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Annual Report of the Board of Regents
of the
SMITHSONIAN
INSTITUTION
PUBLICATION 4149
Showing the Operations, Expenditures, and Condition of the
Institution for the Year Ended June 30
1953
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1954
LETTER OF TRANSMIPTAL
SMITHSONIAN InstTITUTION,
Washington, December 31, 1953.
To the Congress of the United States:
In accordance with section 5593 of the Revised Statutes of the
United States, I have the honor, on behalf of the Board of Regents,
to submit to Congress the annual report of the operations, expendi-
tures, and condition of the Smithsonian Institution for the year ended
June 30, 1953. I have the honor to be,
Respectfully,
LronarD CARMICHAEL, Secretary.
eS eS ES Se eS a
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office,
Washington 25, D. C. - Price $3.75 (Cloth)
CONTENTS
iit of omeialssassten Oe 2b Aesead Fou. oeines BEEZ eae ee SSeS
Generalistatement] 2225 23 2 Sa ae ae ee es - ee een
pie Hatablishment.. =.= =o 0 ee! _ we eee et eee See
The, Boardiof) Regentesis2.202 2. 25.220) Joo Sa- to ae alee anes See. Ss
imuuctiOn Of New Secretary. o 5 ou eee ee eee
EUS ea OS Sere eee as ees
Appropriations_-_-.---------------------------------------------
WASIGOPS Ses oo eee ee Bees See eo ene eee eee
Twentieth annual James Arthur lecture on the sun_---_--_-------------
Tomned Shatin ine 0 ee ee eee ee oeeee eae
Termination of the Institute of Social Anthropology-------------------
Renovation of National Collection of Fine Arts_--...------------------
Summary of the year’s activities of the branches of the Institution______-
NabRenye ne oe ne ns en ne en ee ana aa a
PTICATIONES (ee a oe eee eee eee ence eee a
Appendix 1. Report on the United States National Museum__-------__-
2. Report on the National Gallery of Art__.....-------------
3. Report on the National Collection of Fine Arts------------
w= Report om the Ureer Gallery Of Aree soso. sce ee ea
5. Report on the Bureau of American Ethnology-------------
6. Report on the International Exchange Service___----------
7. Report on the National Zoological Park___.---------------
8. Report on the Astrophysical Observatory - ----------------
9. Report on the National Air Museum----_----------------
10. Report on the Canal Zone Biological Area____-_-----------
dieeReport Oa the UDranys-- 2 eens teen een ea ee
i2eshepore om PUDIICRUODS =. 8 - ns ee as. se— =e eee
Report of the executive committee of the Board of Regents__-----------
GENERAL APPENDIX
Science, art, and education, by R. E. Gibson__-_.---------------------
Recent progress in astronomical photography, by C. E. Kenneth Mees- --
Radioisotopes—New keys to knowledge, by Paul C. Aebersold - ---------
The push-button factory, by Frank K. Shallenberger_--_----------------
The science of musical instruments, by E. G. Richardson_-_-_------------
Genetics and the world today, by Curt Stern..---_.-------------------
Climate aud race, by Carleton Coon] 2 2225-1 - 2 2 .- Se
Vegetation management for rights-of-way and roadsides, by Frank E.
Helens = eee ee: 2) eee ree ee aoe oe eee eee eae
Applied systematics: The usefulness of scientific names of animals and
plantas by) Waldo i. Sehmitt. 222222222 Seea. 2-2-2 -- 2 -=--=- ===
The geological history and evolution of insects, by F. M. Carpenter-__----
sa]
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ro)
WOOMWIADAHP Hoe <
169
205
219
241
253
263
277
299
323
339
IV ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Page
The coelacanth fishes, by Errol White__------------------------------ 351
Barro Colorado—Tropical island laboratory, by Lloyd Glenn Ingles__---- 361
Norsemen in North America before Columbus, by Johannes Brgndsted.-. 367
The mountain village of Dahr, Lebanon, by Raymond E. Crist_--------- 407
The problem of dating the Dead Sea Scrolls, by John Cx Trever-2- =.= 425
Kinreizuka—The “Golden Bells Tomb” of Japan, by Motosaburo Hirano
and Hiroshi Takiguchi- ------------------------------------------ 437
The archeology of colonial Williamsburg, by Thomas J. Wertenbaker-- -- 447
The story of the Declaration of Independence desk and how it came to the
National Museum, by Margaret W. Brown------------------------- 455
Charles Bird King, painter of Indian visitors to the nation’s capital, by
John. C. Bwerse sunt ese these ed oe Sees ok eee ee 463
LIST OF PLATES
Secretary’s Report:
Plate Wee = 26 38 ee ee ee ee 6
Plates 2, 3._..-------------------------------------------=----- 54
Plates 4, 5._-_.--_-----------------=-- =< == =--= == === 3-2 =--— 70
Plates 6, 7.=2.--~--==+---=-==-==<22-- See a a 102
Astronomical photography (Mees): Plates 1-6------------------------ 214
Radioisotopes (Aebersold): Plates 1-4_--.---------------------------- 230
Science of musical instruments (Richardson): Plates 1-3__------------- 262
Vegetation management (Egler): Plates 1-6_------------------------- 310
Geological history and evolution of insects (Carpenter) : Plates 1-3_----- 342
Coelacanth fishes (White): Plate 1.-.-------------------------------- 358
Barro Colorado (Ingles): Plates 1-6--------------------------------- 366
Norsemen in North America before Columbus (Brgndsted): Plates 1-10-- 390
Dahr, Lebanon (Crist): Plates 1-8__--------------------------------- 422
Dead Sea Scrolls (Trever): Plates 1-8--_.---------------------------- 430
Kinreizuka (Hirano and Takiguchi): Plates 1-4_---------------------- 446
Colonial Williamsburg (Wertenbaker): Plates 1-4--------------------- 454
Declaration of Independence desk (Brown): Plates 1-5_---------------- 462
Charles Bird King (Ewers): Plates 1-8..-..-------------------------- 470
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
June 30, 1953
Presiding Officer ex officio —Dwiant D. E1sENHOWER, President of the United
States.
Chancellor—F rep M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States.
Members of the Institution:
DwicuHt D. HiseNHOowER, President of the United States.
RicwHarp M. NrxoNn, Vice President of the United States.
Frep M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States.
JoHn Foster DULLES, Secretary of State.
Grorct M. HumpuHeey, Secretary of the Treasury.
CHARLES BE. WILSON, Secretary of Defense.
Herpsert Browne Lt, JR., Attorney General.
Artuur E. SUMMERFIELD, Postmaster General.
Douatas McK Ay, Secretary of the Interior.
Ezra Tarr Benson, Secretary of Agriculture.
SIncLair WEEKS, Secretary of Commerce.
Martin P. DourkKIN, Secretary of Labor.
Oveta Cup Hosey, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.
Regents of the Institution:
Frep M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States, Chancellor.
RicHarp M. Nrxon, Vice President of the United States.
Rosert A. Tart, Member of the Senate.
CLiInton P. ANDERSON, Member of the Senate.
LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, Member of the Senate.
CLARENCE CANNON, Member of the House of Representatives.
JOHN M. Vorys, Member of the House of Representatives.
Leroy Jounson, Member of the House of Representatives.
ARTHUR H. Compton, citizen of Missouri.
VANNEVAR BusH, citizen of Washington, D. C.
Rosert V. FLEMING, citizen of Washington, D. C.
JEROME C. HUNSAKER, citizen of Massachusetts.
Executive Committee.—Roberr V. FLEMING, chairman, VANNEVAR BusH, CLAR-
ENCE CANNON.
Secretary. LEONARD CARMICHAEL.
Assistant Secretaries.—Joun BE. Grar, J. L. Keppy.
Administrative assistant to the Secretary.—Mrs. Lou1srt M. PEARSON.
Treasurer.—J. D. HOWARD.
Chief, editorial division.—PatL H. O£HSER.
Librarian.—Mrs. LetLa I’, CLARE.
Chief, accounting division —THOMAS F. CLARK.
Superintendent of buildings and labor.—lL. L. OLIVER.
Assistant Superintendent of buildings and labor.—CHARLES C. SINCLAIR.
Chief, personnel division.—JacK B. NEWMAN,
Chief, publications division.—L. BH. COMMERFORD.
Chief, supply division —ANTHONY W. WILDING.
. Photographer.—¥. B. KESTNER.
VI ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
Director.—A. REMINGTON KELLOGG.
Chief, office of correspondence and records.—HELENA M. WEISS.
Editor—Joun S. Lea.
SCIENTIFIC STAFF
DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY :
Frank M. Setzler, head curator; A. J. Andrews, J. E. Anglim, exhibits
preparators; W. W. Taylor, Jr., collaborator in anthropology.
Division of Archeology: Waldo R. Wedel, curator; Clifford Evans, Jr., asso-
ciate curator.
Division of Ethnology: H. W. Krieger, curator; J. O. Ewers, C. M. Watkins,
associate curators; R. A. Elder, Jr., assistant curator.
Division of Physical Anthropology: T. Dale Stewart, curator; M. T. Newman,
associate curator.
Associate in Anthropology: Neil M. Judd.
DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY :
Waldo L. Schmitt, head curator; W. L. Brown, chief exhibits preparator ;
C. H. Aschemeier, W. M. Perrygo, E. G. Laybourne, C. 8. East, J. D.
Biggs, exhibits preparators; Mrs. Aime M. Awl, scientific illustrator.
Division of Mammals: D. H. Johnson, H. W. Setzer, associate curators;
Charles O. Handley, Jr., assistant curator; A. Brazier Howell, collaborator ;
Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., associate.
Division of Birds: Herbert Friedmann, curator; H. G. Deignan, associate
curator; Samuel A. Arny, museum aide; Alexander Wetmore, research
associate and custodian of alcoholic and skeleton collections; Arthur C.
Bent, collaborator.
Division of Reptiles and Amphibians: Doris M. Cochran, associate curator.
Division of Fishes: Leonard P. Schultz, curator; EH. A. Lachner, associate
curator; W. T. Leapley, Robert H. Kanazawa, museum aides.
Division of Insects: Edward A. Chapin, curator; R. E. Blackwelder, W. D.
Field, O. L. Cartwright, Grace E. Glance, associate curators ; Sophy Parfin,
junior entomologist; W. L. Jellison and M. A. Carriker, collaborators.
Section of Hymenoptera: W. M. Mann, Robert A. Cushman, assistant
custodians.
Section of Diptera: Charles T. Greene, assistant custodian.
Section of Coleoptera: L. L. Buchanan, specialist for Casey collection.
Division of Marine Invertebrates: F. A. Chace, Jr., curator; Frederick M.
Bayer, associate curator; Mrs. L. W. Peterson, museum aide; Mrs. Harriet
Richardson Searle, Max M. Ellis, J. Percy Moore, collaborators; Mrs.
Mildred S. Wilson, collaborator in copepod Crustacea.
Division of Mollusks: Harald A. Rehder, curator; Joseph P. E. Morrison,
R. Tucker Abbott, associate curators; W. J. Byas, museum aide; Paul
Bartsch, associate.
Section of Helminthological Collections: Benjamin Schwartz, collabo-
rator.
Associates in Zoology: T. S. Palmer, W. B. Marshall, A. G. Béving, C. R.
Shoemaker, W. K. Fisher, Austin H. Clark.
Collaborator in Zoology: R. S. Clark.
Collaborator in Biology: D. C. Graham.
SECRETARY’S REPORT Vil
DEPARTMENT or Borany (NATIONAL HERBARIUM) ;
Jason R. Swallen, head curator.
Division of Phanerogams: A. C. Smith, curator ; BE. OC. Leonard, E, H. Walker,
Lyman B. Smith, associate curators; Velva EB. Rudd, assistant curator;
FB. P. Killip, research associate.
Division of Ferns: C. V. Morton, curator.
Division of Grasses: Ernest R. Sobns, associate curator; Mrs. Agnes Chase,
¥. A. McClure, research associates.
Division of Cryptogams: C. V. Morton, acting curator; Paul S. Conger, asso-
ciate curator; John A. Stevenson, custodian of C. G. Lloyd mycological
collections and honorary curator of Fungi; David G. Fairchild, custodian
of Lower Fungi.
DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY :
W. F. Foshag, head curator; J. H. Benn and Jessie G. Beach, museum
aides.
Division of Mineralogy and Petrology: W. F. Foshag, acting curator; E. P.
Henderson, G. S. Switzer, associate curators; F. E. Holden, museum
technician; Frank L. Hess, custodian of rare metals and rare earths.
Division of Invertebrate Paleontology and Paleobotany: Gustav A. Cooper,
curator; A. R. Loeblich, Jr., David Nicol, Arthur L. Bowsher, associate
curators; W. T. Allen, museum aide; J. Brookes Knight, research associate
in paleontology.
Section of Invertebrate Paleontology: T. W. Stanton, custodian of
Mesozoic collection; J. B. Reeside, Jr., custodian of Mesozoic collec-
tion; Preston Cloud, research associate.
Section of Paleobotany: Roland W. Brown, research associate.
Division of Vertebrate Paleontology: C. L. Gazin, curator; D. H. Dunkle,
associate curator; F. L. Pearce, A. C. Murray, exhibits preparators.
Associates in Mineralogy: W. T. Schaller, S. H. Perry, J. P. Marble.
Associate in Paleontology: R. S. Bassler.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING AND INDUSTRIES ;
Frank A. Taylor, head curator.
Diwision of Engineering: Frank A. Taylor, acting curator.
Section of Civil and Mechanical Engineering : Frank A. Taylor, in charge.
Section of Marine Transporation: Frank A. Taylor, in charge.
Section of Electricity : K. M. Perry, associate curator.
Section of Physical Sciences and Measurement: Frank A. Taylor, in
charge.
Section of Land Transportation: 8. H. Oliver, associate curator.
Division of Crafts and Industries: William N. Watkins, curator; Edward A.
Avery, William E. Bridges, and Walter T. Marinetti, museum aides; F. L.
Lewton, research associate.
Section of Textiles: Grace L. Rogers, assistant curator, in charge.
Section of Wood Technology: W. N. Watkins, in charge.
Section of Manufactures: Edward C. Kendall, associate curator, in
charge.
Section of Agricultural Industries: Edward C. Kendall, associate cura-
tor, in charge.
Division of Medicine and Public Health: George B. Griffenhagen, associate
curator; Alvin E. Goins, museum aide.
Division of Graphic Arts: Jacob Kainen, curator; J. Harry Phillips, Jr.,
museum aide.
Section of Photography: A. J. Wedderburn, Jr., associate curator.
Vill ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY:
Mendel L. Peterson, acting head curator.
Divisions of Military History and Naval History: M. L. Peterson, associate
curator; J. R. Sirlouis, assistant curator; Craddock R. Goins, Jr., junior
historian.
Division of Civil History: Margaret W. Brown, associate curator; Robert
Leroy Morris, museum aide.
Division of Numismatics: 8. M. Mosher, associate curator.
Division of Philately: Franklin R. Bruns, Jr., associate curator.
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
Trustees:
F rep M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States, Chairman.
Joun Foster Duttes, Secretary of State.
Grorce M. Humpurey, Secretary of the Treasury.
LEONARD CARMICHAEL, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
SAMUEL H. KRESS.
FERDINAND LAMMOT BELIN.
DUNCAN PHILLIPS.
CHESTER DALE.
PAUL MELLON.
President —SAMUEL H. KRESS.
Vice President.—FERDINAND LAMMor BELIN.
Secretary-Treasurer.— HUNTINGTON CAIRNS.
Director.—Davip E. FINLEY.
Administrator.—Hagry A. McBriDE.
General Counsel.—_HUNTINGTON CAIRNS.
Chief Curator.—JOHN WALKER.
Assistant Director.—MacGiLL JAMES.
NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS
Director.—THomMas M. Becas.
Curator of ceramics.—P. V. GARDNER.
Chief, Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service.—Mrs. JoHn A. POPE.
Echibits preparator.—ROWLAND Lyon.
FREER GALLERY OF ART
Director.—A. G. WENLEY.
Assistant Director.—JouN A. POPE.
Assistant to the Director.——Burns A. STUBBS.
Associate in Near Eastern art.—RIcHARD ETTINGHAUSEN.
Associate in technical research.—RutTHERFORD J, GETTENS.
Assistant in research.—HArRoLp P. STERN.
Research associate—GracE DUNHAM GUEST.
Honorary research associate.—Max Lorar.
SECRETARY’S REPORT IX
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
Director.—MaTTHEew W. STIRLING.
Associate Director.—F RANK H. H. Roserrs, Jr.
Anthropologists.—H. B. Cott1ns, Jr., PHILIP DRUCKER.
Ethnologist.—JoHn P. HARRINGTON.
Collaborators.—FRANCES DENsMORE, RALPH S. Soreckr, Joun R. Swanton, A. J.
WARING, Jr.
Scientific illustrator.—H. G. SCHUMACHER.
River BASiIn SuRVEYS.—F'RANK H. H. Roserts, Jr., Director.
INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE SERVICE
Chief.—D. G. WILLIAMS.
NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK
Director.—WILLIAM M. MANN.
Assistant Director.—E8NEsT P. WALKER.
Head Animal Keeper.—FRaNK O. LOWE.
ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY
Director.—LoYAtL B. ALDRICH.
DIVISION OF ASTROPHYSICAL RESEARCH :
Chief.—WIiLL1AmM H. Hoover.
Instrument makers.—ANbDREW KRAMER, D. G. TALBERT, J. H. HARRISON.
Research associate.—CHARLES G. ABBOT.
DIVISION OF RADIATION AND ORGANISMS:
Chief.—R. B. WiTHROW.
Plant Physiologists —WILLIAM H. Kirin, Leonarp Price, V. B. ELsrap, Mrs.
Atice P. WITHROW.
NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM
Advisory Board:
LEONARD CARMICHAEL, Chairman.
Lr. GEN. LAURENCE C. Crataig, U. 8S. Air Force.
Rear ApM. T. 8. Comps, U.S. Navy.
GROVER LOENING.
WILLIAM B. Strout.
Head curator.—Pavt B. GARBER.
Associate curator.—R. C. STROBELL.
Manager, National Air Museum Facility —W. M. Mate.
Museum aides.—STANIEY Potrer, WinTrRoP 8S. SHAW.
CANAL ZONE BIOLOGICAL AREA
Resident Manager.—JAMES ZETEK.
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PPPs T i a ad
Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution
LEONARD CARMICHAEL
For the Year Ended June 30, 1953
To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution:
GenTLEMEN : I have the honor to submit a report showing the activi-
ties and condition of the Smithsonian Institution and its branches
for the fiscal year which ended on June 380, 1953.
GENERAL STATEMENT
My duties as the seventh Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
were assumed on January 2, 1953. Thus, during approximately half
the year covered by the present report the Institution was under the
able direction of its eminent former Secretary, Dr. Alexander Wet-
more. Detailed statements covering the work of the several bureaus
and divisions of the Smithsonian during the full year are presented
elsewhere in this report.
I should like first to express my deep appreciation to the Honorable
Fred M. Vinson, Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution, to the
chairman of our executive committee, and individually to our regents,
all of whom have most unselfishly performed many services essential
to the effective operation and progress of the Institution during the
year covered by this report. I wish also to thank Dr. Wetmore for
the great assistance he has given me as his successor, and the entire
Smithsonian staff for the cooperation they have extended to me as
the new occupant of the office of Secretary.
The Smithsonian has many pressing needs and unsolved problems,
but it is fortunate in possessing a staff that is in an outstanding degree
professionally qualified and is superlatively loyal to the best interests
of the Institution. Many former employees, some long retired, return
regularly to carry on research and follow the progress of the Institu-
tion with keen interest. Ina striking way present and past staff mem-
bers correctly feel that they truly belong to the old and distinguished
Smithsonian family. In this respect and in many others I find the
Institution similar to a great university.
The Smithsonian is unique because it is the Nation’s principal re-
search center in a number of basic scientific and cultural fields. Be-
cause of its unequaled natural-science collections, which contain a vast
number of “type specimens,” it is a continuing repository of standards
1
2 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
for much work in biology and geology. In its collections of history
and technology, of aviation, and of the fine arts the Smithsonian has
special distinctions and responsibilities in maintaining a proper and
complete record of our national achievements and of preserving in
trust for the Nation valuable gifts from its citizens. Its expeditions
and researches in anthropology in our own and other American coun-
tries have brought to light much of the past that was hidden and have
preserved much that would otherwise have been lost. Its researches in
solar radiation continue to be a principal source of special information
in a field of growing practical importance. Its library of more than a
million and a half titles is one of the world’s great repositories of
published scientific information and by far the greatest in the Western
Hemisphere. Through its extensive publication program, its inter-
national exchange service for scientific literature, its museum exhibits
and traveling exhibitions, and in the answering of thousands of indi-
vidual inquiries yearly the Smithsonian is surely a world center not
only for the increase of knowledge but for the proper diffusion of
exact information.
~ In some ways, this means that the Smithsonian may be thought of
as a living encyclopedia that is always being kept up to date. Re-
search workers connected with industrial development as well as
scientific investigators all over the country continually call upon our
expanding collections and records for the identification and descrip-
tion of plants, animals, minerals, and unknown or puzzling objects of
human workmanship, especially works of art, and for information
pertaining to our other fields of scholarly interest.
In these first months of my service as Secretary it has become clear
to me that the Smithsonian has, through its more than a century of
service, won a special place in the hearts and minds of American citi-
zens from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Taking all our buildings to-
gether, more than 8,200,000 visitors entered our various halls last
year. It is reported at the USO information desk in Washington’s
Union Station that 9 out of 10 members of the Armed Forces inquire
for the Smithsonian Institution. A Gallup poll of last summer, at-
tempting to sample the opinion of the estimated 35 million adult
Americans who have visited Washington at least once, indicated that
except for the Capitol and the White House, the Smithsonian Insti-
tution is regarded as “the most interesting thing for a visitor to see
in Washington.” Car and bus loads of individuals from the Pacific
Coast States and from every other part of the Nation come day after
day to the Smithsonian. These visitors are of all ages. Many of
them are impressionable high-school seniors on what may well be their
one trip to Washington. It is thus borne in upon everyone connected
with the Smithsonian Institution that our exhibits must be prepared
in such a way that they will most effectively tell these eager and
SECRETARY’S REPORT 3
earnest visitors the story of America’s national history and of the
rise of the industrial and scientific greatness of America. These fu-
ture leaders of our Nation cannot help being wiser in all that they
do concerning our country if they see in our halls examples of the
ingenious productions of the great inventors and leaders of the past.
The very fact that other countries of the world in recent years have
voiced their pride in their eminent inventors indicates something
of the importance of emphasizing America’s great inventive contri-
butions of human society in building our own Nation’s morale.
This year certain facts were presented to the Congress concerning
the fundamental needs of the Smithsonian Institution. Without ex-
ception, the press comments on these statements from all parts of the
country agreed that the Smithsonian has a significant place in our
Nation’s life and that its work should be adequately supported.
The history of the Smithsonian makes clear how the present finan-
cial situation of the Institution has arisen. Almost all our endow-
ments were given for various specific purposes. ‘Therefore, little of
the income from the invested funds of the Institution is available for
alteration or growth from year to year. In this connection, it is a
pleasure to report that a few small funds from bequests have come
to the Smithsonian during the current year. Those who are con-
nected with the administration of the Smithsonian are delighted at
any time to discuss with prospective donors the means by which their
gifts can support the general work of the Institution.
The bureaus of the Smithsonian which are financed in varying
degrees by congressional appropriations have developed through the
years in an uneven way. In general, it may be said of the continuing
activities of the Institution that instead of expanding in the last 20
years, which have seen so much growth in many activities of the Fed-
eral Government, the Smithsonian has financially remained static or
even in some respects has retrogressed. A comparison of the situation
in 1934 and in the present year is illuminating. In the period since
1934 the national collections in charge of the Smithsonian have in-
creased 130 percent. The number of visitors to our 5 exhibition
buildings on the Mall have increased by more than 150 percent and
our correspondence in answering scientific and other questions has
grown several times that amount.
In spite of this growth in work load, the total number of man-
hours per week available at the Smithsonian has actually decreased
during the past 20 years. In cash, the appropriations for functions
other than personnel is $11,000 less than it was in 1933. This means
that in purchasing power the Smithsonian has had its funds cut more
than in half during this period.
The Honorable Charles R. Jonas, Member of Congress from North
Carolina, in a published news report to his constituents this year com-
4 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
paring our national expenditures for military affairs with those at
the Smithsonian, said in part, “So there are two of our outstanding
national collections—the study at the Smithsonian of man’s construc-
tive progress, and the study at Aberdeen of man’s destructive prog-
ress. In both cases we can marvel at and feel proud of American
ingenuity and energy ... But at Aberdeen, there is mixed with
our pride a certain sadness and shame that American thought and
wealth must of necessity be spent on a collection of terrible weapons
to use against other men. Billions for war, pennies for cultural life
. what a tragic arrangement of accounts.”
The Smithsonian is not an “inflated agency,” but rather one that
in recent decades has not been permitted to perform for the citizens
of this country its many basic functions as well as it would have been
able to do if it had been given more financial support. During this
time, however, the loyal but numerically declining staff of the Insti-
tution has carried on approximately 150 percent more work than was
required of their more numerous predecessors.
All who are interested in the welfare of the Smithsonian must,
therefore, it seems, be prepared to explain its unique and fundamental
place in American life to all responsible individuals, both inside and
outside our Government, who can assist in its development. I am
happy to report that appropriations made to the Smithsonian for
the fiscal year 1954 will allow the Institution to take some first steps
in the long-overdue rehabilitation of its exhibitions and in the needed
renovations of certain of its buildings. Funds to continue modern-
ization and renovation will be most urgently needed in the succeeding
years. In the near future plans must also be made for new buildings
to relieve the now almost intolerable overcrowding of our present
structures.
In its basic charter the Smithsonian was established, as Smithson
its wise donor directed, to provide for “the increase and diffusion
of knowledge among men.” The importance of these functions in the
welfare of a nation becomes more clear with each passing year. Can
anyone doubt that the sensible and constructive growth of our free
institutions is based upon a clear knowledge by most of our citizens
of the factors that have made our past achievements and activities
possible? Our American conception of social progress is based on a
realization that advancement is founded on a willingness to take
advantage of improvements in the existing way of doing things. We
do not intend to have here the destructive and self-defeating chaos
produced by revolutionary upheavals. We must thus insure as wide
a dissemination as possible of a knowledge of the past achievements
of our Nation and of its natural resources.
It is symbolic of the mission of the Smithsonian that what has
been called “the No. 1 Museum Item of America,” the great flag Fran-
SECRETARY’S REPORT 5
cis Scott Key watched as he wrote the “Star-Spangled Banner,” is
proudly displayed in our halls. In this dangerous time of the world’s
history, when free institutions continue to be challenged by totalitarian
ideologies, a true knowledge on the part of our citizens of the story
of our country’s rise to preeminence is important. This amazing na-
tional growth is illustrated in many Smithsonian exhibits. Thus the
honored old Smithsonian Institution provides today one of the means
by which a forward-looking American can pass on to new generations
a true understanding of our free heritage as a society that stands
for liberty under law.
THE ESTABLISHMENT
The Smithsonian Institution was created by act of Congress in
1846, in accordance with the terms of the will of James Smithson, of
England, who in 1826 bequeathed his property to the United States
of America “to found at Washington, under the name of the Smith-
sonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of
knowledge among men.” In receiving the property and accepting
the trust, Congress determined that the Federal Government was
without authority to administer the trust directly, and, therefore,
constituted an “establishment” whose statutory members are “the
President, the Vice President, the Chief Justice, and the heads of the
executive departments.”
THE BOARD OF REGENTS
The Institution suffered a great loss during the year in the death
of two of its most valued regents. Eugene E. Cox, member from the
House of Representatives, died on December 24, 1952, and to fill the
vacancy created the Speaker of the House appointed Representative
Leroy Johnson, of California, to serve until the fourth Wednesday in
December in the second year succeeding his appointment. The death
of Harvey N. Davis, which occurred on December 3, 1952, created a
vacancy in the class of citizen regents, but this had not been filled at
the end of the year.
When the opposite political party becomes the majority party, it
is required that one of the members of the Board resign. Senator
Walter F. George, therefore, submitted his resignation to the Vice
President since he was the most recent Democrat to be appointed to
the Board of Regents. This vacancy was filled by the appointment
of Senator Robert A. Taft, of Ohio, on March 9, 1953.
On January 20, 1958, Vice President Richard Nixon became an ex
officio member of the Board to succeed the Honorable Alben W.
Barkley.
6 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
The roll of regents at the close of the present fiscal year was as
follows: Chief Justice of the United States Fred M. Vinson, Chan-
cellor; Vice President Richard Nixon; members from the Senate:
Clinton P. Anderson, Leverett Saltonstall, Robert A. Taft; members
from the House of Representatives: Clarence Cannon, Leroy John-
son, John M. Vorys; citizen members: Vannevar Bush, Arthur H.
Compton, Robert V. Fleming, and Jerome C. Hunsaker.
On the evening of January 15, 1953, preceding the annual meeting,
an informal dinner meeting of the Board was held in the main hall of
the Smithsonian Institution, with the Chancellor, Chief Justice Vinson,
presiding. This followed a custom established in 1949 at the sugges-
tion of Chancellor Vinson, who believed that an evening meeting each
year would help the regents by further acquainting them with the
scientific and scholarly work of the Institution. Several research
workers representing different departments of the Institution were
present and gave brief firsthand accounts of their recent studies to the
Board members.
The regular annual meeting of the Board was held on January 16 in
the Regents Room. The Secretary gave his annual report covering
the activities of the Institution and its bureaus. The financial report
of the executive committee was presented for the fiscal year ended
June 30, and this was accepted by the Board. The usual resolution
was passed authorizing expenditures of the income of the Institution
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1954.
INDUCTION OF NEW SECRETARY
Dr. Leonard Carmichael, psychologist and former president of Tufts
College, who had been elected seventh Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution by the Board of Regents at its meeting on April 9, 1952,
took office on January 2, 1953. Special induction ceremonies were
held in the Regents Room, with the Honorable Harold M. Stephens,
chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals, administering the
oath of office. Dr. Carmichael succeeded Dr. Alexander Wetmore,
biologist, who retired after serving 28 years with the Institution, since
1945 as Secretary. Dr. Wetmore, as research associate, is continuing
his scientific work with the Smithsonian.
FINANCES
A statement on finances, dealing particularly with Smithsonian
private funds, will be found in the report of the executive committee
of the Board of Regents, page 159.
PLATE 1
Secretary's Report, 1953.
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SECRETARY’S REPORT 7
APPROPRIATIONS
Funds appropriated to the Institution for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1953, total $2,419,500, obligated as follows:
Manacement 85.6 6can a ee a era aaa $57, 289
Wnited States National Museums.) ) o.oo ee ne 765, 514
JEURL REAL Ose Je Wwoa ted enCetey eked Oy Hab 0X0) OFA ee ee 59, 454
Astrophysical Observatory___-.--_--.----------------------------- 119, 840
National |}@olection sot eee AGG mee ee ee ee ee 43, 619
National PAIne \LUSCUMe: 9-5 2206... oe ae ee es 145, 242
CWundieZOne Ssi0lOS Cal eA Tea ees ee ee ee ee ee ee 7, 000
International Wxchange, ServiCelese sn. seen an eee 65, 664
Maintenance and operation of buildings-_____-____________--------_~ 864, 945
ENC CONETAP SCRVLCes ee ase ee eee a ae ee 290, 528
mobo) se eae ee ESS 405
AM OVC ee UR I eS a oe ee ee 2, 419, 500
In addition $1,428,050 (of which $13,825.80 was unobligated) was
appropriated to the National Gallery of Art, and $615,000 was pro-
vided in the District of Columbia appropriation act for the operation
of the National Zoological Park.
Besides these direct appropriations, the Institution received funds
by transfer or grant from other Federal agencies, as follows:
From the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, $24,287.37 for the
operation of the Institute of Social Anthropology through December
31, 1953.
From the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, $122,-
700 for archeological projects in connection with the River Basin
Surveys.
From the National Science Foundation, $6,000 to supplement Smith-
sonian funds for the transportation of exchange publications through
the International Exchange Service.
VISITORS
Visitors to the Smithsonian group of buildings during the year
1952-53 again topped all previous records, totaling 3,429,429, or 3,392
more than the previous year. April 1953 was the month of largest
attendance, with 535,832; August 1952 was second, with 475,102.
Largest attendance for one day was 44,583 for May 9, 1953. Table 1
gives a summary of the attendance records for the five buildings.
These figures, when added to the 3,231,450 estimated visitors at the
National Zoological Park and 1,647,470 at the National Gallery of
Art, make a total number of visitors at the Smithsonian Institution
of 8,308,349.
284725—54——_2
8 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
TABLE 1.—Visitors to certain Smithsonian buildings during the year ended June
80, 1953
Smith- Arts and Natural
: F Aircraft Freer
Year and month sonian Industries | History : Total
Building | Building | Building | Building | Building
|W | | | — ]} - - ——-
1952
NE comer eee ROR EEE REC 73, 580 196, 035 83, 429 29, 122 7, 968 390, 134
PTS bee a eee 84, 587 245, 475 100, 092 35, 097 9, 851 475, 102
MeDLeM Denese seen aee ne ne eea= 45, 340 107, 327 53, 678 17, 755 6, 283 230, 383
@ctobera. cs: =o a=tssosaes = 37, 107 90, 921 60, 933 14, 494 5, 127 208, 582
NOVEM DOs sean eee ne nomen 30, 512 66, 385 45, 746 12, 482 3, 858 158, 983
Decamberss. -sec-n-s25 22-5 19, 479 42, 224 33, 076 8, 472 2, 623 105, 874
1958
LEE en ee eae ene eee 25, 555 59, 076 46, 302 11, 990 3, 182 146, 105
Mebrugnyen 2-20 25-------22==—— 29, 885 74, 429 43, 350 12, 386 3, 495 163, 545
Wrarchi-. sess snenne saan nee a= 35, 812 89, 224 53, 442 13, 557 4, 595 196, 630
ANDI Meet eee ee 92, 510 289, 714 113, 078 31, 568 8, 962 535, 832
NG eee Se ee 80, 047 222, 349 111, 340 25, 756 8, 247 447, 739
DUNG see aa eae 68, 855 183, 454 86, 309 24, 785 7,117 370, 520
Rotel esse oneness 623, 269 | 1, 666, 613 830, 775 237, 446 71, 308 3, 429, 429
A special record was kept of groups of school children visiting the
Smithsonian. The count showed that 207,420 school children came in
5,041 groups, or about 40 toa group. These are enumerated by month
in table 2.
TABLE 2.—Groups of school children visiting the Smithsonian, 1952-63
Groups Children
1952:
WG te eo A soe te ee as 91 2,188
ANN IS Se SS Te les yatta 94 2, 337
September :£ io Meee se AAW AA See 76 2, 066
Octobers 2426s ee ee cep lo TS ok ob bye lee te 210 6, 292
NOVEM Dens 22a oe see ees oa a en eee 276 7, 947
Decembers 222255205 55-2 -3..5 eee ee 77 1, 723
1953:
January =<) ee eS eae 178 4,127
Webriary.2. 17s ne eee kk he 225 5, 658
Marcel) 4-220 RE Aa. aed Eee agp rato 426 14, 179
OT shi San eee ts ee 1, 393 76, 193
May bss ee aie fd aE SP eee 1, 414 61, 471
UNIO oS Sa es ee ee 581 23, 239
Totaliie. . poe ee eh eee ee 5, 041 207, 420
TWENTIETH ANNUAL JAMES ARTHUR LECTURE ON THE SUN
In 1931 the Institution received a bequest from James Arthur, of
New York, a part of the income from which was to be used for an
annual lecture on some aspect of the study of the sun. The twentieth
Arthur lecture was delivered in the auditorium of the Natural History
Building on the evening of May 21, 1958, by Dr. C. E. Kenneth Mees,
SECRETARY’S REPORT 9
director of the research laboratories of the Eastman Kodak Co.,
Rochester, N. Y. The subject of Dr. Mees’s address was “Recent Ad-
vances in Astronomical Photography.” This lecture will be published
in full in the general appendix of the Annual Report of the Board of
Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for 1953.
JAMES SMITHSON’S TOMB
Ceremonies were held on the afternoon of June 24, 1953, in con-
nection with the rededication of the tomb of James Smithson, founder
of the Smithsonian Institution, which is located in a small chapel
near the north entrance of the Smithsonian Building. Speakers for
the occasion, which marked the 124th anniversary of Smithson’s death
in Genoa, Italy, were Sir Roger Makins, British Ambassador to the
United States; Sir John Cockcroft, Chairman of the Defense Re-
search Policy Committee of Great Britain; and Dr. Leonard Car-
michael, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The Ambassador
and Sir John, on behalf of the British people, presented a Union Jack
to be displayed with the Stars and Stripes beside the tomb as a
“symbol of international understanding.”
The next day following the ceremonies William W. Johnson, of the
Treasurer’s Office, was presented with a certificate of award for his
original suggestion that Smithson’s crypt be redecorated.
TERMINATION OF THE INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
At the end of the calendar year 1952, the activities of the Institute
of Social Anthropology came to an end with the termination of grants
from the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, Department of State,
under which the Institute had operated. This agency was created in
1943 as an autonomous unit of the Bureau of American Ethnology to
carry out cooperative training in anthropological teaching and re-
search with the other American republics as a part of the wartime
program of the Interdepartmental Committee for Cooperation with
the American Republics. Its first director and founder was Dr. Julian
H. Steward, who was succeeded in 1946 by Dr. George M. Foster.
Summaries of the work of the Institute have been included each year
within the report of the director of the Bureau of American Eth-
nology. One of the lasting monuments of the agency is the 16 mono-
graphs in the Smithsonian series entitled “Publications of the Institute
of Social Anthropology,” the final number of which appeared in 1953.
Several anthropologists remaining on the Institute of Social Anthro-
pology staff on December 31, 1952, were transferred to the Institute
of Inter-American Affairs.
10 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
RENOVATION OF NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS
A complete rearrangement of the paintings and art objects in the
National Collection of Fine Arts was completed in May under the
supervision of its director, Thomas M. Beggs. The collection, housed
in the Natural History Building, consists of several major bequests
to the Nation through the Smithsonian. Terms of the bequests some-
times require that the collections be preserved as entities, although
they often consist of paintings quite miscellaneous, both in subject
matter and style. Compliance with these terms sometimes has been
difficult, especially with the limited space available for exhibition of
constantly increasing material. This problem has been solved by the
rearrangement in which paintings from the different collections repre-
senting various nationalities are grouped in adjacent alcoves without
breaking up the integrity of any collection.
Nucleus of the rearrangement is the Harriet Lane Johnston collec-
tion, bequeathed to the Nation by the niece of President James
Buchanan and First Lady of the White House during his administra-
tion. It was this bequest, quite typical of the Civil War period taste
in art and containing such relics as the Bible used by President
Buchanan at his inauguration, that started the original National Gal-
lery of Art. This collection is maintained in its entirety in the new
arrangement. ‘This is also true of the Ralph Cross Johnson, John
Gellatly, and Alfred Duane Pell collections. Other large collections
are represented by only a few examples. These include the William
T. Evans collection, the Henry Ward Ranger bequest, and the A. R.
and M. H. Eddy donation.
SUMMARY OF THE YEAR’S ACTIVITIES OF THE BRANCHES OF THE
INSTITUTION
National Museum.—The collections of the National Museum in-
creased by more than 1,607,000 specimens during the year, a million
more than the previous year, bringing the total catalog entries to
34,764,250. Some of the year’s outstanding accessions included: In
anthropology, more than 300 chipped-stone artifacts from Dauphin
County, Pa.; 2,000 potsherds from Transjordan and Palestine; and a
fine collection of ceramic ware representing New England folk pot-
tery ; in zoology, more than 1,000 mammals from South West Africa,
about 2,400 bird skins and skeletons from Colombia, 14,000 fishes from
Bermuda and the Caribbean, 14,000 ladybird beetles, and 3,200 iden-
tified polychaete worms; in botany, 45,000 plant specimens from
Ecuador and Colombia; in geology, an array of minerals, gems, and
meteorites, 500,000 Arctic Foraminifera, and several excellent fossil
vertebrate remains; in engineering and industries, about 500 radio and
electronic devices and a collection of lithographic materials and equip-
SECRETARY’S REPORT 11
ment; and in history, a fine lot of laces, linens, and jewelry from Mrs.
Woodrow Wilson, a dress of Mrs. Harry S. Truman for the First
Ladies collection of gowns, and 93 pistols for the modern firearms
series.
Members of the staff conducted fieldwork in Panama, British
Guiana, South West Africa, Thailand, Tahiti, Mexico, Fiji Islands,
and many parts of the United States. The Museum issued 18
publications.
National Gallery of Art—The Gallery had 1,647,470 visitors dur-
ing the year, an 8-percent increase over 1951-52. In all, 1,408 acces-
sions were received, by gift, loan, or deposit. Works of art accepted
included paintings by A. V. Tack, Manet, Berthe Morisot, Sir William
Orpen, Leonid, John Kensett, Cranach, Van Dyck, P. Gertner, A.
Benson, and B. Bruyn; a bust of Whistler by Sir Joseph Boehm; and
several groups of prints and drawings. Nine special exhibitions were
held. Traveling exhibitions of prints from the Rosenwald Collec-
tion were circulated to 17 galleries and museums in this country and
1 in Canada. Exhibitions from the “Index of American Design”
were given 58 bookings in 21 States and the District of Columbia and
also in Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Palestine. Over
43,000 persons attended the Gallery’s special tours and the “Picture
of the Week” talks, and 14,000 attended the 39 auditorium lectures on
Sunday afternoons. The Sunday evening concerts in the west garden
court were continued.
National Collection of Fine Arts—The Smithsonian Art Commis-
sion met on December 2, 1952, and accepted for the National Collec-
tion 8 oil paintings, 1 sculpture, 5 pieces of modern glass, and 4 ceramic
pieces. An addition of $5,000 was made to the Barney fund. The
Gallery held 18 special exhibitions during the year. The Smithsonian
Traveling Exhibition Service circulated 32 exhibitions, 20 in the
United States and Canada and 12 abroad.
Freer Gallery of Art-——Purchases for the collections of the Freer
Gallery included Chinese painting, bronzes, metalwork, jade, lacquer,
and pottery; Persian paintings, pottery, and manuscripts; Indian
paintings; and Japanese pottery. More than 71,000 persons visited
the Gallery. In May the Gallery adopted a new plan of keeping open
to the public on Tuesday evenings, with occasional lectures.
Bureau of American E'thnology.—The anthropologists of the Bu-
reau staff continued their researches, Dr. Stirling on mid-American
archeology, Dr. Collins on the Eskimo and Arctic anthropology, Dr.
Harrington on Indian linguistics and the California Indians, and Dr.
Drucker on the ethnology of Mexico and the northwest coast of
North America. Dr. Roberts continued as Director of the River
Basin Surveys, and Dr. Foster as Director of the Institute of Social
Anthropology (to the time of its termination on December 31).
12 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
International Exchange Service—As the official United States
agency for the interchange of governmental, scientific, and literary
publications between this country and other nations of the world, the
International Exchange Service during the year handled 1,021,938
packages of such publications, weighing 855,102 pounds. This was
20,324 packages and 29,475 pounds more than the previous year. Con-
signments were made to all countries except China, North Korea, and
Rumania. Toward the end of the year, a grant of $6,000 was received
from the National Science Foundation to supplement funds for the
transportation of exchange publications that otherwise would have
been delayed.
National Zoological Park.—The Zoo received 810 accessions during
the year, comprising 1,797 individual animals, and 1,731 were re-
moved by death, exchange, et cetera. The net count of animals at the
end of the year was 2,741. Noteworthy among the accessions were 2
Barbary apes, a Formosan civet never before exhibited in the Zoo, 3
East Indian monitor lizards, a young flat-tailed otter from Brazil, also
the first of its kind to be exhibited here, and 2 of the rare Allen’s
monkeys. In all, 247 creatures were born or hatched at the Zoo during
the year—95 mammals, 119 birds, and 33 reptiles. Visitors totaled
approximately 3,231,000.
