PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1909.

At the annual meeting of the Board of Regents held on January 22, 1908, the following resolution was adopted:

Resolved, That hereafter the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution shall hold an annual meeting on the Tuesday after the second Monday in December and another meeting on the second Wednesday in February.

In accordance with this resolution the board met at 10 o'clock a. m. on December 15, 1908, and on February 10, 1909.

ANNUAL MEETING, DECEMBER 15, 1908.

Present: Hon. M. W. Fuller, Chief Justice of the United States (chancellor), in the chair; Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks, Vice-President of the United States; Senator S. M. Cullom, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Senator A. O. Bacon, Representative James R. Mann, Representative William M. Howard, Hon. John B. Henderson, Dr. James B. Angell, Dr. Andrew D. White, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, Mr. Charles F. Choate, jr., and the secretary, Mr. Charles D. Walcott.

APPOINTMENT OF REGENT.

The secretary announced the appointment, by joint resolution approved by the President February 24, 1908, of Mr. Charles F. Choate, jr., of Massachusetts, as a Regent to succeed Mr. Richard Olney, resigned.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT FROM MR. RICHARD OLNEY.

The secretary read the following letter from Mr. Richard Olney in acknowledgment of the action of the Board of Regents upon his resignation as a Regent:

Hon. CHARLES D. WALCOTT,

Secretary Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

BOSTON, January 25, 1908.

My DEAR SIR: I beg to acknowledge your favor of the 23d instant and to thank the Board of Regents through you for the complimentary terms of the resolution, copy of which you inclose.

I am also greatly obliged to you personally for your courteous and friendly expressions and remain,

Faithfully,

RICHARD OLNEY.

RESOLUTION RELATIVE TO INCOME AND EXPENDITURE.

Mr. Henderson, chairman of the executive committee, offered the following resolution, which was adopted:

Resolved, That the income of the Institution for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1910, be appropriated for the service of the Institution, to be expended by the secretary, with the advice of the executive committee, with full discretion on the part of the secretary as to items.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

Mr. Henderson submitted the report of the executive committee for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, which, on motion, was adopted.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PERMANENT COMMITTEE.

Mr. Henderson, chairman of the permanent committee, presented the following report:

Hodgkins fund.-In addition to the sum of $100,000 bequeathed to the Institution by Thomas G. Hodgkins upon condition that the income be devoted to the increase and diffusion of knowledge regarding the nature and properties of atmospheric air, which sum is on deposit in the Treasury of the United States, there is now deposited in the Treasury to the credit of the Smithsonian fund the sum of $157,918.69 received from the Hodgkins estate, the income from which is, in accordance with the direction of the testator, devoted to the general purposes of the Institution. Besides the regular income of 6 per cent per annum on these portions of the fund, the Institution has received semiannually a dividend of 4 per cent on the West Shore Railroad bonds, of the par value of $42,000, accruing to the Institution from the Hodgkins estate. A number of grants have been authorized from the Hodgkins fund during the year for the promotion of researches relating to subjects embraced. within the expressed purposes of the foundation, and a prize of $1,500 has been offered, in connection with the recent International Congress on Tuberculosis, for the best treatise "On the relation of atmospheric air to tuberculosis."

Andrews estate. The decision of the supreme court of New York, appellate division, in April, 1907, affirming the decree below, which gave the residue of the estate of Mr. Wallace C. Andrews to the Andrews Institute for Girls, at Willoughby, Ohio, was, upon appeal by the Smithsonian Institution, affirmed on February 25, 1908, by the New York court of appeals. On motion of Mr. Frank W. Hackett and Mr. Edmund Wetmore, counsel for the Smithsonian Institution, a writ of error has been allowed by Mr. Justice Peckham, 45745°- -SM 1909-8

of the Supreme Court of the United States, to the supreme court of the State of New York, the contention of counsel being that the court of appeals did not give full faith and credit to the constitution of Ohio in respect to prohibiting the general assembly of that State from passing special acts conferring corporate powers.

Avery estate. The Institution has continued in possession of four parcels of real estate in Washington City, received under the bequest. of Mr. Robert Stanton Avery. Three of these parcels are improved with frame dwellings, under rental.

Sprague and Reid bequests.-As has been previously stated to the board, the residual legacies accruing to the Institution under the wills of Mr. Joseph White Sprague and Mr. Addison T. Reid are subject to the demise of certain enumerated legatees, and it is probable that no actual income will be received from these bequests for some years to come.

On motion, the report was accepted.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

The secretary presented his report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, explaining that it had been already transmitted to the members of the board.

On motion, the report was accepted.

NATURAL HISTORY EXPEDITION TO AFRICA.

