In regard to the personnel of the board I may here record that Dr. James B Angell, of Michigan, resigned on January 15, 1912, after an honorable service as Regent for 25 years. The vacancy thus caused was filled by Congress by the appointment of Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana, who as Vice President of the United States had formerly been a Regent from 1904 to 1909. Representatives Scott Ferris and Irvin S. Pepper were appointed Regents to succeed Representatives Howard and Mann. The roll of Regents at the close of the fiscal year was as follows: James S. Sherman, Vice President of the United States, Chancellor; Edward D. White, Chief Justice of the United States; Shelby M. Cullom, Member of the Senate; Henry Cabot Lodge, Member of the Senate; Augustus O. Bacon, Member of the Senate; John Dalzell, Member of the House of Representatives; Scott Ferris, Member of the House of Representatives; Irvin S. Pepper, Member of the House of Representatives; Andrew D. White, citizen of New York; Alexander Graham Bell, citizen of Washington, D. C.; George Gray, citizen of Delaware; Charles F. Choate, jr., citizen of Massachusetts; John B. Henderson, jr., citizen of Washington, D. C.; and Charles W. Fairbanks, citizen of Indiana.

The annual meeting of the board was held on December 14, 1911, and the usual supplementary meeting on February 8, 1912. The proceedings of these meetings and the annual report of the executive committee are printed in the customary form and the details need not therefore be repeated here.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.

The affairs of the Institution and of its branches have been conducted during the year with success and, I trust, to the satisfaction of all interested. The work covers practically the entire field of natural and physical science, as well as anthropological and archeological researches. The extent of that work is limited only by the amount of the funds available. I referred in my last report to the establishment of a trust fund by Mrs. E. H. Harriman for carrying on certain research work, and I desire here to mention the generosity of several friends of the Institution who have provided means for engaging in certain biological expeditions.

The equipping of the new National Museum building with cases and the installation of the collections progressed satisfactorily. It is anticipated that during the fiscal year 1913 the building will be entirely occupied and all the exhibition halls opened to the public. The great extent of this work may be best understood by the statement that the exhibition halls embrace an area of about 220,000 square feet, or 5 acres. The installation had been so thoroughly planned by Assistant Secretary Rathbun and his associates that the work in

all the departments has advanced in an orderly and systematic fashion.

Although the new Museum building is intended primarily for the exhibition of natural-history specimens, the main floor of the large central hall has been temporarily given up to the exhibition of the collections of paintings belonging to the National Gallery of Art. It is to be noted in this connection that Mr. William T. Evans has presented 137 paintings illustrating the work of 100 American artists. This extremely valuable collection should in due time be housed in a suitable art gallery, with other valuable collections of this character belonging to the Government. The details of the development of the Museum system and accessions made to the collections will be found in the report of the assistant secretary in charge of the Museum.

As I have stated in previous reports, I believe it desirable to establish a number of research associateships similar to the Harriman trust fund, whereby especially capable men in the several branches of science may be afforded opportunities for research work without the care and burden of administrative duties, and with full assurance that as long as their work is properly conducted it will be continued, and that provision will be made for them when incapacitated for active service. The field for scientific investigation is extensive, and there are numbers of worthy projects that can not now be undertaken because of lack of means-projects that could not properly be carried on through Government appropriation, but which the Smithsonian Institution could readily undertake were the means available.

In this connection I would call attention to the organization of a Research Corporation in which the Institution is particularly interested.

Research Corporation.-Dr. Frederick G. Cottrell, of the United States Bureau of Mines, having generously offered to present to the Smithsonian Institution a valuable set of patents relating to the electrical precipitation of dust, smoke, and chemical fumes, it seemed to the Regents advisable, for various reasons incident to the business management of the patents, that there be organized a stock corporation which could take title to the patents and in which the Institution should be indirectly represented by the secretary as an individual, and not in his capacity as secretary. The recommendation of the Regents being acceptable to Dr. Cottrell, the Research Corporation of New York was accordingly organized and incorporated by certificate executed February 16, 1912, filed in the office of the secretary of state of New York February 26, 1912, and in the office of the clerk of the county of New York February 27, 1912.

The objects of the Research Corporation are explained in the following circular:

RESEARCH CORPORATION.

The Research Corporation has recently been organized under the laws of the State of New York as a self-supporting means of furthering scientific and technical research. The corporation has two objects: First, 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 profits 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. For these purposes the corporation has been capitalized at $20,000, divided into 200 shares, but the charter provides that no dividends shall be paid and that the entire net profits shall be devoted to research; all the stock being held under a stockholders' agreement, which recites that the corporation has been organized for the purpose of aiding and encouraging technical and scientific research, and not for personal or individual profit.

At the present time many discoveries are constantly being made, which undoubtedly possess a greater or less potential value, but which are literally being allowed to go to waste for lack of thorough development. This is due, in some cases, to the fact that the inventors are men in the service of the Government, or in the universities or technical schools, who are retarded either by official positions, lack of means, or reluctance to engage in commercial enterprises; and in other cases to the fact that a discovery made incidentally in the laboratory of a manufacturing corporation does not lend itself to the particuar purpose of such corporation. True conservation demands that such by-products as these shall be developed and utilized to the fullest extent of which they are capable. The Research Corporation aims to supply this demand; and, through the cooperation of the Smithsonian Institution and the universities, to carry forward the work of investigation already begun by others upon lines which promise important results and to perfect such inventions as may prove to possess commercial value, thus bringing scientific institutions into closer relations with industrial activities and furthering the improvements of industrial processes.