Astrophysical Observatory.—The manuscript of volume 7 of the
Annals of the Astrophysical Observatory was completed and sent to
the printer late in the year. Mr. Hoover completed a thorough study
of the silver-disk pyrheliometer. Two of these instruments were built
inthe APO shops for other institutions. Solar-radiation studies were
continued at the Observatory’s two field stations—at Montezuma,
Chile, and Table Mountain, Calif. Research carried on by the Divi-
sion of Radiation and Organisms concerned mainly physiological and
biochemical processes by which light regulates plant growth and
the mechanisms of the action of the auxin-type growth hormones, and
several scientific papers were published.
National Air Museum.—Providing adequate storage facilities for
the space-consuming material awaiting a National Air Museum build-
ing continues to be a serious problem. Twenty loads of material were
brought from Park Ridge, Ill., to the new storage facility provided at
Suitland, Md. The Museum staff has helped in the celebration of the
Fiftieth Anniversary of Powered Flight, participated in many special
aeronautical events and exhibits, and inspected material for possible
accession, besides taking care of the collections. The Museum re-
ceived 32 accessions (totaling 112 specimens) from 28 sources. Full-
sized aircraft received included a Douglas DC-3 transport plane that
had traveled 814 million air miles, the Hacalibur III in which a series
of historic flights were made, the original Hiller-copter, and a German
Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket interceptor. At the end of the year
SECRETARY’S REPORT 13
manuscript of a new edition of the Handbook of the Aeronautical Col-
lections was nearly completed.
Canal Zone Biological Area.—New diesel generators installed at the
station now insure an adequate supply of electric current. A number
of other necessary improvements were made. During the year 700
visitors came to the islands, a hundred more than the previous year;
57 of these were scientists who used the facilities of the island to
further their various researches, chiefly in biology and photography.
LIBRARY
Accessions to the Smithsonian library totaled more than 68,414
publications during the year, these coming from more than 100 foreign
countries. One of the most notable gifts of the year was a large and
valuable collection of books and periodicals on philately presented
by Eugene N. Costales, of New York. At the close of the year the
holdings of the Smithsonian library and all its branches aggregated
941,328 volumes including 584,295 in the Smithsonian Deposit at the
Library of Congress but exclusive of incomplete volumes of serials and
separates and reprints from serials.
PUBLICATIONS
Eighty-one publications were issued under the Smithsonian imprint
during the year. (See Appendix 12 for complete list.) Outstanding
among these were: “Primitive Fossil Gastropods and Their Bearing
on Gastropod Classification,” by J. Brookes Knight; “Structure and
Function of the Genitalia in Some American Agelenid Spiders,” by
Robert L. Gering; “Dresses of the First Ladies of the White House,”
by Margaret W. Brown; “The Generic Names of the Beetle Family
Staphylinidae,” by Richard E. Blackwelder; “Life Histories of North
American Wood Warblers,” by A. C. Bent; “Catalog of the Cycle
Collection of the Division of Engineering, U. S. National Museum,”
by Smith Hempstone Oliver; “The Indian Tribes of North America,”
by John R. Swanton; “La Venta, Tabasco: A Study of Olmec Ceramics
and Art,” by Philip Drucker; and “Prehistoric Settlement Patterns
in the Virt Valley, Peru,” by Gordon R. Willey. In all, 177,675 copies
of Smithsonian publications were distributed during the year. The
galley proof of the ninth edition of the Smithsonian Physical Tables
was being read by the compiler, Dr. W. E. Forsythe, at the end of
the year.
APPENDIX 1
Report on the United States National Museum
Sm: I have the honor to submit the following report on the condition
and operations of the United States National Museum for the fiscal
year ended June 30, 1953:
COLLECTIONS
Specimens incorporated into the national collections totaled 1,607,911
(more than twice the number received last year) and were distributed
among the six departments as follows: Anthropology, 10,540; zoology,
211,677 ; botany, 82,984; geology, 1,275,140; engineering and industries,
2,008; and history, 25,562. The unusual increase is attributable chiefly
to the accessioning of a large number of small fossils, including 750,000
Permian invertebrates and 500,000 Arctic Foraminifera. Most of the
other accessions were acquired as gifts from individuals or as transfers
from Government departments and agencies. The Annual Report of
the Museum, published as a separate document, contains a detailed list
of the year’s acquisitions, of which the more important are summarized
below. Catalog entries in all departments now total 34,764,250.
Anthropology.—A collection of 315 chipped-stone artifacts, includ-
ing fluted projectile points and other man-made objects that suggest
a Paleo-Indian culture, from the Shoop site, Dauphin County, Pa., is
of particular interest. The Carnegie Institution of Washington, in
continuation of their generous cooperation, donated a collection of
potsherds representing type objects from excavated sites in the Maya
area.
Through an exchange with the Denver Art Museum, the division of
ethnology acquired two ceremonial bundles that were formerly used
by northern Blackfoot Indians in the rites for tobacco planting. A
rare and valuable Chinese Lamaist robe, of dark blue silk and embel-
lished with over-all couching of braided silk and embroidery in metal-
lic gilt, was presented by Maj. Lee Hagood who had acquired it in
Shanghai in 1918. Objects recovered from historical sites of villages,
trading posts, and factories in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New
York, and Massachusetts and other New England States were received
from various donors. Of outstanding interest and usefulness to the
collector and student of early American ceramics are 189 pieces of red-
ware, stoneware, and other types of New England folk pottery pre-
sented by Mrs. Lura Woodside Watkins. These pottery fragments
excavated from sites of New England potteries in existence between
14
SECRETARY’S REPORT 15
1687 and 1880 were assembled by Mrs. Watkins as a study collection for
use and illustration in her “New England Potters and Their Wares.”
Another important addition, presented by Mrs. Florence Bushee of
Newbury, comprises 320 fragments and whole specimens of glass and
ceramics excavated by the late Charles H. Danforth at the site of the
Boston and Sandwich Glass Co. factory at Sandwich, Mass.
A cast of the Hotu IT skull excavated in Iran in 1951 was donated
by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and
the American Institute of Human Paleontology.
Zoology.—More than 1,000 mammals collected by Charles O. Hand-
ley, Jr., in the Kalahari Desert region of South West Africa, while
serving as a member of the Peabody-Harvard expedition under the
leadership of L. K. Marshall, were added to the collection. Nearly
500 small mammals were received from various units and members of
the military services stationed in Korea and Japan. As transfers the
Museum received 47 mammals of Madagascar from Lt. Vernon J. Tip-
ton, United States Army Medical Service Graduate School; and a
series of rodents from the Marshall, Gilbert, Phoenix, and Tahiti
Islands from investigators working under the auspices of the United
States Geological Survey and the Pacific Science Board of the Na-
tional Research Council. Dr. Henry W. Setzer, while giving instruc-
tion on the preparation of specimens for purposes of documentation
to members of a U. S. Army medical unit, obtained 156 mammals in
Panama.
On the termination of fieldwork in Colombia by M. A. Carriker, Jr.,
whose collecting has been financed for several years by the income from
the W. L. Abbott bequest, 2,174 skins and 225 skeletons of birds were
forwarded to the Museum. The Abbott bequest also provided funds
for the purchase of 349 skins of birds from Northern Rhodesia. Dr.
Harry M. Smith presented 386 skins of birds taken in northern Burma.
As transfers the Museum received 58 Alaskan bird skins from the Pub-
lic Health Service’s Arctic Health Research Center at Anchorage and
49 skins and 20 skeletons of birds from the Office of Naval Research
taken in the vicinity of Point Barrow, Alaska.
Collecting on various islands in the Pacific Ocean, chiefly in the
Marshall and Gilbert Islands and the Tuamotus, under the auspices of
the Pacific Science Board by Joe T. Marshall, Edwin T. Moul, and J.
P. E. Morrison, and of the United States Geological Survey by F. R.
Fosberg, resulted in the transfer of 365 lizards to the Museum.
More than 14,000 specimens of fishes obtained by Dr. William Beebe
in Bermuda and the Caribbean area were presented by the New York
Zoological Society. Other important accessions recorded were some
1,500 fishes from the Blue Dolphin North Atlantic expeditions under
the leadership of Comdr. David C. Nutt; 528 fishes from the Gulf
of Mexico and the coast of Washington transferred by the United
16 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
States Fish and Wildlife Service; 67 paratypes of Mexican fishes from
Dr. José Alvarez; and 582 fishes from the Red Sea collected by Dr.
Eugenie Clark. As exchanges there were received 144 fishes, including
32 holotypes and paratypes, from the University of Hawaii, and 161
specimens, representing 100 species of Indian fishes, from the Zoologi-
cal Survey of India.
The Korschefsky collection of ladybird beetles, comprising over
14,000 specimens and containing 1,445 named species representing 206
genera, was acquired by purchase by the Smithsonian Institution, thus
increasing the usefulness of the reference series for this family of
beetles. As a result of the gift of 539 termites, comprising 96 species
hitherto unrepresented in the collections, of which 65 were represented
by type material, by Dr. Alfred Emerson, University of Chicago, the
national collections now contain representatives of more than 1,000 of
the 1,800 known species.
Over 3,200 identified polychaete worms were presented by Dr.
Marian H. Pettibone, of the University of New Hampshire. As
transfers from the Pacific Science Board, the Division of Marine In-
vertebrates received 3,412 forms of marine life found on Raroia Atoll
in the ‘luamotus; 3,980 invertebrates collected on the northern Mar-
shall and Gilbert Islands from the United States Geological Survey ;
and more than 10,000 identified peneid shrimps and some 500 miscel-
laneous crustaceans and other marine invertebrates of the Gulf of
Mexico from the Fish and Wildlife Service. About 800 holotypes and
paratypes were added to the marine-invertebrate collections by the
donors who described the new species.
Mollusks from atolls in the northern Marshall Islands, Onotoa Atoll
in the Gilbert Islands, Raroia in the Tuamotus, and localities in the
Fiji, Cook, and Society Islands were transferred by the Pacific Science
Board and the United States Geological Survey. Approximately
2,000 land, fresh-water, and marine mollusks from Stewart Island,
New Zealand, were presented by Miss Olive Allan. A representation
of almost all known races and colonies of the colorful tree snails
(Liguus) of Florida, totaling 1,680 specimens, was received from
Ralph H. Humes. Dr. George R. LaRue, University of Michigan,
one of the leading American parasitologists, presented 1,200 lots of
tapeworms and digenetic trematodes. Nearly 100 echinoderms from
Onotoa Atoll collected by Dr. P. E. Cloud, Jr., and 707 from the
Marshall Islands collected by F. S. MacNeil were transferred by the
United States Geological Survey.
Botany.—An important addition to the South American collections
resulted from the transfer to the National Herbarium from the herb-
arium of the National Arboretum, United States Department of
Agriculture, of 45,000 botanical specimens collected in Ecuador and
Colombia by the staffs of the Cinchona missions. The Division of
SECRETARY’S REPORT 7
Plant Introduction and Exploration, United States Department of
Agriculture, transferred 704 specimens from Turkey and South Africa
and 968 specimens from southern Brazil. Australian plants collected
by L. R. Specht while participating in the National Geographic
Society-Smithsonian Institution-Commonwealth of Australia expedi-
tion to Arnhem Land were presented by the Australian Government.
Gifts included 283 plants of the table mountains of Venezuela from
the New York Botanical Garden; 1,693 Virginia plants from H. A.
Allard; 498 specimens, mostly from the Amazon region, from the
Instituto Agronomico do Norte, Belém, Para, Brazil; and 446 Colom-
bian plants from the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Bogota.
As exchanges, several large collections were received, of which refer-
ence may be made to 2,070 specimens, mostly from Cuba, from the
Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm; 1,312 specimens from the
Komarov Botanical Institute, Academy of Sciences, U. S. S. R.; and
579 specimens from the Belgian Congo from the Jardin Botanique
de l’Etat, Brussels.
E. P. Killip collected 2,281 plants for the Museum on Big Pine Key,
Fla., and the Isle of Pines, Cuba. Fieldwork by Dr. Ernest R. Sohns
in Guanajuato, Mexico, added 875 specimens to the herbarium.
Geology.—Noteworthy gifts received include an exhibition group of
datolite crystals from Joseph §. Rapalus; uranium minerals from
Utah from George Dix; and a large polished slab of rhodocrosite of
rich rose color obtained in Argentina from Ellis Clarke Soper.
A fine crystal of gadolinite from Norway, an aquamarine (beryl)
crystal from Russia, a large specimen of vanadinite from Mexico, sev-
eral groups of unusual cyrtolite crystals from Colorado, and a milarite
crystal from Switzerland were added to the Roebling Collection.
Included among the additions to the Canfield Collection were a large
and unusual cruciform twin crystal of quartz from Mexico, a group of
quartz crystals from Madagascar, an emerald crystal from Austria, an
opal from Australia, and a large green tourmaline crystal from Brazil.
The Chamberlain bequest provided funds for the purchase of a 28.8-
carat green apatite from Burma and a 17.3-carat pink scapolite cat’s-
eye from Ceylon. A very unusual golden beryl cat’s-eye from Mada-
gascar, weighing 43 carats, was acquired for the gem collection by
exchange. Dr. Stuart H. Perry continued his interest in the meteorite
collection by donating a sample of the unique Soroti, Uganda, meteor-
ite; other meteorites, mostly from the United States, were acquired by
gift or purchase.
As gifts, the Museum received Permian gastropods from the Florida
Mountains, N. Mex., Miocene mollusks from Bogachiel River, Wash.,
Cretaceous and Tertiary Foraminifera from Egypt, Cretaceous inver-
tebrates from Texas, Permian invertebrates from Sicily, Devonian
18 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
fossils from Iowa, Tertiary invertebrates from Trinidad, and Foram-
inifera from the Gulf of Mexico.
Through funds provided by the Springer bequest, the Museum ac-
quired 11 type specimens of Carboniferous and Ordovician crinoids
and 45 metatypes of other Ordovician crinoids from Oklahoma. The
Museum purchased under the Walcott bequest Mesozoic invertebrates
from the Austrian Alps and Tertiary and Mesozoic brachiopods from
Sicily. Fieldwork financed by the same bequest resulted in the col-
lection in Mexico of 900 rock samples containing Foraminifera by Dr.
A. R. Loeblich, Jr., and Dr. David H. Dunkle, and 10,000 invertebrates
by Dr. G. A. Cooper, Arthur L. Bowsher, and William T. Allen in
New Mexico, Texas, and Missouri.
Six transfers were received from the United States Geological Sur-
vey, among which were specimens sorted out from the deep-sea cores
obtained in the North Atlantic. Another transfer, received from the
Office of Naval Research, contains the type specimens of fossil woods
from the Cretaceous of Alaska described by Dr. C. A. Arnold, of the
University of Michigan.
One of the largest accessions, 500,000 Arctic Foraminifera, includes
materials obtained during cruises of the U. 8S. S. Albatross vessels
under the command of Capt. R. A. Bartlett and Comdr. David C.
Nutt, and specimens obtained by Dr. A. R. Loeblich, Jr., under a grant
from the Office of Naval Research.
New and interesting specimens have been acquired by exchange, in-
cluding many genera and species of Foraminifera not hitherto repre-
sented in the collections, 158 invertebrates from the Triassic of Eng-
land and the Tertiary of Germany, 355 Austrian Triassic brachiopods
from the Naturhistorisches Museum, and 69 Paleozoic and Cenozoic
brachiopods from Japan from the National University, Yokohama.
Transfers from the Smithsonian River Basin Surveys include,
among others, a nearly complete skeleton of the fossil reptile Champ-
sosaurus from the Paleocene of North Dakota, a plesiosaur skeleton
from the Upper Cretaceous of Wyoming, and some 70 specimens of
mammals from Oligocene and Miocene strata of the Canyon Ferry
Reservoir area in Montana, all collected by Dr. T. E. White. An im-
portant assemblage of Paleocene mammalian jaws and teeth from the
Bison basin in central Wyoming as well as several small collections
of mammals from Kocene beds of the Powder River and Wind River
basins in Wyoming and from the Eocene and Oligocene in Montana
were transferred by the United States Geological Survey. Lower and
Middle Cretaceous fishes were collected in Mexico by Dr. David H.
Dunkle under the income of the Walcott bequest. An excellent col-
lection of cetacean and other mammalian remains from the Miocene
of the Chesapeake Bay region made by the late Dr. R. Lee Collins
was presented to the Museum by his wife.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 19
Engineering and industries.—Nearly 500 electronic and radio de-
vices collected and preserved by the late L. C. F. Horle, radio pioneer
and engineer, were presented by Mrs. Susan Horle. Of equal inter-
est is a small planing machine reputed to have been used to plane
bamboo for the filaments of early Edison lamps, presented by Dr.
Vannevar Bush. Allen Pope presented a gasoline engine made about
1898 by his father, Harry Pope, to power an experimental] automo-
bile. An apparatus for taking core samples of the ocean bottom,
perfected by Dr. Charles S. Piggot and received from the Carnegie
Institution of Washington, has considerable historical significance
inasmuch as the subsequent development of this instrument has vastly
extended knowledge of the ocean floor.
From Dr. Selman A. Waksman the Museum received the original
shaking machine and innoculating needle used by him in the experi-
ments that resulted in the discovery of the antibiotic streptomycin.
Another outstanding accession was the gift by the Lithographers
National Association, Inc., of 142 lithographs, plates, and other tech-
nical materials which will be used in preparing a display of the his-
tory and techniques of offset lithography. José Ortiz Echagiie, a dis-
tinguished Spanish pictorial photographer, presented 15 of his carbon
fresson process prints. Six prints by the English pictorialist, the late
Alexander Keighley, were received from his estate.
A scale model of the Fourdrinier papermaking machine was pre-
sented by the Hammermill Paper Co., and one of a modern cotton
ginning mill constructed at the United States Cotton Laboratory,
Stoneville, Miss., was transferred from the United States Department
of Agriculture. A pictorial quilt of Fort Dearborn, made about 1815,
was received from Mrs. John H. Snyder.
As exchanges, the Museum acquired 20 specimens of woods of
Thailand from the Royal Forest Department, Bangkok. Study sets
of the woods of New Zealand, Sarawak, and Iriomote Islands were
also added to the collection.
History.—Of particular interest among the accessions was the gift
by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson of the laces, embroidered linens, and a large
gold, diamond, and lalique glass brooch presented to her when she
accompanied President Wilson to Europe in 1919. The collection of
dresses of the First Ladies of the White House was augmented by the
dress given by Mrs. Harry S. Truman to represent the administration
of President Truman, 1945-1953. A black crepe dress worn by Queen
Victoria of the United Kingdom about 1880 was given to the costume
collection by Mrs. Langley Moore, of the London Museum of Costume.
The Department of Justice transferred 93 pistols needed to com-
plete the series of modern firearms in the division of military history.
Further additions to the Straub collection of gold and silver coins
were made by Paul A. Straub.
20 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
The Post Office Department transferred to the division of philately
3,198 recently issued stamps which had been distributed by the Uni-
versal Postal Union. Gifts of stamps also were received from the
Governments of Monaco, Philippines, Netherlands, Nicaragua,
Czechoslovakia, Poland, Australia, and Norway, and from the United
Nations Postal Administration. Outstanding additions to the phil-
atelic collection were as follows: 12 volumes of stamps of Convention
States of India from an anonymous donor; carrier stamps and rare
foreign stamps from Philip H. Ward, Jr.; Nesbitt dies and postal
fiscal stamps of Austria-Hungary from B. H. Homan; and United
States precancels and Bureau print precancel errors from John R.
Boker, Jr.
EXPLORATION AND FIELDWORK
At the invitation of Princeton University, Dr. Waldo R. Wedel,
curator of archeology, participated from July until September 1952 as
the representative of the Smithsonian Institution in the interpretation
of the archeological aspects of a site near Cody, Wyo., occupied nearly
7,000 years ago by aboriginal hunters of buffalo. Ninety-five archeo-
logical sites located in the Upper Essequibo, the Rupununi savannas,
and the coastal area of the northwest district of British Guiana were
surveyed and excavated in the interval between October 1952 and
April 1953 by Dr. Clifford Evans, associate curator of archeology,
under a Fulbright research grant, funds provided by the Smithsonian
Institution, and grants from other sources to the coinvestigator, Dr.
Betty J. Meggers. At the request of a field party of the United States
Geological Survey working in the Monument Valley-Comb Ridge
area of northeastern Arizona, Dr. Walter W. Taylor, collaborator in
anthropology, visited 41 sites, from 17 of which sherd collections were
assembled for subsequent study. At the close of the fiscal year John
C. Ewers, associate curator of ethnology, was conducting field investi-
gations of Assiniboin Indian arts and crafts on Fort Peck and Fort
Belknap Reservations, Montana.
During the last half of the year 1952, Charles O. Handley, Jr., assist-
ant curator of mammals, observed and collected mammals in the
Kalahari Desert region of northeastern South West Africa while
assigned to the Peabody-Harvard ethnological expedition. Following
arrival at Walvis Bay on July 1, 1953, the party, under the direction
of L. K. Marshall, proceeded to Windhoek which served as a base
for the 6-months investigation of the primitive Bushmen residing in
the desert south of Okavongo River. Maun in Bechuanaland was the
easternmost locality visited. In June 1953 Mr. Handley also made a
short field trip to the Dismal Swamp of Virginia to obtain additional
data for inclusion in a memoir on that swamp sponsored by the Vir-
ginia Academy of Sciences. At the request of the Army Medical
SECRETARY’S REPORT 21
Services, Dr. Henry W. Setzer, associate curator of mammals, was
given a detail in January and February 1953 to proceed to the Canal
Zone of Panama to give instruction to members of the 25th Preventive
Medicine Survey Detachment on the collection and preparation of
study specimens of mammals involved in the parasitological and epi-
demiological investigations of tropical diseases, and on the comple-
tion of this assignment he devoted a few days to the study of the fauna
of Barro Colorado Island.
During May and June, Dr. Alexander Wetmore, research associate,
assisted by W. M. Perrygo of the National Museum, carried on field
studies on the distribution of bird life in Panama in continuation of a
program begun several years ago. The work this year covered an area
in the southern part of the Province of Veraguas, extending from the
National Highway that crosses western Panama down through the
great tracts of swampy forest that le back of the southern coast. The
series of specimens obtained give valuable comparative material from
an area that previously had been poorly represented in the National
Museum collections. Field observations were highly interesting, since
the middle of May marked the beginning of the rains, whereas most
of the earlier studies had been made during the dry season of the year.
Many of the resident birds exhibit marked difference in habit between
the two periods. Though most of the great host of migrant birds from
North America that winter here leave for the north by May, numerous
records were obtained of several species of which there are groups of
younger individuals that have not yet attained breeding status but
that remain in these tropical areas through the summer season when
the older members are on their northern nesting grounds. Orni-
thological fieldwork in Thailand by Herbert G. Deignan was made
possible by grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and special
research funds of the Smithsonian Institution. He arrived at Bangkok
on October 8, 1952, and 12 days later departed for the hills west of
that city accompanied by Robert E. Elbel, Mutual Security Agency,
and three native assistants. Collections were made in Kanchanaburi
province during October and November. Fieldwork in Prochnap
Khiri Khan province, which is situated in southwestern Thailand
between the Gulf of Siam and the Tenasserim Mountain range, was
completed on December 31, 1952. The field party worked during
January 1953 in the mountainous areas of western Nan and northern
Lampang provinces on the Thailand-Laos frontier. On F ebruary 9,
1953, Deignan arrived at Chiang Rai, capital of the northernmost
province, and from there proceeded to the Mekong River Valley and
made collections at Chiang Saen Kao in the region where the bound-
aries of Burma, Thailand, and Indo-China meet. After returning to
Bangkok on March 20, Deignan devoted a week to fieldwork in Ratburi
province, which is situated betwen the provinces of Kanchanaburi and
22 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Prochnap Khiri Khan. The field party then proceeded late in March
to the forested area near Ban Hua Thanon in Khlong Klung Valley,
province of Nakhon Sawan, where fieldwork in Thailand was termi-
nated on May 4, 1953.
Traveling by air from Washington, D. C., Dr. Joseph P. E. Morri-
son, associate curator of mollusks, arrived at Viti Levu, one of the
Fiji Islands, on June 11, 1952, and continued the flight on the same
day to Tahiti by way of the Cook Islands. Following 10 days of col-
lecting on Tahiti, the team for the study of coral-atoll ecology or-
ganized by the Pacific Science Board was transported, through the
courtesy of the French Government, some 450 miles by schooner to
Raroia Atoll, where field studies and collections were made from
June 26 to September 7, 1952. Members of the field party were
brought back to Tahiti by the same French schooner. Following
another week of collecting on Tahiti, Dr. Morrison proceeded by air
to Aitutaki in the Cook Islands and Viti Levu, the season’s work being
completed on September 23 at that locality.
Fieldwork by three parties engaged in search for invertebrate and
vertebrate fossils was financed by the income from the Walcott bequest.
Dr. G. A. Cooper, curator, Arthur L. Bowsher, associate curator, and
W. T. Allen, aide, division of invertebrate paleontology and paleo-
botany, commenced the season’s work on July 9, 1952, at Adair, Okla.,
where they spent 2 days collecting Mississippian fossils while en route
to Pine Springs Camp in the Guadalupe Mountains of western Texas.
Blocks of invertebrate fossils were quarried from the Permian reef
limestone near Guadalupe Peak. On July 18 Cooper’s party pro-
ceeded to Silver City, N. Mex., to obtain Devonian fossils and thence
to other Devonian localities in the vicinity of Kingston, Mud Springs
Mountains, Derry, the San Andreas and Sacramento Mountains near
Alamogordo, and the Mimbres Mountains. Blocks of silicified upper
Pennsylvanian limestone were also collected in the southern part of
the Sacramento Mountains. On the return trip stops were made July
29 to August 2, at Ponca City and Tulsa, Okla., to collect Permian
invertebrates, and in Missouri for Mississippian fossils.
From the middle of September until mid-December, associate cura-
tors Dr. A. R. Loeblich, Jr., and Dr. David H. Dunkle searched for
Jurassic and Cretaceous invertebrates and Mesozoic and Tertiary
vertebrates in eastern and southern Mexico. They made initial col-
lections in the extensive Cretaceous beds in Coahuila and Tamaulipas
and later continued the fieldwork in Puebla, Oaxaca, and Chiapas.
In the course of this trip, which traversed the Sierra Madre Oriental
from the vicinity of Monterrey to beyond the Isthmus of Tehuantepec,
they collected Foraminifera, mollusks, and brachiopods from the
Mesozoic deposits and vertebrates from an Upper Cretaceous forma-
SECRETARY’S REPORT 23
tion in Tamaulipas, Lower Cretaceous deposits near Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca,
and a Tertiary occurrence near Guanajuato.
The recently discovered occurrence of Paleocene mammals in the
Bison Basin near the divide between the Red Desert and the valley of
the Sweetwater River in south-central Wyoming by a field party of
the United States Geological Survey led Dr. C. L. Gazin, curator of
vertebrate paleontology, with the assistance of F. L. Pearce, to com-
mence an intensive search for additional materials.
A grant from the National Science Foundation enabled Dr. A. C.
Smith, curator of phanerogams, to proceed from Washington on
March 6, 1953, to Fiji, where it is his intention to continue botanical]
field studies until January 1954 on the upland regions on south-central
Viti Levu as well as on Ovalau, Taveuni, and Ngan.
Dr. Ernest R. Sohns, associate curator of grasses, devoted several
weeks in October and November 1952 to collecting grasses in Mexico,
mostly in the State of Guanajuato.
K. P. Killip, research associate in botany, continued his critical
studies of the plants of Big Pine Key, Fla., and was engaged also
for several months in collecting plants on the Isle of Pines, Cuba.
Mendel L. Peterson, acting head curator of the department of his-
tory, participated in May 1953 in the underwater investigation of the
site of a Spanish ship sunk off Plantation Key, Fla. Evidence found
on the wreck proved this ship to have been one of a fleet com-
manded by Admiral de Torres which, according to documents pre-
served in the Casa Lonja in Seville, Spain, was wrecked on a nearby
reef during a hurricane on July 15, 1733. Hand grenades, cannon
balls, swords, flintlock muskets, silver coins, and pewter utensils were
recovered at the site. This fieldwork is carried on under a grant
of funds from E. A. Link, of the Link Aviation Corp.
VISITORS
During the fiscal year 1953 there were 3,120,657 visitors to the
Museum buildings, an average daily attendance of 8,549. This is an
increase of 17,006 over the total of 3,103,651 visitors in the previous
fiscal year. ‘The 207,420 school children included in this total arrived
in 5,041 separate groups. Most of them traveled by bus, and some
came from localities as far distant as Montana, North and South
Dakota, Texas, and Mississippi. Small groups of schoolchildren are
not recorded. Almost two-thirds of all the visitors entered the
Museum buildings during April to August, inclusive. April 1953 was
the month of the largest attendance with 495,302 visitors; August
1952 was the next largest with 430,154; and May 1953 was third with
413,786. Attendance records for the buildings show the following
numbers of visitors: Smithsonian Building, 623,269; Arts and Indus-
tries Building, 1,666,613; and Natural History Building, 830,775.
284725548
24 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT
During the year five office rooms assigned to the division of crafts
and industries in the Arts and Industries Building were reconditioned,
the work involving the construction of concrete floors, the painting
of the office rooms, and replastering of one wall. Steel racks were
constructed for housing 1,170 drawers, which provided accessibility to
3,860 cubic feet of anthropological materials hitherto located in essen-
tially dead storage.
CHANGES IN ORGANIZATION AND STAFF
The vacancy in the division of medicine and public health was
filled on December 8, 1952, by the appointment of George B. Griffen-
hagen as associate curator.
Respectfully submitted.
Remineron Kexroce, Director.
Dr. Lronarp CARMICHAEL,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
APPENDIX 2
Report on the National Gallery of Art
Sm: I have the honor to submit, on behalf of the Board of Trus-
tees, the Sixteenth Annual Report of the National Gallery of Art,
for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1953. This report is made pursuant
to the provisions of section 5 (d) of Public Resolution No. 14, 75th
Congress, 1st session, approved March 24, 1937 (50 Stat. 51).
ORGANIZATION
The statutory members of the Board of Trustees of the National
Gallery of Art are the Chief Justice of the United States, the Secre-
tary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of
the Smithsonian Institution, ex officio. The five general trustees con-
tinuing in office during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1953, were
Samuel H. Kress, Ferdinand Lammot Belin, Duncan Phillips, Chester
Dale, and Paul Mellon. The Board of Trustees held its annual meet-
ing on May 5, 1953. Samuel H. Kress was reelected President and
Ferdinand Lammot Belin, Vice President, to serve for the ensuing
year. Donald D. Shepard continued to serve during the year as
adviser to the Board.
All the executive officers of the Gallery continued in office during
the year:
Huntington Cairns, Secretary-Treasurer.
David E. Finley, Director.
Harry A. McBride, Administrator.
Huntington Cairns, General Counsel.
John Walker, Chief Curator.
Macgill James, Assistant Director.
The three standing committees of the Board, as constituted at the
annual meeting May 5, 1953, were as follows:
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Chief Justice of the United States, Fred M. Vinson, chairman.
Samuel H. Kress, vice chairman.
Ferdinand Lammot Belin.
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Leonard Carmichael.
Paul Mellon.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Secretary of the Treasury, George M. Humphrey, chairman.
Samuel H. Kress, vice chairman.
25
26 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Ferdinand Lammot Belin.
Chester Dale.
Paul Mellon.
ACQUISITIONS COMMITTEE
Ferdinand Lammot Belin, chairman.
Duncan Phillips.
Chester Dale.
Paul Mellon.
David E. Finley.
PERSONNEL
On June 30, 1953, full-time Government employees on the staff of
the National Gallery of Art numbered 304, as compared with 301
employees as of June 30, 1952. The United States Civil Service
regulations govern the appointment of employees paid from appro-
priated public funds.
APPROPRIATIONS
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1953, the Congress of the United
States appropriated for the National Gallery of Art $1,428,050, to be
used for salaries and expenses in the operation and upkeep of the
Gallery, the protection and care of works of art acquired by the Board
of Trustees, and all administrative expenses incident thereto, as au-
thorized by section 4 (a) of Public Resolution No. 14, 75th Congress,
1st session, approved March 24, 1937 (50 Stat. 51). This sum in-
cludes the regular appropriation of $1,240,550 and a supplemental
appropration of $187,500 for the replacement and repair of refrigera-
tion equipment used in connection with the air conditioning.
From the regular appropriation the following expenditures and
encumbrances were incurred:
Personal services_-__------------------------------~—---------- $1, 108, 950. 60
Printing and reproduction__----------------------------------- 5, 222. 31
Electricity, supplies, equipment, ete---------------------------- 126, 347. 59
Unobligated balance_---~------------------------------------- 30. 10
otal 22 le o be _2l + te eee ee eee 1, 240, 550. 00
From the supplemental appropriation the following expenditures
and encumbrances were incurred :
Replacement of 3 refrigeration machines! "2-22. ea $170, 398. 00
Repair of motors, etec-_----------------------------------------- 3, 806. 30
Unobligated balance__-_-----—---------------------------—------- 138, 795. 70
Mi We) Bi eee eee ee 187, 500. 00
SECRETARY'S REPORT Die.
ATTENDANCE
There were 1,647,470 visitors to the Gallery during the fiscal year
1953, an average daily attendance of about 4,538. This is an increase
of 124,874 over the number for 1952. Since March 17, 1941, when the
Gallery was opened to the public, to June 30, 1958, there have been
21,931,483 visitors.
ACCESSIONS
There were 1,408 accessions by the National Gallery of Art as gifts,
loans, and deposits during the fiscal year 1953. Most of the paintings
and a number of the prints were placed on exhibition.
GIFTS
PAINTINGS
The Board of Trustees on July 21, 1952, accepted from Mrs. Augus-
tus Vincent Tack the gift of a portrait of President Truman, painted
by her husband, which will be held for a National Portrait Gallery.
On October 21 the Gallery received the gift of a painting from Samuel
L. Fuller, entitled “Portrait of a Lady,” by Salviati, which had been
accepted by the Board of Trustees on December 6, 1950. On Novem-
ber 8, the Board accepted the bequest by the late Mrs. Charles S.
Carstairs of three paintings: “Head of a Woman,” by Manet; “The
Sisters,” by Berthe Morisot; and a portrait of herself by Sir William
Orpen. The gift of a painting by Leonid entitled “Faraduro,” from
the Avalon Foundation, was accepted by the Board of Trustees on
December 3, 1952. On February 9, 1953, the Board accepted from
Frederick Sturges, Jr., the painting “Newport Harbor, 1857,” by John
Kensett. On March 30, 1953, the Board accepted a bequest of the
following seven paintings from the late Adolph Caspar Miller:
Artist Title
Grama Che So OE A en rete a ee ee Madonna and Child.
Vial cles. 2 Os tr — Portrait of a Young Man.
(POteriGertn erates pane reser eh tare ee Portrait of a Young Man.
Peter: Gertner 222 eee owe a oe ee eee Portrait of a Lady.
AMDFOSIUSHSENSONY Se) 2a ann on ee ee ee ey Portrait of a Man.
AMDROS TUS DCN SO Meek. Ane ee ee ee Portrait of a Lady.
Barthel Pruyne see eee att eee Ee oe mee oi Portrait of a Man.
SCULPTURE
On October 21, 1952, the Board accepted a bequest by the late Albert
K. Gallatin of a bust of Whistler by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm which
will be held for a National Portrait Gallery. On December 3 the
Board accepted a gift from the children of the late Mrs. Otto Kahn
28 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
of a terra-cotta bust of an old man, Florentine School, second half
of fifteenth century.
PRINTS AND DRAWINGS
On October 21, 1952, the Board of Trustees accepted 693 prints and
drawings from Lessing J. Rosenwald to be added to his gift to the
Gallery. On December 3 the Board approved the addition of 96 prints
by Alphonse Legros to the gift of George Matthew Adams. On
December 30 the Board accepted a gift from Rush H. Kress of an
early sixteenth-century German manuscript choral in two volumes.
EXCHANGE OF WORKS OF ART
On October 21, 1952, the Board of Trustees accepted the offer of
Lessing J. Rosenwald to exchange the following five prints by Van
Meckenem for superior impressions of the same works : “Christ Before
Caiphas,” “Scourged,” “Pilate Washing His Hands,” “Christ Shown
to the People,” and “Crucifixion.” On May 5, 1953, the Board ap-
proved Mr. Rosenwald’s offer to exchange the following three prints
for superior impressions: “The Spinner,” by Van Meckenem ; “Vir-
gin with the Pear,” by Durer; “Madonna and Child Standing on a
Crescent Moon,” by Altdorfer.
WORKS OF ART ON LOAN
During the fiscal year 1953 the following works of art were received
on loan by the National Gallery of Art:
From
Chester Dale, New York, N. Y.: Artist
MeO NES Tei) Ce eee Bellows.
Md OuUaA TCs ale eee Bazille.
Me Pontuneutes.n. 2 te ee eee ee Marquet.
These tienen eee ee oe oe ee eee eee ees Bonnard.
Witoeitty ore ch (Olle ee ee ee Derain.
MilesmorawMlagrise 2 == = eee Picasso.
Dining in the Garden__-------.------------------ Vuillard.
Jacques-Louis David______-_--------------------- Rouget.
ING eee ee ee eee De la Fresnaye.
SIT 2p ISAS a ee Modigliani.
IMOnnIn Cara 7 C2 eee ee ee eee Monet.
Woman with ao Urbane ee eer Matisse.
Putnam Foundation, San Diego, Calif.:
Sie, Den LAO TD Bae ee a et ere ee Rembrandt.
Meath or che Virgin’ 2 se eee Petrus Christus.
Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, D. C.:
16 objects of pre-Columbian art.
LOANED WORKS OF ART RETURNED
'The following works of art on loan were returned during the fiscal
year 1953:
SECRETARY’S REPORT 29
T'o
Chester Dale, New York, N. Y.: Artist
BS Ce) VE OUTS) ea iy David.
Housesiof. Parliaments =. 2322223520. eee Monet.
MressChester, ales so-so ee Bellows.
Mrs, Thomas Palmer (i?) ~~ + a ee Feke.
Portrait of a Lady, in. Red=-.-- +. —.---2--=--=— === Theus.
Black awk= s=-aa i= joa a ee eee King.
Bortraitiol ayboyseh sa a ee, Rousseau.
The Windmill]. 2 2 ae eee Ryder.
Basquesuandscapest= 2 eee ee ee Oudot.
Woman witha Turban == 2s eo ee eee Matisse.
ALT SY SSC ETO} bt ep 102) enemas ees en Lo eee eee Picasso.
Fernand Stuyck del Bruyére, Belgium:
COR iis a ae ee oe Henri met de Bles.
WORKS OF ART LENT
During the fiscal year 1953, the Gallery lent the following works of
art for exhibition purposes:
To
The Chattanooga Art Association,
Chattanooga, Tenn. : Artist
PIPAMEICAM PE POLELA (Sees ee a a ee ee Various.
The Mint Museum, Charlotte, N. C.:
QOMAMEeTI CAM POLELALES eee ae eee ope ee eee Sees Various.
Randolph-Macon College, Lynchburg, Va.:
SwAmericant porbeaits= e- e e e e eee Various.
American Federation of Arts, New York, N. Y.:
Mrsmevia tess. fox se Sian bae 2h meer PPAR le 2 ee Gilbert Stuart.
Virginia Museum, Richmond, Va.:
Bulls’ of Bordeaux (series of 4)—--=.-_---.-___._-_+__=.- Goya.
The White House, Washington, D. C.:
Arctic) Lnree-Loecdey O00 PCCKCR 2s sae ee eee J. J. Audubon.
Orchard Oriol ea. ee ee ee ee J. J. Audubon.
Aiiiess Days May el Odes eee ee Le Se Childe Hassam.
Portraits wuinco ln ees eee Re eee Volk.
Abraham uineollss 2 2226 ae Lambdin.
Newportmelanbor Sofas ——e—— Mpa esi A Pine eave Kensett.
Wandsceapes: 322.3. os ee ee Harpignies.
Nathanielbiawthorne= = = 222 eee eee Emanuel Leutze.
MewWitte Clmton==— 2-2 oo 28 ot es Dee eee ee eee John W. Jarvis.
AMGTeW, OaCKSONe a2. 3 ae ee ee Ralph Earle.
General Washington at Princeton_.—._______________--- Charles Polk.
Mee a ese (SAT ViaALGCOsp VCTiCe)) meee oe ee E. Vail.
Blair-Lee House, Washington, D. C.:
lennya Clay. a eS ee es ee Healy.
Wranictinweiereeec. 2 52 Soo ae eee ee ee Healy.
\Wishbbehoy leavin leaky aay ee ee eee Lambdin.
FL ACa 0b 0 VBA Oe Weds) 0NC3 1 PE RE Se pee age eee ee Lambdin.
Allios Daya Mia yetON (2. 5 Ue oe Childe Hassam.
30 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
EXHIBITIONS
The following exhibitions were held at the National Gallery of Art
during the fiscal year 1953:
Lithographs by Toulouse-Lautrec. Selected from the Rosenwald Collection.
Continued from previous fiscal year through August 3, 1952.
American Portraits from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art. August
10 through September 28, 1952.
Demonstration of Techniques. Watercolor renderings from the Index of
American Design. October 5 through October 7, 1952.
American Antiques. Watercolor renderings from the Index of American
Design. October 9 through October 19, 1952.
French Drawings, Masterpieces from Five Centuries. From the Louvre, other
French museums and private collections. Sponsored by Smithsonian Traveling
Exhibition Service. November 2 through November 30, 1952.
Twentieth-Century French Paintings From the Chester Dale Collection.
Opened November 22, 1952, to continue indefinitely.
Japanese Painting and Sculpture, From the 6th Century A. D. to the 19th
Century. Sponsored by the Government of Japan. January 25 through Febru-
ary 25, 1953.
Nuremberg and the German World, 1460-1530. Prints and books from the
Kress and Rosenwald Collections. March 15 through July 12, 1953.
19th- and 20th-Century Paintings from the Edward G. Robinson Collection.
May 10 through June 24, 1953.
TRAVELING EXHIBITIONS
Rosenwald Collection—Special exhibitions of prints from the
Rosenwald Collection were circulated to the following places during
the fiscal year 1953:
Chattanooga Art Association, Chattanooga, Tenn. :
Collection of Master Prints.
July 12—-August 4, 1952.
University of Alabama, University, Ala. ;
Toulouse-Lautree Prints.
August 1952.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Mich. :
18th-Century Venetian Art.
September-October, 1952.
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Md.:
“The World Encompassed”—4 maps.
October 7—-November 23, 1952.
Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pa.:
3 Blake prints, to accompany premier of Virgil Thompson’s themes from
Blake’s “Songs of Innocence and Experience.”
October 10, 1952.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pa.:
“Graphic Art by 20th-Century Sculptors”—12 drawings.
October 11—December 7, 1952.
Society of the Four Arts, Palm Springs, Fla. :
2 Oudry Drawings.
November 15--December 12, 1952.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 3l
Religious Art Committee of Student Body, Union Theological Seminary, New
York, N. Y.:
4 prints.
November 30—December 16, 1952.
John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, Ind.:
18th-Century Venetian Art.
November 1952-—January 4, 1953.
Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Lynchburg, Va.:
Collection of Master Prints.
December 1952.
Virginia Museum, Richmond, Va.:
Goya-Tauromachia prints.
January 1953.
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio:
Music Manuscripts.
January 11—March 1, 1953.
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, N. Y.:
“Landscape Drawings and Water Colors; Breugel to Cezanne”’—7 drawings.
January 30—April 11, 1953.
Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Pa. :
Selections from Recent French Acquisitions.
February 9—March 1, 1953.
Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colo.:
“Art Tells the Story”—1 Blake print.
March 1-April 28, 1953.
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia :
French Impressionism, Drawings and Watercolors.
March 23-April 19, 1953.
Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, Pa.:
Hobby Show for Abington Hospital Benefit.
April 15, 1953.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minn.:
19th-Century Monotypes—5.
May 5-June 30, 1953.
