even higher honors than those awaiting him as director of this Insti tution.

Now however that the question of the succession in the office of the Secretary had been precipitated at an earlier date than we all had expected when he was chosen an assistant secretary, Professor Langley held that it was due to the Board and due to himself that he should frankly state the understanding with which he had finally brought himself to the belief that it was his duty to accept the office of Secretary if it should be conferred upon him by the Board. This understanding was that while, if called to such a responsible trust, he must needs give with all fidelity and with all conscientiousness the full measure, of time, thought, and care which shall seem to be required by the Institution. and by its adjuncts, he did not construe this obligation as precluding the possibility of sometimes giving to himself that physical rest and mental diversion which should come to every man who is burdened with the discharge of an exacting office. Professor Langley had doubtless observed that the first Secretary of the Institution, Professor Henry, had sought such rest and such diversion in the change of labor brought to him by the chairmanship of the Light-House Board, and in the performance of this function we all knew that Professor Henry had done good work for the cause of science (as witness his researches in sound and in the economies of light-house illuminants), and therefore a work which had redounded to the honor of the Smithsonian Institution. Professor Langley had also observed, we may presume, that the late Secretary, with the approval of this Board, had engaged in great and useful labors connected with the Fish Commission, and that hence in our judgment there was no incompatibility in the pursuit by our Secretary of certain labors extraneous to the immediate precincts of the Institution, if they could be pursued without detriment to its best efficiency and to the full development of its capacity for usefulness. It was in this view that Professor Langley begged leave to represent that he, too, might sometimes wish to find rest and refreshment in a change of labor from the ordinary routine of official administration in connection with the Institution, and he would naturally look for such rest and refreshment in the further pursuit of his favorite scientific researches, so far, and only so far, as that pursuit could be made consistent with his paramount duty to the Smithsonian Institution.

Dr. Welling then added that, speaking for himself as a member of the Board, he felt free to express the conviction that these "leisure labors" would serve to enhance the title of Professor Langley to the Directorship of an Institution which had for its object "the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men;" and while the statement thus made at the instance of Professor Langley might have seemed to be required by an honorable frankness on his part, the Board would be likely to find in this frankness a further ground of confidence in the high sense of honor and duty which he would bring to the discharge of his respon

sible office. We might therefore trust with the full assurance of faith that the Institution in his case, as in the case of his distinguished predecessors, would be only the gainer by such intervals of rest as he might seek in the interest of his health, and by such vicissitudes of labor as he might seek in the interest alike of this Institution and of his chosen studies. Such intervals of rest, or at least such variety of labor, were especially necessary to a man who is placed under stress and pres sure of heavy administrative cares, like those devolved on the Director of this Institution, and the Board had in the character of Professor Langley the best possible guaranty that he could be freely trusted to decide all such questions of duty according to a delicate and conscientious sense of right.

The Board then proceeded to ballot for the election of Secretary. Ten votes were cast, all of which were found to be for Professor Langley, who was thereupon declared by the Chancellor to be duly elected as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

After some discussion upon the remaining two resolutions in the foregoing series as reported by the executive committee-a discussion participated in by Messrs. Morrill, Welling, Gray, Coppée, and othersthe resolutions were withdrawn.

Dr. Welling was appointed to inform Professor Langley of his elec tion, and having done so, he was introduced to the Board, and in a few remarks expressed his acceptance of the office of Secretary with a solemn sense of the responsibility devolved upon him, and high appreciation of the honor which had been conferred.

Dr. Welling offered the following resolution, which was adopted:

Whereas the remains of the late Prof. Spencer F. Baird have not yet been committed to their last resting place; and

Whereas this solemn ceremonial has been postponed at the request of members of this Board and others, that the friends of the late Secretary in Congress might have the opportunity of testifying by their presence at his grave the respect in which they held him while living, and their reverence for his memory now that he is no more: Therefore be it Resolved, That the Secretary of the Institution, after conference with Mrs. Baird, be requested to issue public notice of the time and place which shall be appointed for these funeral services, and to send a special notice to the members of the Smithsonian Establishment and of the Board of Regents.

On motion of General Meigs it was

Resolved, That the Secretary be authorized to call the annual meeting of the Board for the present year at the time fixed for the funeral of Professor Baird.

On motion of Dr. Coppée it was

Resolved, That the Secretary be authorized to purchase the oil portrait of Professor Baird, painted by Henry Ulke, now exhibited to the Regents, at a cost not to exceed $300.

The Board then adjourned to meet at the call of the Secretary.

REPORT OF S. P. LANGLEY,

SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1889.

To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution:

GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to present the report upon the operations of the Smithsonian Institution for the year ending June 30, 1889, together with the customary summary of the work performed by the Bureau of Exchanges, the National Museum, and the Bureau of Ethnology.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

THE BOARD OF REGENTS.

As the Annual Reports of the Secretary are intended to present a history of the affairs of the Institution, it seems proper to state that by the appointment of the Hon. Melville W. Fuller as Chief Justice of the United States, the latter became ex officio a regent of the Institution, and that at the annual meeting of the Board of Regents, held on the 9th of January, 1889, he was unanimously elected its chancellor.