The establishment of the Research Corporation has been rendered immediately possible by the acquisition, through the gift of Dr. F. G. Cottrell, of the United States Bureau of Mines, and his associates, of a valuable set of patents relating to the precipitation of dust, smoke, and chemical fumes by the use of electrical currents. These devices have already been tested and are in operation in several Western States, and are fully described in an article in “Industrial and Engineering Chemistry", for August, 1911. The ownership of these patents and the exclusive control of them, except in six Western States, at once assures a certain amount of business to the corporation, and it already has contracts for preliminary installations in the Garfield Smelter of the American Smelter & Refining Co., the New York Edison Co., and the Baltimore Copper Refinery. Numerous inquiries have been received from other important plants.

Besides the patents which have already been transferred to the corporation, a number of others in various fields of industry have been offered by officers of the Government and scientific institutions, as well as by manufacturing corporations holding patents not available for their own purposes. A similar offer has also come from Germany, through Mr. Erwin Moller, who has developed certain inventions in the same field as the Cottrell patents, and undoubtedly there are many others who will be glad to have their inventions utilized for the benefit of scientific research.

The management of the corporation is in the hands of a board of directors composed of business and professional men, many of whom have had experience in large industrial and mining enterprises. Among them are Dr. Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; Charles Kirchhoff, recently president of the American Society of Mining Engineers; Arthur D. Little, president of the American Chemical Society; Hennen Jennings, of Washington; Gen. T. Coleman du Pont, of Wilmington; James J. Storrow, Charles A. Stone, and Prof. Elihu Thomson, of Boston; Frederick A. Goetze, dean of the faculty of applied science of Columbia University; Elon Huntington Hooker, president of the Development and Funding Co.; Thomas C. Meadows, vice president of the International Agricultural Corporation, and Benjamin B. Lawrence and John B. Pine, of New York. Lloyd N. Scott is the secretary and Linn Bradley the engineer of the corporation.

The Research Corporation invites correspondence with industrial concerns who are interested in perfecting their operations.

All communications should be addressed to "Research Corporation, No. 63 Wall Street, New York City."

The Cottrell patents cover processes used in the precipitation of solid particles from gases and smoke produced in smelters and cement plants. Considerable injury has been suffered by orchards and crops in the neighborhood of the great cement plants in California. The Cottrell processes have met with success in removing the particles of cement from the smoke and gases of such plants and particles of lead and other metals from the smoke of smelters, as well as the abatement of smoke nuisances in general. It is expected by Prof. Cottrell that there will be great economic advantage in saving the solids in the gases and smoke.

FINANCES.

The permanent fund of the Institution and the sources from which it was derived are as follows:

Part of residuary legacy of Thomas G. Hodgkins, 1894-
Deposit from savings of income, 1903_

Residuary legacy of Thomas G. Hodgkins_.

Total amount of fund in the United States Treasury....... Registered and guaranteed bonds of the West Shore R. R. Co. (par value), part of legacy of Thomas G. Hodgkins_

Total permanent fund......

2,000.00 500.00

51,500.00

200, 000. 00 8,000.00 25,000.00

7,918. 69

944, 918. 69

42, 000. 00

986, 918. 69

In addition to the above there are four pieces of real estate bequeathed to the Institution by the late R. S. Avery, some of which yield a nominal rental, and all are free from taxation.

That part of the fund deposited in the Treasury of the United States bears interest at 6 per cent per annum, under the provisions of the act organizing the Institution and an act of Congress approved March 12, 1894. The rate of interest on the West Shore Railroad bonds is 4 per cent per annum.

"

The income of the Institution during the year, amounting to $107,168.31, was derived as follows: Interest on the permanent foundation, $58,375.12; contributions from various sources for specific purposes, $21,150; and from other miscellaneous sources, $27,643.19; all of which was deposited in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the current account of the Institution.

With the balance of $32,425.66 on July 1, 1911, the total resources for the fiscal year amounted to $139,593.97. The disbursements, which are given in detail in the annual report of the executive committee, amounted to $106,533.88, leaving a balance of $33,060.09 on deposit June 30, 1912, in the United States Treasury.

The Institution was charged by Congress with the disbursement of the following appropriations for the year ending June 30, 1912:

EXPLORATIONS AND RESEARCHES.

Scientific explorations and researches have been carried on during the past year at the expense of the Institution as far as its limited income and the generosity of its friends would permit. The National Museum has participated in some of these enterprises by furnishing equipment or supplies or by detailing members of its staff to conduct investigations or to make collections that are subsequently transferred to the Museum. Other researches made through the Astrophysical Observatory and the Bureau of American Ethnology are referred to elsewhere in this report. The resources of the Institution not being sufficient to enable it to plan extensive investiga