Index of American Design.—During the fiscal year 1953, 25 travel-
ing exhibitions of original watercolor renderings of this collection,
with 58 bookings, were sent to the following States and countries:
Number 0;
State or country exhibitions
TV oF: 1 00 02 Be aay pe tae RE a Seed La a 3
PUP ATISRE: stp 2k ee eke Sena e i tL ee eRe 1
GOnneCHeUG= 2.2 ee ee ee ee 1
Distriet/of! Columbia s0i02 V1 Velvia. bij 9
Plinoig>: teh» te Tepe ae aad sees oebtroce 2
UG G5 01:5 1 en STIL SB o_o ae eee 1
Poweawies + Je epee eee een. Yes Want rey 6
RON Moyes. . ae eT ee ky Le Ree 1
Bowisiane Yt )t0 bie ave renee ae en AM e nara eo 1
Midine: Sila 3F MOV MEE VM tan Let 1
Marylarnd #1) «oer pregigectaieeel yw AF tien poe 3
Ri Chivari Soc ee PO Bo 1
BTU 7 6] 0) BE 2 oe eS a ae 1
IN GW UCrsey tec. ae ee ete oe ee 2
32 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Number o;
State or country exhibitions
NeW York.) )J0be 3 Beeman Bie Ae 4
NortheCarolina@s: 2 - 22.0 ante en a ae 5
OHIO2 22. 25 eh 2 eee een ae een 4
Penns yl Vania. 5 2 ee eee Se eae pee ee 1
Souch, Caroling oe oe amet eee pe ee = 1
MBEMMCSSCO = a, Sie chs ae eee ee 2
PT oC RR pt cal re ep ep ae 1
WASCONBI 32 ane ae Ss ee ee 1
GreGOe ye oe mete Spee eee aa alee ae ee 1
D9 ae ee hy a rp 8 i A yo ah be 1
Palestine cn so kee er 1
NPA TRG yy Be i eta ae ca a ree ee ee i
‘Western’ Germany... 2-0 ce eee oe ee eee 1
Western Germany and Austria_______--_-_-- 1
CURATORIAL ACTIVITIES
The Curatorial Department accessioned 927 gifts to the Gallery dur-
ing the fiscal year 1953. Advice was given regarding 285 works of art
brought to the Gallery for opinion, and 60 visits to other collections
were made by members of the staff for either expert opinion or in con-
nection with offers of gifts. About 1,200 inquiries requiring research
were answered verbally and by letter. On August 10, 1952, John
Walker, as representative of the United States Government on the
occasion of the Centennial Celebration of the German National Mu-
seum of Niiremberg, gave an address before a large audience. Charles
M. Richards conducted two courses in art history under the auspices of
the Department of Agriculture. Miss Elizabeth Mongan gave a series
of lectures on prints at Beaver College, Swarthmore College, and the
Tyler School of Art. Mr. Richards served as an “expert on art” and
lecturer at the Career Conference held at George Washington Uni-
versity. He also attended the annual meeting of the American Associ-
ation of Museums at Buffalo, N. Y., and an organizational meeting
of the Southern Conference of Museums at Raleigh, N. C. Miss
Katharine Shepard was sent asa delegate from the Washington Society
to the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in
Cleveland. Perry B. Cott was elected vice president of this Society.
Mr. Cott served on the following committees: Fine Arts Committee,
Washington Cathedral; Advisory Committee for Fulbright Awards
in Fine Arts; Committee for the Inaugural Medal; Committee for the
Protection of Cultural Property. Mr. Cott arranged a schedule of
tours of United States museums for visiting foreigners under the
International Exchange of Persons Division, Department of State.
Erwin O. Christensen was one of five judges at the Army-Wide Li-
brary Publicity Contest. Mr. Christensen was chairman of the session
on “European and American Art” at the Howard University Festival
of Fine Arts this spring, and he also made examinations and wrote
SECRETARY’S REPORT ao
reports on the Morosini and Negroli helmets in the Widener Collec-
tion. William P. Campbell was one of three judges at the “Neigh-
borhood Art Show” in Fauquier County, Va.
Special installations were prepared for the French drawings exhibi-
tion and the exhibition of Japanese paintings and sculpture under the
direction of Mr. Cott. He also supervised the installation of new
vitrines for the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of pre-Columbian art.
RESTORATION AND REPAIR OF WORKS OF ART
Necessary restoration and repair of paintings and sculpture in the
Gallery’s collections were made by Francis Sullivan, resident restorer
to the Gallery. Thirty-one pieces of furniture in the Widener Collec-
tion were shipped to New York for repair and conditioning; these were
returned to the Gallery in October.
PUBLICATIONS
During the year Huntington Cairns contributed an article on
“Symbolism and the Language of Jurisprudence” to the forthcoming
volume “In the Beginning Was the Word: An Inquiry into the Mean-
ing and Function of Language,” and reviews of “The Theodosian Code
and Novels” and “Law, the Science of Inefliciency,” by William Seagle,
to the Library of Congress United States Quarterly Book Review;
“The Note-Books of Matthew Arnold,” edited by Lowry, Young, and
Dunn, to Poetry Magazine; and “Feeling and Form,” by Susanne
Langer, to the Virginia Quarterly Review. He also delivered a series
of lectures at the Johns Hopkins University on “The Theory of
Criticism.”
In November a new book, “Great Paintings from the National Gal-
lery of Art,” by Huntington Cairns and John Walker, was published
by the Macmillan Co.
Nine articles by John Walker on paintings in the Chester Dale
Collection appeared in the Ladies Home Journal.
Mr. Christensen contributed an article, “A Page from the Sketch-
book of Martin Van Heemkerck” for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts.
Other publications by the staff during the fiscal year 1953 include
the following:
“Objects of Medieval Art,” Handbook No. 3 in the National Gallery
of Art series by Erwin O. Christensen.
A catalog entitled “Twentieth-Century French Paintings from the
Chester Dale Collection” was prepared by William P. Campbell.
A book for hobbyists entitled “Early American Design: Toleware”
was written by Mr. Christensen. He also wrote the book “Early
American Wood Carving.”
A monograph on Giovanni Bellini’s “Feast of the Gods” is being
‘revised by Mr. Walker and a sixth edition of the catalog, “French
34 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection,” is being prepared by
Mr. Campbell.
During the fiscal year 1953 the Publications Fund added four new
color postcards and a new 11- by 14-inch color reproduction to the list
available and 6 additional new 11- by 14-inch color prints were on
order. Nineteen new monotone postcards and four new Christmas-
card color plates were produced. At the time of the opening of the
exhibition of 'wentieth-Century French Paintings from the Chester
Dale Collection a stock of 18 color and monotone postcard subjects
was also acquired from the Art Institute of Chicago and distributed
here. Eleven more large collotype reproductions of paintings at the
Gallery distributed by a New York publisher were placed on sale, and
this company also produced the first 6 of a new series of 11- by 14-inch
plate-size color reproductions of our works of art.
A new set of playing cards, Wedgwood plates bearing a picture of
the Gallery building, a stock of “Famous Paintings” calendars includ-
ing many Gallery paintings, and the book, “Italian Painters of the
Renaissance,” by Bernard Berenson, illustrated with numerous Gal-
lery paintings, were also made available. The 1952 A. W. Mellon
lectures of Jacques Maritain in published form were placed on sale as
well as four other books by National Gallery of Art staff members.
Exhibition catalogs of the French drawings, Robinson, and Japanese
shows were distributed, and over 20,000 postcards of Japanese works
of art were sold here during the latter exhibition.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
The attendance for the general, congressional, and special tours and
the “Picture of the Week” totaled 43,544, while the attendance at 39
auditorium lectures on Sunday afternoons was approximately 13,068
during the fiscal year 19538.
Tours, lectures, and conferences arranged by appointment were
given 202 groups and individuals. The total number of people served
in this manner was 4,701. ‘These special appointments were made for
such groups as representatives from leading universities and museums,
groups from other governmental departments, high schools, college
students, women’s clubs, Sunday-school classes, and a number of for-
eign visitors. This service also included the training of Junior
League volunteers who thereafter conducted tours for art students in
the Washington high schools and a training program for members of
the Arlington American Association of University Women who
served as volunteer docents and conducted tours in the Gallery for all
the Arlington public-school children in grades 2 through 6.
The staff of the Education Office delivered 17 lectures; 22 lectures
were delivered by guest speakers. During March and April Sir Ken-
neth Clark delivered the second annual series of the A. W. Mellon
SECRETARY'S REPORT oo
Lectures in the Fine Arts on the theme, “The Nude: A Study of Ideal
Form.”
During the past year, 113 persons borrowed 3,327 slides from the
lending collection. Seven copies of the National Gallery film were cir-
culated on itinerary with 106 bookings completed. In the coming
year, 18 copies of the film will be placed in audiovisual libraries in as
many different States so that they may have the maximum distribution
with guaranteed good treatment.
Kight more sets of the “Christmas Story,” a mimeographed lecture
illustrated by 34 slides, were made up and circulated with approxi-
mately 1,882 people viewing the slides.
The printed Calendar of Events, announcing all Gallery activities
and publications, is distributed monthly to a mailing list of 5,100
names,
LIBRARY
Books, pamphlets, periodicals, photographs, and subscriptions pur-
chased out of the fund presented to the National Gallery of Art by
Paul Mellon totaled 306 during the fiscal year 1953 ; 33 were purchased
out of the fund given by Harold K. Hochschild. Gifts included 270
books and pamphlets, while 718 books, pamphlets, periodicals, and
bulletins were received from other institutions. Outstanding among
these gifts were 50 books presented by Lessing J. Rosenwald.
Although the Library is not open to the public, it is possible for stu-
dents of art and persons with art questions to use the services of the
Library. During this fiscal year the Library staff handled 1,480 refer-
ence questions, and there were 635 readers other than the Gallery staff
who used the Library.
The Library is the depository for photographs of the works of art
in the collections of the National Gallery of Art. During the year
425 persons other than the Gallery staff came to purchase prints, and
215 mail orders were filled.
INDEX OF AMERICAN DESIGN
During the fiscal year 1953, a total of 7 new exhibits containing
304 renderings were completed. Index material was studied during
the year by 572 persons representing special research interests, de-
signers, groups interested in the material for publications, exhibitions,
and slides, and to get a general idea of the collection as a whole.
A total of 859 photographs of Index renderings were sent out of the
Gallery on loan, for publicity, and purchase. A gift of seventy 2-x-2’
slides of Index material was made by Dr. Konrad Prothmann.
Twenty-two sets (consisting of 1,435 slides) of 2-x-2’’ slides were
circulated in 26 States, Italy, and England.
36 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
' MAINTENANCE OF THE BUILDING AND GROUNDS
The usual work in connection with the care and maintenance of the
building and its mechanical equipment and the grounds was continued
throughout the year. Flowering and foliage plants grown in the
moats were used in the garden courts.
In order to provide additional storage space for the Publications
Office, a new concrete floor was laid in an unfinished area at the west
end of the ground floor.
A partition, stainless steel sink, and print washer were installed in
one of the darkrooms of the photographers’ laboratory in order to
increase the efficiency of that department.
The elevators were inspected by a representative of the District
government, and also by a representative of the Hartford Accident &
Indemnity Co., and found to be in good mechanical condition.
The high-tension switchgear, together with the safety relays and
protective devices, was examined and tested by the Potomac Electric
Power Co.
Refrigeration machine No. 4 was thoroughly checked and the neces-
sary adjustments made in order that it would be in first-class operating
condition when the heavy summer load of air-conditioning would be
placed upon it.
With funds appropriated for the purpose, a contract was entered
into with the Worthington Corp. for the replacement of three refrig-
eration machines. Two of the machines were in operation by June
93, 1953, and the work of installing the third machine is now under
way.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
A total of 38 Sunday evening concerts were given during the fiscal
year 1953 in the West Garden Court. The National Gallery Or-
chestra, conducted by Richard Bales, played nine concerts at the Gal-
lery with additional performances at the United States Naval
Academy at Annapolis, Md., and in the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Two of the orchestral concerts at the National Gallery were made
possible by the Music Performance Trust Fund of the American Fed-
eration of Musicians. During April, May, and June, seven Sunday
evenings were devoted to the Gallery’s Tenth American Music Festi-
val. Thirty-two compositions by thirty-one American composers
were played. Most of the concerts were broadcast in their entirety
by Station WCFM, Washington, and the Continental Network. A
new feature of the series was the addition of the Church of the Ref-
ormation Cantata Choir to the National Gallery Orchestra at two
concerts which presented both classical and contemporary composers.
The photographic laboratory of the Gallery produced 14,013 prints,
402 black-and-white slides, 1,156 color slides, and 127 color trans-
SECRETARY’S REPORT ot
parencies, in addition to 2,130 negatives, X-rays, infrared and ultra-
violet photographs.
During the fiscal year, 2,358 press releases were issued in connection
with Gallery activities, while 142 permits to copy paintings, and 224
permits to photograph in the Gallery were issued.
OTHER GIFTS
Gifts of books on works of art and related material were made to
the Gallery by Paul Mellon and others. Gifts of money were made
during the fiscal year 1953 by the Old Dominion Foundation, the
Avalon Foundation, and Harold K. Hochschild.
AUDIT OF PRIVATE FUNDS OF THE GALLERY
An audit of the private funds of the Gallery has been made for the
fiscal year ended June 30, 1953, by Price, Waterhouse & Co., public
accountants, and the certificate of that company on its examination of
the accounting records maintained for such funds will be forwarded
to the Gallery.
Respectfully submitted.
Hounrineron Cairns, Secretary.
Dr. Lronarp CaRMICHAEL,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
APPENDIX 3
Report on the National Collection of Fine Arts
Sm: LI have the honor to submit the following report on the activities
of the National Collection of Fine Arts for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1953:
THE SMITHSONIAN ART COMMISSION
The 30th annual meeting of the Smithsonian Art Commission was
held in the Regents Room of the Smithsonian Building on Tuesday,
December 2, 1952. The members present were: Paul Manship, chair-
man; Alexander Wetmore, secretary (member, ex officio) ; John Taylor
Arms, Robert Woods Bliss, Gilmore D. Clarke, David E. Finley,
Lloyd Goodrich, Walker Hancock, George Hewitt Myers, Archibald
Wenley, Lawrence Grant White, Andrew Wyeth, and Mahonri Young.
Thomas M. Beggs, Director, and Paul V. Gardner, curator of ceram-
ics, National Collection of Fine Arts, were also present.
The Commission recommended to the Board of Regents the reelec-
tion of David E. Finley, Paul Manship, Eugene E. Speicher, and
Archibald Wenley for the ensuing 4-year period.
The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: Paul
Manship, chairman; Robert Woods Bliss, vice chairman; and Leonard
Carmichael, secretary. ‘The following were elected members of the
executive committee for the ensuing year: David EK. Finley, chairman,
Robert Woods Bliss, Gilmore D. Clarke, and George Hewitt Myers.
Paul Manship, as chairman of the Commission, and Leonard Car-
michael, as secretary of the Commission, are ex officio members of the
executive committee. Dr. Alexander Wetmore, retiring Smithsonian
Secretary, was added to the list of emeritus members of the Commis-
sion.
Dr. Wetmore reported to the Commission that a bill (H. R. 8216)
had been introduced in the House of Representatives “to establish as
a branch of the Smithsonian Institution an American Academy of
Music, Drama, and Ballet, for the education of selected pupils in all
the various phases of these arts, and for other purposes, as part of a
National War Memorial (to include a theater and opera house).”
A similar bill was introduced in the Senate (S. J. 105).
Mr. Beggs presented his annual report to the Commission, and said
that special emphasis had been given to exhibitions during the year.
He reported the completion of the renovation of the first-floor galleries,
38
SECRETARY’S REPORT 39
the reorganization of the permanent exhibition of the Harriet Lane
Johnston, Ralph Cross Johnson, John Gellatly, and Pell Collections,
and the preparation in progress of a new catalog and handbooks of
the collections. Responsibility for scheduling the monthly foyer
exhibitions in the Natural History Building, including those of scien-
tific materials, was transferred by the Secretary to the National
Collection of Fine Arts.
Mr. Beggs also described other activities of the National Collection
of Fine Arts: The Third Annual Exhibit of the Kiln Club of Wash-
ington, representing accomplishment by local craftsmen under Paul
V. Gardner’s direction; the exhibits of paintings by Edwin Scott and
Alice Pike Barney, indicating new uses of the Barney Fund; the Art
and Magic in Arnhem Land Exhibit, shown first in the Natural His-
tory Building and now being circulated by the Smithsonian Travel-
ing Exhibition Service; the exhibition of “French Drawings of Five
Centuries,” lent by the French Government, first shown at the Na-
tional Gallery of Art by the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition
Service, followed by showings at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the
City Art Museum of St. Louis, the William Hayes Fogg Art Museum,
and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, before its return to France.
Mr. Beggs reported that the contract with the Department of State
for funds for the preparation of exhibitions to be sent abroad in 1953
and 1954 had been renewed.
The following objects were accepted by the Commission for the
National Collection of Fine Arts:
Oil, The Stephen Children (Theodore Brower, Cornelia, John, and Esther
Amelia), attributed to a brother of President Madison. Gift of Amelia R.
Lowther.
Oil, Man in White (Dr. Henry Sturgis Drinker), by Cecilia Beaux, N. A.
(1863-1942). Henry Ward Ranger bequest.
Oil, Portrait of Dr. George F. Becker (1847-1919), geologist, by Fedor
Encke (1851-7). Gift of Mrs. George F. Becker. Accepted for the National
Portrait Gallery.
Marble, General Philip H. Sheridan (1831-1888), by Thomas Buchanan Read
(1822-1872). Gift of Benjamin Bell. Accepted for the National Portrait Gal-
lery.
Five pieces of modern glass: Gazelle bowl and base (crystal glass designed
by Sidney Waugh and made by Steuben Glass, Inc., Corning, New York) ; vase
(8 inches high), ashtray (smoke crystal glass with cut flutings), globular vase
(614 inches high with crystal glass engraved fish decoration), all designed by
Gerda Stromberg and made at Strombergshyttan, Sweden. Gift of Mr. and
Mrs. Hugh J. Smith, Jr.
Ceramic, bottle, 14 inches high, St. Ives pottery, stoneware, Tenmoku glaze,
designed by Bernard Howell Leach. Gift of the artist.
Ceramic, bottle, 16 inches high, stoneware, Sgraffito decoration, designed by
Paul D. Holleman, Roxbury, Mass. Gift of the Kiln Club.
Two award-winning pieces from the Third Annual Exhibition of Ceramic
Art, 1952: bottle, hand-modeled, ivory matt glaze, by Alta C. Fuller, winner
284725—54——4
40 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
of the B. F. Drakenfeld award; and bowl, wine-red glaze, by Lisle Pursel,
winner of Winthrop Ceramic Supply Company award. Gift of the Kiln Club.
STUDY COLLECTION
A ceramic sculpture, Toad, designed by Ollie Palmore Long,
gift of the Kiln Club, was added to the study collection.
TRANSFERS ACCEPTED
Four watercolors were transferred from the division of birds on
March 13, 1953: Cardinal, Towhee Bunting, and Purple Grackle, by
John James Audubon; and Rose-breasted Grosbeak, by Joseph B.
Kidd, after Audubon.
Three oils were transferred from the division of graphic arts on
March 25, 1953: Indian Summer, by Jaspar F. Cropsey, N. A.; Octo-
ber, by Robert C. Minor; and November, by Jervis McEntee, N. A.
LOANS ACCEPTED
Miniature, James D. Simons, attributed to James Peale, was lent
by Miss Henrietta Simons, Charleston, S. C., on July 19, 1952 (with-
drawn by owner on September 5, 1952).
Seventeen miniatures were lent by Mr. and Mrs. Ruel P. Tolman,
Washington, D. C., as follows:
Man with Red Hair, by Alvan Clark (1804-87).
Unknown Gentleman, by Robert Field (ce. 1769-1819).
Unknown Gentleman, by Thomas Flatman (1633/7-88).
Unknown Gentleman, by Sarah Goodridge (1788-1853).
John (or Uriah) Vaughan, by Christopher Greiner (fl. 1837-64).
Robert Parker, attributed to Henry Inman (1801-46).
Unknowu Young Lady, attributed to Henry Inman (1801-46).
J. B., by Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825).
Self Portrait, by Sarah Peale (1800-85).
Unknown Lady, by John Ramage (1748-1802).
Self Portrait, by Edward Savage (1761-1817).
Unknown Man, by Richard M. Staigg (1820-81).
Nancy de Villers, by Carolyn D. Tyler.
Miss Mary Angell, by Carolyn D. Tyler.
Klizabeth Moore, by Carolyn D. Tyler.
Mr. W., by an undetermined artist.
Unknown Man, by an undetermined artist.
Six pieces of modern glass were lent by Mr. and Mrs. Hugh J.
Smith, Jr., Scarsdale, N. Y., on April 11, 1953.
LOANS TO OTHER MUSEUMS AND ORGANIZATIONS
Table, French, 18th century (P. 220), was lent to the American
Federation of Arts, Washington, D. C., on July 10, 1952, for an
indefinite period.
Venetian plate, of the Cozzi period, c. 1780 (P. 497), and a soup
SECRETARY’S REPORT 41
tureen, dated Turin, c. 1775 (P. 801), were lent to the Detroit Institute
of Arts for an exhibition of Arts of Venice in the 18th century, from
September 28 to November 1, 1952. (Returned November 14, 1952.)
Two portraits, by Charles Hopkinson—Nikola P. Pashitch and
Prince Kimmochi Saionji—were lent to the Century Association, New
York City, for an exhibition of work by Charles Hopkinson, from
December 38, 1952, to January 4, 1953. (Returned January 22, 1953.)
Oil, Caresse Enfantine, by Mary Cassatt, was lent to the Munson-
Williams-Proctor Institute Art Gallery, Utica, N. Y., for an exhibi-
tion of expatriates, Whistler, Cassatt, and Sargent, from January 4
through 25, 1953. (Returned January 30, 1953.)
Oil, The Storm, by Ludwick Backhuysen (with seven oils by Edwin
Scott from the Smithsonian Lending Collection), was lent to the
United States District Court of the District of Columbia on December
15, 1952, for a period of 4 years.
Two oils, Cliffs of the Upper Colorado River, Wyoming Territory,
by Thomas Moran, and Moonlight, by Albert P. Ryder, were lent to
the American Federation of Arts on January 12, 1953, for an exhibi-
tion of 19th-century American paintings to be circulated in Germany.
Two oils, An Abandoned Farm, by Ernest Lawson, and Laguna,
New Mexico, by Albert L. Groll, were lent to The White House on
February 6, 1953, for an indefinite period.
Oil, Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way, by Emanuel
Leutze, was lent to the Denver Art Museum for an exhibition, “Art
Tells the Story,” from March 1 through April 26, 1953. (Returned
May 6, 1953.)
Oil, At Nature’s Mirror, by Ralph Blakelock, was lent to the
American Federation of Arts on February 18, 1953, for their traveling
show “American Tradition 1800-1900,” through May 1953. (Returned
May 29, 1953.)
Two oils, Roses, by Walter Shirlaw, and The Signing of the Treaty
of Ghent, Christmas Eve, 1814, by Sir Amedee Forestier (with 4 pastels
by Alice Pike Barney, and 5 oils by Edwin Scott, from the Smith-
sonian Lending Collection), were lent to the United States District
Court of the District of Columbia on February 18, 1953, for a period
of 4 years,
Oil, Portrait of Wyatt Eaton, by J. Alden Weir (with 5 oils by
Edwin Scott, from the Smithsonian Lending Collection), was lent
to the Department of Justice on March 12, 1953, for a period of 4 years.
Bronze, Bust of Hon. Elihu Root, by James Earle Fraser, was lent
to the National War College on March 13, 19538, for a period of
4 years.
Oil, Portrait of Dr. George F. Becker, by Fedor Encke, was lent
to the National Academy of Sciences on April 17, 1953, for a period
of 4 years.
42 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Four oils, Sea and Rain, by George H. Bogert; Evening Glow,
Mount McIntyre, by James Henry Moser; The Vintage, by Alexander
Rene Veron; and Conway Hills, by Frederick B. Williams (with a
watercolor, Hill and Lake, by James Henry Moser, from the Smith-
sonian Lending Collection), were lent to the Department of State on
April 23, 1958, for a period not to exceed 4 years.
Oil, Portrait of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, by Seymour M.
Stone (with 4 oils by Edwin Scott from the Smithsonian Lending
Collection), was lent to the Bureau of the Budget on May 13, 1953,
for a period not to exceed 4 years.
Three oils, Col. William Shakespeare King, by George Catlin;
Hon. Salmon P. Chase, by James Reid Lambdin; Rustic Dance, by
Jean Antoine Watteau; and two marble busts, Hon. Charles Evans
Hughes, by Moses W. Dykaar, and Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, by
Thomas Buchanan Read, were lent to the United States Court of
Military Appeals on June 11, 1953, for a period not to exceed 4 years.
Four watercolors by William H. Holmes, My Old Mill, Holmes-
croft, Near Rockville, Maryland; A Maryland Wheat Field; Over the
Maryland Fields; and the Normal Rock Creek about 1910 (with 1 oil
by Edwin Scott, from the Smithsonian Lending Collection), were
lent to the Bureau of the Budget on June 25, 1953, for a period not to
exceed 4 years.
LOANS RETURNED
Two oils, Portrait of George Washington, attributed to William
Winstanley, after Gilbert Stuart, and The Signing of the Treaty of
Ghent, Christmas Eve, 1814, by Sir Amedee Forestier, lent March 22,
1949, to the Department of State, were returned January 19, 1953.
Three oils, Conway Hills, by Frederick Ballard Williams; The
Meadow Brook, by Charles P. Gruppe; and Sea and Rain, by George
H. Bogert, lent March 14, 1946, to the Department of the Treasury,
were returned February 12, 1953.
Oil, December Uplands, by Bruce Crane, lent June 27, 1950, to the
Executive Office, Council of Economic Advisers, was returned Febru-
ary 26, 1953.
SMITHSONIAN LENDING COLLECTION
One oil painting, Paris, 1910, by Edwin Scott (1863-1929), was
added to the Alice Pike Barney Memorial Collection on April 11,
1953.
The following paintings were lent for varying periods:
Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee Institute, Ala.:
August 15, 1952:
Old Man with Pipe, by O. W. Roederstein.
Soldiers of the Empire, by Indoni.
Tangier, by L. Garcia.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 43
Ballerine, by Alice Pike Barney.
Captain Wheeler, by Alice Pike Barney.
Laura Alice in Big Hat, by Alice Pike Barney.
Laura in Fichu, by Alice Pike Barney.
Laura with Blue Scarf, by Alice Pike Barney.
Marie Huet, the Painter, by Alice Pike Barney
Martha, by Alice Pike Barney.
Matsu and Puss, by Alice Pike Barney.
Self Portrait in 1924, by Alice Pike Barney.
Self Portrait with Palette, by Alice Pike Barney.
The Brass Kettle, by Alice Pike Barney.
Woodsprite, by Alice Pike Barney.
Young Girl with Fichu, by Alice Pike Barney.
Department of Justice, Washington, D. C.:
September 25, 1952:
Marie Huet, by Alice Pike Barney.
R. D. Shepherd, by Alice Pike Barney.
White Paradise, by Alice Pike Barney.
Chambre des Députés Ne. 3, by Edwin Scott.
Femmes prés des Escaliers No. 1, by Edwin Scott.
Place de la Madeleine, by Edwin Scott.
Quai de la Seine, Eglise St. Gervais, by Edwin Scott.
Scene Italienne prés de la Fontaine, by Edwin Scott.
March 12, 1953:
La Madeleine No. 2, by Edwin Scott.
Maison de Millet, by Edwin Scott.
Notre Dame, by Edwin Scott.
Place St. Germain-des-Prés, by Edwin Scott.
Porte St. Martin No. 2, by Edwin Scott.
United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Washington, D. C.:
December 15, 1952:
Bateau de Péche, by Edwin Scott.
Eglise de Ville, by Edwin Scott.
Homme au Chapeau Rouge, by Edwin Scott.
Honfleur Fishing Boats No. 1, by Edwin Scott.
Saint Roche, Rue St. Honore, by Edwin Scott.
Téte de Femme, by Edwin Scott.
The Seine at Paris (L’Institute), by Edwin Scctt.
February 18, 1953:
Ali Kuli Kahn, by Alice Pike Barney.
Camille Gorde, by Alice Pike Barney.
Jimmy Davis, by Alice Pike Barney.
Old Actor, by Alice Pike Barney.
Cote aux Environs de Cherbourg, by Edwin Scott.
Porte de Cherbourg, by Edwin Scott.
Porte St. Martin et Enterrement, by Edwin Scott.
Ships at Anchor, Cherbourg, No. 1, by Edwin Scott.
Ship at Anchor, Cherbourg, No. 2, by Edwin Scott.
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa.:
March 3, 1953:
Chambre des Députés in a Mist, by Edwin Scott.
Saint Roche Church, by Edwin Scott.
The Madeleine at Dawn, by Edwin Scott.
44 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Department of State, Washington, D. (OR
April 23, 1953:
Hill and Lake, by James Henry Moser.
Bureau of the Budget, Washington, D. C.:
May 18, 1953:
Boulevard St. Germain (Prés St. Germain-des-Prés), by Edwin Scott.
Chambre des Députés No. 1, by Edwin Scott.
Place de la Concorde No. 1, by Edwin Scott.
Saint Germaine des Prés No. 3, by Edwin Scott.
June 25, 1953:
Saint Germaine des Prés No. 2, by Edwin Scott.
ALICE PIKE BARNEY MEMORIAL FUND
An addition of $5,000 to the fund established in 1951 by Miss
Natalie Clifford Barney and Mrs. Laura Dreyfus-Barney, in memory
of their mother, for the purpose of encouraging the appreciation and
creation of art in the United States, was received in January 1953.
THE HENRY WARD RANGER FUND
According to a provision in the Ranger bequest that paintings
purchased by the Council of the National Academy of Design from
the fund provided by the Henry Ward Ranger bequest, and assigned
to American art institutions, may be claimed during the 5-year period
beginning 10 years after the death of the artist represented, 2 paintings
were recalled for action of the Smithsonian Art Commission at its
meeting on December 2, 1952.
No. 62. Manin White (Dr. Henry Sturgis Drinker), by Cecilia Beaux, N. A.
(1863-1942), was accepted by the Commission to become a permanent accession.
No. 5. The Orange Bowl, by Anna §. Fisher, N. A. ( -1942), was returned
to the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R. I., where it was originally
assigned in 1921.
The following paintings, purchased by the Council of the National
Academy of Design in 1952, have been assigned as follows:
137.
Title and Artist
Yorktown Heights (watercolor),
by Warren Baumgartner, N. A.
(1895- Ne
Assignment
Suffolk Museum, Stone Brook,
Long Island, N. Y.
138. Pirates Alley, New Orleans, by Guy Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, Okla.
Pene Du Bois, N. A. (1884- Ve
139. Night Fair, by Martin Jackson Mead Memorial Museum, Amherst
(1871- Ne College, Amherst, Mass.
140. Tide Water Creek, Oreg. (water- William A. Farnsworth Library
color), by Theodore Kautzky, and Art Museum, Rockland,
N. A. Maine.
141. My Studio, by John Koch (1910- Society of Liberal Arts, Joslyn Art
). Museum, Omaha, Nebr.
142. Still Life with Leaves, by Roger Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Mass.
Kuntz.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 45
SMITHSONIAN TRAVELING EXHIBITION SERVICE
Thirty-two exhibitions were circulated during the past season, 20
in the United States and Canada and 12 abroad, as follows:
UNITED STATES AND CANADA
Painting and Drawing
Title Source
Contemporary Swiss Paintings_-----_ Hidgenoessische Kunstkommission of
Switzerland ; Dr. Heinz Keller, Curator
of Kunstmuseum in Winterthur.
Finnish Paintings and Seulpture___._ Fine Arts Academy and finnish-American
Society in Helsinki; Finnish Legation
(Heikki Reenpaa).
French Drawings, Masterpieces from Mme. Jacqueline Bouchot-Saupique; M.
Five Centuries. Georges Salles; French Embassy.
German Drawings and Watercolors_._ Dr. Charlotte Weidler.
Seven Cuban Painters___________-__- Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston;
Pan American Union (José Gomez
Sicre).
Graphic Arts
Children’s Books from Fifty Coun-
tries IL. U. S. Office of Education and State
Children’s Books from Fifty Coun- Department.
tries IT.
Modern Swedish Bookbindings___---_ Swedish Association of Master Book-
binders; Swedish Institute in Stock-
holm; Swedish Embassy.
Woodcuts by Antonio Frasconi__-__- Print Club of Cleveland; Cleveland Mu-
seum of Art; Weyne Gallery.
Design
Furniture, Costume, and Textiles____ Index of American Design, National Gal-
lery of Art.
Design trom britaina= 2222-2 ss Council of Industrial Design; Dollar
Exports Council; British Embassy.
Architecture
Weywelibralics = ase ee eee
The Re-union of Architecture and American Institute of Architects.
Engineering.
Textiles
Swedish Textiles!) 2) bs _sh 22S Swedish Embassy; Swedish Homecraft
League; Friends of Textile Art.
Ceramics
Artists and Potters of Vallauris I.___.}Rene Batigne, Director, Museum of
Artists and Potters of Vallauris II__- Vallauris, France.
46 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Folk Art
Norwegian Decorative Painting_-_---_ Norwegian Artists Guild; Norwegian
Hmbassy.
Our Wide Land aa oe Index of American Design, National
Pennsylvania German Arts and Gallery of Art
Crafts.
Ethnology
Art and Magic in Arnhem Land_-__-_-- Smithsonian Institution, Department of
Anthropology.
ABROAD
Influences on American Architecture (Gropius).
American Wallpaper.
Contemporary American Textiles.
Containers and Packaging.
The World of Paul Revere.
The City of New York.
Aspects of the American Film—Fourteen Directors.
Mississippi Panorama.
Fashion and Color Photography.
Carl Schurz.
These displays were scheduled as an integral part of the programs
of 77 museums and galleries, located in 29 States, the District of
Columbia, and Canada. Catalogs were published for each, including
the exhibit of the “French Drawings of Five Centuries,” lent by the
Government of France. This exhibit was first shown at the National
Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., and then sent to Cleveland, St.
Louis, Boston, and New York City, before its return to France. The
catalog, prepared by Mme. Bouchot-Saupique, curator of drawings at
the Louvre, was privately printed, with an introduction by Mrs. Anne-
marie H. Pope, chief of the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition
Service.
INFORMATION SERVICE
In addition to the many requests for information received by mail
and telephone, inquiries made in person at the office numbered 1,432.
Examination was made of %73 works of art submitted for
identification.
Washington art groups and local chapters of national civic organi-
zations were served during the year by National Collection of Fine
Arts staff members who judged art exhibitions and competitions, and
addressed meetings on subjects in their special fields.
Introductions also were written to catalogs of exhibitions published
by organizations showing in the foyer gallery.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 47
SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS
Thirteen special exhibitions were held during the year:
July 2 through 80, 1952.—An exhibition of Swedish textiles, arranged in co-
operation with the Swedish Embassy by the Potomac Craftsmen, consisting of
195 ceramics, rugs, textiles, books, and paintings.
August 7 through 27, 1952.—An exhibition of 55 oil paintings, “Reveries of
Paris,” by Edwin Scott, from the Alice Pike Barney Memorial Collection. An
illustrated catalog was printed with private funds.
August 7 through 27, 1952.—An exhibition of 14 portraits in oil, “Citizens of
Japan,” by Marguerite S. Hardesty. An illustrated catalog was privately
printed.
September 5 through 28, 1952.—The Third Annual Exhibition of Ceramic Art,
sponsored by the Kiln Club of Washington, consisting of 225 pieces (117 by local
artists, 39 by invited American artists, and 69 loaned by various Washington
Embassies and Legations as representative of the work of their national artists).
Demonstrations on the potter’s wheel were given twice a day four times a week.
A catalog was privately printed.
September 5 through 28, 1952.—The Second Regional Exhibition of the Wash-
ington Sculptors Group, consisting of 50 pieces of sculpture. A catalog was
privately printed.
October 9 through 29, 1952.—Norwegian Decorative Painting through One
Thousand Years, held under the patronage of His Excellency, the Ambassador
from Norway, Wilhelm Munthe de Morgenstierne, consisting of 96 large mounted
photographs, and 55 pieces of ceramics. <A catalog was privately printed.
November 9 through 27, 1952.—The Fifteenth Metropolitan State Art Contest,
held under the auspices of the D. C. Chapter, American Artists Professional
League, assisted by the Entre Nous Club, consisting of 308 paintings, sculpture,
prints, ceramics, and metalcraft. <A catalog was privately printed.
December 7, 1952, through January 4, 1958.—The Tenth Annual Exhibition of
the Artists’ Guild of Washington, consisting of 50 paintings and 9 pieces of
sculpture.
January 11 through 28, 1958.—Contemporary Indian Art and Crafts, sponsored
by the Government of India, organized by the Academy of Fine Art, Calcutta,
and the All-India Association of Fine Art, Bombay, consisting of 8363 items. A
catalog was privately printed.
March 5 through 29, 1958.—The Sixty-first Annual Exhibition of the Society of
Washingion Artists, consisting of 83 paintings and 16 pieces of sculpture. A
catalog was privately printed.
May 10 through $1, 1953 ——The Twentieth Annual Exhibition of the Miniature
Painters, Sculptors, and Gravers Society of Washington, D. C., consisting of 221
examples. A catalog was privately printed.
May 22, 1953—At the request of Representative Charles R. Howell, of New
Jersey, the model of the 1939 prize-winning design for the Smithsonian Gallery of
Art, by Hliel Saarinen, was placed on exhibition in the lobby of the Natural His-
tory Building.
June 7 through 28, 1953.—The Fifty-sixth Annual Exhibition of the Washington
Water Color Club, consisting of 135 watercolors, etchings, and drawings. A
catalog was privately printed.
Respectfully submitted.
Tuomas M, Brees, Director.
Dr. Lnonarp CARMICHAEL,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
APPENDIX 4
Report on the Freer Gallery of Art
Sir: I have the honor to submit the Thirty-third Annual Report on
the Freer Gallery of Art for the year ended June 30, 1953.
THE COLLECTIONS
Additions to the collections by purchase were as follows:
52.28.
53.8.
53.63.
53.64.
53.69.
53.71.
53.73.
BRONZE
Chinese, Northern Wei dynasty (A. D. 386-535). Standing Buddha image
of gilt bronze on a low four-legged platform ; removable mandorla deco-
rated with flames and floral patterns cast in low relief. 0.859 x 0.144.
(Illustrated. )
. Chinese, Shang dynasty (ca. 1525-1028 B. C.). Cast socketed dagger-ax
of the type ch‘ii ko. Decorations in relief and intaglio; patination mala-
chite with spots of cuprite. 0.236 x 0.068.
JADE
Chinese, Shang dynasty (ca. 1525-1028 B. C.). Very light, translucent,
greenish nephrite ornament mask. Carved in relief and incised. Rear
side pierced with six holes for fastening, and a central hole running
from top to bottom. 0.046 x 0.041 x 0.006.
LACQUER
Chinese, Chou dynasty (ca. 3d century B. C.). Brown lacquer bowl with
decorations overlaid in red and flat lacquer. 0.055 x 0.271.
Chinese, Ming dynasty, Wan-li period (A. D. 1573-1619). Red lacquer
box with cover; decorations carved in relief and countersunk decoration
carved in black and tan intaglio. 0.132 x 0.323.
Chinese, Ming dynasty, Yung-lo period (A. D. 1403-1425). Red lacquer
box with cover; decorations carved in relief and countersunk intaglio.
0.079 x 0.266.
Chinese, Ming dynasty, Hsiian-té period (A. D. 1426-1435). Red lacquer
box with cover; decorations carved in relief and countersunk intaglio.
0.045 x 0.098.
MANUSCRIPT
Persian, mid-16th century (A. D. 1557). A leaf from Yisuf-u-Zulaikhd by
Jami. Persian text in black nasia‘liqg in two columns. Text inlaid in
larger leaf of rose color with designs in gold (ibexes, deer, birds).
0.254 x 0.151.
. Persian, mid-16th century (A. D. 1557). <A leaf from Yisuf-u-Zulaikhda by
Jami. Persian text in black nasta‘lig in two columns with two-line
caption in red. ‘Text inlaid in larger leaf of rose color with arabesques
and animal designs in gold. 0.253 x 0.151.
Persian, mid-16th century (A. D. 1557). A leaf from Yésuf-u-Zulaikha by
Jami. Persian text in black nasta‘liqg in two columns with two-line
caption in red. Text inlaid in larger leaf of rose color with animals
in landscape and birds in floral rinceaux. respectively. 0.254 x 0.150.
48
SECRETARY’S REPORT 49
53.74. Persian, mid-16th century (A. D. 1557). <A leaf from Yisuf-u-Zulaikha
by Jami. Persian text in black nasta‘lig in two columns with two-line
caption in red. Text inlaid in larger leaf of rose color with animals
in landscape and floral and arabesque rinceaux, respectively. 0.254 x
0.151.
METALWORK
52.29. Chinese, Ming dynasty, 15th century. Gold jar with cover; studded
with 21 settings for semiprecious stones of which 7 are empty; both jar
and cover decorated with incised pattern of dragons among clouds.
0.092 x 0.091.
PAINTING
52.25 Chinese, Ytian dynasty. Ch‘ien Hsiian (A. D. 1235-1290). MHandscroll
entitled “K‘o fang t‘u.” Ink and faint colors on paper. Artist’s signa-
ture and 8 seals on painting; 1 inscription and 12 seals on mount.
0.251 x 1.084.
52.27. Chinese, dated in correspondence with A. D. 1464, Ming dynasty, Hsi
Ch‘ang (A. D. 1888-1470). Handscroll entitled ‘Hsiao-hsiang-kuo-yii.”
Bamboos in ink on paper. Two inscriptions and seven seals on paint-
ing; title, two inscriptions and nine seals on mount. 0.290 x 7.800.
52.31. Indian, second half of 16th century, Mughal, school of Akbar (A. D. 1555-
1605). Illustration from a dictionary (unidentified): “Ruler holding
court in a tent encampment and investing retainer with gold kaftan.”
Color and gold. On verso: 385 lines of black nasta‘liq writing, captions
in red. Wide border with birds and plants in gold. 0.288 x 0.1238.
52.82. Indian, second half of 16th century, Mughal, school of Akbar (A. D. 1555-
1605). Illustration from a dictionary (unidentified): “River scene—
Ruler and attendants in main boat and smaller boat in foreground from
which a man is being drowned.” Color and gold. On verso: 35 lines
of black nasta‘liq with captions in red. Wide gold-painted border with
Indian figures in floral setting. 0.231 x 0.125.
52.33. Indian, second half of 16th century, Mughal, school of Akbar (A. D. 1555-
1605). “Audience scene in a palace pavilion during which an old
courtier kisses the hand of an enthroned young prince.” Colors and
gold. Wide border with crude animal scenes to fit painting into an
albam. 0.242 x 0.129.
52.34. Indian, second half of 16th century, Mughal, school of Akbar (A. D. 1555-
1605). Illustration from a dictionary (unidentified): ‘Preparation
for the hunt in the palace courtyard.” One line of nasta‘liq writing on
top. Delicate color tints and gold. On verso: 35 lines of nasta‘liq
writing in black, captions in red. Wide gold-painted border with Indian
figures in stylized landscape. 0.216 x 0.122.
52.35. Persian, 14th century (A. D. 13841), Mongol (il-Khan period), Inju school
(Shiraz). Page from a Shah-ndma manuscript showing “Rustam lift-
ing Afrasiyib from the saddle.” Painted with colors and gold, writing
in black proto-nasta‘lig in six columns between red columnar lines.
0.086 x 0.171.
53.12- Persian, first half of 17th century (between 1598 and 1643). Period of
53.60. Shah ‘Abbas, school of Isfahan. By Riza Abbasi (Rizaiye ‘Abbasi), and
other artists. Album of 60 drawings.
53.61. Persian, early 17th century. Period of Shah ‘Abbas, school of Isfahan.
“Lamentation over the dead body of Christ.” By ‘Ali Rizi (‘Abbiisi)
after Perugino. Color and gold. Three gold-painted borders, the last
and widest one with animals in rinceaux on blue ground. 0.210 x 0.152.
50
52.12.
52.14.
52.16.
52.17.
52.20.
