklyn Rapid Transit 5 per cent notes due July 1, 1918, cost___ Province of Manitoba 5 per cent gold debentures due April 1, 1922, cost____

$5, 040. 63

1, 935.00

American Telephone and Telegraph Company 4 per cent collateral trust bonds due July 1, 1929, cost-

15, 680.00

West Shore Railroad Co. guaranteed 4 per cent first mortgage bonds due January 1, 2361, market value..

37, 275.00

$1,060,024.38, are represented by the following funds:

Smithson fund

Habel fund

Hamilton fund___

Hodgkins general fund_.

Hodkins specific fund...

Rhees fund

Avery fund

Addison T. Reid fund____.

Lucy T. and George W. Poore fund_.

George K. Sanford fund_.

Chamberlain fund

Total----

1,060, 024. 38

aggregating

$728, 291.00 500.00 2,500.00

153, 275.00 100, 000. 00

627.00

24, 020. 38 11, 672.00 27,965. 00

1, 174. 00 10,000.00

1,060, 024. 38

One piece of improved real estate in the District of Columbia, bequeathed to the Institution by the late Robert Stanton Avery, was sold during the year; the net amount realized from this sale was $8,721, which amount has been invested in bonds forming a part of the Consolidated Fund.

The practice of investing surplus funds in certificates of deposit paying 3 per cent per annum has proved most satisfactory; the income from this source amounting to $1,275 during the year.

Instead of investing all surplus cash in certificates of deposit, the Instiution purchased $10,000 of the United States Third Liberty Loan, which will be carried on the books temporarily as a special asset and later will be transferred to the Consolidated Fund.

The income of the Institution during the year, amounting to $165,135.02, was derived as follows: Interest on permanent investments and other sources, $63,552.02; repayments, rentals, publications, etc., $13,503.13; contributions from various sources for specific purposes, $24,358.87; bills receivable, $55,000; proceedings from sale of real estate, $8,721.

Adding the cash balance of $9,232.56 on July 1, 1917, the total resources for the fiscal year amounted to $174,367.58.

The disbursements, which are given in detail in the annual report of the executive committee, amounted to $173,077.68, leaving a balance of $1,289.90 in cash and on deposit in the Treasury of the United States and in bank.

In addition to the above disbursements by the Institution, there was included under the general appropriation for printing and binding an allotment of $76,200 to cover the cost of printing and binding the Smithsonian annual report and reports and miscellaneous printing for the Government branches of the Institution.

The Institution. was charged by Congress with the disbursement of the following appropriations for the year ended June 30, 1918:

RESEARCHES AND EXPLORATIONS.

The researches and explorations by the Institution were greatly limited in their scope during the past year on account of war conditions. There was unusual activity, however, by members of the scientific staff in investigations which related to the operations of