The secretary read the following letter:

THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, OYSTER BAY, NEW YORK, June 20, 1908. MY DEAR DOCTOR WALCOTT: About the 1st of April next I intend to start for Africa. My plans are of course indefinite, but at present I hope they will be something on the following order:

By May 1 I shall land at Mombasa and spend the next few months hunting and traveling in British and German East Africa; probably going thence to or toward Uganda, with the expectation of striking the Nile about the beginning of the new year, and then working down it, with side trips after animals and birds, so as to come out at tide water, say, about March 1. This would give me ten months in Africa. As you know, I am not in the least a game butcher. I like to do a certain amount of hunting, but my real and main interest is the interest of a faunal naturalist. Now, it seems to me that this opens the best chance for the National Museum to get a fine collection not only of the big game beasts, but of the smaller mammals and birds of Africa; and looking at it dispassionately, I believe that the chance ought not to be neglected. I will make arrangements to pay for the expenses of myself and my son. But what I would like to do would be to get one or two professional field taxidermists, field naturalists, to go with me, who should prepare and send back the specimens we collect. The collection which would thus go to the National Museum would be of unique value. It would, I hope, include specimens of big game, together with the rare smaller animals and bids. I have not the means that would enable me to pay for the field naturalists or taxidermists and their kit, and the curing and transport of the specimens for the

National Museum. Of course the actual hunting of the big game I would want to do myself, or have my son do; but the specimens will all go to the National Museum, save a very few personal trophies of little scientific value which for some reason I might like to keep. Now, can you, in view of getting these specimens for the National Museum, arrange for the services of the field taxidermists, and for the care and transport of the specimens? As ex-President, I should feel that the National Museum is the museum to which my collection should go.

With high regard, sincerely yours,

Hon. CHARLES D. WALCOTT,

Secretary, Smithsonian Institution,

Washington, D. C.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

The secretary went on to say: "A copy of this letter was forwarded to me in Montana, and I telegraphed that we would endeavor to provide the necessary funds. On my return to Washington I put myself in communication with several public-spirited men who are friends of the Institution, and succeeded in obtaining sufficient money to equip and send the expedition to Africa; and there are assurances of additional sums to meet the further expenses that will necessarily be incurred.

"As to the personnel of the expedition, the following gentlemen have been selected by the Institution to accompany the President:

"Maj. Edgar A. Mearns, a retired officer of the Medical Corps of the Army, will be in charge of the Smithsonian party. He will be the physician of the trip; he has had twenty-five years' experience as an army doctor, and is also well known as a naturalist and collector of natural history specimens; while on service in the Philippine Islands, he made large collections of birds, mammals, and other material for the National Museum.

“Mr. Edmund Heller, a graduate of Stanford University, is a thoroughly trained naturalist, whose special work will be the preparation and preservation of specimens of large animals. His former experience, when associated with Mr. D. G. Eliot and Mr. Ackley, of the Field Columbian Museum, in collecting big game animals in the same portions of Africa which Mr. Roosevelt will visit, will be a valuable asset to the expedition. Mr. Heller has had large experience in animal collecting in Alaska, British Columbia, United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America. In the year 1898 he made a collecting trip of eleven months to Galapagos Islands, starting from San Francisco. He is a born and enthusiastic collector and a well-equipped naturalist. He is also the author of scientific papers on mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes. At present he is assistant curator of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of California.

“Mr. J. Alden Loring is a field naturalist whose training comprises service in the biological survey of the Department of Agriculture

and in the Bronx Zoological Park, New York City, as well as on numerous collecting trips through British America, Mexico, and the United States. He is of ardent temperament and intensely energetic. In August, September, and October, 1898, he made the highest record for a traveling collector, having sent to the United States National Museum 900 well prepared specimens of small mammals in the three months journey from London through Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium."

In regard to the matter of funds for the expedition, the secretary said that in addition to the statement he had just made he would read the following notice which had appeared in the public press:

"President Roosevelt decided last spring upon the proposed hunting trip to Africa, and during the summer Secretary Walcott learned that the President was willing to have one or two naturalists accompany him from the Smithsonian Institution, provided their expenses could be met; and also that the collections made by the President and these naturalists were to come to the Smithsonian Institution and be deposited in the United States National Museum.

"Mr. Roosevelt will pay all the expenses of himself and his son, Kermit, in connection with the proposed trip, including outfitting and transportation.

"The expenses of the three naturalists sent out from the Smithsonian Institution will be paid by funds provided for the purpose, no part of which is derived from any government appropriation or from the income of the Smithsonian fund.

"Mr. Roosevelt will not receive one penny of the fund for his own or his son's use or expenses; on the contrary, he makes a gift to the Government of specimens worth many thousands of dollars, and possibly of a value that can hardly be expressed. He will get nothing from the Government; he will give much of value to the Government; the Government's share will be limited to receiving the gift." After discussion, the Vice-President offered the following resolution, which was adopted:

Resolved, That the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution express to Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, its appreciation of his very generous offer contained in his letter of the 20th of June, 1908, to the secretary of the Institution, with respect to his expedition to Africa, and that it accept the same.

Doctor White said that he thought it might be well to complete the resolution which had been offered by the Vice-President by adopting another, in which the secretary should be requested to return the thanks of the board to the gentlemen who had so generously contributed to relieve the Smithsonian Institution of the expenses of the expedition. He spoke of the misunderstanding that had arisen by reason of the first published statement that the expedition would