52.22
At tak ht
ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
POTTERY
Chinese, T‘ang dynasty (A. D. 618-906). Figurine, mortuary, of a man
on horseback; fine, whitish-buff clay, fired medium hard; transparent
glaze, with fine crackle, over areas of brown and green on white sur-
face; man’s head, hands, boots, and saddle blanket unglazed and
painted. 0.935 x 0.340 x 0.117.
. Chinese, T‘ang dynasty (A. D. 618-906). Figurine, mortuary, of a woman
on horseback; fine, whitish-buff clay, fired medium hard; transparent
glaze, with fine crackle, over areas of brown and green on white sur-
face; woman’s head unglazed and painted, also other small areas.
0.431 x 0.376 x 0.148.
Chinese, T‘ang dynasty (A. D. 618-906). Figurine, mortuary, of a Negro
groom, left hand restored; fine, whitish-buff clay, fired medium hard;
transparent glaze, with fine crackle, over green robe with brown lapels
and brown boots, hand white; head and neck unglazed and painted.
0.207 x 0.067.
Chinese, Ming dynasty, Hsiian-té period (A. D. 1426-1485). Bowl with
conical sides and foliate rim; fine white porcelain; transparent glaze,
high-fired; decoration in underglaze cobalt blue, fruit and floral sprays
inside and out; six-character Hsiian-té mark on base. (Pair with 52.17.)
0.079 x 0.227.
Chinese, Ming dynasty, Hsitian-té period (A. D. 1426-1485). Bowl with
eonical sides and foliate rim; fine white porcelain; transparent glaze,
high-fired ; decoration in underglaze cobalt blue, fruit and floral sprays
inside and out; six-character Hsiian-té mark on base. (Pair with
52.16.) 0.078 x 0.227.
. Chinese, Ming dynasty, Ch‘eng-hua period (A. D. 1465-1487). Bowl with
plain, slightly flaring rim; fine white porcelain; transparent glaze,
high-fired; decoration in underglaZe cobalt blue, large lotus sprays
inside and out; six-character Ch’eng-hua mark on base. 0.070 x 0.151.
. Chinese, Ming dynasty, Hung-chih period (A. D. 1488-1505). Dish with
plain straight rim; fine white porcelain; transparent glaze, high-fired ;
decoration of dragons amid clouds incised in the paste and covered with
brilliant green enamel which shows a fine crackle; six-character Hung-
chih mark on base. (Pair with 52.20.) 0.044 x 0.215.
Chinese, Ming dynasty, Hung-chih period (A. D. 1488-1505). Dish with
plain, straight rim; fine white porcelain; transparent glaze, high-fired ;
decoration of dragons amid clouds incised in the paste and covered
with brilliant green enamel which shows a fine crackle; six-character
Hung-chih mark on base. (Pair with 52.19.) 0.044 x 0.215.
. Chinese, Ming dynasty, Chéng-té period (A. D. 1506-1521). Jar of the
type cha-tou; fine white porcelain; transparent glaze, high-fired, inside
and on base; decoration of dragons amid clouds incised in paste and
covered with green enamel on a ground of yellow enamel; four-character
Chéng-té mark on base which is perforated by four symmetrically placed
drilled holes. 0.113 x 0.146.
Chinese, Sung dynasty (A. D. 690-1279), Ying-ch‘ing type. Vase with
broad rounded shoulder and cylindrical neck; coarse-grained white
porcelain with earth adhesions; transparent glaze with faint bluish
tone and fine crackle; decoration, in relief under glaze, carved lotus
pattern below a row of stamped patterns on shoulder, horizontal fluting
on body. 0.202 x 0.127.
SECRETARY'S REPORT 51
52.23. Chinese, Han dynasty (207 B. C—A. D. 220). Vase, small, of hu shape
with flaring flanged rim; reddish-buff clay with sand tempering, fired
medium hard; green glaze with pale iridescence and fine crackle, all
over; decoration of horizontal lines in relief and intaglio, three tri-
angular spurs on flat base. 0.131 x 0.107.
52.24. Chinese, Han dynasty (207 B. C—A. D. 220). Vase, small, with broad
shoulder, contracted mouth and low, thick rim; reddish clay with
sand tempering, fired medium hard; green glaze with pale iridescence
and fine crackle, all over; decoration, none. Two triangular spurs and
remains of a third on flat base. 0.113 x 0.149.
52.26. Chinese, Han dynasty (207 B. C.-A. D. 220), Ytieh ware. Basin with
rounded sides and horizontal flaring rim; clay not visible, but probably
fine gray stoneware; thin, transparent, mat glaze, with slight greenish
tinge, all over; decoration stamped and incised in clay; four animal
masks with rings applied in relief outside. 0.086 x 0.356.
52.30. Chinese, Shang dynasty (ca. 1525-1028 B. C.). Gray pottery vessel of the
type hwo, decoration incised and in relief. Replica of 42.1, a bronze huo.
0.193 x 0.213.
53.1. Chinese, Ming dynasty, Hsiian-té period (A. D. 1426-1435). Bowl with
plain, straight rim; fine white porcelain, brownish mottling on footrim;
plain, transparent glaze; decoration in underglaze blue; garden scene
with figures outside; plain white inside; six-character Hsiian-t@ mark.
0.070 x 0.191.
53.2. Chinese, Ming dynasty, Hsiian-té period (A. D. 1426-1485). Bowl with
plain straight rim and convex center; fine white porcelain, fired pale
orange on footrim; plain, transparent glaze; decoration in underglaze
blue; floral border and lotus panels outside, scroll border, floral wreath,
and interlocking festoons with arabesques; six-character Hsiian-té mark.
0.060 x 0.152.
53.3. Chinese, Ming dynasty, second half 15th century. Vase of mei-p‘ing shape
with straight neck ; fine white porcelain, scattered black flecks on base;
plain, transparent glaze; decoration in underglaze blue, clouds on neck;
overlapping petals and pendent leaves on shoulder; landscape garden
with figures, stylized lotus panels. 0.228 x 0.144.
53.4. Chinese, Ming dynasty, late 15th century. Bowl, shallow with plain,
slightly flaring rim ; fine white porcelain; plain glaze, faintly gray, trans-
parent inside; decoration in colored glazes, turquoise five-claw dragons
on deep blue ground with white flecks, plain inside. 0.088 x 0.148.
53.5. Chinese, Ming dynasty, second half 15th century. Bowl with plain, straight
rim ; fine white porcelain; plain, transparent glaze; decoration in under-
glaze blue; cash diaper band at rim, nine dragons amid waves outside ;
one dragon in waves inside. (Pair with 53.6.) 0.073 x 0.132.
53.6. Chinese, Ming dynasty, second half 15th century. Bowl with plain,
straight rim; fine white porcelain; plain, transparent glaze; decoration
in underglaze blue; cash diaper band at rim, nine dragons amid waves
outside; one dragon in waves inside. (Pair with 53.5.) 0.075 x 0.132.
53.7, Chinese, Ming dynasty, Chéng-té period (A. D. 1506-1521). Dish with
plain, straight rim; fine white porcelain; plain, transparent glaze;
decoration in underglaze blue and overglaze yellow enamel; blue flowers
op yellow ground; six-character Chéng-té mark. 0.045 x 0.213.
53.65. Chinese, Ming dynasty, Yung-lo period (A. D. 1403-1424). Bowl of thin
white porcelain with floral decorations traced in the white body under
the glaze and scarcely visible except as a transparency. 0.100 x 0.201.
52 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
53.66. Chinese, Ch‘ing dynasty, K‘ang Hsi period (A. D. 1662-1722). Porcelain
bowl of solid aubergine color, with cloud and dragon decorations carved
in body under the glaze; six-character mark of the K‘ang Msi period
incised on unglazed foot. 0.091 x 0.128.
53.67. Chinese, Ch‘ing dynasty, K‘ang Hsi period (A. D. 1662-1722). White
bottle-shaped porcelain vase decorated with lotus-leaf design in relief
around base; six-character mark of the K‘ang Hsi period in underglaze
blue on base. 0.200 x 0.069.
53.68. Chinese, Ch‘ing dynasty, Ch‘ien Lung period (A. D. 1736-1795). Bottle-
shaped famille rose vase decorated with enamels in the mille fleur design ;
six-character mark of the Ch‘ien Lung period in red on base. 0.128 x
0.067.
53.10. Japanese, late 17th century, Kakiemon. A chrysanthemum-shaped deep
porcelain plate decorated with vitrifiable enamels. 0.282 x 0.054.
(Illustrated. )
53.11. Japanese, late 17th century, Kakiemon. An oval-shaped porcelain bowl
decorated with vitrifiable enamels; black lacquer cover. 0.089 x 0.193 x
0.150.
52.11. Persian, 10th century. Platter, shallow, wide-rimmed, on low ring-foot.
Two Kufic inscriptions in black-brown on white slip. The clear glaze
shows a fine crackle in places. Inside of foot unglazed, revealing the
light reddish clay. Broken and put together in ancient times (three
bronze rivets) and again recently. Greater part of outer edge and small
area on wide margin made of plaster. 0.468 x 0.060. (Illustrated.)
53.70. Persian, 10th century. Bowl, shallow, on solid foot. Knot design in center
and festooned edge are in deep brown slip on white glaze pitted in parts
and occasionally chipped off along edge. Broken and put together, but
only very small pieces missing. 0.324 x 0.067.
STONE SCULPTURE
52.15. Chinese, Northern Ch’i dynasty. Standing figure of a Bodhisattva in high
relief against a flat background; right hand holds a lotus bud, left hand
a flask. Traces of color. 1.034 x 0.417.
Total number of accessions to date (including above) —~------_--_-_____ 10,794
REPAIRS TO THE COLLECTIONS
Cleaning and restoration of 24 American paintings were completed
by John and Richard Finlayson, of Boston. The Gallery has obtained
the services of Takashi Sugiura as picture mounter, assigned to the ori-
ental collections.
CHANGES IN EXHIBITIONS
Changes in exhibitions totaled 141 as follows:
American art:
HMtehimes's eset EO RE * SL ee ee oe 1 ah 2
Oil paintings? 2S 22 Pe ae Ta a Aes ee Se ores Oa eee 19
Watercolor paintings. 2222? Ae ee eo eee 9
SECRETARY’S REPORT 53
Chinese art:
STON ZO Le eae eee eee eT aed oe are rs _ nya ai ee ag ie ad 2
ee ee ee EE ee Pepe EE NAT 2 VC OLE wpe 1
BESET a saree es ces a aw 2 0S Ee re ST aly 1
INGER CH UD To a a a a eS Se aa 2
Paintin gs eee eres aa Ole, bia ss Ee es ee eee So ee 17
Pottery and porcelainass. she. - L one eee 8 ee 30
Wood sculptures..25 oes Se ne Bee hee 2
Japanese art:
Bronze seul pt ress sa el aes eee Mae ek oe i 1
UAC SS mar a eee 42
PO bTERY se i4 = = ope: ae aR UTS Neh lo oe AY. hs i ee ne ee ee 10
Sassanian art:
HSH Kyle) sly Smee Rn aI ag UL ye ali eee eM Re TO we 2
Venito-Islamic art:
AES TAS oak See eae ee re te Sa nc tc as Lek 2 al
LIBRARY
Accessions of books, pamphlets, periodicals, and study materials
totaled 885 pieces, making a total of 31,905 books and pamphlets, of
which 18,303 are in Chinese, 6,682 in Japanese, and others in Arabic,
Armenian, Hindi, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Turkish, as well as in the
Western languages. The above total does not include study material.
One of the year’s outstanding gifts to the library was the Horyiiji
Kondo hekiga shi reproductions from the Tokyo National Museum.
In addition to the work of expanding the card catalog and revision
of the oriental books catalog, 976 publications and scrolls were cata-
loged, 229 parts of serial publications were entered, 3,522 cards were
added to the catalogs and shelf lists. A total of 509 items were bound,
labeled, repaired, or mounted.
Bibliographic references of the American paintings owned by the
Gallery were coordinated with the catalog cards and the Gallery folder
sheets. Work on indexing of both the English and Japanese editions
of the Japanese periodical Kokka continued, and the project is more
than half complete. The compilation of abstracted material in the
field of art and archeology in cooperation with the associate in tech-
nical research has consumed a great deal of time. This publication is
intended to be the principad guide to all recent literature on technical
abstracts of art and archeology, beginning with published sources for
1948, through December 1952. It is intended that the completed
abstracts will be published in the near future as one of the series of
Occasional Papers of the Freer Gallery of Art.
PUBLICATIONS
Three publications of the Gallery were issued during the year:
Pope, John Alexander: Fourteenth-century blue-and-white. A group of Chinese
porcelains in the Topkapu Saray1 Miizesi, Istanbul, 1952. Occasional Papers,
vol. 2, No.1. (Smithsonian Publ. 4089.)
54 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Pope, John Alexander: Ming porcelains in the Freer Gallery of Art. May 1953.
Gallery Book I: A selection of etchings, drypoints, lithographs and lithotints by
James MeNeill Whistler (1834-1903).
Papers by staff members appeared in outside publications as
follows:
Wenley, A. G.: A hsi tsun from the Avery Brundage Collection. Archives,
Chinese Art Society of America, vol. 6, 1952.
. Exhibition of Japanese painting and sculpture. Bulletin, Vereeniging
van Vrienden der Aziatische Kunst, Derde Serie, No. 1, June 1953.
Ettinghausen, Richard (contributor) : Bibliography of periodical literature on
the Near and Middle East, vols. 19-22. The Middle Hast Journal, 1951-52.
Gettens, R. J.: Science in the art museum. Scientific American, vol. 187, No. 1,
pp. 22-27, July 1952.
. The bleaching of stained and discoloured pictures on paper with sodium
chloride and chlorine dioxide (with French translation). Museum, vol. 5,
No. 2, pp. 116-130, 1952.
. La technique des “Primitifs Flamands.”’ Studies in Conservation, vol.
1, No. 1, pp. 1-29, October 1952. (With P. Coremans and J. Thissen.)
REPRODUCTIONS
During the year the photographic laboratory made 3,814 prints,
242 glass negatives, and 1,125 lantern slides. Total number of nega-
tives on hand, 10,044; lantern slides, 7,067.
BUILDING
The general condition of the Freer building is good, and the main-
tenance and operation have been satisfactory, but the galleries and
much mechanical equipment need renovation.
The major projects of the cabinet shop have been the completing
and putting in service of eight new exhibition cases and the over-
hauling of the shop for the oriental picture mounter. Miscellaneous
odd jobs in connection with the maintenance of office and Gallery
equipment, crating, etc., continue as usual.
ATTENDANCE
The Gallery was open to the public from 9 to 4:30 every day except
Christmas Day, until May 25, 1953. Since that date the hours on
Tuesdays have been from 2 to 10. The total number of visitors to
come in the main entrance was 71,308. The highest monthly attend-
ance was in August, 9,851, and the lowest was in December, 2,623.
There were 1,708 visitors to the office during the year.
HERZFELD ARCHIVE
The Herzfeld material continues to be used by experts in Near
Eastern archeology throughout the world.
Secretary’s Report, 1953.—Appendix 4 PLATE 2
SAAS
Recent Addition to the Collection of the Freer Gallery of Art.
Secretary's Report, 1953.—Appendix 4
52 AL
53.10
Recent Additions to the Collection of the Freer Gallery of Art.
PLATE 3
SECRETARY'S REPORT 55
AUDITORIUM
On May 26, 1953, Mr. Pope gave the initial lecture in the 1953-54
series at 8:30 p. m. in the auditorium on “The Ming Dynasty and Its
Porcelains” (illustrated). Attendance, 521. In addition, the audi-
torium was used by four outside agencies.
STAFF ACTIVITIES
The work of the staff members has been devoted to the study of new
accessions, of objects contemplated for purchase, and of objects sub-
mitted for examination, as well as to individual research projects in
the fields represented by the collections of Chinese, Japanese, Persian,
Arabic, and Indian materials. Reports, oral or written, and exclu-
sive of those made by the technical laboratory on specimens (listed
below), were made upon 4,925 objects as follows: Belonging to private
individuals, 2,040; belonging to dealers, 1,142; belonging to other mu-
sermns, 1,743. In all, 503 photographs of objects were examined and
790 oriental language inscriptions were translated for outside indi-
viduals and institutions. By request, 8 groups totaling 343 persons
met in the exhibition galleries for docent service by staff members;
and 1 group of 9 persons was given docent service in the study-storage
rooms. There were 25 distinguished foreign visitors who studied
the collections.
Work done in the technical laboratory included the characteriza-
tion of an organic red pigment found on a number of Chinese objects
within and without the Freer Collection, and the analysis of a copper-
corrosion product in ancient Egyptian bronzes which is to be described
as a new mineral. Examinations were made of 29 objects from the
Freer Collection, and 56 from outside sources. Many of these bore on
the two problems mentioned above. Also work was continued on the
collection of material for Abstracts of Technical Studies in Art and
Archeology. The laboratory equipment was augmented by the instal-
lation of a comparison microscope, a chemical balance, and an X-ray
viewer.
By invitation the following lectures were given outside the Gallery
by staff members:
1952
Oct. 15. Mr. Pope addressed members of the Oriental Ceramic Society, in Lon-
don, on “Some Blue-and-White in Istanbul.” (Illustrated with
photographs.) Attendance, 100.
Oct. 24. Mr. Pope addressed a joint meeting of the members of the Svenska
Orientsillskapet and the Fdreningen Keramikens Viinner, in the
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, on ‘Chinese Porcelains from the
Ardebil Shrine.” (Illustrated with photographs.) Attendance, 90.
284725—54—__5
56
1952
Oct. 29.
Oct. 30.
Nov. 6.
ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Dr. Ettinghausen addressed a joint meeting of the members of the
Middle East Institute, the Oriental Club, and the Washington So-
ciety, Archaeological Institute of America, at Dumbarton Oaks, on
“Islamic Miniatures and the West.” (Illustrated.) Attendance, 120.
Mr. Pope gave a public lecture in the Kunstindustriemuseum, Copen-
hagen, on “Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine.” (Illus-
trated with photographs.) Attendance, 40.
Mr. Pope addressed members of the Association Francaise des Amis
de VOrient (in French), in the Musée Guimet, Paris, on “Chinese
Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine.” (Illustrated with photo-
graphs.) Attendance, 100.
While in London, Mr. Pope gave the following lectures at the Uni-
versity of London under the auspices of the Percival David Founda-
tion of Chinese Art and the School of Oriental and African Studies,
as follows:
Nov. 12.
Noy. 18.
Nov. 25.
Dee, 11.
Dec. 16.
1953
Jan, 5.
Jan. 15.
Jan. 16.
Feb. 6.
Feb. 8.
Feb. 8.
“The Introduction of Chinese Porcelain into Europe.” (Illustrated
with photographs.) Attendance, 70.
“Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine.” (Illustrated with
photographs.) Attendance, 50.
“Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine.” (Illustrated with
photographs.) Attendance, 55,
Dr. Ettinghausen addressed members of the Middle East Institute,
Washington, D. C., on “Islamic Art.” (Illustrated.) Attendance,
20.
Dr. Ettinghausen lectured at the University of Michigan, in Ann
Arbor, on “Great Art Monuments in Iran, Afghanistan, and India.”
(Illustrated.) Attendance, 101.
Dr. Ettinghausen lectured at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D. C., on
“Tran and Her Historical Monuments.’ (Illustrated.) Attend-
ance, 170.
Mr. Wenley addressed the annual dinner of the Smithsonian Board of
Regents, giving a brief account of his trip to Japan as chairman of
the committee for the Japanese Loan Exhibition. (TIllustrated.)
Attendance, 26.
Dr. Ettinghausen gave a lecture at the Iranian Hmbassy in Washing-
ton, D. C., on “Iranian Architecture.” (Illustrated with Dr. Etting-
hausen’s own slides.) Attendance, 85.
Dr. Ettinghausen gave a lecture at the Foreign Service Institute, State
Department, Washington, D. ©., on “Islamic Art.” (Illustrated.)
Attendance, 24.
Mr. Stern gave a public lecture at the National Gallery of Art, Wash-
ington, D. C., on “The Exhibition of Japanese Art.” (Illustrated
with borrowed slides.) Attendance, 350.
Mr, Stern gave a lecture to the District of Columbia Library Associa-
tion at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., on “The
Exhibition of Japanese Art.” (Illustrated with borrowed slides.)
Attendance, 175.
Feb. 24.
Mar, 23.
Mar, 24.
Mar. 25.
Mar. 28.
Apr. 8.
Apr. 8.
Apr. 9.
Apr. 10.
Apr. 16.
June 17
June 18.
June 23.
SECRETARY'S REPORT 57
Mr. Pope gaye a lecture at the John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis,
Ind., on “The Introduction of Chinese Porcelain into Europe.”
(Illustrated.) Attendance, 110.
Dr. Ettinghausen gave a lecture at The Mosque, Washington, D. C., on
“Near Eastern Art and Facilities for Its Study in Washington, D. C.”
(Illustrated with borrowed slides.) Attendance, 220.
Mr. Pope gave a lecture at the Chinese Art Society, China House, New
York City, on “Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine.” (Tllus-
trated.) Attendance, 60.
Mr. Gettens gave a lecture at the Chemistry Club, Trinity College
(Catholic University), Washington, D. C., on “Artificial Coloring
Materials of the Ancients.” (Illustrated.) Attendance, 25.
Mr. Stern gave a lecture at the Center for Japanese Studies, Rackham
Amphitheatre, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, on “The
Traveling Exhibition of Japanese Art Treasures.” (Illustrated.)
Attendance, 220.
Dr. Ettinghausen gave a lecture at the Science Society, Dartmouth
College, Hanover, N. H., on “Archaeological Travels in Afghanistan
and India.” (Illustrated.) Attendance, 100.
Dr. Ettinghausen gave a lecture at the Frick Collection, New York
City, on “Islamic Miniatures and the West.” (Illustrated.) At-
tendance, 185.
Mr. Pope gave a lecture at the American Oriental Society, Catholic
University, Washington, D. C., on “Tentative Identification of Cer-
tain Barly Persian Collectors of Chinese Porcelain.” Attendance, 40.
Mr. Stern gave a lecture at the American Oriental Society, Catholic
University, Washington, D. C., on “Hokusai’s Hyakunin-isshu Ubaga
Etoki, or Poems of a Hundred Poets Explained by a Wet Nurse.”
(Illustrated.) Attendance, 40.
Mr. Stern gave a lecture at the American Oriental Society, Hotel
Washington, Washington, D. C., on “The Hxhibition of Japanese
Painting and Sculpture Currently Touring the United States.”
(Illustrated.) Attendance, 60.
Dr. Ettinghausen gave a lecture at the Cleveland Museum of Art,
Cleveland, Ohio, on “Archaeological Travels in Iran, Afghanistan
and India.” (Illustrated.) Attendance, 250.
Dr. Ettinghausen gave a lecture at the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore,
Md., on “Archaeological Travels in Iran and Afghanistan.” (Tllus-
trated.) Attendance, 90.
Mrs. Usilton gave a lecture at the 48th annual meeting of the American
Association of Museums (Librarians’ Section), Buffalo, N. Y., on
“Selling Your Museum Library to Your Board of Directors.” (Illus-
trated.) Attendance, 20.
Mr. Gettens gave a lecture at the 48th annual meeting of the American
Association of Museums, Buffalo, N. Y., on “Current Art Technical
Literature: An Abstracts Project.” (Illustrated.) Attendance, 85.
Dr. Ettinghausen gave a lecture at The Cultural Attachés’ Group,
United Nations Club, Washington, D. C., on “Art and Nature in
the Near East.” (Illustrated.) Attendance, 38,
58 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Members of the staff traveled outside of Washington on official
business as follows:
1952
July 7- Mr. Wenley went to Japan to serve as chairman of the committee
Sept. 23. representing five American Museums in which the Japanese Loan
Exhibition is being held. This committee was sent to advise with
the Japanese Government concerning the contents of the exhibition.
Sept. 23- Mr. Pope, in Europe, carried out further research on problems related
Dec. 22. to the Chinese porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine; visited museums
and collections and consulted with scholars and connoisseurs in
London, Glasgow, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Paris.
In addition, 5 members of the staff made a total of 18 trips outside
of Washington on official business.
Members of the staff held honorary posts and undertook additional
duties outside the Gallery as follows:
Mr. Wenley: Research Professor of Oriental Art, University of Michigan.
Member, Board of United States Civil Service Examiners at
Washington, D. C., for the Smithsonian Institution.
Member, Board of Trustees, Textile Museum, Washington,
D. C.
Member, Council of the Far Eastern Ceramic Group.
Member, Board of Trustees of the Hermitage Foundation,
Norfolk, Va.
Member, Visiting Committee, Dumbarton Oaks Research
Library and Collection.
Member, Smithsonian Art Commission.
Member, Consultative Committee, Ars Orientalis.
Chairman, Louise Wallace Hackney Scholarship Committee
of the American Oriental Society.
Mr. Pope: Member, Board of Governors of the Washington Society of
the Archaeological Institute of America; the Board met
at the Freer Gallery of Art, on July 23, 1952, and on May
13, 1953.
President, Far Eastern Ceramic Group.
Art Editor, Far Eastern Quarterly.
Member, Editorial Board of the Archives of the Chinese
Art Society of America.
President, Southern Association of Exeter Alumni in Wash-
ington.
Accompanied 5 students and 1 teacher from the Garrison-
Forest School, Baltimore, Md., through the Japanese exhi-
bition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.,
February 12, 1953.
Dr. Ettinghausen: Research Professor of Islamic Art, University of Michigan.
Near Eastern editor of Ars Orientalis.
Member, Editorial Board, The Art Bulletin.
Trustee, American Research Center in Egypt.
Member, Comitato Internazionale di Patronato, Museo Inter-
nazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, Italy.
Member, Editorial Advisory Committee, Studies in Art and
Literature in Honor of Belle DaCosta Greene.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 59
Dr. Ettinghausen: Editor, A Selected and Annotated Bibliography of Books
and Periodicals in Western Languages Dealing with the
Near and Middle East with Special Emphasis on Medieval
and Modern Times; published by the Middle Kast Institute,
1952,
Went to the Georgetown Branch of the District of Columbia
Public Library to examine and advise about the exhibition
of 30 Egyptian paintings by Youssef Sida; wrote the Fore-
word in the Catalogue of the Exhibition of Modern Paint-
ings by Youssef Sida under the Patronage of H. E. the
Egyptian Ambassador, July 17-19, 1952.
Mr. Gettens: Associate Editor, Studies in Conservation, published for the
International Institute for the Conservation of Museum
Objects.
Abstractor for Chemical Abstracts, American Chemical
Society.
Mr. Stern: Assisted in the preparation of the catalog of the Japanese
Loan Exhibition; also in the installation of the objects
in the Exhibition, National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D. C., November 1952—January 1953.
Respectfully submitted.
A. G. Wentery, Director.
Dr. LEONARD CARMICHAEL,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
APPENDIX 5
Report on the Bureau of American Ethnology
Sir: I have the h nor to submit the following report on the field
researches, office work, and other operations of the Bureau of Amer-
ican Ethnology during the fiscal year ended June 30, 19538, conducted
in accordance with the act of Congress of April 10, 1928, as amended
August 22, 1949, which provides “. . . to continue independently or
in cooperation anthropological researches among the American In-
dians and the natives of lands under the jurisdiction or protection
of the United States and the excavation and preservation of
archeologic remains.”
SYSTEMATIC RESEARCHES
On January 28 Dr. M. W. Stirling, Director of the Bureau, left
for Panama on the fourth National Geographic Society-Smithsonian
Institution archeological expedition to Panama. From February 13
to March 1 the expedition was in Darién where 2 weeks were spent
on the Sambu River studying the little-known Choco Indians. The
fact that their territory was opened for settlement only 2 years
ago offered unusual opportunity to study the beginnings of the ac-
culturation process. Following this, Dr. Stirling spent a month in
archeological work on the islands of the Gulf of Panama, with head-
quarters on Taboga Island. Excavations in shell-midden sites were
conducted on Taboga and Taboguilla Islands and a large burial site
in a rock shelter on Uraba was investigated. He spent the first half
of April on Almirante Bay in the Province of Bocas del Toro where
he examined midden and cave sites and made test excavations. He re-
turned to Washington on April 20.
Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr., Associate Director of the Bureau,
was occupied most of the year with the management of the River
Basin Surveys, of which he is Director. In August he went to Lin-
coln, Nebr., to inspect the headquarters of the Missouri Basin project,
whence, accompanied by Ralph D. Brown, chief of the Missouri Basin
project, and Dr. Gordon C. Baldwin, archeologist from the Region
2 office of the National Park Service at Omaha, Nebr., he proceeded
to the Harlan County Reservoir project in south-central Nebraska
where he visited the excavating party from the Laboratory of An-
thropology of the University of Nebraska, under the direction of
Dr. John L. Champe. The work at the Harlan County Reservoir was
60
SECRETARY’S REPORT 61
a cooperative undertaking between the Laboratory of Anthropology
and the Inter-Agency Archeological Salvage Program. While there
the party examined several sites which had been excavated during the
summer or were then being dug. From Dr. Champe’s camp the party
proceeded to Medicine Creek Reservoir, near Cambridge, Nebr., where
E. Mott Davis of the Nebraska State Museum, University of Nebraska,
was carrying on another cooperative project, excavating a site con-
taining material belonging in the Early Man category. From Medi-
cine Creek Dr. Roberts and his associates went to Denver, Colo., where
they conferred with officials in the regional office of the Bureau of
Reclamation. From Denver they went to Laramie, Wyo., where they
examined and studied a collection of specimens from excavations
carried on by Dr. William Mulloy of the University of Wyoming
at the Keyhole Reservoir. The latter work was also a cooperative
project. From Laramie the party went to Cody, Wyo., where it spent
2 days at the Horner site where a joint party from the Smithsonian
Institution and Princeton University, under the leadership of Dr.
Waldo R. Wedel and Dr. Glenn L. Jepsen, was collecting interesting
new evidence on one of the early hunting groups in the Plains area.
From Cody, Dr. Roberts and his companions went to Billings, Mont.,
to confer with regional officials of the Bureau of Reclamation about
the various projects underway or contemplated in that portion of
the Missouri Basin. At Billings the party was joined by John L.
Cotter from the Washington office of the National Park Service.
From Billings, they went to the Garrison Reservoir in North Dakota
where they inspected the excavations being conducted by River Basin
Surveys parties at the site of Fort Berthold IT and an early his-
toric Indian village on the top of a small butte near Elbowoods,
N. Dak. The group then went on to Bismarck, N. Dak., where it
examined and studied materials which had been collected by a party
from the North Dakota State Historical Society at the site of the
Indian village which was adjacent to Fort Berthold II. From Bis-
marck the party proceeded to Jamestown where the River Basin Sur-
veys were excavating a village site and some mounds in the area
to be flooded by the Jamestown Reservoir. It then proceeded to
the Oahe Dam of the Oahe Reservoir near Pierre, S. Dak., where
two River Basin Surveys groups were digging. One of the latter was
at work in the remains of a fortified village a short distance above
the dam while the other was occupied at an earlier site some miles
upstream. From Pierre, Dr. Roberts and his associates went to the
Fort Randall Reservoir where another River Basin Surveys party
was digging in two sites. En route they stopped and inspected a
site where the University of Kansas had carried on a cooperative
excavation project during the earlier part of the season. From Fort
Randall the group returned to the headquarters at Lincoln where
62 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
several days were spent in examining and studying collections coming
in from the various field parties. At that time Dr. Roberts assisted
Mr. Brown in preparing plans for the termination of the various field
parties and for the fall and winter work at the laboratory in Lincoln.
Dr. Roberts returned to the field office at Lincoln in September
following the accidental death of Mr. Brown, and for a period of 2
weeks took charge of the operations there, supervising the termination
of the field projects and the return of personnel and equipment to
the field headquarters. At that time he also reviewed and edited a
number of preliminary reports on reconnaissance surveys, and ap-
proved them for mimeographing and distribution.
In December Dr. Roberts went to St. Louis to attend the annual
meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
and gave the retiring address as chairman of Section H, speaking on
the subject “Progress in the Inter-Agency Archeological and Anthro-
pological Salvage Program in the United States.” In May he at-
tended the meetings of the Society for American Archeology at
Urbana, IIl., taking part in a number of discussions pertaining to the
work in the Plains area. Later in the month he went to Lincoln,
Nebr., to take part in a meeting of the Missouri Basin Inter-Agency
Field Committee. In January he completed a manuscript, “Earliest
Men in America, Their Arrival and Spread in Late Pleistocene and
Post Pleistocene Times,” for the International Commission for a
Scientific and Cultural History of Mankind. During the year Dr.
Roberts received an alumni award from the University of Denver for
distinguished service in the field of American archeology.
Dr. Henry B. Collins, anthropologist, continued his Eskimo studies
and other Arctic activities. He continued to serve as a member of
the National Research Council’s Committee on International Relations
in Anthropology and was appointed a member of the Permanent
Council of the International Congress of Anthropological and Ethno-
logical Sciences, to participate in planning for the next session of the
Congress, to be held in Philadelphia in 1954.
As a member of the Board of Governors of the Arctic Institute of
North America Dr. Collins attended several meetings of the Board
and of the executive committee held in Montreal, Ottawa, and Wash-
ington. As chairman of the directing committee of the Arctic Bib-
liography, he continued to supervise the operation of this project and
made arrangements with the Department of the Air Force for support
of the work during the present and coming fiscal years and for the
publication of the material assembled in 1952 and 1953. The Arctic
Bibliography is being prepared for the Department of Defense by the
Arctic Institute under contract with the Office of Naval Research. It
describes, and indexes by topic and region, the contents of 24,000
publications in all fields of science relating to the Arctic and sub-
SECRETARY’S REPORT 63
Arctic regions of America, Siberia, and Europe. About 40 percent
of the material is in English, 30 percent in Russian, and the rest mainly
in Scandinavian, Finnish, German, and French. The first 3 volumes
of the Bibliography, of approximately 1,500 pages each, will be issued
as a publication of the Department of the Army in July 1953. A
fourth volume of the same size, representing the work of the past 2
years, was turned over to the printer at the end of the present fiscal
year.
Dr. Collins participated in the preparation of a Program of His-
tory of America, which the Comision de Historia of Mexico is or-
ganizing under the sponsorship of the Rockefeller Foundation. In
January he attended a meeting in Havana at which plans for the
program were discussed, and prepared a paper on the subject assigned
to him—the Arctic Area—which summarized existing knowledge of
the archeology, ethnology, physical anthropology, and history of the
Eskimo and Indian tribes of the American Arctic.
On June 23 Dr. Collins and his assistant, William EK. Taylor, were
flown by the R. C. A. F. from Montreal to Cornwallis Island in the
Canadian Arctic Archipelago to conduct further archeological ex-
cavations for the National Museum of Canada and the Smithsonian
Institution. The principal objective of the work is to obtain addi-
tional information on the prehistoric Dorset culture, traces of which
were found there, with Thule culture remains, by Dr. Collins and Mr.
Taylor in 1950 and 1951.
The beginning of the fiscal year found Dr. John P. Harrington, eth-
nologist, engaged in the preparation of a study of the Abenaki In-
dians of Maine, Quebec, and formerly also of Vermont, who speak the
nearest related living language to the extinct tongue of the Massa-
chusetts Indians, in whose language the Eliot Bible was written. The
two tongues were so closely akin that an Indian speaking one could
with a little practice have understood the other. A complete treatise
on the Abenaki has been assembled, including unique lists of the terms
referring to their culture, and the material awaits completion of the
typing to make it ready for the printer.
On December 20 Dr. Harrington proceeded to Santa Barbara, Calif.,
where he continued his studies of the Chumash Indians of the Santa
Barbara Channel region. In 1542 the Cabrillo Expedition visited
these shores, and, contrary to the custom of the time, put on record
about 42 place names, nearly all of which can be identified. Atl the
sites along the coast were visited. The coming of Cabrillo antedated
that of the Pilgrim Fathers to what is now Massachusetts by nearly
80 years, and the Indian words written down are far older than any
others recorded in California. During the four centuries which have
elapsed since Cabrillo came, the language has evidently changed but
little. Through good fortune Dr. Harrington was able to locate the
64 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
long-looked-for chapel of Saxpilil and to identify the site of the vil-
lage of Coloc. On April 20, 1953, he returned to Washington.
At the beginning of the fiscal year Dr. Philip Drucker, anthropolo-
gist, was in Washington continuing his studies of Meso-American
archeology. During the latter part of the summer he began prepara-
tions for an acculturational study in southeast Alaska. On Septem-
ber 30 he left Washington for Juneau, Alaska, where he began his
investigation of the development and function of the highly interest-
ing intertribal organization of Alaskan Indians known as the Alaska
Native Brotherhood. In November he had the good fortune to be in-
vited to attend the annual convention of this organization at Hoonah,
Alaska, in the role of an observer. On the first of December he re-
turned to Washington and began preparation of a report on the study
just completed.
Shortly after the first of the year Dr. Drucker went to Mexico, D. F.,
where he conferred with officials of the Mexican Government and ob-
tained the necessary permits to enable him to carry out a program
of archeological reconnaissance in the Olmec area of western Tabasco
and southern Veracruz. This research project was sponsored jointly
by the Smithsonian Institution and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for
Anthropological Research. At the end of January he departed for
the field where he continued his investigations until the middle of May.
He returned to Mexico City to make arrangements for the exportation
of the ceramic samples collected in the course of the survey, the study
of which should make it possible to identify as to culture affiliation
each of the 70-some-odd archeological sites discovered and tested in the
course of the trip. On June 10 he left for Washington, D. C.
RIVER BASIN SURVEYS?
(Report prepared by Frank H. H. Roserrs, Jr.)
As in previous years the investigations of the River Basin Surveys
were carried on in cooperation with the National Park Service and the
Bureau of Reclamation of the Department of the Interior, the Corps of
Engineers of the Department of the Army, and various State and local
institutions. During the fiscal year 1952-53 the work was financed
by a transfer of $122,700 from the National Park Service to the Smith-
sonian Institution. Included were $111,065 for investigations in the
Missouri Basin and $11,635 for all other areas where projects were
underway. An additional $50,294 in carryover of previous funds was
also available for the Missouri Basin, making a total of $161,359 for
.that area. The over-all total for the fiscal year, including an unex-
pended balance of $3,890, was $172,994. That amount was approxi-
1 See article by Dr. Roberts in 1951 Smithsonian Report, pp. 351-383, for a 5-year summary
of the River Basin Surveys work.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 65
mately 26 percent less than for the preceding year and necessitated a
corresponding reduction in operations.
Field investigations consisted of reconnaissance or surveys for
locating archeological sites and paleontological deposits that will be
affected by construction work, or are located in areas that will be
flooded, and the excavation of sites that previous survey parties had
observed and recorded. Following the trend of the preceding year
there was much greater emphasis on excavation because the survey
parties had in large measure caught up with the general program and
there were fewer proposed reservoir areas requiring preliminary
study. Reconnaissance parties visited 6 new reservoir basins located
in 8 States. Further surveys were made in 7 reservoir areas where
some preliminary studies had previously been carried on. They were
in 5 different States. At the end of the fiscal year excavations were
completed or were underway in 6 reservoir basins in 4 States. During
the course of the year there were nine excavating parties in the field.
Four of them were in areas where there had been no digging previously.
The other five continued investigations at reservoir projects where
work was started during prior field seasons. A paleontological party
collected materials and made geologic studies in 4 reservoir basins in 3
States. By June 30, 1953, reservoir areas where archeological surveys
had been made or excavations carried on since the start of the program
in 1946 totaled 241 in 27 States. One lock project and four canal
areas were also investigated. The survey parties have located and
recorded 3,469 archeological sites, and of that number 852 have been
recommended for excavation or limited testing. Preliminary ap-
praisal reports were completed for all the reservoirs surveyed, and
where additional reconnaissance has resulted in the discovery of fur-
ther sites supplemental reports have been prepared. Some of those
finished during the fiscal year, together with others completed toward
the end of the previous year, were mimeographed for limited distribu-
tion to the cooperating agencies. In the course of the year 23 such
reports were issued. The total number distributed since the start of
the program is 172. The variance between that figure and the total
number of reservoirs investigated is partially attributable to the
fact that in a number of cases a whole series of reservoirs occurring
in a basin or subbasin has been included in a single report. Other
completed manuscripts had not yet been mimeographed at the end of
the year. Excavations carried on during the year brought the total
for reservoir projects where such investigations have been made to 42
located in 17 different States. The results of certain phases of some
of that work have appeared in various scientific journals, and Bulletin
154 of the Bureau of American Ethnology, River Basin Surveys
Papers, containing 6 reports, was ready for release on June 30, 1953.
Detailed technical reports on 10 additional excavation projects have
66 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
been completed and are ready for publication. Paleontological sur-
veys have been made in 121 reservoir areas. Archeological work has
also been done in 88 of them and the remaining 33 will eventually be
visited by archeological parties. The total of all reservoir basins
surveyed, including those where archeological studies are still to be
made, is 273.
The reservoir projects that had been surveyed for archeological re-
mains, as of June 30, 1953, were distributed by States as follows:
Alabama, 1; California, 20; Colorado, 24; Georgia, 4; Idaho, 11; Ili-
nois, 2; Kansas, 10; Kentucky, 1; Louisiana, 1; Minnesota, 1; Missis-
sippi, 1; Montana, 15; Nebraska, 28; New Mexico, 1; North Dakota,
13; Ohio, 2; Oklahoma, 7; Oregon, 27; Pennsylvania, 2; South Da-
kota, 9; Tennessee, 3; Texas, 19; Virginia, 2; Washington, 11; West
Virginia, 2; Wyoming, 21. Excavations have been made or were
being made in reservoir basins in: California, 5; Colorado, 1;
Georgia, 4; Kansas, 3; Montana, 1; Nebraska, 1; New Mexico, 1;
North Dakota, 4; Oklahoma, 2; Oregon, 2; South Carolina, 1; South
Dakota, 3; Texas, 7; Virginia, 1; Washington, 3; West Virginia, 1;
Wyoming, 2. Only the work of the River Basin Surveys or that in
which there was direct cooperation with local institutions is included
in the foregoing figures. Projects that were in direct cooperation
with the National Park Service or were carried on by local institutions
alone are not included because complete information about them was
not available.
The River Basin Surveys continued to receive extensive and helpful
cooperation during the year from the National Park Service, the
Bureau of Reclamation, the Corps of Engineers, and various State
and local institutions. Detailed maps of the reservoirs under investi-
gation were supplied by the agency concerned and at a number of
projects temporary office and laboratory rooms, as well as dwelling
facilities, were provided. For survey work in Tennessee guides and
transportation were furnished by the Corps of Engineers and the same
source made transportation available at a series of excavations in
Georgia. The work of the River Basin Surveys men was made much
easier by the assistance of the field personnel of the other agencies and
their accomplishments were much greater than they would have been
without that help. As in other years, the National Park Service
functioned as the liaison between the various agencies both in Wash-
ington and in the field. Through its several regional offices it secured
information about the locations for dams and reservoirs and data on
their construction priorities. The National Park Service also was
mainly responsible for the preparation of estimates and justifications
and procurement of funds for carrying on the program. The en-
thusiastic cooperation of Park Service personnel was a definite aid in
all phases of the operations.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 67
The main office in Washington directed and supervised the work in
the east and south, while that in the Missouri Basin was under the
supervision of a field headquarters and laboratory at Lincoln, Nebr.
The materials collected by survey and excavating parties in the east
and south were processed in Washington. Those from the Missouri
Basin were handled at the Lincoln laboratory.
Washington office—The main headquarters of the River Basin
Surveys continued under the direction of Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts,
Jr., throughout the year. Carl F. Miller and Ralph S. Solecki,
archeologists, were based on that office, although Solecki was trans-
ferred to the Missouri Basin Project early in July and continued
there until October when he returned to Washington. Late in No-
vember he was granted leave of absence to accept a Fulbright Scholar-
ship for archeological investigations in Iraq. He was appointed a
collaborator of the Smithsonian Institution and from March until
the end of June conducted excavations financed jointly by the Iraq
Government and the Smithsonian Institution.
At the start of the fiscal year Mr. Miller was in the office working
on material obtained the latter part of the previous year at the John
H. Kerr Reservoir (Buggs Island) on the Roanoke River in southern
Virginia. During July he spent several days inspecting a site near
Cambridge, Md., where a large mound attributable to the Adena
culture was being destroyed by a housing development. In August he
made a brief survey of the Demopolis Reservoir basin on the Warrior
River in Alabama and checked on several sites in the Grenada Reser-
voir on the Yalobusha River in Mississippi. In October he took part
in the Southeastern Archeological Conference held at Macon, Ga.,
and in November made all arrangements for the annual meeting of the
Eastern States Archeological Federation which met in Washington.
During the autumn months he completed his technical report on the
excavations that he made at the Fort Lookout Trading Post site in
the Fort Randall Reservoir basin in South Dakota while on loan to
the Missouri Basin Project the previous year. He also finished cer-
tain revisions in the completed technical report on work at the Alla-
toona Reservoir on the Etowah River in Georgia. He revised a paper
on Indian pottery types of Pissaseck, Va., for publication in the
Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. Late in December
Mr. Miller visited the Bluestone Reservoir on New River near Hinton,
W. Va., to ascertain the exact status of the reservoir pool and what the
situation was with respect to sites that had been recommended for
excavation and testing when a survey was made of the area in 1948.
During January and February he studied materials from his exca-
vations at the John H. Kerr Reservoir and worked on his technical
report for that project. From March 9 to June 6 he conducted exca-
vations at four sites in the Jim Woodruff Reservoir area on the Flint
68 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
River in southern Georgia, and gave a number of talks on the River
Basin Surveys program before local groups both in Georgia and
northern Florida.
Dr. Theodore E. White, geologist, divided his time between the
Washington office and the Missouri Basin. From November 12, 1952,
to March 30, 1953, he was in Washington, cleaning, cataloging, and
identifying the small mammals he had collected during the field sea-
son. In addition he identified three lots of bone from archeological
sites in the Columbia Basin and one lot from a site excavated by a
cooperating agency in the Missouri Basin. He completed a series of
five papers on “Observations on the Butchering Technique of Some
Aboriginal People” and was a joint author, with C. M. Barber, of a
sixth. All have been submitted for publication in American An-
tiquity. He also finished a manuscript, “Endocrine Glands and Evo-
lution, No. 8,” for the journal Evolution. Two other papers, “Lith-
ology, Distribution and Correlation of the Alachua Formation of
Florida” and “Lithology, Distribution and Correlation of the Bone
Valley Formation of Florida,” were submitted to the Committee on the
Nomenclature and Correlation of North American Continential Ter-
tiary. Three papers by Dr. White were published during the year.
They were: “A Method of Calculating the Dietary Percentage of
Various Food Animals Utilized by Aboriginal Peoples,” American
Antiquity, vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 396-98; “Collecting Osteological Mate-
rial,” Plains Archeological Conference News Letter, vol. 6, No. 1, pp.
3-7; and “Studying Osteological Material,” ibid., pp. 8-15.
Alabama.—An archeological reconnaissance of the Demopolis
Reservoir basin on the Warrior River made August 5-7, 1952, showed
that although archeological remains are present in the area they
would be little affected by flooding in the bottomlands. No excava-
tions were recommended for the project.
Georgia.—During the period from March 9 to June 6, 1958, surveys
and excavations were carried on along the Flint River, in southern
Georgia, in a portion of the area that will be flooded by the Jim Wood-
ruff Dam situated in the Apalachicola River, just below the junction
of the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers, in northern Florida. Carl
F. Miller completely excavated 2 sites, partially excavated 2 others,
and located 25 sites not previously listed by the University of Georgia
when it made the preliminary survey there. One of the excavated
sites, Montgomery Fields (9Dr10), was basically Weeden Island in its
relationships but contained a number of traits not previously reported
for that culture. The floor pattern of a fairly large rectangular struc-
ture that had been formed by individual posts, each set in its own hole,
was uncovered, and outlines of a number of small circular structures
suggesting the same type of construction were found. The large
feature probably was a dwelling, while the smaller ones were either
SECRETARY’S REPORT 69
sweat houses or menstrual huts. ‘There were some 30 midden or roast-
ing pits associated with the house remains. One dog burial was found
but no human remains. Underlying the Weeden Island material was
a nonceramic level characterized by stone artifacts in which projectile
points were the predominant form. The latter differ from previously
known types from preceramic levels in the area and may indicate a
separate culture. A slightly different variant of Weeden Island cul-
ture was found at the Lusk Springs site (9Dr21), which was thor-
oughly tested but not completely excavated.
The second site was on the south bank of the Flint River 214 miles
east of Hutchinson’s Ferry Landing. An extensive deposit of shells
located there had been recorded as a single site (9Dr29) but actually
proved to be two (designated Aand B). Unit A was found to contain
a straight Weeden Island II component, while Unit B represented a
Weeden Island I component with an underlying deposit of Santa
Rosa-Swift Creek materials. About 150 yards east of 9Dr29 early
spring floodwaters in the Flint River exposed another small site
(9Dr387). The deposits at that location were widely scattered and had
very little depth. From various eroded pits and subsequent test dig-
ging, however, a series of Deptford, Swift Creek, and Weeden Island
I potsherds were recovered, which makes possible the placing of the site
in the cultural sequence for the area. During the course of his surveys
Mr. Miller joined in the search for the historically significant location
of Apalachicola Fort or Cherokeeleechee’s Fort at the junction of the
Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers. That town was established in 1716
by the Apalachicola when, as a result of the Yamasee war, they moved
back from the Savannah River in South Carolina to the territory they
had formerly occupied in southern Georgia. Their chief at that time
was named Cherokeeleechee or “Cherokee Killer,” and his town fre-
quently goes by the same designation. Not many years later the group
withdrew to a new location farther up the Chattahoochee. Mr. Miller
tested one site tentatively identified as that of the fort but did not find
evidence to support such a possibility.
During the period that Mr. Miller was working in the Jim Woodruff
area Joseph R. Caldwell, archeologist of the National Park Service,
was digging at a productive site on the Chattahoochee River known as
Fairchild’s Landing. Considerable new material was found there in
a series of stratified shell deposits. Several phases of the Weeden
Island culture are represented, and at one end of the site were some
early historic remains. Caldwell’s data and those of Miller should
serve as cross checks and definitely establish all Weeden Island charac-
teristics for the area. In the region adjacent to Fairchild’s Landing
Mr. Caldwell observed evidence of a possible historic Indian site which
may represent one of the several “Fowl Towns” mentioned in various
documents. Mr. Caldwell also took part in the search for Apalachi-
70 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
cola. Dr. Mark F. Boyd, of the Florida Historical Society, through
an agreement between the National Park Service and the Society,
made a historic-site survey of the whole reservoir basin, working in
conjunction with Miller and Caldwell in a number of instances. Dr.
Arthur Kelly, of the University of Georgia, cooperated in all the
recent activities, giving Caldwell and Miller the benefit of the knowl-
edge he obtained while making a general survey of the Jim Woodruff
area in previous years. He also helped Dr. Boyd with his historic-
sites investigations.
During June excavations were carried on by Ripley P. Bullen in
the small portion of the Jim Woodruff Reservoir lying in Florida,
under a cooperative agreement between the National Park Service and
the Florida State Museum of the University of Florida. Mr. Bullen
and his party dug one site near the dam, finding four superimposed
occupation levels separated by sterile zones. The bottom level yielded
quantities of lithic materials and definitely represented a preceramic
culture. The next higher cultural layer contained sherds from fiber-
tempered pottery, fragments from steatite vessels, and numerous stone
artifacts. The latter, Mr. Bullen reported, constitute many times the
number of previously documented worked-stone specimens from the
fiber-tempered period in all Florida. The third occupation level was
found to belong to the Deptford cultural horizon. The upper layer
contained village remains of the Fort Walton period. Associated with
that occupation were four “specialized” pits containing charred ker-
nels of corn. The evidence from the site will be extremely important
to Florida archeology because it is the first place that a fiber-tempered
complex has been found in situ in west Florida and is only the second
place where undisturbed Fort Walton village material has been avail-
able for extensive study. Investigations at three other sites produced
materials that will help in filling the gap between the Deptford and
Fort Walton periods at the large site. One of the three indicated a
Weeden Island period and another a Kolomoki complex. That is the
first time “pure” Kolomoki remains have been found in Florida.
Mississippii—The Grenada Reservoir area on the Yalobusha River
in Mississippi had been surveyed for archeological remains during a
previous fiscal year by the University of Mississippi operating under a
cooperative agreement with the National Park Service. Upon the com-
pletion of that survey 4 of the 51 sites found were recommended for
excavation. To determine whether digging there was more essential
than in some other areas, several of the sites were examined during
August 25-27, 1952. It was finally decided that the meager funds
available for digging might be used to better advantage in districts
where less was known about the cultural manifestations, particularly
so since there is a considerable number of sites in the Grenada basin
that will not be affected and can be investigated at some future date.
PLATE 4
Secretary's Report, 1953.—Appendix 5
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SECRETARY’S REPORT 71
Missouri Basin—The Missouri Basin Project continued to operate
throughout fiscal 1953 from the field headquarters at Lincoln, Nebr.
Ralph D. Brown served as chief of the project from July 1 to Septem-
ber 7, when he died as the result of an accident. On September 22,
Robert L. Stephenson, who had been on leave from the River Basin
Surveys’ staff, returned to active duty and was assigned to the super-
vision of the project, serving as acting chief throughout the remainder
of the year. In the interval from September 7 to 22, Dr. Frank H. H.
Roberts, Jr., was in direct charge of the Lincoln office. Activities dur-
ing the year were concerned with all four phases of the salvage pro-
gram. There were preliminary surveys; excavations; processing of
the collections obtained from the digging, analyses and study of the
materials, and the preparation of general and technical manuscripts
on the results; and the publication and dissemination of scientific and
popular reports. Most of the work was in the second and third phases.
Much of phase 1 was finished in previous years and phase 4 will not get
into full swing until more of phase 3 is completed. At the start of
the year there was a permanent staff for the Missouri Basin Project
of 20 persons. In addition there were 4 temporary part-time em-
ployees assisting in the laboratory. Through July and August and
part of September 6 temporary assistant archeologists, 60 temporary
student laborers, and 25 local nonstudent laborers were employed in
the field. During the summer season 11 of the regular staff were also
engaged in fieldwork. As the surveys and excavations were brought
to a close the temporary employees were gradually laid off and by the
first of November only the permanent staff of 20 and a temporary
draftsman-illustrator were on the rolls. In May it became evident
that a much more limited budget would be available for 1954 and that
a reduction in force would be necessary. Consequently by the close of
the day’s work on June 30 the staff had been reduced to 11 persons.
On May 18 and 19 the Interior Missouri Basin Field Committee,
consisting of representatives from all the agencies of the Department
of the Interior concerned with the over-all Missouri Basin program,
held its 61st regular meeting at the River Basin Surveys’ head-
quarters on the campus of the University of Nebraska, at the invitation
of the Missouri Basin Project and the Laboratory of Anthropology of
the University. The first session was devoted to routine business, but
during the evening of May 18 the members visited the Surveys’ labo-
ratory located in the business section of Lincoln and heard Mr.
Stephenson explain in detail the mechanics of the field and laboratory
work of the salvage program. A series of exhibits of fossil speci-
mens, objects from historic sites, Indian-site artifacts, and methods
of pottery reconstruction was used to illustrate portions of Mr. Steph-
enson’s talk. The visitors were also shown the entire process of han-
284725546
72 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
dling materials from the time they arrive from the field until their
analysis and study have been completed and the covering report has
been written. Most of the session on May 19 was devoted to a pre-
sentation of the work and results of the Inter-Agency Archeological
and Paleontological Program. Howard W. Baker, regional director
of the National Park Service, Region 2, at Omaha, Nebr., served as
chairman. Frederick H. Johnson, secretary of the independent-
advisory Committee for the Recovery of Archeological Remains,
sketched briefly the general background and importance of the re-
covery program and explained the activities and purpose of his com-
mittee. Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr., then discussed the Smithsonian
Institution’s part in the program as a whole, both from the standpoint
of the Missouri Basin and other areas throughout the country. Dr.
Gordon C. Baldwin, archeologist, Region 2, National Park Service,
explained the part his organization has played, told what had been
accomplished as of that date, and outlined the needs for the future in
a 6-year program. Robert L. Stephenson told about the plans for
the remainder of the fiscal year in the Missouri Basin and explained
the reasons for the proposed projects. Dr. C. Bertrand Schultz, di-
rector of the Nebraska State Museum of the University of Nebraska,
summarized the work that his institution had been carrying on as a
cooperative effort in the paleontological phase of the investigations
and stressed the need for such studies in a proper understanding of the
Missouri Basin. Dr. John L. Champe, director of the Laboratory of
Anthropology, University of Nebraska, commented on the status of
archeology in the Plains area before the salvage program was started
and spoke about the current activities from the viewpoint of the
cooperating institutions. The historical aspects of the program were
presented by Merrill Mattes, regional historian of the Region 2 office,
National Park Service. He outlined the historical background for
the area, described the current activities and the methods used in mak-
ing the studies, and made clear the relationship between that subject
and those discussed by the other speakers. As a result of the session
the members of the Committee undoubtedly left Lincoln with a much
better understanding of the salvage program and its aims.
During the year 10 field parties operated in the Missouri Basin.
One of them made a series of extensive tests in 4 archeological sites,
while 7 were primarily occupied in conducting full-scale excavations
in 19 sites. In connection with that work, however, some reconnais-
sance was carried on in the areas where their investigations were
underway. One of the parties was concerned mainly with archeo-
logical surveys and another with paleontological studies. The exca-
vations were in 2 reservoir areas in North Dakota, 2 in South Dakota,
and 2 in Kansas. The survey party operated in 5 reservoir areas in
Kansas, 3 of them being covered for the first time and 2 being revisited
SECRETARY'S REPORT 73
for further checking. The paleontological party worked in 1 reser-
voir area in Montana, 1 in North Dakota, and 1 in South Dakota. It
also visited another project in North Dakota to examine a specimen
reported from the Upper Cretaceous deposits there. During July
and August 1952, 3 aerial photographic missions were flown over 12
reservoir areas. In all, 5,000 air miles were flown and 62 objectives
were photographed. The latter included excavated archeological
sites, sites to be excavated, dams and reservoir construction features,
and the general topography of the areas to be covered by the ground
surveys. The plane used was the personal property of one of the
staff archeologists and the pictures were taken by the staff photog-
rapher.
The reservoir basins where reconnaissance work was carried on
were: The Kirwin, on the north fork of the Solomon River, where 4
additional archeological sites were located and recorded; the Webster,
on the south fork of the Solomon, where 3 were found; Tuttle Creek,
on the Big Blue River, with 118; Glen Elder, on the Solomon River,
with 17; and Wilson, on the Saline River, with 18. On the basis of the
evidence obtained, it is apparent that no additional studies will be
needed in the Kirwin and Webster areas. At Tuttle Creek, however,
there is important material and 10 of the sites have been recommended
for future excavation. Included in the 10 are 4 historic sites which
are of special significance with respect to the early exploration and
settlement of that section of the West. Of the 17 sites recorded for
the Glen Elder, 6 small ones gave evidence of being extremely im-
portant because they contain materials thus far not observed in the
area and they have been recommended for complete excavation. At
the Wilson Reservoir 6 of the 18 sites were found to be significant
from the standpoint of their relationship to one of the pre-Columbian
cultures which thus far is imperfectly known. Two of the sites are
caves, probably containing dry materials, and should yield types of
artifacts rarely preserved in open sites. One of the recommended
sites may prove to be of considerable importance because materials
there are eroding from a terrace bank and appear to belong to one of
the early occupations in the Plains area. Parties working in the Fort
Randall Reservoir basin in South Dakota located 2 new sites, while
those operating in the Oahe basin in the same State found 180. At
the Jamestown Reservoir in North Dakota 3 new sites were found.
The total of new sites observed and recorded in the Missouri Basin
during the fiscal year was 339.
In the Garrison Reservoir basin on the main stem of the Missouri
River above Bismarck, N. Dak., 2 field parties conducted archeological
excavations in 3 of the 147 known there. During July and August
and part of September one party dug in the remains of Fort Berthold
II. The work at that location falls into the historic category, but it
74 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
is important because the fort was established in connection with the
large Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara village, called Like-a-Fishhook, which
was occupied from about 1845 to 1890. The remains of the Indian
village were studied by parties from the North Dakota State Historical
Society under a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service,
but much information was needed with respect to the fort and the
evidence it might contain bearing on the relationships between the
Indians and the Whites. Fort Berthold was originally built in 1858
as a trading post and was known as Fort Atkinson. Its name was
changed in 1862, and from 1863 to 1867 it served as a military post.
Later it became the agency for the three tribes living in the adjacent
village. While there is fairly extensive documentary evidence about
the military and trading post, there are many gaps in the record and
the archeological excavations contributed information which will help
to complete the story of the activities there. About 75 percent of the
fort, including the stockade line and two bastions, was excavated.
Plans call for further work there during fiscal 1954.
In July and August one party excavated the site of a fortified
village on the top of a small butte on the north bank of the Missouri
about 10 miles above Fort Berthold. The site is known by the name
Night-Walker’s Butte in the Bull Pasture because there is an Indian
tradition to the effect that a Hidatsa chief by the name of Night-
Walker broke away from the main tribe and led his band to the top of
a butte where he built a village. Two other sites in the area are also
in somewhat similar locations, and which of the three actually was the
Night-Walker village is open to question. Nothing found during the
excavations throws any light on the problem. The floor areas of 27
earth lodges were uncovered; 29 fire pits, 26 cache pits, 10 roasting
pits, and 2 sweat lodges were dug; and approximately three-fourths of
the stockade which encircled the edge of the butte was traced. Ma-
terials found there suggest that the village was built about or shortly
before 1800. The excavations were completed and the detailed tech-
nical report on the results was well in progress at the end of the year.
In September the party that worked on the butte investigated the
remains of an earth lodge across the river from the village site. It
was called Grandmother’s Lodge and was the traditional dwelling
place of one of the Mandan or Hidatsa supernatural beings who was
believed to be the patroness of gardens and crops. The ceremonial
lodge, which was only partially excavated, appears to have been rec-
tangular in floor plan and may be older than any other lodge thus
far reported for that area. At least one additional lodge and prob-
ably several others are present at the site and further work is planned
for it during fiscal 1954. That particular location provides an ex-
cellent opportunity for comparing evidence obtained through archeo-
SECRETARY’S REPORT 75
logical investigations with the legendary story which is a part of
the myths of the Indians in that district.
At the Jamestown Reservoir on the James River in eastern North
Dakota one field party continued excavations started toward the close
of the previous year. By the end of the season in September it had
dug in 5 of the 28 known archeological sites which will be flooded by
that reservoir. Two of the sites were burial mounds attributable to
the Woodland culture, one was a campsite consisting of a series of
boulder-lined depressions strung along the crest of a low bluff, one
was a burial pit exposed by a power shovel in the borrow area directly
west of the dam, and the other comprised the remains of an Indian
village. The floors of four circular houses and a small sweat lodge
were uncovered at the latter location. The site covers more than 2
acres and only about 10 percent of it was investigated. A few metal
objects and the potsherds found there suggest that the village had
Mandan affiliations or at least trade relations with that group and
that it was occupied during the first half of the eighteenth century.
In the Oahe Reservoir Basin in South Dakota two parties continued
investigations started toward the end of the preceding fiscal year.
Excavations were carried on in 4 of the known 3818 sites in the basin.
At the Black Widow site (39ST3), the location of an extensive earth-
lodge village of many scattered houses, about 30 miles upstream from
the dam on the west side of the Missouri, evidence of two occupations
was found. One period was prior to contact with the whites and
the other was during the eighteenth century. During July, August,
and September numerous cache pits, a refuse mound, and extensive
areas of village surface were dug and four house floors were cleared.
Three of the houses belonged to the early period, while the other was
of the later occupation. The fourth house was superimposed upon
cache pits of the early occupation. All four houses were circular in
outline but there were conspicuous architectural differences between
the three older examples and the one late form. Materials from the
site suggest that the older level had its closest affiliations with the
Myers site (839ST10), where the South Dakota Archeological Com-
mission did some excavating in 1949, and with one of the three com-
ponents in the Cheyenne River site (89ST1), which was partially
excavated by a Missouri Basin Project party in the summer of 1951.
The later period of occupation appears to be Arikara, although his-
toric documentation for the site seemingly is not known. The same
party exhumed a single flexed burial which was about to be destroyed
by erosion at a multicomponent site (89ST23) not far from the Black
Widow site. Part of the skeleton was missing and there were no
mortuary offerings accompanying it.
The second excavating party concentrated its efforts in the imme-
diate vicinity of the dam. It completed excavations started at the
76 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Indian Creek site (39ST15) the previous year, made a series of tests
at the Mathison site (39ST16), and did extensive digging at the
Buffalo Pasture site (39ST6). At the Indian Creek site, which lies
on the line of the proposed discharge channel for the Oahe Reser-
voir, two house floors were cleared. One, probably a ceremonial struc-
ture, was 50 feet in diameter. It contained a raised earthen platform
or altar, covered with mud plaster, along the wall opposite the entry-
way. Beside the altar was a buffalo-skull shrine. Only about 1 per-
cent of that site was excavated, but since it was evident that there
would be some delay in the construction of the discharge channel,
further efforts were deferred until a later field season. The Mathi-
son site, also on the line of the discharge channel, is stratified and the
tests showed it contains data on several different Indian periods. In
addition it probably was the location of Fort Galpin, one of the fron-
tier posts. Most of the activity during July, August, and early Sep-
tember was at the Buffalo Pasture site 1 mile upstream from the right
wing of the dam on the west bank of the river. A large fortified
earth-lodge village had been located there. Four earth lodges, the
cross section of the defensive ditch or moat, and over 210 linear feet
of the palisade wall inside the moat were excavated. One of the lodges
proved to be a ceremonial house and contained an excellent example
of an altar with bison-skull offerings. Although only about 8 percent
of the site was excavated there was an unusually large yield of arti-
facts. Included in the materials are over 100 restorable pottery ves-
sels, which is a rare find so far as the Plains area is concerned. The
material and information from Buffalo Pasture rounds out and helps
to clarify that obtained from two sites, Dodd (39ST30) and Phillips
Ranch (39ST14), between it and the dam which were dug during
previous seasons.
While the River Basin Surveys parties were working in the Oahe
area in the summer of 1952 the South Dakota Archeological Commis-
sion and the W. H. Over Museum of the University of South Dakota
carried on excavations at the Thomas Riggs site (39HU1) under a
cooperative agreement with the National Park Service. On two pre-
vious occasions the W. H. Over Museum had worked there but had not
completed its investigations. During the 1952 season its party, under
the leadership of Dr. Wesley R. Hurt, Jr., excavated the remains of
five houses and dug a long trench through the village area. Evidence
found there indicates that the village was occupied at about A. D.
1500 and that it probably did not have more than 200 inhabitants at
any one time. Just what the relationship between it and later Ari-
kara or Mandan communities may have been is still to be determined.
The two parties, one for Indian and one for historical sites, working
in the Fort Randall Reservoir basin continued the operations started
toward the end of the preceding year. During the field season excava-
SECRETARY’S REPORT Er
tions were carried on in 6 of the 53 known sites which will be inun-
dated. At the start of the year the Indian-site party was centering its
activities in village remains where considerable digging had been done
the previous field season. At that location, the Oldham site (39CH7),
there was evidence for three periods of occupation. The latest was
an earth-lodge village with palisade and moat where most of the
digging was done during the 1951 season, the middle period was an
earth-lodge village with a palisade but no moat, and the earliest was
an occupation level underlying both of the others. At the start of
the 1952 field season, in May, activities were centered on the portion
of the site representing the middle period. Beginning with the new
fiscal year attention was turned to the area where there was some over-
lap between the remains of the last two periods. During the course
of the digging 2 earth lodges, 3 drying tacks, 2 infant burials, 270
feet of stockade, including 1 bastion, 76 pits, most of which were cache
pits, and numerous fire pits were uncovered. Tubular copper beads
were found in one of the infant burials. The specimen yield from the
site was great and study of the material shows that when the results
are completely tabulated there will be much new information about
the material culture of the people who inhabited that area. The mid-
dle period apparently correlates with what is known as the Great Oasis
Aspect in Minnesota. Although less than half of the site was ex-
cavated, sufficient data were obtained to warrant stopping the work in
August and moving the laborers to a new location. The latter, the
Hitchell site (89CH45), consisted of the remains of a semipermanent
village characterized by circular, hutlike, pole-framed structures
which probably were covered with skins or brush. The site was
stratified and preliminary analysis of the materials from it indicates
that it was related to the latest and the earliest periods at the Oldham
site. While work was underway at the Hitchell site some of the
laborers, under the supervision of a field assistant, dug 1,698 feet of
test trenches at the Pease Creek site (39CH5) several miles down-
stream. The evidence revealed by the trenches shows that there were
two occupations. The latest was by a group using the location mainly
as a camping area, while the earlier presumably had a more permanent
type of settlement. Pottery found there suggests Upper Republican
and Nebraska cultural influences. The artifact complex as a whole
is unique in the Fort Randall area. During the summer season addi-
tional testing was carried on at a campsite (39CH51) where some
digging had been done during a previous year. Those investigations
completed the studies at that location. The activities of the Fort
Randall Indian party were brought to a close in late September.
During July the historic-site party completed the excavation of
the Fort Whetstone site (39GR4) on the west bank of the Missouri
River near the mouth of Whetstone Creek. The palisade was traced
78 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
and the outlines of the buildings that stood inside the fortification were
followed. Exact dimensions of the fort and buildings were obtained,
as were some of the constructional features of the interior of the build-
ings. All wooden structures had been burned, and evidence indicates
that the post was destroyed shortly after abandonment in 1872. About
90 percent of the site was excavated and no additional work will be
required there. A number of discrepancies found between the various
features revealed by the digging and a plan of the fort drawn in 1871
raised a number of puzzling historical problems. About 500 yards
northwest of the fort the remains of a “Missouri Dugout” were found
and excavated. At the end of July the party moved to the Fort
Randall site (39GR15) on the west bank of the Missouri River half a
mile southeast of the Fort Randall military post. Work there showed
that the remains were those of a brick kiln, which probably belonged
to the period of Fort Randall I. The remains of the kiln and features
associated with it were completely excavated and the party left the
Fort Randall Reservoir area at the end of August, proceeding to the
Kirwin Reservoir in Kansas.
During the 1952 field season work was also carried on in the Fort
Randall area by the Nebraska State Historical Society and the Uni-
versity of Kansas under cooperative agreements with the National
Park Service. The Historical Society party under the direction of
Marvin F. Kivett continued excavations in two sites (89L.M26 and
391L.M27) located along the highway a short distance east of Oacoma
and about 2 miles west of Chamberlain, S. Dak. Some digging was
also done at a site (39LM81) 1014 miles upriver from Chamberlain.
The work at the first two locations, which was completed, showed
evidence of a historic Siouan occupation underlain by an earth-lodge
village belonging to what has been called the Fort Thompson focus.
The third site was found to have three components, historic Siouan,
a level producing a simple-stamped type of pottery which has not yet
been culturally correlated, and an earlier Woodland occupation. The
University of Kansas party under Dr. Carlyle S. Smith spent a third
season at the Talking Crow site (839BF3) about 314 miles below Fort
Thompson, S. Dak. During the three seasons at the site 9 houses were
completely excavated, 4 were partially excavated, and 14 were tested
to obtain their dimensions and samples of materials from them.
Stratigraphic tests were made in three refuse mounds, trenches were
dug across the surrounding fortification on four sides of the site, two
long trenches were cut through areas between the houses, and numer-
ous other test pits and trenches were dug. From the data obtained it
appears that the site had four components. The latest was Siouan
dating from shortly after the Civil War. Prior to that was the last
occupation by earth-lodge-building people, probably the Arikara,
during the period when European trade goods were beginning to
SECRETARY’S REPORT 79
appear in the area. Preceding that was an occupation which just
antedated the introduction of trade goods. The earliest occupation
was definitely prehistoric in age and its cultural affinities seem to
have been widespread. The latest component appears to correlate
with one phase of Kivett’s Oacoma sites and with the Indian Creek
site in the Oahe area. The one just preceding seems to equate with
an older phase at Kivett’s sites and with the latest component at the
Oldham site. The next to the oldest component correlates with the
older level at the Black Widow site in the Oahe area, but there is still
some question as to the relationship of the first occupation at Talking
Crow.
In the Kirwin Reservoir basin in Kansas the historic-sites party,
which had moved from the Fort Randall area, spent the period from
September 2 to 20 excavating the remains of Camp Kirwan, an old
frontier post located on the right bank of the Solomon River in Phil-
lips County. The site (14PH6) was completely excavated and the
palisade line was traced as an intrusive trench in the soil.
An archeological party spent 3 weeks in June 1958 testing sites at
the Tuttle Creek Reservoir in Kansas. During that period work was
carried on at four sites; three of them were in the spillway construction
area, and one in the general construction area for the dam. Two of
them had been severely damaged by the cut for the spillway, while the
others were in immediate danger of destruction by further activities.
One of the sites in the spillway line (14P014) was an earth and stone
mound approximately 26 feet in diameter with a maximum height of
114 feet. The mound contained a burial pit with skeletal remains oc-
curring at two levels. The original interment of at least three bodies
apparently had been dug into to make room for subsequent burial of
three, possibly four, more bodies. In both levels there was one articu-
lated skeleton in a semiflexed position. Stone implements, copper
beads, and fragmentary bits of copper sheeting were found with the
bones. At some distance from the pit the remains of an extended
burial without a skull were found. It had no accompanying mortu-
ary offering. Indications were that the skull had been removed by
some earlier digger and also that the interment was a later intrusion in
the mound. In general appearance the mound suggested relationship
to others in the Tuttle Creek, Glen Elder, and Wilson Reservoir basins.
They have not as yet been assigned to any culture but may well have
Woodland affiliations. The extended burial possibly is attributable to
the Kansa, as it had certain similarities to others found elsewhere
which presumably were made by that tribe. Furthermore, materials
collected from two occupation areas nearby indicate a late occupancy,
and since a historic Kansa village is known to have existed in the
immediate area it seems likely that they may also have lived at those
locations. As a matter of fact, the two sites (14P012 and 14P013)
80 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
may represent parts of a single large occupational area as one is on the
eastern edge of the spillway and one is on the western edge of it and
both have been extensively damaged by construction activities. Ma-
terials collected during the digging there consist of buff-colored pot-
sherds with gray shell-tempered paste and punctated decorations,
small triangular-unnotched projectile points, an abundance of stone
scrapers, a conical copper bangle, and some bits of sheet metal. The
fourth site tested (14RY10) is on the west side of the Blue River. It
was buried under considerable flood-borne silt but the exploratory
trenches indicated the former presence of an earth lodge and other
village features. Potsherds from the house area suggest that a cul-
tural transition was underway at that location. It was not possible
to do any extensive digging there, but at the end of the fiscal year
plans were being made by one of the local institutions to continue the
investigations as a cooperative effort. It was necessary for the River
Basin Surveys party to close down its work on June 26 and return to
the headquarters at Lincoln.
The paleontological field party completed its activities at the Key-
hole Reservoir in Wyoming on July 1, 1952, and left the following
day for the Canyon Ferry Reservoir in Montana. En route, at the
request of the National Park Service, it visited the South Unit of the
Theodore Roosevelt National Monument to examine some paleontolog-
ical material found in that area. From July 5 to August 3 the party
explored exposures of the Oligocene and Miocene deposits in the
Canyon Ferry Basin. Some 75 specimens of small mammals were
collected, adding greatly to the knowledge of certain groups, particu-
larly the rabbits and small dogs of the Miocene. During the period
the paleontologist also identified the Tertiary sediments in a number
of localities in the Toston Basin for a mapping party of the United
States Geological Survey. From August 9 to 30 the party explored
the exposures of the Paleocene Fort Union formation in the Garrison
Reservoir near Elbowoods, N. Dak. Specimens are exceedingly rare
in that formation, and because of the uncertain correlation of the
deposits the value of those found is materially increased. During
that period the nearly complete skeleton of Champsosaurus, an alli-
gatorlike aquatic reptile, was collected. Exposures of the Oacoma
member of the Upper Cretaceous Pierre shale in the vicinity of the
Oahe Dam were explored from September 2 to 10. A number of
specimens of marine reptiles were found but they had been exposed
too long to be worth collecting.
The paleontological party returned to the field in June, and from
June 1 to 7, 1953, at the request of the National Park Service made a
paleontological survey of certain areas in the Badlands National
Monument. From the 9th to the 27th it continued explorations of the
Oligocene and Miocene deposits of the Canyon Ferry Reservoir area.
SECRETARY’S REPORT Sl
Initial flooding of the reservoir made it necessary to visit several
localities by boat. About 100 specimens of small mammals, rabbits,
rodents, and marsupials were obtained. Of special interest is a very
small rabbit, details of the teeth of which suggest that it may be
ancestral to the cony or pika, the tiny rock rabbit which lives high
in the mountains. If such should prove to be true these are the
earliest known specimens of that group of rabbits found anywhere
in the world. The Canyon Ferry Reservoir basin, which will not be
available for study another season because of the impounded water,
has been the most productive, both in the number and variety of
species, of any locality in the area and is the only one thus far that has
produced a sizable Middle Oligocene fauna in the Intermountain
Basins. On June 27 the party moved to the Fort Peck Reservoir in
Montana for the purpose of examining a plesiosaur (marine reptile)
skeleton found in the Upper Cretaceous Bear Paw shale by a member
of the Fish and Wildlife Service. At the end of the year the party
was at Fort Peck.
During the year 18 preliminary appraisal reports were completed,
mimeographed, and distributed to the cooperating agencies. One
supplemental report, on the Fort Randall Reservoir, was completed
and ready to mimeograph. Fourteen short articles on specific sub-
jects in Plains archeology were completed and printed in various
publications. Six appeared in the Plains Archeological Conference
News Letter; four in the Proceedings of the Nebraska Academy of
Sciences, 63d annual meeting; one in American Antiquity; one in the
Americana Annual; and two in the Missouri Basin Progress Report,
issued monthly by the Interior Missouri Basin Field Committee.
Thirteen additional articles were completed and had been accepted
for publication by various journals. Nine reports were completed
and were ready to submit for publication. They included three tech-
nical papers on excavations in the Garrison Reservoir area, one on an
excavated site in the Oahe area, one on historic sites dug in the Fort
Randall basin, one on excavations in the Kirwin Reservoir, one gen-
eral paper on the subject of articles of white manufacture as exempli-
fied by the materials from various sites in the Missouri Basin, and two
on work in the Northwest done by a member of the staff prior to his
joining the Missouri Basin Project.
The laboratory at Lincoln processed 161,036 specimens from 339
sites in 9 reservoir areas and 1 unassignable site. A total of 22,570
catalog numbers was assigned to the series of specimens. The work
in the laboratory also included: Reflex copies of record sheets, both
negatives and prints, 12,629; photographic negatives, 2,281; photo-
graphic contact prints, 11,474; enlargements, 5’’ x 7’’ to 20’ x 24’,
4,082 ; photographs mounted for files, 6,374; transparencies mounted in
glass, 1,182; drawings, tracings, and maps, 126; specimens drawn for
82 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
illustration, 504; completion of restoration of pottery vessels, 32;
vessels or rim sections restored, 84.
Temporary interpretative displays showing the scope and results
of archeological investigations in the Missouri Basin were installed
in the windows of the laboratory in the business section of Lincoln
in November 1952, and in the windows of a large Lincoln department
store in February 1953. A special display illustrating and interpret-
ing the archeology of the Oahe Reservoir area was installed for the
Corps of Engineers by the Missouri Basin Project in the registration
building for visitors at the Oahe Dam observation point. Special
archeological and paleontological displays were prepared for the
meetings of the Interior Missouri Basin Field Committee held at the
headquarters and laboratory in May.
Paul L. Cooper, consulting archeologist, was in charge of one exca-
vating and survey party in the Oahe Reservoir basin from July 1
until October 16. He supervised the digging at the Black Widow
site and toward the end of the season participated in the reconnais-
sance work. During the fall and winter months in the laboratory he
correlated the records of the Oahe reconnaissance with previous
records, summarized information from published and unpublished
sources of varied nature, made use of data obtained from excavations
by the Missouri Basin Project and other agencies, and prepared “An
Appraisal of the Archeology of the Oahe Reservoir.” He also worked
on a summary report of the activities of the Missouri Basin Project
during the calendar years 1950 and 1951. This is concerned with
investigations in 42 reservoir areas, the work of 2 full-season survey
parties and other shorter-term parties, the activities of a paleontolog-
ical party during 2 field seasons, and the excavations carried on by
12 full-season parties in Indian and historic sites in 6 different reser-
voir basins. The specimens obtained from the Black Widow site
received preliminary study and a provisional classification was made
of the pottery found there. Mr. Cooper participated in the Tenth
Conference for Plains Archeology at Lincoln in November and at-
tended the sessions of the Society for American Archeology at
Urbana, Il., in May.
Robert B. Cumming, Jr., archeologist, was in charge of the Indian-
site excavations and survey in the Fort Randall Reservoir area in
South Dakota from July 1 to September 26. He supervised the dig-
ging at the Oldham, Hitchell, and Pease Creek sites. During the
months at the laboratory in Lincoln he made analyses of the material
and data obtained during the 1951 and 1952 seasons at the Oldham
site and prepared a technical report on the results of his investigations
at that location. In addition he completed a supplementary report for
the previously issued “Appraisal of the Archeological and Paleon-
tological Resources of the Lower Platte Basin,” and finished the first
SECRETARY’S REPORT 83
draft, with an accompanying map showing the location of all sites
found to that date in the reservoir area, of a supplementary report
on the Fort Randall basin. From June 10 through 17, 1953, he super-
vised the work of the excavating party in the Tuttle Creek Dam area
in Kansas. Mr. Cumming presented a résumé of the 1952 field work
at the Tenth Conference for Plains Archeology in November.
From July 1 to September 15 Franklin Fenenga, archeologist, was
in charge of an excavating party in the Oahe Reservoir area and
also took part in additional surveys in the general vicinity of the dam.
He directed the digging at the Buffalo Pasture, Mathison, and Indian
Creek sites. In August he installed a special display to interpret the
archeology of the Oahe Dam area in the observation building main-
tained by the Corps of Engineers at a spot overlooking the east wing
of the dam. During the remainder of the year, at the Lincoln head-
quarters, he completed appraisal reports on the archeology of the
Gavins Point Reservoir in Nebraska and South Dakota and for the
Middle Fork Reservoir in Wyoming. He also completed a detailed
technical report on the results obtained at the Indian Creek site and
had finished approximately 75 percent of the report on the Buffalo
Pasture Village by the end of the fiscal year. He presented three
papers on archeological field methods before the Seminar on Plains
Archeology at the Laboratory of Anthropology of the University of
Nebraska. He took part in the Tenth Conference for Plains Arche-
ology and was reelected to a third term as editor of the Plains
Archeological Conference News Letter by that group. He presided
as president at the anthropological section of the 63d annual meeting
of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and presented a paper, “The
Ice-Glider Game, an 18th-Century Innovation in Northern Plains
Culture.” He also prepared an article, “The Weights of Chipped-
Stone Projectile Points, a Clue to Their Functions,” for publication
in the Southwestern Journal for Anthropology. While in the field
he addressed several organizations, telling about the work of the
River Basin Surveys, and during the months in Lincoln acted as
preceptor of the Indian Project of two groups of Campfire Girls.
Because of the curtailment of funds for the Missouri Basin Project
it was necessary to terminate Mr. Fenenga’s appointment in a reduc-
tion-in-force action on June 380, 1953.
During July, August, and early September Donald D. Hartle,
archeologist, was in charge of the excavations at the Night-Walker’s
Butte site and Grandmother’s Lodge in the Garrison Reservoir area.
In September he also measured and photographed a modern dance
lodge in the Santee Bottoms. Throughout the remainder of the year
he was at the Lincoln headquarters where he completed the detailed
technical report on the excavations, carried on during 2 previous
years at the Rock Village site (32ME15). He completed a series
84 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
of notes on the work at Night-Walker’s Butte, the Grandmother’s
Lodge, and the dance lodge, and presented a summary report on his
summer’s work at one of the sessions of the Tenth Conference for
Plains Archeology. As a result of the reduction in force, made neces-
sary by curtailed funds, Mr. Hartle’s employment was terminated
on June 30, 1953.
George Metcalf, field and laboratory assistant, was a member of
the Fort Berthold excavating party in the Garrison Reservoir area
from July 1 to September 26, 1952. In addition to taking an active
part in the digging at the fort he spent several days guiding the
paleontological party to exposures noted during the previous year’s
surveys and in checking on the location of archeological sites reported
by local residents. Mr. Metcalf also assisted in the investigations
at the Grandmother’s Lodge site. After returning to the Lincoln
headquarters he prepared the material from Fort Berthold II for
cataloging, made an analysis of the artifacts from the Night-Walker’s
Butte excavations, studied and prepared descriptions of specimens
from the Star Village site (32ME16) dug the preceding year, and
started work on a description of the remains of the last Arikara earth
lodge, a task at which he was engaged until the end of the fiscal year.
During the winter he also prepared book reviews for the North Dakota
Historical Quarterly and for Nebraska History. Mr. Metcalf’s em-
ployment was terminated on June 30 through the reduction-in-force
program, but on July 1 he was to take a position as a museum aide
in the division of archeology, United States National Museum.
On July 1, 1952, John E. Mills, archeologist, was occupied with
an excavating party at the site of the Whetstone Army post in the
Fort Randall Reservoir area in South Dakota. He completed that
work on July 25 and moved his party to the Fort Randall brick-kiln
site where he dug until August 29. During August he also made a
reconnaissance, visiting the sites of the Lower Brule Indian Agency,
Fort Lower Brule, and Fort Hale for the purpose of planning possible
future excavations at those locations. In September he took his party
to the Kirwin Reservoir area in Kansas and dug the site of Camp
Kirwan. From October through June Mr. Mills was engaged at head-
quarters analyzing materials and preparing reports on the results of
his investigations. He completed technical papers on “Historic-Sites
Archeology in Fort Randall Reservoir, South Dakota,” and “Exca-
vation at Camp Kirwan, Kansas.” In addition he completed manu-
scripts on the results of work which he did before joining the staff
of the Missouri Basin Project. They were: “Quantitative Analysis
of a Columbia River Shell Mound,” and “Cultural Continuity at
Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island.” In September he addressed the
Kirwin High School on the subject “Smithsonian Institution River
Basin Surveys” and in May presented a paper, “Ethnohistory,” before
SECRETARY’S REPORT 85
the Nebraska Academy of Sciences. Mr. Mills requested leave of ab-
sence in May to return to the University of Washington to complete
his studies for an advanced degree in anthropology. Such was
granted, but in the reduction-in-force program it was necessary to
remove his name from the rolls as of June 30.
At the start of the fiscal year J. M. Shippee, field and laboratory
assistant, was at the headquarters in Lincoln. He spent several days
assembling data for use in making an aerial survey and on July 15
and 16 flew with Ralph S. Solecki over five reservoir areas in Kansas.
On July 23, under the general direction of Mr. Solecki, he started a
ground survey of the Tuttle Creek Reservoir and was in that area
until September 8. From that date until October 4 he assisted in the
survey of the Glen Elder, Kirwin, Webster, and Wilson Reservoir
basins. On his return to the laboratory he helped to complete the
survey sheets and maps for the 156 new sites found, aided in the
analysis of specimens, the identification of photographs, and the prep-
aration of exhibits. He wrote an outline summary of the results of
Solecki’s work for presentation at the Tenth Conference for Plains
Archeology. In November he also gave an illustrated talk before the
Kansas City Chapter of the Missouri Archeological Society. On June
10, 1953, Shippee went to the Tuttle Creek Reservoir as assistant to
Mr. Cumming and after the latter’s return to Lincoln on June 17 j
was in charge of the excavating party for the remainder of the project.