The Hon. Levi P. Morton has become a Regent by his election as Vice-President, the holder of that high office being ex officio a Regent of the Institution.

The terms of Senator S. M. Cullom, appointed March 23, 1885, and Senator R. L. Gibson, appointed December 10, 1887, having expired on March 3 of the present year, those gentlemen were re-appointed by the President of the Senate.

The Board has lost from its number by death the Hon. S. S. Cox, long connected with the Institution; but this event having occurred since the expiration of the year which forms the subject of this report, the remarks called out by this great loss will be more properly made in a later communication.

FINANCES.

I have in my last report referred to the fact that owing to the changing value of money, the purchasing power of the Smithsonian fund, in the language of a committee of the Regents

"while nominally fixed, is growing actually less year by year, and of less and less importance in the work it accomplishes with reference to

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the immense extension of the country since the Government accepted the trust;"

so that it seems most desirable that the fund should be enlarged, if only to represent the original position of its finances relatively to those of the country and institutions of learning, and nothing has occurred in the course of the last year which does not rather increase than diminish the force of such an observation. It is on the Congressional Regents that the Institution must largely depend for making its wants known to Congress, and with reference to the suggestion that the Smithsonian fund should be enlarged by re-contribution from the Government as well as from contributions from private individuals, I desire to repeat the remark of Professor Henry, made in 1872, to the effect that the Government, in equity, should then have paid the Institution $300,000 for the use of the present building. This building, erected wholly out of Smithsonian funds, at the cost of over half a million dollars, has, with the exception of a small portion, continued to be used rent free by the Government ever since that time.

I recall briefly in this connection the well known facts that the will of James Smithson was made on October 23, 1826, and that by an act of Congress approved July 1, 1836, the bequest was accepted, while under the act of August 10, 1816, a definite plan of organization was adopted, and that finally, by the act of February 8, 1867, the Regents were authorized to add to the Smithsonian fund such other sum as they might see fit to deposit, not exceeding, with the original bequest, the sum of $1,000,000.

The original bequest and the sums since added are as follows:

Total permanent Smithsonian fund in the Treasury of the United

States, bearing interest at 6 per cent. per annum

1,000.00

500.00

51,500,00

703,000.00

There may, therefore, be added to the fund nearly $300,000, on which the Institution is entitled to receive 6 per cent. under the act of February, 1867, while it has received in bequests only the insignificant sum of $1,500. This is in striking contrast to the liberality which is understood to have endowed more than one American institution of learning within this time with something like ten times the amount of the entire Smithsonian fund. No institution in the country, it is believed, enjoys wider measure of public confidence or is more universally known, and it would seem that some action might well be taken to bring these facts before those who are seeking a trustee for the disposition of means intended for the advancement of knowledge.

In this connection, however, it seems proper to invite the attention of the Regents to the circumstances of the bequest of James Hamilton,

who donated $1,000 to the Institution in 1874, the interest on which was to be appropriated biennially for a contribution, paper, or lecture on a scientific or useful subject. Your former Secretary, Prof. Joseph Henry, in his report for 1874, states that

"The first installment of interest on the Hamilton bequest has just been received, and will be appropriated in accordance with the will of the testator at the end of next year, and so on continually at the end of every two years."

And he adds

"A statement of the manner of spending this income will be given in the accounts of the operations of the institution with due credit to the donor. His name will therefore appear from time to time in the annual reports and thus be kept in perpetual remembrance."

Professor Henry continues, in this connection:

"When the public shall become more familiar with the manner in which the income of the additional bequests to the Smithsonian fund is expended, with the permanence and security of the investment, and with the means thus afforded of advancing science and of perpetuating the names of the testators, we doubt not that additions to the fund in this way will be made until it reaches the limit prescribed by law of $1,000,000."

Owing, perhaps, to the small amount of this bequest, the intent of the Secretary does not appear to have been fulfilled. No contribution, paper, or lecture seems to have ever been furnished, biennially or otherwise, and with the exception of the exploration of certain bone caves, mentioned in the report of the Secretary for 1876, the income has remained unexpended.

I shall have elsewhere to speak of the great loss the Institution has sustained in the death of Dr. J. H. Kidder, curator of exchanges; but I refer to it here only in connection with a bequest made by him, constituting the Institution one of his residuary legatees. This bequest, the terms of which are still awaiting the consideration of the Regents, will be more properly described, in detail, after their action upon it, which can not well form a portion of the present report.

At the beginning of the fiscal year the balance on hand of the income from the fund was $4,809.23. The interest has been $42,180, while from miscellaneous sources $3,760.53 have been received. The total expenditures have been $38,992.29, leaving on July 1, 1889, $11,757.47, a somewhat larger balance than usual, which has been retained to meet certain delayed expenditures.

The Institution is charged by Congress with the disbursement of sundry appropriations through the Secretary, as follows: