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Smithsonian Institution

a literary, scientific, and philosophical institution, organized at Washington, D. C., by Act of Congress in 1846, pursuant to the will of James Smithson. The management of the institution is in the hands of regents appointed by the United States Government, and a spacious structure, containing a museum, library, cabinets of natural history, and lecture rooms, has SMOKE NUISANCE been the result of their able administration of the testator's wishes. The library, carefully collected, is unsurpassed in the United States as a resource for scientific reference, while in its museum are collected the rich acquisitions of national exploring expeditions. Some part of its income is devoted to scientific researches, and the production of works too costly for publication by private individuals. Departments of astronomy, ethnology, mepartments teorology, and terrestrial magnetism, have been established. The United States Weather Bureau has grown out of its department of meteorology, and the United States Fish Commission was established in connection with its work in ichthyology. Under its direction are the United States National Museum; the Bureau of International Exchanges; the Bureau of American Ethnology; the Astro-Physical Observatory; the National Zoölogical Park, Langley Aërodynamical Laboratory, Research Laboratory, International Catalogue and American History Archives. Among the publications hitherto issued are the "Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge," 4to, distributed gratis to libraries; "Annual Reports"; "Miscellaneous Collections"; "Reports of the National Museum" (1884-1892); "Bulletins of the National Museum"; "Proceedings of the National Museum"; "Annual Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology"; and "Harriman Alaska Series." The periodical courses of lectures held in the institution by eminent scientists and savants form a prominent social feature of the national capital. The institution has had four secretaries: Joseph Henry (1846-1878); Spencer Fullerton Baird (1878-1887); Samuel Pierpont Langley (1887-1906); and Charles D. Walcott (1906- -).