Mr. Shippee’s employment was terminated by the reduction in force
on June 30,
G. H. Smith, acheologist, was in charge of the party digging at the
site of Fort Berthold II on July 1 and continued to supervise those
excavations until the end of the season on September 23. Returning
to the headquarters at Lincoln he spent the time from September 26
to June 30 working over materials and writing reports on his field-
work. He completed the detailed technical paper on the results of the
investigations made during a previous year at Fort Stevenson in the
Garrison area. He also finished a brief report on the excavation of
Fort Berthold II intended primarily to indicate progress at the site
as of the end of the fiscal year. A manuscript consisting of a descrip-
tive account of glass beads, some 8,000 in number, recovered at Fort
Berthold was written and accepted for publication by the Central
Texas Archeologist. A summary account of the history of the
Niobrara River Basin was prepared for submission to the Bureau
of Reclamation for use in the revision of the Niobrara Basin report
of that Bureau’s Region 7 office. At the Tenth Conference for Plains
Archeology Mr. Smith reported on the work at Fort Berthold IT
and also presided as chairman at a session devoted to Plains Ethno-
history. Mr. Smith resigned, effective June 19, to attend the American
School of Research, Athens, Greece.
p.
86 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Ralph S. Solecki, archeologist, was transferred to the Missouri
Basin Project early in July. During the period from then until Oc-
tober 4 he was in charge of the surveys of the five Kansas reservoirs
and in July and August flew three aerial photographic missions over
other Missouri Basin areas. After completing the aerial missions
Mr. Solecki prepared an article, “Photographing the Past,” which ap-
peared in the September issue of the Missouri River Basin Progress
Report. While at the Lincoln office during the latter part of October
and early November appraisal reports on the five Kansas Reservoir
surveys were completed by Mr. Solecki.
Robert L. Stephenson, acting chief of the Missouri Basin Project,
devoted a major portion of his time to managing the operations of
the project. However, he was able to prepare a series of summary
statements on the past 7 years of Missouri Basin Project activities
in detail, reservoir by reservoir. He also did extensive work on a
technical report of the excavations he supervised during previous
years at the Whitney Reservoir on the Brazos River, Hill County,
Tex., and made some analysis of notes and materials from the Acco-
keek site in Maryland. He served as chairman of one section of the
Tenth Conference for Plains Archeology in November, attended the
annual meeting of the Society for American Archeology at Urbana,
Tll., where he presented a paper, “Accokeek: A Middle-Atlantic Cul-
ture Sequence,” and acted as a discussant for two other papers. He
served as chairman for an informal conference of Plains archeolo-
gists held at the Lincoln headquarters in April, and was host for the
meeting of the Interior Missouri Basin Field Committee meeting in
May. At the end of the fiscal year he was on a tour of inspection
of the Missouri Basin. While in the field he visited White’s paleon-
tological party at Canyon Ferry Reservoir in Montana.
At the start of the fiscal year Richard Page Wheeler, archeologist,
was in charge of the survey and excavation party at the Jamestown
Reservoir in North Dakota. He continued his investigations there
until September 26 when he returned to the headquarters at Lincoln,
Nebr. Throughout the remainder of the year he worked on a major
technical report summarizing the results of excavations and surveys
made by himself and others in the Angostura Reservoir, S. Dak., and
in the Boysen and Keyhole Reservoirs in Wyoming, between 1946
and 1951. That report was virtually completed at the close of the
year. In addition he prepared a paper, “Plains Ceramic Analysis:
A Check-List of Features and Descriptive Terms,” which was pub-
lished in the Plains Archeological Conference News Letter, vol. 5,
No. 2. He also wrote an interim report, “Appraisal of the Archeo-
logical and Paleontological Resources of the Jamestown Reservoir,
North Dakota: Supplement,” which was mimeographed and dis-
tributed to the cooperating agencies. At the Tenth Conference for
SECRETARY’S REPORT 87
Plains Archeology in November he gave a résumé of the Jamestown
investigations and read a paper on the preceramic subsistence patterns
in the Great Plains. On May 1 he presented a paper on Dakota
mounds and earthworks at the 63d annual meeting of the Nebraska
Academy of Sciences. In the late spring he collaborated with Dr.
Donald J. Lehmer on a paper, “Time Horizons in the Northern Plains.”
Dr. Theodore E. White, geologist, was in charge of the paleontolog-
ical field party during all its operations. As previously noted, work
during the 1952 season was in the Canyon Ferry, Garrison, and Oahe
reservoir areas, and in June 1953 the party returned to the Canyon
Ferry Reservoir in Montana for additional collecting. From Sep-
tember 15 to November 6, 1952, and from April 2 to May 30, 1953,
Dr. White was in the laboratory at Lincoln. During those periods
he was occupied in identifying osteological material collected by the
various archeological excavating parties. Dr. White’s other activities
were discussed in connection with the operations of the Washington
office.
Cooperating institutions.—Various State and local institutions co-
operated in the Inter-Agency Salvage Program during the year.
Most of those activities were on the basis of agreements between the
agencies and the National Park Service, but in a few cases State
groups carried on independently, although correlating their efforts
closely with the over-all operations. The Ohio State Archeological
and Historical Society continued to assume responsibility for all
reservoir areas in that State. The Indiana Historical Society in-
cluded surveys of potential reservoir areas in its general program for
archeological research in Indiana and made periodical reports on the
results of the investigations. Institutions working under agreements
with the Service and the projects undertaken were: California Arche-
ological Survey, University of California, Berkeley, made surveys of
the proposed Trinity, Lewiston, Mooney Gulch, Red Bank, Oroville,
Nimbus, Ice House, Union Valley, Pilot Creek, San Luis, and San
Lucas Reservoirs of California and the Humboldt River and trib-
utaries in Nevada, and started excavations in sites in the Nimbus and
Red Bank areas; the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh excavated in
the Conemaugh Reservoir area on the Conemaugh River in Pennsyl-
vania; the Florida State Museum of the University of Florida dug a
number of sites in the portion of the Jim Woodruff Reservoir basin
located in Florida; the University of Kansas continued excavations at
a site in the Fort Randall Reservoir basin in South Dakota; the Uni-
versity of Missouri excavated in the Pomme de Terre Reservoir on
the river of the same name and at the Table Rock Reservoir on the
White River in Missouri; Montana State University dug several small
sites in the Garrison Reservoir area in North Dakota; the Nebraska
284725—54——_7
88 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
State Historical Society worked at three sites in the Fort Randall
basin, South Dakota; the University of Nebraska Laboratory of An-
thropology continued excavations in the Harlan County Reservoir on
the Republican River, Nebr.; the University of Nebraska State
Museum made archeological excavations in the Medicine Creek Reser-
voir in western Nebraska, and on a volunteer basis did paleontological
work in several Missouri Basin projects; the State Historical Society
of North Dakota continued excavations in the Garrison area; the
University of Oklahoma worked at the Tenkiller Ferry Reservoir on
the Illinois River and at the Keystone Reservoir on the Arkansas
River in Oklahoma; the University of Oregon excavated in sites near
The Dalles Dam on the Oregon side of the Columbia River; the Uni-
versity of South Dakota worked in the Oahe Reservoir basin in South
Dakota; the State College of Washington investigated an early site
in the Lind Coulee, Wash.; the University of Washington excavated
at the Wakemap Mound site on the Washington side of the Columbia
in The Dalles Reservoir basin; and the University of Wyoming con-
tinued its digging at the Keyhole Reservoir on the Belle Fourche
River in Wyoming.
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
In the spring of 1952 the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, De-
partment of State, which had made a grant to the Institute of Social
Anthropology to enable it to carry on its functions from January 1,
1952, to the end of the fiscal year with the understanding that the
Smithsonian anthropologists would be available for program anal-
yses of technical aid projects, decided to utilize anthropologists
on a permanent basis. A request was made that plans be prepared
to transfer ISA personnel to the Institute of Inter-American Affairs
on July 1 and bring to a close the ISA activities as such. Late in
June 1952, however, the Institute of Inter-American Affairs ex-
tended its grant to the Smithsonian Institution for an additional 3
months, so that there could be an orderly transfer of personnel, and
provided $15,725 to finance the ISA until September 30,1952. Before
that date it became apparent that further time would be needed, and
the grant was extended to December 31, 1952, and an additional $15,-
725 made available. The total funds for the 6-month period were
$31,450. The activities of the Institute of Social Anthropology ended
on December 31, 1952.
The period from July 1 to December 31, 1952, was one of retrench-
ment and the closing down of projects. In Washington Dr. Foster
was occupied in terminating the work of the Institute, in the planning
of anthropological aspects of the program in the Institute of Inter-
American Affairs, and in the preparation of four article-length manu-
scripts on contemporary cultures in Latin America for publication
SECRETARY’S REPORT 89
in anthropological journals. Dr. Kalervo Oberg, who had returned
to the Washington office in June, prepared reports on the cultural
problems encountered by technical aid programs in Brazil, and read
and commented on Institute of Inter-American Affairs reports, as
requested. He described Servicio programs in Brazil at the annual
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
at St. Louis, Mo., in December.
In Mexico all former Institute of Social Anthropology programs
were terminated and the activities of Dr. Isabel T. Kelly were inte-
grated with those of the Mexico City offices of the Institute of Inter-
American Affairs. Her assignments, all made from that office, in-
cluded trips to Monterey and Veracruz. In Colombia, beginning July
1, the work of Charles J. Erasmus was directly integrated with the
Bogota office of the Institute of Inter-American Affairs and all
assignments, including program planning, routine office work, and
field work in fisheries and agriculture were made by that office. Dr.
Ozzie Simmons was in Peru on July 1 awaiting transfer to Chile by the
Institute of Inter-American Affairs. There was unexected delay in
the shift, however, and as he had not been assigned to an Institute
program in Peru he made use of the time in terminating basic field
studies in the Cafiete Valley which, when published, will add to the
knowledge of contemporary Latin American culture and will be a use-
ful adjunct to program planning in the Institute of Inter-American
Affairs. Dr. Donald Pierson resigned his position in Brazil on June
30, 1952, and subsequently returned to the United States.
Mrs. Eloise B. Edelen, of the Smithsonian Institution editorial
staff, continued to edit Institute of Social Anthropology manuscripts.
Publication No. 18, “The Tajfn Totonac,” by Isabel T. Kelly and
Angel Palerm, was released on September 22, 1952. Publications No.
15, “Indian Tribes of Northern Mato Grosso, Brazil,” by Kalervo
Oberg, and No. 16, “Penny Capitalism: A Guatemalan Indian
Economy,” by Sol Tax, were released for distribution on April 2 and
June 16, 1953, respectively.
On December 31, 1952, the employment of Dr. George M. Foster,
Director, was terminated through a reduction-in-force action; and
anthropologists Isabel T. Kelly, Charles J. Erasmus, Ozzie Simmons,
and Kalervo Oberg were transferred to the Institute of Inter-Ameri-
can Affairs.
ARCHIVES
An apparent increase in public interest concerning American
Indians, particularly those of the West, has resulted in greater
demands on the large photographic collections. For the period from
March 1 to June 30, 1953, 288 prints, together with data concerning
them, were furnished in response to 104 requests.
90 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
During this same period 77 manuscripts were consulted, and 12
orders for microfilm and photostatic copies were filled.
Numerous gifts of photographs and manuscripts were received
during the year. New linguistic materials accessioned included a
portion of a Ponca-English vocabulary and a number of hymns
translated in the Omaha language. This material, prepared in 1872
by J. O. Dorsey, was presented to the Bureau by Mrs. Virginia Dorsey
Lightfoot. A portion of an English-Choctaw vocabulary prepared
by Cyrus Byington about 1860 was presented by Donald D. McKay.
The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio presented a news-
paper of 1874 in the Creek language.
ILLUSTRATIONS
The time of the illustrator was spent in preparing and executing
illustrations and maps for Bureau and River Basin Surveys publica-
tions and for research associates, and making posters, graphs, charts,
diagrams, and maps, and repairing and altering illustrations for the
editorial division and other departments of the Institution. Floor
plans and front elevations also were executed for the Smithsonian
planning committee.
EDITORIAL WORK AND PUBLICATIONS
There were issued 1 Annual Report, 5 Bulletins, and 3 Publications
of the Institute of Social Anthropology, as follows:
Sixty-ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1951-1952.
ii+ 30 pp. 1953.
Bulletin 145. The Indian tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton. vi+726
pp.,) maps. 1952.
Bulletin 150. The modal personality structure of the Tuscarora Indians, as
revealed by the Rorschach test, by Anthony F. C. Wallace. viii+-120 pp., 1 pl.
8 figs. 1952.
Bulletin 151. Anthropological Papers, Nos. 33-42. ix-+-507 pp., 37 pls., 25 figs.,
7 maps. 1958.
No. 33. “Of the Crow Nation,” by Edwin Thompson Denig. Edited, with
biographical sketch and footnotes, by John C. Ewers.
No. 34. The water lily in Maya art: A complex of alleged Asiatic origin, by
Robert L. Rands.
No. 35. The Medicine Bundles of the Florida Seminole and the Green Corn
Dance, by Louis Capron.
No. 36. Technique in the music of the American Indian, by Frances
Densmore.
No. 37. The belief of the Indian in a connection between song and the
supernatural, by Frances Densmore.
No. 38. Aboriginal fish poisons, by Robert F. Heizer.
No. 39. Aboriginal navigation off the coasts of Upper and Baja California,
by Robert F. Heizer and William ©. Massey.
No. 40. Exploration of an Adena mound at Natrium, West Virginia, by
Ralph S. Solecki.
No. 41. The Wind River Shoshone Sun Dance, by D. B. Shimkin.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 9]
No. 42. Current trends in the Wind River Shoshone Sun Dance, by Fred W.
Voget.
Bulletin 153. La Venta, Tabasco: A study of Olmec ceramics and art, by Philip
Drucker. x-+257 pp., 66 pls., 64 figs. 1952.
Bulletin 155. Prehistoric settlement patterns in the Virii Valley, Peru, by
Gordon R. Willey. xxii+453 pp., 60 pls., 88 figs. 1953.
Institute of Social Anthropology Publication No. 18. The Tajin Totonac. Part
1. History, subsistence, shelter, and technology, by Isabel Kelly and Angel
Palerm. xiv-+-369 pp., 33 pls., 69 figs., 18 maps. 1952.
Institute of Social Anthropology Publication No. 15. Indian tribes of northern
Mato Grosso, Brazil, by Kalervo Oberg. With appendix entitled “Anthro-
pometry of the Umotina, Nambicuara, and Iranxe, with comparative data from
other northern Mato Grosso tribes,” by Marshall T. Newman. vii+144 pp.,
10 pis., 2 figs., 3 maps, 14 charts. 1953.
Institute of Social Anthropology Publication No. 16. Penny capitalism: A
Guatemalan Indian economy, by Sol Tax. x-+230 pp., 6 maps, 19 charts. 1953.
The following publications were in press at the close of the fiscal
year:
Bulletin 152. Index to Schooleraft’s “Indian Tribes of the United States,” com-
piled by Frances S. Nichols.
Bulletin 154. River Basin Surveys Papers: Inter-Agency Archeological Salvage
Program. Nos. 1-6.
No. 1. Prehistory and the Missouri Valley Development Program: Summary
report on the Missouri River Basin Archeological Survey in 1948, by
Waldo R. Wedel.
No. 2. Prehistory and the Missouri Valley Development Program: Summary
report on the Missouri Basin Archeological Survey in 1949, by Waldo R.
Wedel.
No. 3. The Woodruff Ossuary, a prehistoric burial site in Phillips County,
Kans., by Marvin FE. Kivett.
No. 4. The Addicks Dam sites:
I. An archeological survey of the Addicks Dam basin, Southeast Texas,
by Joe Ben Wheat.
II. Indian skeletal remains from the Doering and Kobs sites, Addicks
Reservoir, Tex., by Marshall T, Newman.
No. 5. The Hodges site:
I. Two rock shelters near Tucumcari, N. Mex., by Herbert W. Dick.
II. Geology of the Hodges site, Quay County, N. Mex., by Sheldon Judson.
No. 6. The Rembert Mounds, Elbert County, Ga., by Joseph R. Caldwell.
Appendix. List of River Basin Surveys reports published in other series.
Bulletin 156. The Iroquois Eagle Dance, an offshoot of the Calumut Dance, by
William N. Fenton, with an analysis of the Iroquois Eagle Dance and songs, by
Gertrude Prokosch Kurath.
Bulletin 157. Anthropological Papers, Nos. 43-48.
No. 43. Stone Monuments of the Rio Chiquito, Veracruz, Mexico, by Mat-
thew W. Stirling.
No. 44. The Cerro de las Mesas offering of jade and other materials, by
Philip Drucker.
No. 45. Archeological materials from the vicinity of Mobridge, S. Dak., by
Waldo R. Wedel.
No. 46. The original Strachey vocabulary of the Virginia Indian language,
by John P. Harrington.
. No. 47. The Sun Dance of the Northern Ute, by John Alan Jones.
No. 48. Some manifestations of water in Mesoamerican art, by Robert L.
Rands.
92 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Publications distributed totaled 38,596, as compared with 21,505 for
the fiscal year 1952.
COLLECTIONS
Ace. No.
188983. 7 ethnological specimens from States of Washington and California, and
from the Amazon Basin; 120 archeological specimens from Texas,
México and Panama.
195312. (Through Dr. F. H. H. Roberts, Jr.) Plesiosaur skeleton and spine of
hybodont shark from Graneros formation, Newcastle member, in Key-
hole Reservoir area, Crook County, Wyo., collected in June 1952 by Dr.
Theodore E. White, River Basin Surveys.
195942. Approximately 74 fossil vertebrates from Oligocene and Miocene de-
posits of Canyon Ferry Reservoir area in Montana, and 4 mollusks,
collected August 1952, by Dr. Theodore E. White, River Basin Surveys.
195943. Skeleton, without skull, of fossil reptile from Tongue River member of
Fort Union formation in the Fort Garrison Reservoir area, North
Dakota, collected in September 1952 by Dr. Theodore KE. White, River
Basin Surveys.
197275. Archeological materials excavated by field party under Franklin Fenenga
at Slick Rock Village, Tulare County, Calif., River Basin Surveys.
197689. 144 specimens from Georgia including deeply weathered flint artifacts
from Macon Plateau, Bibb County, and 1 lot of chips, probably from old
Oconeetown, Milledgeville, Baldwin County.
197886. Bones of 2 species of birds from State of Washington. River Basin
Surveys.
198525. 613 archeological surface specimens from Bufaula Reservoir, Onapa and
Canadian Reservoir areas, southeastern Oklahoma, collected August
and September 1948 by David J. Wenner, Jr., River Basin Surveys.
198526. 380 archeological surface specimens from the Eufaula (Gaines Creek)
Reservoir, southeastern Oklahoma, collected July and August 1950 by
Leonard G. Johnson, River Basin Surveys.
198527. 54 archeological surface specimens from Optima Reservoir, North
Canadian River, Texas County, Okla., collected August 1950 by Leonard
G. Johnson, River Basin Surveys.
MISCELLANEOUS
Dr. Frances Densmore, Dr. John R. Swanton, and Dr. Antonio J.
Waring, Jr., continued as collaborators of the Bureau of American
Ethnology. On November 14, 1952, Ralph S. Solecki was named
collaborator in archeology.
On February 24, 1953, Mrs. Margaret C. Blaker joined the staff of
the Bureau as archives assistant.
Information was furnished during the past year by members of the
Bureau staff in reply to numerous inquiries concerning the American
Indians, past and present, of both continents. The increased number
of requests from teachers, particularly from primary and secondary
grades, from Scout organizations, and from the general public, indi-
cates a rapidly growing interest in the American Indian. Various
specimens sent to the Bureau were identified and data on them fur-
nished for their owners.
Respectfully submitted.
M. W. Stieiina, Director.
Dr. Lronarp CARMICHAEL,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
APPENDIX 6
Report on the International Exchange Service
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the activi-
ties of the International Exchange Service for the fiscal year ended
June 80, 1953:
The Smithsonian Institution is the official United States agency for
the exchange with other nations of governmental, scientific, and lit-
erary publications. The International Exchange Service, initiated
by the Smithsonian Institution in the early years of its existence for
the interchange of scientific publications between learned societies and
individuals in the United States and those of foreign countries, serves
as a means of developing and executing in part the broad and compre-
hensive objective, “the diffusion of knowledge.” It was later desig-
nated by the United States Government as the agency for the trans-
mission of official documents to selected depositories throughout the
world, and it continues to execute the exchanges pursuant to conven-
tions, treaties, and other international agreements.
The number of packages of publications received for transmission
during the year increased by 20,324 to the yearly total of 1,021,938,
and the total weight of the packages of publications increased by
29,475 to the yearly total of 855,102 pounds. The average weight of
the individual package increased to 13.388 ounces, as compared to the
13.18-ounce average for the fiscal year of 1952. The publications
received from both the foreign and domestic sources for shipment are
classified as shown in the following table:
Classification Packages Weight
Number Number Pounds Pounds
United States parliamentary documents sent abroad ___ OU Oa ON meee se ees D5 len OO pene oe meena
Publications received in return for parliamentary docu-
WON 1S 3s eno es coe sonecee cee cae een seeaes-eeeenoemaae LAO (2 eee eee 20, 588
United States departmental documents sent abroad _-_-- 196; 438 fee 2s eo 231. O85) [a aa ta
Publications received in return for departmental docu-
IMIG S = sce ce ee sa Se Es te Ne ee ee 1OVGST) eee SS 22, 793
Miscellaneous scientific and literary publications sent
ROTOAG et See a hos see oon ed Th eese Sol eae AGS 7063 Nes see 216036) seae eee ae ce
Miscellaneous scientific and literary publications re-
ceived from abroad for distribution in the United
States tice een ees ec es See SUPE a ee ene 65; 202" -5|=-5--2c522-- 112, 510
OC ns eo eee ee Se eee ee 931, 937 90, 001 699, 211 155, 891
SS | Se
Grand totale: 22522-40222 28 ot. 2 toe ee 1, 021, 938 855, 102
The packages of publications are forwarded to the exchange bureaus
of foreign countries by freight or, where shipment by such means is
impractical, to the addressees by direct mail. The number of boxes
93
94 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
shipped to the foreign exchange bureaus was 2,649, or 409 less than
for the previous year. Of these boxes 802 were for depositories of
full sets of United States Government documents, these publica-
tions being furnished in exchange for the official publications of for-
eign governments which are received for deposit in the Library of
Congress. The number of packages forwarded by mail and by means
other than freight was 205,666.
Owing to the insufficiency of funds for transportation it was neces-
sary to suspend shipments to the foreign exchange bureaus on March
15. Fortunately, the Institution was able to secure a grant of $6,000
from the National Science Foundation for the transportation of ex-
change publications. This was made available to the International
Exchange Service in the latter part of May, and between that time
and the end of June $5,110.18 was expended for the shipment of
98,945 pounds that would otherwise have been delayed pending the
receipt of the appropriation for the fiscal year of 1954. The remain-
ing amount will be used in July pending the availability of the new
appropriation. The grant made it possible for the International Ex-
change Service to effect delivery of these important scientific publica-
tions to the foreign addressees at least a month earlier than would
otherwise have been possible. It not only eliminated the necessity for
additional storage space, decreased handling, and lessened the prob-
able percentage of error in transmission, but also obviated the neces-
sity for a great deal of correspondence regarding the nonreceipt of
publications.
Transportation rates continue to increase and are primarily respon-
sible for the 235,422 pounds of publications that remained unshipped
at the end of the fiscal year.
No shipments are being made to China, North Korea, or Rumania.
Publications intended for addressees in Formosa and formerly sent
through the Chinese Exchange Bureau at Nanking are now forwarded
by direct mail.
Regulations of the Office of International Trade, Department of
Commerce, provide that each package of publications exported bear a
general license symbo] and a legend “Export License Not Required,”
and the International Exchange Service accepts for transmission to
foreign destinations only those packages of publications to which the
general license symbol and legend have been applied by the consignor.
FOREIGN DEPOSITORIES OF GOVERNMENTAL DOCUMENTS
The number of sets of United States official publications received
by the Exchange Service for transmission abroad in return for the
official] publications sent by foreign governments for deposit in the
Library of Congress is now 105 (63 full and 42 partial sets), listed
SECRETARY’S REPORT 95
below. Changes that occurred during the year are shown in the
footnotes.
DEPOSITORIES OF FULL SETS
ARGENTINA: Divisi6n Biblioteca, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto,
Buenos Aires.
AuSTRALIA: Commonwealth Parliament and National Library, Canberra.
New SoutH WALES: Public Library of New South Wales, Sydney.
QUEENSLAND: Parliamentary Library, Brisbane.
SoutH AUSTRALIA: Public Library of South Australia, Adelaide.
TASMANIA: Parliamentary Library, Hobart.
Vicrorta: Public Library of Victoria, Melbourne.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Public Library of Western Australia, Perth.
Austria: Administrative Library, Federal Chancellery, Vienna.
Betaium : Bibliothéque Royale, Bruxelles.
BrAzit: Biblioteca Nacional, Rio de Janeiro.
Bure@aria: Bulgarian Bibliographical Institute, Sofia.
BurMa: Government Book Depot, Rangoon.
CanapDa: Library of Parliament, Ottawa.
Manirogpa: Provincial Library, Winnipeg.
Onrario: Legislative Library, Toronto.
Quesec: Library of the Legislature of the Province of Quebec.
Cryton: Department of Information, Government of Ceylon, Colombo.
CHILE: Biblioteca Nacional, Santiago.
CHINA: Ministry of Education, National Library, Nanking, China.’
Peipine: National Library of Peiping.*
Cotomara: Biblioteca Nacional, Bogota.
Costa Rica: Biblioteca Nacional, San José.
Cusa: Ministerio de Hstado, Canje Internacional, Habana.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: National and University Library, Prague.
DENMARK: Institut Danios des Exchanges Internationaux, Copenhagen.
Eeyet: Bureau des Publications, Ministére des Finances, Cairo.
FiInLanp: Parliamentary Library, Helsinki.
FRANCE: Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris.
GrerMAny: Offentliche Wissenschaftliche Biblothek, Berlin.
Parliamentary Library, Bonn.
Free University of Berlin, Berlin.’
GREAT BRITAIN:
Encianp: British Museum, London.
Lonpon: London School of Heonomics and Political Science. (Depository
of the London County Council.)
Huneary: Library of Parliament, Budapest.
Inp1Ia: National Library, Calcutta.
Central Secretariat Library, New Delbi.
InponrEsIA: Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Djakarta.
IRELAND: National Library of Ireland, Dublin.
IsRAEL: Government Archives and Library, Hakirya.
Ivaty: Ministerio della Publica Istruzione, Rome.
JAPAN: National Diet Library, Tokyo.’
MExico: Secretaria de Relaciones Hxteriores, Departamento de Informaci6én para
el Extranjero, México, D. F.
1 Shipment suspended.
2 Added during year.
* Receives two sets.
96 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
NETHERLANDS: Royal Library, The Hague.
New ZEALAND: General Assembly Library, Wellington.
Norway: Utenriksdepartmentets Bibliothek, Oslo.
PAKISTAN: Central Secretariat Library, Karachi.
Peru: Seccién de Propaganda y Publicaciones, Ministerio de Relaciones Ex-
teriores, Lima.
Puuitirpines: Bureau of Public Libraries, Department of Education, Manila.
Potanp: Bibliothéque Nacionale, Warsaw.
PorrueaL: Biblioteca Nacional, Lisbon.
Spain: Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid.
Swepen: Kungliga Biblioteket, Stockholm.
SWITZERLAND: Bibliothéque Centrale Fédérale, Berne.
TuRKEY: Department of Printing and Engraving, Ministry of Education,
Istanbul.
UnIon oF SoutH Arrica: State Library, Pretoria, Transvaal.
Union or Soviet Soctatist Repustics: All-Union Lenin Library, Moscow 115.
Unrrep Nations: Library of the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.
Urvuavuay: Oficina de Canje Internacional de Publicaciones, Montevideo.
VENEZUELA: Biblioteca Nacional, Caracas.
Yuaostavia: Bibliografski Institut, Belgrade.’
DEPOSITORIES OF PARTIAL SETS
AFGHANISTAN: Library of the Afghan Academy, Kabul.
An@Lo-EeypTian Supan: Gordon Memorial College, Khartoum.
Borivra: Biblioteca del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto, La Paz.
BRAZIL:
Minas Gerais: Directoria Geral de Hstatistica em Minas, Belo Horizonte.
British Guiana: Government Secretary’s Office, Georgetown, Demerara.
CANADA:
ALBERTA: Provincial Library, Edmonton.
British Cotumsia: Provincial Library, Victoria.
New Brunswick: Legislative Library, Fredericton.
NEWFOUNDLAND: Department of Provincial Affairs, St. John’s.
Nova Scotia: Provincial Secretary of Novia Scotia, Halifax.
SASKATCHEWAN: Legislative Library, Regina.
Dominican Repustic: Biblioteca de la Universidad de Santo Domingo, Ciudad
Trujillo.
Ecuavor: Biblioteca Nacional, Quito.
Ex SALVADOR:
Biblioteca Nacional, San Salvador.
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, San Salvador.
GREECE: National Library, Athens.
GUATEMALA: Biblioteca Nacional, Guatemala.
Harrr1: Bibliothéque Nationale, Port-au-Prince.
HONDURAS:
Biblioteca y Archivo Nacionales, Tegucigalpa.
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Tegucigalpa.
IceLAND: National Library, Reykjavik.
INDIA:
BrHAR AND Orissa: Revenue Department, Patna.
BompBay : Undersecretary to the Government of Bombay, General Department
Bombay.
SECRETARY’S REPORT : 97
Inp1ia—Continued
UNITED PROVINCES OF AGRA AND OUDH:
University of Allahabad, Allahabad.
Secretariat Library, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow.
West BencaAL: Library, West Bengal Legislative Secretariat, Assembly
House, Calcutta.
Inan: Imperial Ministry of Education, Tehran,
Iraq: Public Library, Baghdad.
JAMAICA; Colonial Secretary, Kingston.
University College of the West Indies, St. Andrew.
Lrspanon: American University of Beirut, Beirut.
LisertA: Department of State, Monrovia.
Mataya: Federal Secretariat, Federation of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.
Matra: Minister for the Treasury, Valleta.
NicaraGua: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Managua.
PAKISTAN: Chief Secretary to the Government of Punjab, Lahore.
PANAMA: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Panam4.
PARAGUAY: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Seccién Biblioteca, Asuncién.
ScotLaNnp: National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Sram; National Library, Bangkok.
StnecaporE: Chief Secretary, Government Offices, Singapore.
VATICAN City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City, Italy.
INTERPARLIAMENTARY EXCHANGE OF THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL
There are now being sent abroad 92 copies of the Federal Register
and 102 copies of the Congressional Record. This is an increase over
the preceding year of 5 copies of the Federal Register and 8 copies
of the Congressional Record. The countries to which these journals
are being forwarded are given in the following list.
DEPOSITORIES OF CONGRESSIONAL RECORD AND FEDERAL REGISTER
ARGENTINA
Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional, Buenos Aires.
Biblioteca del Poder Judicial, Mendoza.‘
Boletin Oficial de la Republica Argentina, Ministerio de Justica e Instruc-
cién Publica, Buenos Aires.
Camara de Diputados Oficina de Informacién Parlamentaria, Buenos Aires.
AUSTRALIA:
Commonwealth Parliament and National Library, Canberra.
New South Wates: Library of Parliament of New South Wales, Sydney.
QUEENSLAND: Chief Secretary’s Office, Brisbane.
Victoria: Public Library of Victoria, Melbourne.‘
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Library of Parliament of Western Australia, Perth.
BRAZIL:
Biblioteca da Camera dos Deputados, Rio de Janeiro.
Secretaria de Presidencia, Rio de Janeiro.®
AMAzONAS: Archivo, Biblioteca e Imprensa Publica, Mandos.
Banta; Governador do Hstado da Bahia, Sio Salvador.
Espirito SANTO: Presidencia do Estado do Espirito Santo, Victoria.
Rio GRANDE Do SuL: Imprensa Oficial do Estado, Porto Alegre.
SERGIPE: Biblioteca Publica do Estado de Sergipe, Aracaju.
. SAo PavuLo: Imprensa Oficial do Estada, Sao Paulo.
‘Federal Register only.
® Congressional Record only.
98 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
BritisH Honpuras: Colonial Secretary, Belize.
CANADA:
Library of Parliament, Ottawa.
Clerk of the Senate, Houses of Parliament, Ottawa.
Creyton: Ceylon Ministry of Defense and External Affairs, Colombo.‘
CHINA:
Legislative Yuan, Taipei, Taiwan.’ *
Taiwan Provincial Government, Taipei, Taiwan.
CUBA:
Biblioteca del Capitolio, Habana.
Biblioteca Publica Panamericana, Habana.‘
Biblioteca Marti, Camara de Representantes, Habana.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Library of the Czechoslovak National Assembly, Prague.
Ecyrt: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egyptian Government, Cairo.”
Et SAtvapor: Library, National Assembly, San Salvador.
FRANCE:
Bibliothéque Assemblée Nationale, Paris.
Bibliothéque Conseil de la République, Paris.
Library, Organization for European Economic Cooperation, Varis.
Publiques de l’Institut de Droit Comparé, Université de Paris, Paris.*
Research Department, Council of Europe, Strasbourg.”
Service de la Documentation Etrangére, Assemblée Nationale, Paris.*
GERMANY:
Amerika-Institut der Universitit Miinchen, Miinchen.®
Archiv, Deutscher Bundesrat, Bonn.
Bibliotek der Instituts fiir Weltwirtschaft an der Universitit Kiel, Kiel-Wik.
Bibliothek Hessischer Landtag, Wiesbaden.” *
Der Bayrische Landtag, Munich.**
Deutscher Bundesrat, Bonn.*
Deutscher Bundestag, Bonn.*
GREAT BRITAIN:
Department of Printed Books, British Museum, London.‘
House of Commons Library, London.®
Printed Library of the Foreign Office, London,
Royal Institute of International Affairs, London.‘
GREECE: Bibliothéque, Chambre des Députés Hellénique, Athens.
GUATEMALA: Biblioteca de la Asamblea Legislativa, Guatemala.
Haitt: Bibliothéque Nationale, Port-au-Prince.
Honvuras: Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional, Tegucigalpa.
INDIA:
Civil Secretariat Library, Lucknow, United Provinces.‘
Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.*
Legislative Assembly Library, Lucknow, United Provinces.
Legislative Assembly Library, Trivandrum.’°
Legislative Department, Simla.
Parliament Library, New Delhi.‘
Servants of India Society, Poona.”*
IRELAND: Dail Hireann, Dublin.
IsRAEL: Library of the Knesset, Jerusalem.’
LTA
Biblioteca Camera dei Deputati, Rome.
Biblioteca del Senato della Republica, Rome.
* Three copies.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 99
ITaLy—Continued
European Office, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
Rome.‘
International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, Rome.‘
Japan: Library of the National Diet, Tokyo.
Korea: Secretary General, National Assembly, Pusan.
LuxEMBOURG: Assemblée Commune de la C. E. C. A., Luxembourg.’
MExIco:
Direcci6n General Informaci6én, Secretaria de Gobernaci6n, México, D. F.
Biblioteca Benjamin Franklin, México, D. F.
AGUASCALIENTES: Gobernador del Estado de Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes.
Baga CALIFORNIA: Gobernador del Distrito Norte, Mexicali.
CAMPECHE: Gobernador del Estado de Campeche, Campeche.
CuHi1aPas: Gobernador del Estado de Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez.
CHIHUAHUA: Gobernador del Estado de Chihuahua, Chihuahua.
CoAHUILA: Periéddico Oficial del Estado de Coahuila, Palacio de Gobierno,
Saltillo.
Cortima: Gobernador del Estado de Colima, Colima.
Duranco: Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de Durango, Durango.
GUANAJUATO: Secretaria General de Gobierno del Estado, Guanajuato.
GUERRERO: Gobernador del Estado de Guerrero, Chilpancingo.
JaLisco: Biblioteca del Estado, Guadalajara.
Mexico: Gaceta del Gobierno, Toluca.
MicHoacAn: Secretaria General de Gobierno del Estado de Michoacfin,
Morelia.
MoreLos: Palacio de Gobierno, Cuernavaca.
Nayarit: Gobernador de Nayarit, Tepic.
Nuevo Lr6n: Biblioteca del Estado, Monterrey.
Oaxaca: Periddico Oficial, Palacia de Gobierno, Oaxaca.
PUEBLA: Secretaria General de Gobierno, Puebla.
QUERETARO; Secretaria General de Gobierno, Seccién de Archivo, Querétaro.
San LuIs Porosf: Congreso del Estado, San Luis Potosi.
SrvnaLoa: Gobernador del Estado de Sinaloa, Culiacan.
Sonora: Gobernador del Estado de Sonora, Hermosillo.
TaBasco: Secretaria de Gobierno, Sessién 8a, Ramo de Prensa, Villahermosa.
TAMAULIPAS: Secretaria General de Gobierno, Victoria.
TLAXCALA: Secretaria de Gobierno del Estado, Tlaxcala.
VERACRUZ: Gobernador del Estado de Veracruz, Departamento de Gober-
nacién y Justicia, Jalapa.
YucaTAN ; Gobernador del Estado de Yucat4n, Mérida.
NETHERLANDS: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague.‘
NEw ZEALAND: General Assembly Library, Wellington.
Norway: Library of the Norwegian Parliament, Oslo.
PAKISTAN: Punjab Legislative Assembly Department, Lahore.
PANAMA: Biblioteca Nacional, Panama City.?°
Perv: Camara de Diputados, Lima.
Potanp: Ministry of Justice, Warsaw.‘
PorTUGAL: Secretaria de Assembla National, Lisbon.*
PORTUGUESE TIMoR: Reparticio Central de Administracio Civil, Dili.‘
SWITZERLAND: Bibliothéque, Bureau International du Travail, Geneva.‘
International Labor Office, Geneva.*?
Library, United Nations, Geneva.
7 Two copies.
100 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19538
UNION OF SoUTH AFRICA:
Cape or Goop Hore: Library of Parliament, Cape Town.
TRANSVAAL: State Library, Pretoria.
UNiIon or Sovier Soctatist Repusiics: Fundamental’niia Biblioteka, Ob-
shchestvennykh, Nauk, Moscow.’
Urvevay: Diario Oficial, Calle Florida 1178, Montevideo.
VENEZUELA: Biblioteca del Congreso, Caracas.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE SERVICES
Exchange publications for addresses in the countries listed below
are forwarded by freight to the exchange services of those countries.
Exchange publications for addresses in other countries are forwarded
directly to the addresses by mail.
LIST OF EXCHANGE SERVICES
Austria: Austrian National Library, Vienna.
Betaium: Service des Echanges Internationaux, Bibliothéque Royale de Belgique,
Bruxelles.
Cuina: Bureau of International Exchange, National Central Library, Nanking.”
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Bureau of International Exchanges, National and University
Library, Prague.
DENMARK: Institut Danois des Echanges Internationaux, Bibliothéque Royale,
Copenhagen K.
Eeypt: Government Press, Publications Office, Bulaq, Cairo.
FINLAND: Delegation of the Scientific Societies, Snellmaninkatu 9-11, Helsinki.
France: Service des Echanges Internationaux, Bibliothéque Nationale, 58 Rue
de Richelieu, Paris.
GERMANY: Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft, Bad Godesberg.
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND: Wheldon & Wesley, 83/84 Berwick Street, London,
w.1
Hungary: Hungarian Libraries Board, Ferenciektere 5, Budapest, IV.
Inp1IaA: Superintendent of Government Printing and Stationary, Bombay.
INDONESIA: Department of Cultural Affairs and Education, Djakarta.
ISRAEL: Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem.
IraLty: Ufficio degli Scambi Internazionali, Ministero della Publica Istruzione,
Rome.
JAPAN: Division of International Affairs, National Diet Library, Tokyo.
NETHERLANDS: International Exchange Bureau of the Netherlands, Royal Li-
brary, The Hague.
NEw SouTH WALES: Public Library of New South Wales, Sydney.
New ZEALAND: General Assembly Library, Wellington.
Norway: Service Norvégien des Hchanges Internationaux, Bibliothéque de ]’Uni-
versité Royale, Oslo.
PHILIPPINES: Bureau of Public Libraries, Department of Education, Manila.
PoLaND: Service Polonais des Hchanges Internationaux, Bibliothéque Nationale,
Warsaw.
PortuGaL: Seccio de Trocas Internacionais, Biblioteca Nacional, Lisbon.
QUEENSLAND: Bureau of Exchanges of International Publications, Chief Secre-
tary’s Office, Brisbane.
® Between the United States and Hngland only.
iS > et i ee et ee
SECRETARY’S REPORT 101
RumANtA: Ministére de la Propagande Nationale, Service des Echanges Inter-
nationaux, Bucharest.’
Soutn AvusTRALIA: South Australian Government Exchanges Bureau, Govern-
ment Printing and Stationary Office, Adelaide.
Spain: Junta de Intercambio y Adquisicién de Libros y Revistas para Bibliote-
cas Publicas, Ministerio de Educacién Nacional, Avenida Calvo Sotelo 20,
Madrid.
Swepen: Kungliga Biblioteket, Stockholm.
SWITZERLAND: Service Suisse des Echanges Internationaux, Bibliothéque Cen-
trale Fédérale, Palais Fédéral, Berne.
TASMANIA: Secretary of the Premier, Hobart.
TurKEY: Ministry of Education, Department of Printing and Engraving,
Istanbul.
UnIon or SoutH AFrrica: Government Printing and Stationary Office, Cape Town,
Cape of Good Hope.
UNION or Soviet SoctaLtist REPUBLICS: Bureau of Book Exchange, State Lenin
Library, Moscow 19.
Vicroria: Public Library of Victoria, Melbourne.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Public Library of Western Australia, Perth.
YUGOSLAVIA: Bibliografski Institut FNRJ, Belgrade.
Respectfully submitted.
D. G. Wriu1aMs, Chief.
Dr. Lronarp CARMICHAEL,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
APPENDIX 7
Report on the National Zoological Park
Sm: Transmitted herewith is a report on the operations of the
National Zoological Park for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1953.
This year showed a considerable increase over last in accessions to
the Zoo. In all, 810 accessions, comprising 1,797 individual animals,
were added to the collection during the year by gifts, deposits, pur-
chases, exchanges, births, and hatchings. Among these were many rare
specimens never before shown in this Zoo. The addition of new kinds
of animals enhances the value of the collection, which is maintained
not only for exhibition but also for research and education, thus foster-
ing the Smithsonian’s established purpose of “the increase and diffu-
sion of knowledge.” Opportunities for research are afforded students
of biology, particularly vertebrate zoology, as well as artists, pho-
tographers, and writers. Methods of study that do not endanger the
welfare of animals or the safety of the public are encouraged.
Services of the staff included answering in person or by phone,
mail, or telegraph questions regarding animals and their care and
transportation; furnishing to other zoos and other agencies, public
and private, information regarding structures for housing animals;
cooperating with other agencies of Federal, State, and municipal
governments in research work; and preparing manuscripts for
publication.
The stone restaurant building, which was constructed in the Park
in 1940, is leased at $46,212 a year. This money is deposited in the
United States Treasury. The concessionaire serves meals and light
refreshments and sells souvenirs.
THE EXHIBITS
Animals for exhibition are acquired by gift, deposit, purchase,
exchange, birth, and hatching, and are removed by death, exchange,
or return of those on deposit. Although depositors are at liberty to
remove their specimens, many leave them permanently.
As in any colony of living things, there is a steady turnover, and
the exhibits are constantly changing. Thus, the inventory of speci-
mens in the collection on June 30 of each year does not show all the
kinds of animals that were exhibited during the year, for sometimes
creatures of outstanding interest at the time they were shown are no
longer in the collection at the time the inventory is made.
102
Secretary's Report, 1953.—Appendix 7 PLATE 6
Upper right: Allen’s monkeys. These two were the first specimens of their kind to be
exhibited in the National Zoological Park and, with the exception of two others received
at the San Diego Zoo at about the same time, the first to be exhibited in the United States.
They are extremely rare, less than a dozen specimens having heretofore been in zoos or
museums anywhere in the world.
Lower left: Young Brazilian flat-tailed otter. This is the first one to be exhibited in the
National Zoological Park, or, possibly, in the United States. These are large otters that
inhabit streams of the Amazon Basin. ‘The feet are as fully webbed as the common
river otter, and the tail is flattened in a peculiar manner.
