LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, ACCOMPANYING The Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Institution for the year ending June 30, 1909. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, To the Congress of the United States: In accordance with section 5593 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, I have the honor, in behalf of the Board of Regents, to submit to Congress the Annual Report of the operations, expenditures, and condition of the Smithsonian Institution for the year ending June 30, 1909. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, CHARLES D. WALCOTT, Secretary. III ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1909. SUBJECTS. 1. Annual report of the secretary, giving an account of the operations and condition of the Institution for the year ending June 30, 1909, with statistics of exchanges, etc. 2. Report of the executive committee, exhibiting the financial affairs of the Institution, including a statement of the Smithsonian fund, and receipts and expenditures for the year ending June 30, 1909. 3. Proceedings of the Board of Regents for the sessions of December 15, 1908, and February 10, 1909. 4. General appendix, comprising a selection of miscellaneous memoirs of interest to collaborators and correspondents of the Institution, teachers, and others engaged in the promotion of knowledge. These memoirs relate chiefly to the calendar year 1909. IV CONTENTS. Letter from the Secretary submitting the Annual Report of the Regents to IV. Report on the National Zoological Park. V. Report on the Astrophysical Observatory. Page. III IV V VII IX PROCEEDINGS OF BOARD OF REGENTS. The distribution of the elements in igneous rocks, by Henry S. Washington.. The mechanism of volcanic action, by H. J. Johnston-Lavis. Conservation of natural resources, by James Douglas...... The antarctic land of Victoria, by Maurice Zimmermann. Some results of the British antarctic expedition, 1907-9, by E. H. Shackleton.. From the Niger, by Lake Chad, to the Nile, by Lieut. Boyd Alexander.... Mesopotamia: Past, present, and future, by Sir William Willcocks.... Albert Gaudry and the evolution of the animal kingdom, by Ph. Glangeaud.. European population of the United States, by W. Z. Ripley... The Republic of Panama and its people, by Eleanor Yorke Bell.. |