Photographs by Ernest P. Walker.
Secretary's Report, 1953.—Appendix 7 PLATE 7
Right: Frilled lizard of Australia, in a defensive attitude but without its frill or ruff being
fully extended as it is when the lizard is annoyed. This and another specimen were the
first to be exhibited in the National Zoological Park. On the limb beneath, an Australian
bearded lizard. On the throat are large folds of skin which the animal extends when
angry to produce a threatening appearance.
Lower left: European midwife toad. The female lays her eggs in a strand somewhat like
beads strung on accord. The male then wraps them around his body in front of his hind
legs and cares for them until they hatch.
Photographs by Ernest P. Walker.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 103
The United States National Museum is given first choice of all
specimens that die in the Zoo. If they are not desired for the
Museum they are then made available to other institutions or scien-
tific workers. Thus the value of the specimen continues long after
it is dead.
ACCESSIONS
GIFTS AND DEPOSITS
The Zoo has been particularly fortunate in having friends who have
showed their sincere interest by bringing in specimens, or arranging
for acquisitions from foreign countries. During the year, the follow-
ing have made valuable contributions to the collection :
Lt. Col. Robert Traub, Chief, Department of Entomology, Medical
Service Graduate School, Walter Reed Army Medica! Center, Wash-
ington, D. C., supplied animals from Malaya, Borneo, and Korea.
Thomas McKnew, of the National Geographic Society, interested
Sir Gordon H. A. MacMillan of MacMillan, Governor and Com-
mander in Chief of Gibraltar, in presenting two Barbary apes.
Dr. Robert E. Kuntz, of the United States Naval Medical Research
Unit No. 3, Cairo, Egypt, and George Malakatis, gave reptiles that
they had obtained in Egypt.
Dr. Donald J. Pletsch, of the World Health Organization at Taipeh,
Taiwan, sent a fine, tame civet (Paguma larvata taviana), a form
found only on the island of Formosa. This was the first of its kind
exhibited in the Zoo.
Dr. Egberto Garcia S., Director of the Department of Public Health
of Ecuador, sent two large Galapagos turtles.
The Honorable Carlton Skinner, Governor of Guam, gave three
East Indian monitor lizards.
Forest Bartl, of Edgewater, Md., presented a specimen of the
beautiful eclectus parrot, a native of the Papuan Islands and rare in
collections.
Mrs. Helen B. Irwin, Washington, D. C., gave a beautiful sulphur-
crested cockatoo.
Paul M. Menendez and Bernard F. Salb, both of Washington, D. C.,
each presented a white-armed marmoset.
The National Institutes of Health deposited a chimpanzee.
The Round Table Kennels, of Middletown, Del., presented 12 young
blue peafowl.
Dorothy Schenck, Willimantic, Conn., gave a ball python.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service, through various mem-
bers of its staff, continued to assist during the year in maintaining
an interesting collection.
284725—54 8
104 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
J. E. Bannister, St. Leonards, Md., went to considerable effort to
bring to the Zoo a scarlet king snake, one of the more beautifully
marked of North American snakes, and very rare in this region.
The Philadelphia Zoological Gardens gave two Arctic foxes.
Dr. E. Raymond Hall and Richard P. Grossenheider, of the Uni-
versity of Kansas, presented two Point Barrow lemmings; these are
rare in collections because they do not ordinarily thrive in capitivity.
W. W. Dornin, Phoenix, Ariz., personally collected and shipped to
the Zoo representatives of 13 species of reptiles of the southwestern
United States.
Superintendent Curtis Reid, of the District of Columbia Jail, and
William Stokes gave a Virginia deer that had been raised from a
fawn at the jail.
Mrs. Fred J. McKay, Arlington, Va., gave an American crocodile.
This year, as in many years past, various individuals have deposited
in the Zoo animals to which they desired to retain title. These
specimens are most acceptable additions to the exhibits. Depositors
are assured that the animals will receive routine care, but the Zoo
assumes no responsibility for their return or no obligation to replace
any that do not survive.
This year a group of 42 mammals and reptiles was deposited by
Gordon Gaver, who operates an animal exhibit at Thurmont, Md.,
during the summer. He deposited his specimens with the Zoo
in the fall and removed them in the spring.
A similar procedure has been adopted by M. A. Stroop, of New
Market, Va., who deposited 68 specimens with us this year.
There was a decided increase in the number of spectacled caimans
(Caiman sclerops) received as gifts, due to the fact that Florida is
now prohibiting exportation of baby alligators and so dealers are
selling instead young spectacled caimans from Central and South
America, and many of these eventually reach the zoos.
DEPOSITORS AND DONORS AND THEIR GIFTS
(Deposits are marked *; unless otherwise indicated, addresses of donors are
Washington, D. C.)
Aben, Jerry, 8 golden hamsters, *golden | Anderson, Mrs. M., 2 cardinals.
hamster. Animal Rescue League, woodcock.
Abramson, Karen, Alexandria, Va., 2 | Animal Welfare League, Arlington, Va.,
Pekin ducks. skunk.
Adair, Ralph, Chevy Chase, Md.,| Army Medical Service, through Col.
opossum. Robert Traub, *2 rajah tree rats,
AAs, OPT, Arlington, Va., Pekin *2 wood rats, *2 Asiatic squirrels,
: *2 southern Asiatic squirrels, *2
Allen, Ronald, 2 common newts. A
Alsever, Mrs. Margery, opossum. Berduoe squirrels, *6 Siamese
Alston, Hezekiah, Pekin duck. rats, *4 large spiny-backed tree
Altman, Franklin O., Takoma Park, Md., rats, *1 lesser bandicoot rat, *4
2 domestic rabbits. Allegheny wood rats, *2 raccoon
Alvard, Kathy, robin. dogs.
SECRETARY’S REPORT
Arons, Mrs. H. C., Silver Spring, Md.,
white rabbit.
Ashton, Francis, 3 rabbits, 3 guinea
pigs, hamster, painted turtle,
opossum.
Ayer, Lorraine, domestic rabbit.
Baber, James M., squirrel monkey.
Babst, Carol L., black rabbit.
Baden, Mrs. G., robin.
Bailey, George, Pekin duck.
Baker, James, chain or king snake.
Baker, Judd O., alligator.
Baker, N. B., Alexandria, Va., 3 Pekin
ducks.
Bannister, J. E., St. Leonards, Md., scar-
let king snake.
Bargmann, Louis, Arlingten, Va., pilot
black snake.
Bartl, Forest F., Edgewater, Md., eclec-
tus parrot.
Belintende, S. J., Silver Spring, Md.,
Summer tanager.
Benn, Mrs. W. G., Falls Church, Va.,
pine lizard, blue-tailed skink.
Bennett, Mrs. Robert, Silver Spring,
Md., 4 guinea pigs.
Berliner, Steve, coot.
Bernstein, Ed, *white-throated capu-
chin.
Berryman, Mrs. R. M., false map turtle.
Berthold, Alfred, Chevy Chase, Md.,
Cumberland turtle.
Betz, Thomas, black widow spider.
Bigio, Fred, 3 tree frogs.
Blackman, Robert, Arlington, Va., 4
false chameleons.
Bond, Danny, 2 rabbits.
Bower, Clayton, Fort Howard,
fighting fowl.
Brady, Thomas, timber rattlesnake.
Breed, Harold A., Clifton, Va., copper-
head.
Breslin, G. L., 2 Cook’s tree boas.
Brickham, Marguerite H., Annandale,
Va., 2 hamsters.
Brill, Mrs. Alice, Eastpine, Md., 5 gray
squirrels.
Broadhurst, Joe, and Kern, Gary, 2
water snakes, snapping turtle.
Brockdorff, P. F., Silver Spring, Md.,
horned lizard.
Broodwater, Bobby, Hyattsville, Md.,
pilot black snake.
Brown, Mrs. Clark E., Chevy Chase, Md.,
robin.
Brown, George Jr., Silver Spring, Md.,
rabbit.
Brown, Lynn R., Bladensburg, Md., and
McCrory, V. H., Alexandria, Va.,
*hawk-billed turtle.
Brown, Mrs. Ray, *Pekin duck.
Brucker, W. B., Long Beach, Calif,
*Pacific rattler.
Brunhouse, Mrs. Helen, 2 pickerel frogs,
alligator, 3 red-lined turtles, 3 Cum-
berland turtles, geographic turtle, 2
green frogs, 2 common newts, ham-
ster.
Ma.,
105
Buck, Sally, Garrett Park, Md., alli-
gator.
Burgess, Pamela, Pekin duck.
Burke, William L., Alexandria, Va., 16
opossums.
Burrows, Mrs. Inez C., Takoma Park,
Md., opossum.
Bushnell, Guy, water snake, 8 bullfrogs.
Caldwell, William Jr., 2 Pekin ducks.
Calvert, Miss Ann, Pekin duck.
Campbell, Harold F., Bethesda, Md., 5
fighting game chickens.
Camp Detrick, Frederick, Md., copper-
head.
Cardozo High School, spectacled cai-
man.
Carew, H. E., Silver Spring, Md., cotton-
tail rabbit.
as J., Edgewater, Md., brown capu-
chin.
Carson, James, Arlington, Va., burrow-
ing snake.
Carter, C. Glen, Silver Spring, Md., 2
Pekin ducks.
Cartner, Mrs. Helen, wood thrush.
Castell, Bill, Arlington, Va., spectacled
caiman,
Charles, ‘rank, Takoma Park, M4d.,
domestic rabbit.
Christel, Mrs. C. J., domestic rabbit.
Clapp, Dr. Stewart, Kensington, Md.,
barred owl.
Clark, Mrs. Austin, snapping turtle.
Clarke, Mrs. Mary Hlizabeth, Silver
Spring, Md., skunk.
Clarke, Mrs. Peggy, Landover, Md., *2
Indian pythons, *3 Florida king
snakes, *alligator, *Indian rock
python.
Cleary, Mrs. Mary D., domestic rabbit.
Clow, Mrs. Kenneth A., Chevy Chase,
Md., domestic pigeon.
Coffin, David M., Silver Spring, Md.,
opossum.
Coleman, Elizabeth Ann, *Pekin duck.
Colison, C. W., domestic rabbit.
Collady, 8. F., 2 white rabbits.
Connelly, Mare, Falls Church, Va., 2
Pekin ducks.
Connett, Mrs. W. B., Fairfax, Va., South
American turtle.
Connolly, John Alfred, copperhead.
Cook, Martin Thomas, ring-necked
snake.
Coray, Mrs. J. B., robin.
Corbet, Pat, Silver Spring, Md., tree
frog.
Cordle, Farman H., Vienna, Va., *rhesus
monkey.
Covan, Mrs. W. C., Arlington, Va., white
rabbit.
Craig, Col. Malin, Jr., Chevy Chase,
Md., mourning dove.
Cramer, Corliss, Arlington, Va., sparrow
hawk.
Crawford, William E., East Riverdale,
Md., king snake.
106
Cross, Miss Ann G., Sweet Briar, Va.,
ringed aracari toucan.
Crowley, Mrs. H. G., blue jay.
Crowley, Mrs. Thomas B., Kensington,
Md., skunk.
QOzizauskas, Hdward, domestic pigeon.
Dale, C. K.., *wood turtle, *2 box turtles,
*3 pilot black snakes, *water snake,
*keeled green snake, *ringneck
snake, *worm snake, *queen snake,
*mole snake, *2 blue-tailed skinks.
Daniel, Wayne L., Kensington, Md., 2
guinea pigs.
Dann, Dougias B., Jr., Alexandria, Va.,
snapping turtle.
Danneman, Eli, Silver Spring,
Pekin duck.
Dante, Robert, 2 golden hamsters.
Darnell, Basil, opossum.
Davis, Frank A., Silver Spring, Md.,
albino corn snake.
Davis, Col. Homer, Arlington, Va., 2
Pekin ducks.
Davis, Malcolm, painted bunting.
Davis, Mrs. R. F., Takoma Park, Md.,
pilot black snake.
Dawson, John Henry, Bethesda, Md.,
guinea pig.
Deddo, Tony Nick, sooty mangabey.
DePrato, Jack, Langley Park, Md.,
water snake.
DePrato, Jack and Joe, Langley Park,
Md., gopher tortoise, pygmy rattle-
snake, *young anaconda, wood toad,
ground skink.
Dickson, J. T., horned lizard.
Dillon, Tandy N., Silver Spring, Md., 2
Pekin ducks.
DiMaggio, Andrea, pilot black snake.
District of Columbia Jail, through Su-
perintendent Curtis Reid and Wil-
liam Stokes, Virginia deer.
Dopp, H. G., Bladensburg, Md., red fox.
Dornin, W. W., Phoenix, Ariz., 2 gila
monsters, chuckwalla lizard, 3 Cali-
fornia horned lizards, chain king
snake, 3 bull snakes, LeConte’s
snake, 2 garter snakes, ribbon
snake, 18 rattlesnakes, including
Western diamond-backed rattlers,
red diamond-backed rattlers, side-
winders, Mohave rattlers, Pacific
rattlers.
Dowad, Charles, alligator.
Drumheller, Ralph P., District Heights,
Md., opossum.
Dunn, April, Pekin duck.
sears D. M., Takoma Park, Md., guinea
pig.
Dunn, Mrs. H. H., Takoma Park, Md..,
white-throated capuchin.
Eeuador, Department of Public Health,
through Dr. Egberto Garcia S., Di-
rector, 2 Galfipagos turtles.
Eddy, Chip, opossum.
Edelon, Mrs. E. J., Jr., Port Tobacco,
Md., barn owl.
Edwards, Joan, 2 Pekin ducks.
Md.,
ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Erwin, Mrs. Helen B., sulphur-crested
cockatoo.
Evans, Radie, Potomac, Md., *2 lions.
Evans, S. W., *5 desert tortoises.
Ewing, Mrs. F. W., Kenwood, Md., 2
Muscovy ducks.
Faquih, Khaled, robin.
Faust, Mrs. Mary D., domestic rabbit.
Felix, Mary Katherine, Pekin duck.
Ferguson, Robert, Chevy Chase, Md.,
Cumberland turtle.
Ferguson, Mrs. Robert, *ferret.
Finney, Mr. and Mrs. Edward G.,
Waynesboro, Pa., 2 red foxes.
Fisher, Mrs. J., Alexandria, Va., red-
bellied woodpecker.
Fisher, Sydney N., gray squirrel.
Flanagan, Mrs. Matthew, spectacled
caiman.
Ford, Douglas O., Kensington, Md., 2
Pekin ducks.
Woster, Bonnie, Pekin duck.
Fowler, Mr. and Mrs. S. Robert, West
Beach, Md., *alligator.
Fratt, N. D., Arlington, Va., spectacled
caiman.
Freedenberg, Norman, Pekin duck.
Friedman, Seymour, Mount Rainier,
Md., Pekin duck. |
Fruland, Roddy, Falis Church, Va.,
sereech owl.
Gault, Albert, Paradise fish, 5 blue
acaras.
Gaver, Gordon, Thurmont, Md., *Javan
macaque, *2 water snakes, *king
cobra, *brown water snake, *2 regal
pythons, *2 South American boa
constrictors, *African python, *In-
dian python, *ball python, *rain-
bow boa, *king snake, *Indian
cobra, *gray rat snake, *corn snake,
*§ alligators, *2 eastern diamond-
backed rattlesnakes, *2 timber rat-
tlesnakes, *2 copperheads, *12
water moccasins.
Geier, Mrs. John, 8 opossums.
Gelwicks, Maj. Harold G., Arlington,
Va., 2 Pekin ducks.
Gibbs, Mary, 2 white mice.
Gibson, Mrs. William, Bethesda, Md., 2
Pekin ducks.
Gideon, Bobby, Arlington, Va., boa con-
strictor.
Gilden, Mrs. J. E., Arlington, Va., com-
mon pigeon.
Gilpin, Kenneth B., Bethesda, Md., rac-
coon.
Ginsburg, Jerome, milk snake, garter
snake, smooth-scaled green snake.
Glazier, Dr. Manuel, Newton, Mass., 2
chameleons.
Glenn, Mr. and Mrs. Robert A., squirrel
monkey.
Godfrey, H. R., Hyattsville, Md., spotted
catfish, 40 flag-tailed guppies, four-
horned snail, 12 Siamese fighting
fish, 1 short-tailed shrew, 2 catfish.
SECRETARY’S REPORT
Goodnough, Mrs. C. W., Arlington, Va.,
robin.
Gordon, Keith W., Pekin duck.
Gottlieb, Mrs. Joanne, blue jay.
Greco, Mrs. Joseph, Hyattsville, Md., 2
Pekin ducks.
Grieve, Wesley I., Vienna, Va., 4 bantam
fowl.
Griggs, John A., 8 painted turtles,
spotted turtle, 2 musk turtles, queen
snake.
Grillo, Mrs. Berta J., 2 Pekin ducks.
Groshon, E. N., Hyattsville, Md., Pekin
duck.
Grusd, Duley, domestie rabbit.
Haennie, Carol Anne, Bethesda, Md.,
box turtle, Pekin duck.
Hall, Dr. E. Raymond, and Grossen-
heider, Richard P., Lawrence,
Kans., 2 Point Barrow lemmings.
Hall, M. W., barred owl.
Hall, Tommie C., Arlington, Va., 2
barred owls.
Hall, W. L., Pekin duck.
Hanagon, John G., golden eagle.
Handy, Benjamin H., III, Arlington,
Va., horned lizard.
Hansen, Mrs. Ira H., Arlington, Va.,
robin.
Hansion, John, flicker.
Hanson, Charles L., Alexandria, Va.,
*Central American boa.
Harig, J. M., Arlington Va.,
monkey.
Harry, Charles William, Arlington, Va.,
*broad-winged hawk.
Hassett, B. C., Arlington, Va., 2 Pekin
ducks.
Hay, Michael, Pekin duck.
Haynes, Mrs. Evan A., Pekin duck.
Henderson, Mrs. Agnes, box turtle.
Hendricks, Frankie, guinea pig.
Herbert, Robert, red fox.
Hewitt, Paul, Falls Church, Va., pilot
black snake.
Hogan, Bart, Bethesda, Md., Eastern
rhesus
skunk.
Hogan, Mrs. Viola, Bethesda, Md., grass
parakeet.
Hohensee, B. G., Great Mills, Md., bar-
red owl.
Hoke, John, *2 common iguanas, *2
Central American boas.
Horton, Ruth, red-lined turtle.
Hough, Royce, 3 Cumberland turtles.
Houston, Robert H., 2 Pekin ducks.
Howard University, *9 pigeons.
Hubert, Mabel, eastern skunk.
Huff, Herbert, spotted salamander.
Hughes, David, 2 horned lizards.
Hutchins, Mrs. Dorothy, Alexandria,
Va., 3 Pekin ducks.
Hutchins, Trafton and Paula, Pekin
duck.
Hutchinson, Jim, Arlington, Va., Ameri-
. @an crow.
Traneta, Mrs. Pedro, Silver Spring, Md.,
cottontail rabbit.
107
Irons, Donald W., Lewisdale, Md., 3
Pekin ducks.
Irwin, Mrs. Helen B., sulphur-crested
cockatoo.
Jacobs, Mrs. L. P., Arlington, Va., 2
Pekin ducks.
Jani, Gary, horned lizard.
Jenkins, Herschel, Mosley, Va., 5 cop-
perheads.
Johns, Mrs. Jerrold, Bethesda, Md., blue
racer snake.
Johnson, Eugene R., domestic rabbit.
Johnstone, Delight and Kathy, white
rabbit.
Jones, Mrs. A., 2 ring-necked doves.
Jones, Robert M., 2 Pekin ducks.
Kahn, Hermine, Arlington, Va., Pekin
duck.
Kane, Gerard J., Kensington, Md., Pekin
duck.
Karchner, Donald, green guenon.
Karn, Norman, Arlington, Va., 2 hog-
nosed snakes.
Kefauver, David, blue jay.
Keller, Gary, Silver Spring, Md., Pekin
duck.
Kelley, Mike, Silver Spring, Md., 2
Pekin ducks.
Kenn, Gary, water snake.
Kerkom, Mrs. William B., mourning
dove.
Ketchum, Harry W., Silver Spring, Md.,
domestic rabbit.
Key, Mr., Bethesda, Md., copperhead.
Kiger, Carol M., Westhaven, Md., 2
Pekin ducks.
Kilsheimer, Linda, 3 Pekin ducks.
King, Francis, domestic rabbit.
Klaben, Mrs. R., spectacled caiman.
Klein, Barbara Ann, black rabbit.
Klinger, R. L. raccoon.
Knapp, Earl L., 2 domestic rabbits.
Kneessi, John, South American caiman.
Knott, John E., Arlington, Va., DeKay’s
snake.
Koff, Mrs. M. Polle, Silver Spring, Md.,
domestic rabbit.
Krumke, Karl
caiman.
Kuntz, Dr. Robert BE. and Malakatis,
George, Cairo, Egypt, 25 worm
snakes, 3 sand boas, horned viper.
Lacey, Dale, red-bellied turtle.
Lamb, Mrs. Geo. P., 2 Pekin ducks.
Langer, W. C., Silver Spring, Md.,
Pekin duck.
Large, Mrs. BE. E., yellow-naped parrot.
Lawrence, Jane, *eastern mockingbird.
Lawrence, Mrs. Jane, robin.
Lawrence, Lt. Rex D., 2 spectacled
caimans.
Lee, Jackson D., Arlington, Va., rabbit.
Leek, Jackie, Pekin duck.
Lehman, J. W., Los Angeles, Calif,,
*mole snake.
Leva, Leo Marx, blue jay.
Levin, Jerry, Pekin duck.
E., II, spectacled
108
Liebert, Mrs. John, Bethesda, Md., 2
rabbits.
Linkins, Bernard R., Silver Spring, Md.,
blue jay.
Litoff, Louis, horned lizard.
LoCastro, Frank J., alligator.
Locke, Frederick W., robin.
Lockhart, Lt. Col. Eugene E., Carlisle,
Pa., 13-lined ground squirrel.
Loftis, James Robert, Pekin duck.
Long, Clifford E., Alexandria, Va., 3
Java finches.
Long, Mr. and Mrs. M. G., McLean, Va.,
Chinese golden pheasant.
LoPresti, Sammy Joe and Vinny, and
Wilson, Harry and Kendall, red-
bellied turtle.
Lose, Mrs. W. C., Chevy Chase, Md.,
4 domestic rabbits.
Lucas, Ethel M., domestic rabbit.
Lund, E. A., Ishpeming, Mich., raven.
Lyle, Evelyn, Herndon, Va., opossum.
Lynn, David, 2 Pekin ducks.
MacMillan of MacMillan, Sir Gordon
H. A., Governor and Commander in
Chief, Gibraltar, 2 Barbary apes.
Madden, Judge J. Warren, pilot black
snake.
Mainhart, Howard, Bethesda, Md.,
domestie rabbit.
Malakoff, Leon, 2 Pekin ducks.
Manning, Kenneth M., *Pekin duck.
Marsh, Francis, alligator.
Marshall, John G., anolis lizard.
Marth, Leonard E., Silver Spring, Md.,
2 Pekin ducks.
Martin, Mrs. R. B., Newport News, Va.,
2 woodchucks.
Mask, Dudley L., Hyattsville, Md.,
domestic rabbit.
Master, Sieber F., Arlington, Va., Cum-
berland turtle.
Masters, Carl, Beltsville, Md., water
snake.
Matter, John M., Arlington, Va., 2
Pekin ducks.
McCorkle, Miss, 2 horned lizards.
McCreight, William, College Park, Md.,
hog-nosed snake.
McFarland, Mrs. Nina, robin.
McGreevy, Leo, 5 domestic rabbits.
McKay, Mrs. Fred J., Arlington, Va.,
American crocodile.
McKeldin, Lt. Col. James R., opossum.
McKenny, Mrs. W. E., Silver Spring,
Md., 3 Pekin ducks.
Meggers, John C., eastern skunk.
Menendez, Paul M., white-armed mar-
moset.
Messenga, Missy, domestic rabbit.
Meyer, Hanny, weasel.
Meyer, Robert J., Silver Spring, Md.,
opossum.
Miller, Mrs. Beatrice, hamster.
Miller, C. R., Bethesda, Md., Pekin duck.
Miller, Roger, Silver Spring, Md., spec-
tacled caiman.
ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Miller, W. T., Ancon, Canal Zone, yel-
low atelopus frog, small tree frog.
Mills, Mrs. W. M., Silver Spring, Md.,
domestic rabbit.
Monagan, Kathy, gray squirrel.
Montgomery, C. R., Sarasota,
*2 Indian rock pythons.
Moore, Mrs. B. E., Pekin duck.
Moore, Mrs. Bessie, 2 mockingbirds.
Morris, Roland, ferret.
Morrison, Mrs. James, 4 white rabbits.
Muir, R. D., 2 Pekin ducks.
Munday, Charles H., Sterling, Va.,
3 gray foxes.
Murpby, Carl D., Norbeck, Md., 2 garter
snakes.
Naber, R. H., 2 gopher tortoises.
National Capital Parks, Superintend-
ent, copperhead.
National Institutes of Health, Be
thesda, Md., *chimpanzee.
Newton, J. O., Jr., 2 rabbits.
Noble, Patricia, and Candee, Joan, wild
rabbit.
Novack, Mrs. W., Takoma Park, Md.,
2 canaries.
O’Brien, P. G., Silver Spring, Md., Pekin
duck.
O’Connor, Adele R., 19 canaries, 2 spice
finches.
O’Hare, Patty, Bethesda, Md., grass
parakeet.
Orrison, Mrs. A. B., rabbit.
Oxenberg, Jerome, 2 domestic rabbits.
Pantili, Mrs., Takoma Park, Md., east-
Fla.,
ern skunk.
Paranich, Mrs. J. A., Hyattsville, Md.,
Pekin duck.
Paulin, W. B., Arlington, Va., Pekin
duck.
Payne, L. E., Falls Church, Va., rac-
coon.
Pearson, Billy, Silver Spring, Md.,
white rabbit.
Pemberton, Mrs. F. D., Alexandria, Va.,
Pekin duck.
Philadelphia Zoological Gardens, Phila-
delphia, Pa., 2 Arctic foxes.
Pletsch, Dr. Donald J., Ping Yong,
Tiawan, kitsume or civet.
Porter, Mrs. Martha, domestic fowl.
Potter, W. Taylor, Silver Spring, Md.,
screech owl.
Powers, Patricia, alligator.
Pratt, Richard A., Arlington, Va., Pekin
duck.
Presley, T. W., Arlington, Va., hamster.
Pryce, Wendy, Arlington, Va., Pekin
duck.
Pumphrey, D., Bladensburg, Md., *2
black racers.
Ragan, Rodney, Silver Spring, Md.,
Pekin duck.
Rauh, Carl, 4 American anolis.
Raver, Dean, Bethesda, Md., Pekin
duck.
Ray, H. A., Arlington, Va., skunk.
:
|
|
SECRETARY’S REPORT
Reinoehl, Mrs. Elmer S§8., domestic
pigeon.
Reiser, C. L., Cottage City, Md., horned
lizard.
Reutiman, EH. R., Arlington, Va., rabbit.
Revelee, Robert and William, Canadian
goose.
Rhue, Bond, domestic pigeon.
Robbins, Larry, Silver Spring, Md., 2
water snakes.
Robinson, Mrs. Mark T., 2 Java spar-
rows, grass parakeet.
Roebuck, Marion C., Falls Church, Va.,
3 Pekin ducks.
Rogers, Mrs. Charles, Silver Spring,
Md., Pekin duck.
Rohwer, Dru, Arlington, Va., fish
hawk.
Ronnie, J. C., Silver Spring, Md.,
screech owl.
Rothbard, Charles, Pekin duck.
Rothrock, W. L., diamond-backed
turtle.
Round ‘Table Kennels, Middletown,
Del., 12 blue peafowl.
Royer, Jon, Bethesda, Md., *copper-
head, 3 ferrets, 2 ring-necked
doves.
Russel, Robert, *Nias wattled mynah.
Russel, W. F., Hyattsville, Md., white-
nosed guenon.
Russell, Warren H., Arlington, Va.,
domestic pigeon.
Ryan, James T., Jr., 2 rabbits.
Ryan, John E., Arlington, Va., *squirrel
monkey.
Salb, Bernard F., white-armed mar-
moset.
Sams, Mrs. Clifton, domestic rabbit.
Sapp, Chris and Vincent, Bethesda,
Md., opossum.
Sargent, Virginia W., Garrett Park,
Md., domestic pigeon.
Satterfield, Mrs. W. J., Silver Spring,
Md., yellow-bellied turtle.
Sayre, Rev. Francis B., cacomistle.
Schenck, Dorothy, Willimantic, Conn.,
ball python.
Scher, Mrs. Irene, 2 Pekin ducks.
Scherer, Charles, 8 hamsters.
Scherer, James, Java finch, Chinese
goose.
Schmid, Paul, Bethesda, Md., *corn
snake, *rat snake, *pilot black
snake, *black racer, *2 garter
snakes.
Schriner, Frank, box turtle.
Schrum, Ted, Mount Rainier, Md., 2
Pekin ducks.
Schuld, J. G., 2 Pekin ducks.
Schwartz, Greta, spectacled caiman.
Searls, Loyes, *2 white mice.
Selby, William E., coatimundi.
Self, Edward C., Glenwood, Ga., spec-
tacled caiman.
Sheas, James H., domestic pigeon.
Shelldrake, T. W., 5 opossums.
109
Shipley, Carl, western porcupine.
Shirey, William N., Frederick, Md.,
copperhead.
Shoemaker, Mrs. Charles G., Bethesda,
Md., 2 domestic rabbits.
Siemel, Sasha, Green Lane, Pa., *2 jag-
uars, *2 anacondas,
Sills, Mrs. R., grass parakeet.
Simpson, Mrs. Berry, Alexandria, Va.,
2 Pekin ducks.
Sipes, Richard, Alexandria, Va., keeled
green snake.
Skelly, Mrs. Ed, Augusta, Ga., fox
squirrel, pilot black snake, gopher
tortoise.
Skinner, Hon. Carlton, Governor of
Guam, 3 Hast Indies monitor liz-
ards.
Smith, C. W., 2 domestic rabbits.
Smith, Mrs. Paula, Falls Church, Va.,
robin.
Smith, Ronald E., water snake.
Souder, Virgil B., Deerwood, Md., 5
copperheads.
Spears, Mrs. Loma, Takoma Park, Md.,
10 Pekin ducks.
Spirlet, Gilbert, Takoma Park, Md.,
sparrow hawk.
Staight, David, Alexandria, Va., garter
snake.
Starkey, R. B., Bethesda, Md., alligator.
Steadman, C. R., brown capuchin.
Storitz, Ned, Silver Spring, Md., cotton-
tail rabbit.
Stroop, M. A., New Market, Va., 9
American alligators, *sulphur-
breasted toucan, *2 red, blue, and
yellow macaws, *17 alligators, *4
boa constrictors, *anaconda, *10
pilot black snakes, *10 water moc-
casins, *timber rattlesnake, *2
eastern diamond-backed rattle
snakes, *copperhead, *yellow bull
snake, *indigo snake, *2 yellow
chicken snakes, *milk snake, *3
water snakes, *pine snake, *king
snake.
Stroup, R. W., College Park, Md., Pekin
duck.
Stubbs, Lee, Bethesda, Md., 2 Pekin
ducks.
Tackett, J. Anderson, green tree frog.
Tansley, Doris, Takoma Park, Md., spec-
tacled caiman,
Taylor, Mrs. M. C., Falls Church, Va.,
alligator.
Taylor, Robert, 2 Pekin ducks.
Teagle, Roy, *10 bull frogs.
Thomas, Mrs., Riverdale, Md., 2 Pekin
ducks.
Thomas, R. B., Jr., Sandy Spring, Md.,
2 sparrow hawks.
Thomas, Mrs. William R., Silver Spring,
Md., domestic rabbit.
Thompson, Loren L., Arlington, Va., 2
copperheads, box turtle.
Thornton, Abigail, Pekin duck.
110
Tracewell, Mrs. C. E., Chevy Chase,
Md., robin.
Trimble, James L., Pekin duck.
Triplet, William S., Arlington, Va., 2
Muscovy ducks.
Troobnick, Doris, Burke, Va., pilot black
snake.
Trott, Fred P., Pekin duck.
Twiford, Mrs. Nan B., 4 grass para-
keets, 8 canaries.
Tyler, E. D., Jr., Alexandria, Va., 2
barred owls.
United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-
ice: From Blackwater National
Wildlife Refuge, Cambridge, Md.,
1 red-headed duck, 2 ring-necked
ducks, bald-pate duck, 2 pintail
ducks, 2 blue-winged teal, green-
winged teal, 2 black ducks, 2 blue
geese. From Bluepoint, Long Is-
land, N. Y., cardinal, 2 indigo bunt-
ings. From Newburyport, Mass.,
golden-eyed duck. From Orlando,
Fla., bald eagle. From Washing-
ton, D. C., through Robert O. Hal-
stead, 2 whistling swans. Through
Mr. Seth Low, osprey.
Uransky, Mrs. Gayna, Arlington, Va.,
spectacled caiman.
Valore, Mrs. Patricia T., white rabbit.
Vanchura, Samuel M., sparrow hawk.
Van Eckhardt, Mrs. Greve W., wood-
cock.
Vasquez, Alberto, Arlington, Va., *go-
pher snake, ‘California garter
snake, *10 western swifts, *ground
lizard, *3 alligator lizards, *3 pond
turtles.
Vieth, Janie, domestic goose.
Voigt, Fred and Sally, Arlington, Va.,
2 Pekin ducks.
Votey, Charles H., tree boa, *2 red,
blue, and yellow macaws.
Wade, J. L., Bethesda, Md., domestic
rabbit.
Waldrop, Robert, Bethesda, Md., *king
snake.
Waldrop, Robert S., Jr., Bethesda Md.,
*black snake.
Walker, H. P., Silver Spring, Md., 2
white rabbits.
Walker, Lewis Wayne, Pacific Beach,
Calif., 2 Tortuga rattlesnakes.
ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
1953
Walkup, Joe, Landover, Md., tarantula,
brown scorpion, spiny-tailed iguana.
Ward, Lt. Charles R., Hyattsville, Md.,
lesser scaup duck.
Warner, Mrs. Sturgis, 3 Pekin ducks.
Wasuta, F. R., Alexander, Va., Pekin
duck.
Watson, J. Harold, spectacled caiman.
Weaver, L. B., red fox.
Weckerly, Ida, hamster.
West, David W., Chevy Chase, Md.,
domestic rabbit.
White, E. J., Arlington, Va., 2 Pekin
ducks.
White, Richard O., Jr., Hyattsville, Md.,
brown king snake.
Wiengen, Albin, Alexandria, Va.,
*skunk.
Wilkerson, David R., rabbit.
Wilkins, Mrs. John H., 3 grass para-
keets.
Willard, Mr., rabbit.
Willey, Don, Arlington, Va., horned liz-
ard.
Williamson, Robert B., *blue jay.
Willingham, Maurice, Alexandria, Va.
3 horned lizards.
Wilson, Mrs. HW. R., Hyattsville, Md.,
Pekin duck.
Wilson, Susan, Arlington, Va., Pekin
duck.
Wilt, J. Bernard, 4 ribbon snakes, garter
snake, indigo snake, 2 Florida water
snakes, Florida king snake, 3 racers.
Withrow, Robert, skunk.
Witt, Bill, Arlington, Va., black widow
spider, DeKay’s snake.
Wood, Col. Frank, Arlington, Va., 2
Pekin ducks.
Wood, Glenn N., Mount Rainier, Md.,
horseshoe crab.
Wrenn, Raymond, Wheaton, Md., tiger
salamander.
Xanten, Bill, 2 rabbits.
Yatsevitch, Mrs. Gael, Chevy Chase,
Md., garter snake,
Yingling, Mrs. Milton L., Silver Spring,
Md., 3 wild rabbits.
Yokum, Otis, Pekin duck.
Young, Teddy and Stephen, 2 Pekin
ducks.
Young, Tina, Takoma Park, Md., domes-
tie rabbit.
Zumstein, Mrs. Jessie S., crow.
PURCHASES
Among a number of interesting specimens obtained by purchase
were:
Two Allen’s monkeys (Adlenopithecus nigroviridis) , which were the
prize acquisition of the year, as they are among the half dozen exceed-
ingly rare primates of the world. They are not conspicuous animals,
SECRETARY’S REPORT a.
but are active and entertaining, and give scientists and others their
first glimpse of this extremely rare form.
A flat-tailed otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), the first of its kind
to be exhibited in the Zoo. It was a young of the large river otter
of Brazil that is fairly well known in its native habitat but so far
as is known has not previously been exhibited in the United States.
Two wombats had been ordered as a pair, but on arrival one was
found to be the rare hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons),
an even more desirable specimen than the common wombat (Vombatus
hirsutus) that accompanied it. This is the first hairy-nosed wombat
exhibited in this Zoo.
Two lesser pandas (Adlurus fulgens), the first in the collection for
many years, were received in June. These relatives of the raccoons
are uncommon in collections largely because of the difficulty of getting
them to eat the food that can be provided. One of these has apparently
adapted itself to conditions in the Zoo and appears to be thriving on
its favorite food, bamboo leaves and shoots, plus pablum and eggs.
Four young gibbons (Hylobates) constituted one of the most enter-
taining exhibits in the park. All are still in their immature buff-
colored coat but are gradually acquiring the markings char-
acteristic of the adults so that definite identification can later be made.
A fine pair of cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) were received. These
large, graceful, long-legged, spotted cats are the swiftest of all four-
legged animals and are frequently tamed and trained for hunting.
Their feet are unique among those of cats in that they resemble the
feet of dogs in not having retractile claws.
A choice pair of young tayras (Tayra barbara) are so active in
their cage that they have greatly interested the public. These giant
weasel-like creatures of South America are dark brown with gray
heads and have a striking cream-colored marking on the throat.
A pair of giant Indian squirrels (2atufa indica) also provide excel-
lent entertainment by playing in their big wheel and displaying their
brilliant coloration of rich reddish brown and buff.
Three young South American tapirs (7 apirus terrestris) were pur-
chased. The appearance of young tapirs in contrast to the adults
is particularly interesting. The young are longitudinally striped with
rows of whitish spots on a dull brownish-gray background, whereas
the adults are almost black.
A young female black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) was bought
as a possible mate for the male which has been in the Zoo 114 years.
A beautiful specimen of Wilson’s bird-of-paradise (Schlegelia
112 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
wilsoni) was secured through the kindly interest of W. J. C. Frost,
of the Zoological Society of London.
Two shipments of African sunbirds collected by John Seago were
received. These little feathered jewels, representing three species,
were the first ever exhibited in this Zoo.
Three specimens of the showy Cuban trogon (Prinotelus temnurus)
were obtained.
A golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), which had been captured in
the Tennessee region, was turned over to the Zoo by the United States
Fish and Wildlife Service. Golden eagles are rather rare in the
southeastern United States and so this specimen is of more than
ordinary interest.
Of particular interest in a shipment received from Australia were:
Two examples of the very rare Australian frilled lizard (Chlamy-
dosaurus kingii). These are the first ever exhibited in this Zoo.
They are large lizards and unique in having around the neck a fold
of skin that can be extended to project outward from the neck like a
ruff when the animal is excited. The red coloration in the ruff makes
a striking display.
Six bearded lizards (Amphibolurus barbatus), so-called because of
their peculiar habit of distending the loose skin of the throat to form
what appears to be a beard.
Three beautiful specimens of the poisonous banded krait (Bungarus
fasciatus) , relatives of the cobras, were received.
A specimen of the false cobra (Phrynonaxz sulphureus), not pre-
viously exhibited in this Zoo, was purchased.
With the growth of the Washington metropolitan region there has
been a constant increase in the number of local wild creatures found
helpless and rescued by kind people, and turned over to the Zoo. Some
of those that seem to have a fair chance of survival are liberated, and
some are exchanged for material that is needed for the Zoo. During
the past year there was a total of 191 such accessions. Also, ducks
and rabbits given to children at Easter time that have outgrown their
homes are turned over to the Zoo. This gives unduly large accession
and removal lists, but to receive, care for, and place such creatures ap-
pears to be a proper function of the Zoo.
BIRTHS AND HATCHINGS
Conditions under which animals are kept on exhibition are usually
not favorable for breeding or raising young. However, occasionally
young are born or hatched that are of outstanding interest to the pub-
lic, and are valuable as additions to the group, or for exchange.
SECRETARY'S REPORT 1138
The following were produced in the Zoo during the fiscal year :
A baby female giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) , the fifth born here,
was a choice addition to the herd.
A pygmy hippo (Choeropsis liberiensis), the thirteenth for this Zoo.
A gaur calf (Bibos gaurus), the tenth of this species born in the
Park.
A vulpine phalanger (7'richosurus vulpecula) was born to one of
the females in the group that were obtained from Sir Edward Halls-
trom in November 1951.
The pair of Kinabalu tree shrews (Z'wpai montana baluensis) that
were deposited with us by Lt. Col. Robert Traub, gave birth to young
three times during the year. Unfortunately the mother killed the
young within a few hours or a few days. However, by these births
the gestation period has been determined as not more than 21 days.
Colonel Traub is much interested in the ability of these animals to
produce young in captivity, as it indicates that the food mixture that
was developed by the Assistant Director of the Zoo and which was
described in the Annual Report of the Zoo for 1950 is satisfactory for
tree shrews as well as other shrews and bats. Colonel Traub, who
has been engaged in work concerning certain human diseases, thinks
it possible that tree shrews, which are believed by some zoologists to
be a primitive primate type, might be suitable animals for laboratory
studies of the diseases of man. Therefore, the successful keeping
and rearing of tree shrews in captivity might be of considerable
importance,
The little herd of Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis) was
increased by the birth of three sets of twins. These small deer are of
particular interest because of their habit of living in swampy areas
in their native haunts and because of the fact that the males lack horns
but have considerably enlarged canine teeth.
Another slender-tailed cloud rat (Phloeomys cumingi) has been
born to augment the family group of this very rare Philippine high-
altitude relative of the rat. This species has more the appearance of
an opossum than of a rat.
Another young was born to the group of pacas (Cuniculus paca).
These are large, conspicuously marked rodents that are always a satis-
factory exhibit.
Twice during the year a pair of African porcupines (Hystria ga-
leata) produced a single young. It was interesting to witness the
remarkable maneuvers of the parents and the older young one to pro-
tect the newborn.
A pair of crested screamers (Chauna torquata) hatched and raised
ohne young.
114 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Following is a complete list of the births and hatchings:
MAMMALS
Scientific name Common name
Aipperilagepuss 282.2222 235-26 Anstietlor F215 050 saeco shee
Ammotragus lervia._------------- (OURR 3 oe oo re Se te Se
Ateles vellerosus__.......=..-=-==- Mexican spider monkey _----------
Pabas quuruss 262 2952 32 ae See Gaupts peepee 8 See eee ee
ee {Watt Rarkeattiless2 =e ae
an Sonse Sate - Saaopiper West Highland cattle__.......___-
Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus X
CAG... DUQETUUTUS =n aes oe Green guenon X vervet guenon_---
Cervus canadensis... == = --=--2=-- Bibs: . 223.2 Se eee
Cereus winnent: 8 oo ee Japanese deen sf. toes ad
Choeropsis liberiensis___---------- Pygmy hippopotamus-----..------
Choloepus didactylus____.--------- Two-toed slothez22 Se at ee
Ourteulies MOn a. ay te Bee Haat SiuEt So wae
rown fallow ‘deer. o -- e
Dama dama___------------------ {Waite fallow/deer.( S22. Sa eae A
ARGUES CAE CRON Ge Sao Be ek ee Granta aebra 35 264 See
Erethizon epixanthum__....------- Western DOrcupine ==) ae eee
Felis concolor X Felis patagonica._. Hybrid puma__-_----------------
1 KASS OS ES ee ee WGNe fepe oF aie he
Otte eke ee ee ee Henge teers. 2 sae! ee ene
Giraffa camelopardalis__._-------- INubisn giraffe tes. mots: Bacar
iuaronotes tnenmtisn=-- = Chinese water deers 2 se = ae
IAT GTEC OT OCLEOLO Sete ne eee Airican pOrcup Ine eae
ama games. 22a hen bo - eter fs Tlamats oe se ae es ee
LEC A Cee A en ae eee PAs) ee aan ts oS ee SS
Leontocebus rosalia____-._.-------- Sirlcy MarmMnosey. oe oe ee
Mephitis mephitis nigra__.-------- Hastern:skunks245- 222 eee ee
Mustela eversmannt__.----------- Hegre ts 0 ns ate soles ene no oe
Majncastor Couns | te eee Coy DU nn oe Se eee
Odocoileus virgintanus_.---------- Virginiaideer==-se= 2 SS oe
PRON REACT UES Ee = ee eee Hamadryas| baboons --=-=2 = --- ==
Philoeomyscumingt. 22. 224 S202. Slender-tailed cloud rat__-_-------
Procyontotor22) 223 222 2a See Raccoons Sean S22 Ee ee el ee ee
ROUT OU OOUS) OLY Doe ee Wisnd f= 2 22 2 2a ee eee
Thalarctos maritimus X Ursus
Msldendorje set. £88 Ss oe es Ey brid |hears 922) e)t pe ee ee
Trichosurus vulpecula___.----.=—=- Molpine phalanger- ===
Tupai moniana baluensis___.------ Kinabalu tree shrew.._------------
Dirsustnorsbsliss 2 obj sees ae Grizzly bear_-__--- pete te A Ny ce A
BIRDS
Mallard! dick} #ol: ste ees ee ee
Anas platyrhynchos_-___~--------- {White malin een ees ee
erNatty CONCUETES IS et Carns g00ses te ee eee
Chawna forquata: 28-244 bee 8. Ss Crested sereamers (2225 oe 2 see
Larus novaehollandiae_-__--------- Silver. @ill.s 2-8 = Base eS
Lonchura leucogastroides__-------- Bengal neh o. eee ee
Nycticorax nycticoraz hoatli__._.--- Black-crowned night heron--------
IPOGOICEISIGIUS Sa ee ete ee Pestowl = == see eee ee
Streptopelia tranquebarica_-___----- Blue-headed ring dove-_-----------
Taeniopygia castanotis.____.------- Zebra finch: 2222.62 ee ee
ORTRGIE ORTRISON © 2 ao 5 White-winged dove_--------------
REPTILES
inte Pear 3S EA ae SUGAR yO Se ee
BOG tin Derutore = to ene eee oe Central American boa_.__---_-----
MAINTENANCE AND IMPROVEMENTS
Number
bt et et ht Ope
BND POR ROO RN HNN OR WWE RRR WR
Maintenance and repair work at the Zoo suffered considerably dur-
ing the fiscal year 1953 owing mainly to shortage of funds for the
hire of personnel. Being forced to absorb the salary increases, the
SECRETARY’S REPORT 115
Zoo had to reduce greatly the use of temporary labor and also had to
leave vacant positions of personnel concerned with maintenance work.
The installation of zone heat regulators in the small-mammal and
reptile houses was completed. These provide even and adequate dis-
tribution of heat, so necessary to the health and well-being of the
animals housed in these buildings.
In addition to the daily work of cleaning cages, buildings, and
grounds and making minor repairs, the construction and maintenance
department is constantly engaged in making necessary improvements
for the proper care of the animals and the safety of visitors to the
Park. The following are some of the more important projects under-
taken during the year:
In the bird house, glass was installed in the upper half of the fronts
of 34 cages to replace wire that had deteriorated. Nine cages outside
of the monkey house were extensively repaired and new partitions
between the cages installed. A 2,000-gallon water tank was installed
in the basement of the reptile house to supplement the 1,000-gallon
tank, which has never been adequate. Concrete floors were laid in 6
cages in the antelope building and in the 3 buildings housing the
zebras, wild horses, wild ass, and Scotch cattle. The series of cages
between the reptile house and the small-mammal house were given an
extensive overhauling, and five new cinder-block shelters for the ani-
mals were built, replacing the old wooden ones no longer usable.
Small concrete shelters were constructed in the American waterfowl
pond to replace the decaying wooden ones. The slope of the moat
back of the bears was faced with concrete to prevent erosion and the
resultant stoppage of the drain.
The fight to eradicate poison ivy in the Zoo grounds is being con-
tinued. This plant pest has been almost completely eliminated in
those parts most frequented by the public, and control measures are
being extended to more remote sections to keep it from returning to
areas used by visitors. Otherwise the long-established policy of leav-
ing the woodlands undisturbed is being followed.
Over a period of years there has been a gradual increase in the
amount of trimming of trees necessary along the roads, walks, and
paths, and in the exhibition area. Because of disease or age, some of
the trees are dying and must be cut down. Others must be trimmed
to remove dead or broken limbs which might fall and injure people
or animals, or damage automobiles or structures.
Temporary policemen were employed this year to assist the regular
police during days of heaviest attendance or when the force was short-
handed. This has been a highly satisfactory arrangement and much
more economical than employing additional full-time policemen
when the permanent personnel now authorized is adequate for a large
proportion of the time.
116 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
As in previous years the Zoo received gifts of various kinds of
food that could not be sold for human consumption but was suitable
for animals. Some of this material was turned over to the Zoo at the
suggestion of District of Columbia food inspectors. This helps con-
siderably to hold purchases to a minimum.
Through the office of United States Marshal W. Bruce Matthews,
food that had been condemned by the courts was sent to the Zoo for
the animals. This consisted of 1,544 pounds of frozen shrimp, 291
pounds of chickens, 170 pounds of peanut butter, and 570 pounds of
pecan halves.
In a few instances such materials as rice, flour, and beans unaccept-
able for human use have been purchased at low prices from General
Services Administration or commercial firms.
The National Institutes of Health, Navy Medical Center, and Army
Medical Center gave the Zoo mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, and
other animals no longer suitable for their purposes.
The practice has been continued of picking up from grocery stores
in the vicinity of the Zoo quantities of discarded green material such
as beet tops, celery stalks, and the outer leaves of cabbage, cauliflower,
and lettuce. This provides an abundance of greens for the animals
and helps reduce purchase of such foods.
COOPERATION
At all times special efforts are made to maintain friendly contacts
with other Government and State agencies, private concerns and
individuals, and scientific workers for mutual assistance. As a result
the Zoo receives much help and advice and many valuable specimens,
and in turn the Zoo furnishes information and, whenever possible,
specimens not needed.
In 1950 Dr. Willard H. Eyestone, veterinary pathologist of the
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md., requested permission to
examine animals that died at the Zoo in order to obtain information
regarding cancer and other diseases affecting human beings. Accord-
ingly arrangements were made to notify Dr. Eyestone of all deaths
of animals in the Zoo and give him an opportunity to perform autop-
sies, if he desired. The following two paragraphs are from a brief
report on the results of this work:
Over 250 autopsies have been performed since 1950. Among them six cancers
have been discovered. The most striking pathological change common to any
group is found in the thyroid gland of carnivores, in which all gradations from
the slightest proliferative growths to spreading cancer have been seen. Most
deaths are caused by infectious agents, including bacteria, fungi, and the animal
parasites. Some deaths are the result of degenerative diseases of old age.
A summary of the interesting highlights covering the Zoo autopsies was pre-
sented before the Washington Society of Pathologists on October 8, 1952. Simi-
lar reports are planned for the future, besides the publishing of scientific papers
ee
Saatones. aoe
SECRETARY'S REPORT 117
in research journals concerning the pathologic data obtained from the examina-
tion of the Zoo animals.
Special acknowledgment is due to the United States Dispatch Agent
in New York City, Howard Fyfe, an officer of the State Department,
who has frequently been called upon to clear shipments of animals
coming from abroad. This he has done, often at great personal in-
convenience, and the animals have been forwarded to Washington
without the loss of a single specimen.
NEEDS OF THE ZOO
Replacement of antiquated structures that have long since ceased
to be suitable for the purposes for which they are used is still the prin-
cipal need of the Zoo. The more urgently needed are:
A building, to be situated in a central location, to have toilet facili-
ties, a first-aid room, police headquarters, and, incidentally, with
basement space for a gardener’s headquarters and storage for the
gardener’s supplies and small equipment. The few old, dilapidated
toilet facilities in the Park have not been adequate for many years
and are now in such a deplorable state from normal deterioration and
as a result of vandalism that it is difficult and unduly expensive to
keep them in a sanitary condition.
A new administration building to replace the 148-year-old historic
Jandmark now in use as an office building but which is neither suitably
located nor well adapted for the purpose.
A building to house antelopes and other medium-sized hoofed ani-
mals that require a heated building.
A fireproof service building for receiving shipments of animals,
quarantining them, and caring for those in ill health or those that
cannot be placed on exhibition.
A new ventilating system for the bird house.
Lesser items of equipment that are needed are a vacuum pump for
more efficient and economical operation of the heating system in the
reptile house; a band saw to replace one that is more than 40 years old;
and an air compressor for general use about the Park.
The enclosures and pools for beavers, otters, seals, and nutrias, in
the ravine, need to be reconstructed. Owing to lack of funds for
upkeep and consequent deterioration, this area has become unsightly
and inadequate for the proper care and exhibition of these animals.
Experience with the young Indian elephants makes it appear prob-
able that it will be necessary to construct an elephant-proof fence
around the outdoor yard now occupied by these elephants.
The job of cleaning up the grounds is a major undertaking. Using
all available manpower, it usually takes 5 to 10 days to pick up the
trash and restore the Park to a fair degree of presentability after
118 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Easter Sunday and Monday. Because of the shortage of help, clean-
up work has of necessity been reduced to a minimum, with the result
that the Zoo has been criticized by correspondents and the press for
the condition of the grounds. 'Two permanent additional laborers are
needed for proper maintenance, removal of broken or fallen tree
limbs and other safety hazards, and repair of walks, guard rails, and
other structures, for the protection of the public.
In addition, temporary manpower is needed to supplement the regu-
lar personnel at certain times of the year. These periods are during
the summer, when vegetation is growing vigorously and must be kept
under control, and when the greatest number of visitors are coming
to the Park with a corresponding increase in trash left on the grounds;
and in the fall and early winter, when leaf removal is necessary to keep
the fire hazard at a minimum and prevent leaves from clogging drains.
Also, additional help is needed during the summer, when certain con-
struction and repair work can be carried on more advantageously than
at other times.
By employing men temporarily when actually needed to handle the
peak workloads, work can be performed satisfactorily at considerably
less cost than by increasing the permanent personnel. For several
years this was done but the practice had to be abandoned during the
past year as available funds had to be used to absorb the salary in-
creases authorized by Congress, to pay for accumulated annual leave
of retiring employees, and contribute to Federal social security for
indefinite employees. For employment of temporary help an addi-
tional appropriation of $9,000 is needed, to be allotted as follows:
RCN CAN oe Cea TNT Gee ee cee ee $5, 000
CE Tico yu BOC 5} C6 Cy OF eh ES ON 3, 000
Policeidepartment¢22- .=-- 2222s 6S sous eee ee os Sees 1, 000
Also, $1,000 is needed for the Zoo’s contribution to the cost of social
security for employees not under civil service.
There is need for a veterinarian to assist the animal department in
selecting suitable foods, presenting foods to the animals in a satisfac-
tory manner, practicing preventive medicine, and performing autopsies
to determine causes of death.
The steadily increasing popularity of the Zoo, as a source of both
entertainment and education, has developed such a volume of requests
for information that there is now need for an additional scientist to
share the load of answering queries and to assist in other administra-
tive work so that the Director and Assistant Director can devote more
time to general supervision of the Zoo.
To comply with the requirements of keeping property and inventory
records, in accordance with the program laid down by the General
Services Administration, by authority of Federal Property and Ad-
SECRETARY'S REPORT 119
ministrative Services Act of 1949 (Public Law 152, 81st Congress,
approved June 30, 1949) General Regulation 100 of the General Ac-
counting Office, and Budget-Treasury Regulation No. 1, there is need
for three additional clerks.
VISITORS
The estimated number of visitors to the Zoo was 3,281,450, which
was 63,119 less than for the year 1952, a decrease due mainly to several
rainy or threatening weekends in the spring.
HAstimated number of visitors for fiscal year 1958
DUEY Chop a ae ek ee S59; 000) PHeDTUATY onsen ee ee 101, 500
AUPUSt se eee en eee AN SU SOO Mar chise 22: ase ih owe 211, 600
September! 2G Stor gaa _ 25 S46) OOO) Apri fi 35. BO ie ee ae 353, 000
Octoberssetete DR iets oe iy) 246 (O00) Mayer Be a et te ibs see 467, 000
Novembers.— tao Ee ASGUGOOK| hi O tee ee oe ea 377, 300
December se te 2 eae 65, 800 od
JANUATYA GOS) ea 73, 150 AUG i ate reared 3, 231, 450
Groups came to the Zoo from schools in Mexico, South America,
Japan, and 30 States, some as far away as Maine, Florida, Kansas, and
Wisconsin. There was an increase of 36 groups and 3,681 individuals
in groups over last year.
Number of groups from schools
Number } Number Number | Number
Locality of groups | in groups Locality of groups | in groups
Alabama se. see ness eee 22 (080) Milssissip pists ae eee 2 158
Connecticut#2222 2s ei 12 GLOL Ie Mhissourd yee es eee 2 56
Delaware. 17 769 || New Hampshire..._..---.---- 3 120
District of Columbia. _-_.-__-- 114 Bi 837. \\, NOW, JOrsays.neseee aoe eed 1% 1, 210
(oF (0b? pi Re ek ae 7 D222 | IN@W: WOLKE. == ace ee ee Ee 72 5, 811
Georgia’ 232-4 a oe 61 7, 679: ||| North Caroling /22.9252- 28 213 9, 261
PTO teens Shee a Be 2 634 iO ee LE AT 53 2, 485
idl ania se eee es oe 13 729)|| Pennsylvania... 2-2 2 es 261 14, 159
FO wa vee Sees a be 2 1 16 || South America___....--..--.. 1 40
UL\o (eee ee See ee 1 29 || South Carolina......__-_...__- 53 1, 876
Bansag Sentry 21k ee ee 1 32 eimessen 2 Sto SFA ie 62 2, 864
Keantuok-y se iss ee 19 CALA Tg Ney at ee a ee 1 19
IVs InGaN e ee lene” 13 CES) /PVArelni ar se eee eee ee eink 516 27, 738
Miarvlands= se. ois aoe ao 611 36,001) | VVOSUAVInGitianee neon enes 45 3, 902
Massachusetts___._._......__- 19 7401 SWikcongin= aes oe UL ee 2 111
Mioxleos 3 2 e835. 1 28 ee
Michigan ss saa ¥ ieee kh 2 7 470 od No} e) 5 2, 227 127, 553
Minniesotass =i 2 wr ie 3 132
About 2 p. m. each day the cars then parked in the Zoo are counted
and listed according to the State, Territory, or country from which
they came. This is, of course, not a census of the cars coming to the
Zoo but is valuable in showing the percentage of attendance, by
States, of people in private automobiles. Many of the District of
Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia cars come to the Zoo to bring
284725—54——_9
120 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
guests from other States. The tabulation for the fiscal year 1953 is as
follows:
Percent Percent
Marvland!= 2024 23525. = oso o 27 QOliios 2 soe eee 1.8
Wirginigio-- = 22-2. 22 O2 Gil NOW, Jd CPRCY ocean seseonet = eee 16
Washington, Di@2.- 20s e——=s=— JOSS West Virginiges—----.-— eee = 1.4
RPennsylvania==— 9S. Sees eSe 4-8 | Massachusetts==2 2-222 s = 225-2 — = sel
New? Works sct222 bsu0 se eee 3 Mlorid aves eat ep Be i aa
North. Carolina==——_ = 22 2. 2 iCalifornia=. 23253 ae a lal
The cars that make up the remaining 12.1 percent came from every
one of the remaining States, as well as from Alaska, Canada, Canal
Zone, Cuba, England, Germany, Guam, Hawaii, Honduras, Japan,
Mexico, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
On the days of small attendance there are cars parked in the Zoo
from at least 15 States, Territories, the District, and foreign countries.
On average days there are cars from about 22 States, Territories, the
District, and foreign countries; and during the periods of greatest
attendance the cars represent not less than 34 different States, Terri-
tories, and countries.
STATUS OF THE COLLECTION
Species oe Species a
Class or sub- Elves Class or sub- tndiy id;
species species
Mammals © 2 ee eee ae 210 699) wArachnidsten--ss-sses= =e oe 2 3
IB irdate ee eneste te sae 307 Titi} imsectsee errata caer ee ae 1 100
Reptiles. 24.2 ee as 129 BIS ily MolWesks! hoes ee ee. Se 1 2
ATM DMI DIAN Sis cee ee eee 23 87
fhe Bee aa hg eh aye Rea a 21 221 Total ce oe 694 2, 741
SUMMARY
Animals on. hand July, 1.1952. sees ae ee ee eee 2, 675
Accessions: during, the’ yearso-- 2-32 244) eee BSAA WLC Ae Sk 1, 797
Total number of animals in collection during the year__________-- 4,472
Removals for various reasons such as death, exchanges, return of animals
OT GCDOSIE, SCLC ce ee a ee eee iby el
In. collection’ on-dune 80, 1993 2-22 ee ee ee 2, 741
Respectfully submitted.
W. M. Mann, Director.
Dr. Lronarp CARMICHAEL,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
APPENDIX 8
Report on the Astrophysical Observatory
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the oper-
ations of the Astrophysical Observatory for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 19538.
The Astrophysical Observatory comprises two divisions: the orig-
inal division of astrophysical research devoted to solar radiation prob-
lems, and the division of radiation and organisms established in 1929
to study the effects of radiation on organisms. Funds available for
the Observatory included an allotment of $119,841.10 from “Salaries
and expenses, Smithsonian Institution, 1953,” and $2,500 from private
funds of the Institution. At the end of the fiscal year all equipment
and buildings were in satisfactory condition.
DIVISION OF ASTROPHYSICAL RESEARCH
Two high-altitude observing stations, on Montezuma, Chile, and
Table Mountain, Calif., have continued in operation. The goal of
the two stations is to obtain complete solar-constant observations by
the long or short method, or both, on each day presenting a sky suffi-
ciently clear and uniform for satisfactory results.
The principal and most time-consuming event of the year was the
preparation of volume 7 of the Annals of the Astrophysical Observa-
tory. The completed manuscript, covering the work of the division
of astrophysical research during the years 1939 through 1952, was
submitted to the editor on April 29, 1953. The following are the
main subjects included:
1. Studies of the characteristics of the silver-disk pyrheliometer.
. Recent tests of the Smithsonian standard water-flow pyrheli-
ometer.
. Ultraviolet and infrared corrections to the solar constant.
. The scale of the solar-constant record.
. Instrumental developments.
Summaries of total sun and sky radiation, and the relative
energy in ultraviolet, visible, and infrared regions, as meas-
ured at Camp Lee, Va., Miami, Fla., and Montezuma, Chile.
7. Description of the method of Dr. Oliver R. Wulf, of the United
States Weather Bureau, for determining the amount of ozone
above Table Mountain, Calif., from regular solar-constant
bolographs.
bo
> ore
121
122 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
8. Summary of 13 years of solar-constant determinations. This,
added to 17 years published in volume 6 of the Annals, forms
as nearly as possible a homogeneous record covering 30 years,
based upon the scale of the original Mount Wilson work.
Work in Washington.—William H. Hoover, chief of the division,
in April 1953 completed a study of the silver-disk pyrheliometer
under carefully controlled conditions of temperature, timing, shutter
operation, and source of energy. ‘This important work, together with
a report of new calibrations against the standard water-flow pyrheli-
ometer which Mr. Hoover and Mr. Froiland made in September 1952
on Table Mountain, is described in a paper to be published in the
Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections.
Preliminary to certain laboratory tests of new equipment, the ob-
servatory siderostat was completely overhauled by Mr. Talbert and
Mr. Harrison. This excellent instrument, built by Grubb of Dublin
over 60 years ago, is now fitted with a synchronous motor instead of
clock drive, new bearings have been installed, and the instrument
carefully adjusted. A new sliding house of aluminum protects it from
the weather. Inside the laboratory a light-tight housing has been
built around the spectrometer to reduce stray light.
Last year’s report referred to cooperative work with the United
States Weather Bureau in an effort to improve the method of cali-
brating the Eppley pyrheliometers in use by the Bureau. This co-
operation has continued and the results will shortly be published un-
der the auspices of the Weather Bureau.
The Smithsonian standard scale of radiation, established in 1913
and widely adopted, has been further disseminated during the year
by the sale, at cost, of two silver-disk pyrheliometers, built and cali-
brated at the Institution, as follows:
8. L. 91 to the Observatory, India Meteorological Department, New Delhi,
India.
8. I. 92 to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.
All the galley proof of the Ninth Revised Edition of the Smith-
sonian Physical Tables has been received from the printer.
An important paper by Dr. C. G. Abbot, research associate, sum-
marizing all his findings concerning the effect of solar-radiation
changes upon weather, was in press at the close of the year.
Andrew Kramer, instrument maker of the Observatory for nearly
61 years, retired on June 30, at the age of 84. His record is unique.
Not only was his work outstanding, but his kindliness and cooperative
spirit endeared him to many Smithsonian employees.
Work in the field—At Montezuma, Chile, the series of tape ex-
posures made under contract with the Office of the Quartermaster
General was continued during the year. Daily measurements are
made of the total sun and sky radiation as received upon a horizontal
SECRETARY’S REPORT 123
surface and as received upon the exposed tapes which are mounted at
an angle of 45° facing north. After a predetermined quantity of
solar radiation has fallen upon the tapes they are returned to the
Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot for a study of the amount of de-
terioration of the textiles due to humidity and to the amount of radi-
ation received.
Seismographic records have been maintained for some years at
Montezuma for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. The
Survey recently sent to Montezuma a new modern seismometer, with
accessories, which is now being installed. It is expected that greatly
improved earthquake records will result.
At Table Mountain, Calif., Hoover and Froiland obtained a very
complete series of comparisons between the Smithsonian double-tube,
water-flow, standard pyrheliometer and substandard silver-disk
pyrheliometer S. 1.5. These comparisons confirm the results of three
previous determinations made at Mount Wilson in the years 1932,
1934, and 1947. This confirmation of the permanence of the constants
of the instruments is very gratifying since the 1952 comparisons are
entirely independent, being made at a different station and by different
observers.
The filter form of pyranometer, mentioned in last year’s report as
sent to Table Mountain for testing, proved to have a troublesome drift
under field conditions. It was returned to Washington for altera-
tions. At the close of the year a new series of tests was in progress at
Table Mountain.
The instrument installed last year by Mr. Hoover to measure the
optical quality of the sky continues to serve as an independent means
for judging the steadiness of the sky during observations. It has now
been altered to register through a Beckman photopen recorder, thus
eliminating the process of daily removing and developing a photo-
graphic record.
Owing to a temporary shortage of personnel, progress in the ozone
studies referred to in last year’s report was somewhat delayed. This
project is being resumed as rapidly as possible.
DIVISION OF RADIATION AND ORGANISMS
(Report prepared by Dr. R. B. WitHRow, chief of the division)
The research of the Division has been concerned chiefly with in-
vestigations of the physiclogical and biochemical processes by which
light regulates plant growth and the mechanisms of the action of the
auxin-type growth hormones. While most of the sunlight absorbed
by plants is used in the production of food materials through the
process of photosynthesis, a small part of the light energy is required
for the production of chlorophyll and in the initiation of photochemi-
124 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
cal reactions which control the development of the various organs of
the plant. In the absence of light and in the presence of adequate
food reserves, higher plants fail to develop normal leaves and stems,
and in the dicotyledonous plants the hook that forms in the stem
of the germinating seed never completely disappears.
Dr. W. H. Klein and V. Elstad have continued investigations of the
effect of light intensity and various growth regulatory chemicals on
the opening of the hypocotyl hook in Black Valentine bean. A new
set of subirrigated growth chambers has been constructed which
yield plant material of very great uniformity. By the use of a special
green fluorescent safe light employing a filter transmitting light be-
tween 520 and 610 millimicrons, it is possible to remove the hooks
from the plants and make measurements on them without producing
any detectable light effect. The hook sections are placed in petri
dishes containing a small amount of water and exposed to various
light and chemical treatments. A 24-hour exposure to very weak red
light in the region of 650 millimicrons at an intensity of 0.01 micro-
watt per square centimeter produces a 45° opening in a 24-hour period ;
in the dark there is no significant opening of the hook in this period.
The rate of opening of the hook is proportional to the logarithm of
the light intensity. It appears that this organ is a very useful tool
for the bioassay of photochemically synthesized growth factors.
The auxin group of hormones such as indoleacetic acid opposes the
effect of the light. The effect is proportional to the logarithm of the
concentration of the auxin over a very wide range and the test appears
to have a sensitivity nearly equal to the classical Avena test, but is
a much simpler one to execute.
Thus far no pigment system has been extracted from plants whose
absorption spectrum can account for the regulatory effect of the longer
wavelengths in the visible spectrum. In order to obtain information
as to the absorption spectrum of the pigment system, work has been
started by Dr. Withrow, Dr. Klein, and Mr. Elstad on determining
the effectiveness spectrum of the stem-hook response and the synthesis
of anthocyanin in bean stems. A system of 10 interference filter mono-
chromator units has been constructed, each of which employs two
interference filters in tandem for isolating a narrow band of wave-
lengths about 20 millimicrons wide. Each monochromator unit has
a separate source and cabinet, and the whole system is in a room
maintained at constant humidity and temperature.
Dr. W. D. Bonner and L. Price have initiated a systematic bio-
chemical study of various fractions from dark-grown and far-red-
irradiated bean seedlings with the objective of finding those
biochemical systems that are associated with the light-initiated re-
sponses. Estimations of the activities of various enzyme systems have
shown no significant differences between the dark- and the light-
4
ee oe
SECRETARY’S REPORT 125
treated seedlings. The systems that have been studied are the ascorbic
acid and polyphenol oxidases involving the copper proteins; catalase
and peroxidase involving the iron proteins; and various components
of the cytochrome enzyme systems.
Research by Dr. Alice P. Withrow on the effect of plant growth
regulators on salt exchange of plants has indicated that high salt—low
carbohydrate plants lose salt more rapidly when treated with ammo-
nium 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetate and that low salt-high carbohydrate
plants absorb salts less rapidly under the influence of this growth
regulator as compared with untreated plants.
Studies have been initiated on the effect of plant-growth regulators
on the respiratory processes in mitochondrial preparations of bean
seedlings and rat livers.
The following research papers by members of the staff have been
published during the past year:
Withrow, R. B., Klein, W. H., Price, L., and Elstad, V. Influence of visible and
near infrared radiant energy on organ development and pigment synthesis in
beanandcorn. Plant Physiol., vol. 28, pp. 1-14, 1953.
Withrow, R. B., and Price, L. Filters for the isolation of narrow regions in
the visible and near-visible spectrum. Plant Physiol., vol. 28, pp. 105-114,
1953.
Withrow, R. B., and Elstad, V. Water-cooled lamp systems with refluxing
aqueous filters. Plant Physiol., vol. 28, pp. 384-338, 1953.
Withrow, R. B., and Withrow, Alice P. A linear recording ac conductance
bridge for measuring salt exchange in plants. Physiol. Plantarum, vol. 6,
pp. 444450, 1953.
Respectfully submitted.
L. B. Avpricu, Director.
Dr. Lronarp CARMICHAEL,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
APPENDIX 9
Report on the National Air Museum
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the activi-
ties of the National Air Museum for the fiscal year ended June 30,
1953:
GENERAL STATEMENT OF CONDITIONS
The care of the stored material in the national aeronautical collec-
tion continues to be the principal concern of the staff. Aircraft and
components that are awaiting provision of an adequate building for
the National Air Museum comprise more than two-thirds of the total
collection, and although there are several renowned aircraft among the
35 exhibited in the Smithsonian buildings in Washington, there are a
number that are regarded with near-equal esteem and are of great value
in depicting aeronautical progress among the 74 being preserved at
Park Ridge, Ill., and those others being retained for the Museum at
naval bases and in scattered places.
As stated in last year’s report, the Air Museum had been ordered
to vacate the storage facility at the Air Force Base at Park Ridge.
Therefore, at the beginning of the fiscal year, efforts were made to
establish near Washington a storage base for the material to be moved.
The urgency of this move was somewhat relaxed as the result of an
inspection of the storage area by an official of the Budget Bureau who
was so impressed by the efforts of the Museum personnel to preserve
its material and at the same time comply with the requirements of
the Air Force that he directed that more consideration be given the
needs of the Museum. The Air Force finally agreed that the Museum
could temporarily remain on the base. However, this does not solve
the problem because the space assigned to the Museum—30,000 square
feet in Building T-6—is inadequate, and most of the aircraft will still
have to remain outdoors. A storage base was started at Suitland,
Md., about a mile beyond the District of Columbia line, but lack of
funds to complete the project still leaves the Museum with inadequate
storage space.
In spite of these difficulties progress has been made at Park Ridge
in caring for the stored material there, and the facility at Suitland
has been developed sufficiently to take care of 20 loads of material
brought in from Park Ridge. Details of these operations are given
in Jater portions of this report.
126
SECRETARY’S REPORT 127
Although every effort has been made to keep up the other functions
of the Museum at the Washington office, the maintenance of exhibits,
public services, research, and planning have reluctantly been given
less attention owing to reduction in personnel and enforced priority of
other projects. Normally the staff includes an administrative head,
a curator, and two associate curators. With the retirement last year
of the former head of the Museum and the addition of his adminis-
trative duties to those of the curator, plus the continued absence on
naval duty of one of the two associates, there are now only two persons
to do the work previously assigned to four.
Because the Fiftieth Anniversary of Powered Flight is being cele-
brated during the calendar year 1953, the National Air Museum has
experienced a very busy period, with many requests to assist the
national anniversary committee, State organizations, industrial units,
airlines, aeronautical groups, and others who have joined to mark the
progress of a half century of human flight. This concentration of
interest in past accomplishments since the marvelous flight by the
Wright Brothers in 1903 has brought due recognition to the National
Air Museum as the authoritative source of records of the past. The
staff has frequently been called upon to furnish data on historic air-
craft, biographies of noted airmen and engineers, photographs and
descriptions of aeronautical events, drawings of airplanes, and other
material. Authors have come to the Museum to consult the staff
and to examine the library and reference files; teachers have requested
assistance in planning courses; students have sought help in meeting
assignments; and compilers of textbooks and pictorials have found
much needed data. As opportunity permitted, the staff worked on
the Museum’s own feature exhibit that is to further honor the Wright
Brothers and mark the anniversary. This will be put on display dur-
ing December 1953 and will emphasize the fact that the Wright
Brothers not only invented the aeroplane but also developed it to a
practical form and in addition taught others to fly.
As part of its function in distributing aeronautical knowledge, the
Museum issued a number of texts on airmen and aircraft for free dis-
tribution to correspondents, students, and others, and as the fiscal year
closed the ninth edition of the “Handbook of the National Aeronau-
tical Collections” was being prepared.
ADVISORY BOARD
Although there were no formal meetings of the Advisory Board
during the fiscal year, the Board members gave generously of their
time to advance the projects of the Museum. Informal conferences
were held at which the problems of the Museum were discussed, con-
structive suggestions made, and progressive action planned. Dr.
128 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Leonard Carmichael, present Secretary of the Smithsonian, succeeded
former Secretary Alexander Wetmore on the Advisory Board upon
the latter’s retirement December 31, 1952.
STEPHENSON BEQUEST
The bequest of George H. Stephenson, of Philadelphia, provides
for a sculptured figure of Gen. William Mitchell, as a gift to the
National Air Museum. Arrangements for procurement of the
statue have been in charge of the Director of the Smithsonian’s Na-
tional Collection of Fine Arts and officials of the National Gallery
of Art and the Fine Arts Commission. During the year a number
of prominent sculptors were considered for this undertaking.
SPECIAL EVENTS AND DISPLAYS
Throughout the year the National Air Museum participated in
many special events and exhibits and arranged several special dis-
plays:
Three occasions commemorative of the beginning of the airmail
service—the forerunner of commercial aviation—are noteworthy.
On August 12, 1952, the 34th anniversary of the date the Post Office
Department took over operation of the airmail, All American Air-
ways (now Allegheny Airlines) presented to the Air Museum a scale
model of the Stinson SR-10 airplane used by that airline for airmail
pickup service from 1939 to 1949. This took place at a luncheon
given by that airline to several officials of the Post Office Department,
the Smithsonian Institution, the Air Museum, and about 50 persons
of prominence in aeronautics. Whereas August 12, 1918, was the
date when the Post Office began operations with its own pilots and
planes and assisting personnel, airmail service on a permanently
scheduled basis had been inaugurated on May 15, 1918, by the Signal
Corps Aviation Section as a military experiment. The anniversary
of that date in 1953 was observed by the Aero Club of Washington.
The head curator of the Air Museum, who had been present at the
original occasion, pointed out to members of the Club the location
from which the first mail planes took off; he also composed the text
of a marker, which was turned over to the National Park and Plan-
ning Commission, to commemorate that event and mark the location.
On May 24, 1953, the Indiana State Society gave a luncheon at the
National Airport in honor of Robert Shank, who was one of the
original four pilots hired by the Post Office when that Department
took over the airmail service from the military. Three weeks earlier
Governor George N. Craig of Indiana, Representatives Charles A.
Halleck and Charles B. Brownson, and E. C. Gaertner, a member of
the Society, had visited the Museum in order to see the airmail exhibit
SECRETARY’S REPORT 129
and better acquaint themselves with the personal story of Robert
Shank. They were shown the Museum’s Curtiss JN-4 airplane,
similar to one in which the early airmail was flown, and models of
other types flown by Shank and his fellow mail pilots. Upon request,
several of these models were shown at the Society’s luncheon, together
with a series of photographs, taken in 1918, of airmail events. The
head curator of the Air Museum described these models and photo-
graphs and spoke from personal recollections of early airmail service.
Another noted pilot, Roscoe Turner, was honored August 14, 1952,
when he was presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross. The Air
Museum assisted with an exhibit in the Pentagon Building of aircraft
models representing types flown by Turner.
At the annual banquet of the Aero Club of Washington on Decem-
ber 17, to mark the anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight,
the Museum provided a Wright engine of 25 horsepower to serve as
a contrast to a modern jet engine of about 5,000 pounds thrust. At
this banquet the Museum also helped with preliminary arrangements
for the presentation of the Robert J. Collier Trophy, symbolic of out-
standing achievement, to John Stack, engineer of the National Ad-
visory Committee for Aeronautics.
At the meeting of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Insti-
tution on January 16, 1953, the Air Museum exhibited the rocket en-
gine popularly known as Black Betsy. This is the prototype of those
that powered the first manned supersonic flight and established cur-
rent records for altitude and speed.
During February, in conjunction with the National Collection of
Fine Arts, an exhibition of watercolors by Lt. Col. H. H. Sims of the
Air Force was shown. These had been painted during visits to vari-
ous interesting parts of the world, in connection with his assigned
duties. At the end of March a special exhibit was held in the D. C.
National Guard Armory illustrating the many uses of magnesium.
One of the first aircraft to employ this remarkably light metal was
the Northrop Black Bullet, XP-56, made for the Air Force in 1948,
and now in the Air Museum collection. It was among those stored at
Park Ridge but was brought to Washington for this showing and then
placed in storage at Suitland. During April, by courtesy of the West-
inghouse Electric Corporation and the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics,
a cutaway operating example of the J-34 jet engine was shown in
the Aircraft Building. This type powers the Navy’s Douglas F3D
Skyknight and the McDonnell F2H Banshee, used in Korea.
The Museum participated in or assisted with several television pro-
grams during the year.
SURVEY
In determining the whereabouts and suitability of material re-
quired for the national collection, either as evidence of current prog-
130 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
ress or to fill in historical and technical gaps, most of the inquiries
and negotiations can be conducted by mail, but in many cases personal
visits by members of the staff are desirable to learn the story behind
the material under consideration and attend to the many details in-
volved in securing it for the Museum. The following trips were made
in this connection.
July 8, by the head curator, to the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Co. at Middle
River, Md., to inspect models of the PBM and JRM aircraft.
August 11-15, by the associate curator, Robert Strobell, to Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, to determine progress being made on models of
Wright Brothers’ aircraft and examine data on the aerial torpedo of World
War I.
October 5-7, by Mr. Strobell ,jto Great Neck, L. I., N. Y., and Wood-Ridge, N. J.,
to obtain data on guided missiles, determine progress on instrument exhibit, and
examine and select photographs of Curtiss aircraft.
May 4-6, by the head curator, to Langley Field, Va., to attend an inspection
of the laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and de-
termine the availability to the Museum of displayed material.
June 26-27, by the senior exhibits worker, Stanley Potter, to Indianapolis,
Ind., to discuss methods of delivering and disassembling the Boeing 247-D air-
plane being considered for transfer to the Museum by the Civil Aeronautics
Administration.
ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF EXHIBITS
New material received this year covers 2 wide range—from items
representative of past accomplishments to objects showing recent de-
velopments. These form a permanent record of progress and
outstanding achievement.
Of the full-sized aircraft received, an impressive gift is the Douglas
DC-3 transport airplane presented by Eastern Air Lines through its
president, Edward VY. Rickenbacker, with the helpful assistance of
Beverly Griffith. Before World War II the DC-3 was used on airlines
throughout the world. During that war this type, appropriately
named the Sky Train and known as C-47 to the Air Force, R4D to
the Navy, Dakota to the British, was used in every theater of opera-
tions and is still giving the same reliable passenger service. The air-
plane presented by Eastern Air Lines has flown 8,517,000 miles, and
carried 213,000 passengers. Since its purchase in 1937 and until its
retirement, it had been in operation on an average of 1014 hours per
day.
The Hacalibur IIT airplane in which a series of remarkable flights
were made, was presented to the Museum by Pan American Airways.
This is the P-51 Mustang, made by North American Aviation, Inc.,
and powered with a Packard Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. Trans-
continental records were made in it by Paul Mantz in 1946 and 1947,
and in 1951 Charles Blair flew it nonstop from New York to London
at a record speed averaging 446 miles an hour, and made the first solo
SECRETARY’S REPORT 131
flight across the North Pole from Bardufoss, Norway, to Fairbanks,
Alaska, 3,260 miles in 101% hours.
Another important accession was a German Me 163, known as
a rocket interceptor, used by our adversaries in World War IL.
The Museum was also fortunate in receiving as a gift from Hiller
Helicopters the XH-44, the original Hiller-copter devised by Stanley
Hiller in California in 1944, and one of the first successful types to use
contrarotating blades. The control stick from a much earlier
helicopter, the one designed by Dr. George DeBothezat and Ivan
Jerome and constructed by the Engineering Division of the Army Aix
Service at McCook Field in 1922, was presented by Mr. Jerome, to-
gether with photographs, drawings, and other data.
Many types of aircraft that cannot be represented in the Museum
by full-sized examples are illustrated by scale models. Two models
received this year are almost as large as some full-sized planes. These
were received from the Glenn L. Martin Co., one being the quarter-
sized PBM Naval Mariner patrol plane and the other a quarter-sized
model of the JRM Mars long-range flying boat. The PBM model
was made in 1987, as a flyable test unit to determine the characteristics
and performance of the large craft which was then only on the draw-
ing boards. It proved to be a very valuable and prophetic means of
“working out the bugs” at reduced expense. The JRM model was
made for testing in the large-scale wind tunnel at the Langley Me-
morial Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aero-
nautics, and through such testing revealed the probable performance
of the type, again saving the time and cost of determining this infor-
mation by full-scale experiments. Another acquisition is the original
test model of the Northrop Flying Wing, a skillfully made light-
weight miniature, about 3 feet in span, which was hand-launched and
glided to test the lift and stability of a type from which developed the
large B-35 and B-49 bombers of our Air Force. It is exhibited in the
Museum beside photographs of its huge descendants. One of the
earliest configurations of the delta design was devised by Michael E.
Gluhareff of Sikorsky Aircraft in 1939, starting by experiments with
light balsa-wood glider models which demonstrated the utility of the
dartlike pattern. His tests the next year were even more convincing,
and in 1941 he designed a pursuit interceptor for the Air Force of that
delta-wing shape. That was before the current era of jet power,
and he planned to use contrarotating pusher propellers. Concentra-
tion by Sikorsky Aircraft upon the helicopter program prevented
continuation of the experiments with this design at that time, but
today delta-winged aircraft have been successfully flown in Germany,
America, and England, and are recognized as especially adapted to
salving the problems encountered at supersonic speeds.
Other scale models of full-sized aircraft received this year represent
132 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
the Wright Brothers’ first glider of 1900, the Gallaudet D-4 of 1918
—one of the advanced types produced by the Gallaudet Aircraft Cor-
poration for the United States Navy during the first World War—and
the McDonnell Phantom FH-1, a current type of Navy fighter em-
ployed in Korea. M. A. Krieger donated an excellent scale model of
the V—1 German buzz bomb. A full-sized specimen of this weapon,
which caused such destruction in England during World War II, is
in the Museum’s collection, but is not exhibited for lack of space. The
Army and Navy Club of Washington presented to the Museum an
automatic pilot from an actual V-1 which fell in the vicinity of the
United Service Club in London. The Navy has added this year to the
Museum’s series of small airplane “recognition” models which show
the characteristics of ex-enemy and other foreign aircraft, as well as
current United States types. These are used in the Navy for training
purposes, and are of value in the Museum for preserving the record of
service types.
Two very famous power units have been added to the Museum’s
“Engine Row” this year: The Pratt and Whitney R-4360-35 Wasp
Major engine, number 1 of the four which powered the United States
Air Force Boeing B-50 bomber Lucky Lady IJ when it made the first
nonstop world flight, taking off from Fort Worth, Tex., February 26,
1949; and the famous Black Betsy, a four-tube liquid-propellent rocket
designed and built in 1940 by Reaction Motors, Inc. In great contrast
to the complicated fuel system of these modern engines is a little
“puddle carburetor” sent in by a friend of the Museum who had found
it among some relics of pioneer flying. Several propellers were re-
ceived; also a unique electric generator showing the application of
the airplane type of propeller to power production. This wind-driven
generator was developed by H. R. Stuart and E. N. Fales in 1922,
and came into commercial use a year later.
Mementos of famous flyers provide personal associations which in-
crease interest in the collections. Two exhibits of this nature have been
added to the group of World War I airplanes. One was prepared with
the cooperation of Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker and includes
his uniform, scale models of his Nieuport 28 and Spad 18 airplanes,
records and photographs of the members of the 94th Squadron which
he commanded, and photographs of enemy aircraft which they en-
gaged. This has been placed near the Spad fighter. A panel record-
ing some of the accomplishments of Col. Harold H. Hartney, who was
commanding officer of the First Pursuit Group which captured the
German Fokker D-7—now in the Museum—has been installed near
that plane. The first world-flight flagplane, Douglas Cruiser Chicago,
now has beside it, in a case containing a scale model of his Cloudster, a
portrait sculpture of the aircraft designer, Donald Douglas. This
was given by the artist, W. F. Engelman, of Florida, who also pre-
SECRETARY’S REPORT 133
sented his sculpture of Admiral Richard E. Byrd, which has been
placed with instruments and other material recalling the polar fights
of that great explorer. Woodward Burke, famous pilot who test-flew
some of the Brewster Naval fighters during World War II, was one
of the first to develop a pressure-bearing garment for aviators which
aided in controlling the abnormal passage of blood during aerial
maneuvers at extreme speeds. This elementary “G-suit,” so named
because it restricts the effects of gravity, has been given to the Museum
by his widow. In the memorial exhibit to Amelia Earhart has been
placed a small American flag, a gift from the family of ex-Mayor
Malcolm E. Nichols of Boston, carried by Miss Earhart on her first
flight across the Atlantic in the Fokker airplane Friendship, 1928.
The Navy’s P2V Lockheed airplane, 7ruculent Turtle, which estab-
lished the current nonstop distance record, flying from Perth, Aus-
tralia, to Columbus, Ohio, about 11,822 miles in slightly over 55 hours,
is being held for the Museum by the Department of the Navy until
space can be provided for its display; in the meanwhile the “How-
Goes-It-Board” used on that flight has been placed on exhibit. That
is the navigator’s sheet on which the plan of the flight was drawn up,
and which was consulted by pilot and navigator as the flight pro-
gressed. The Navy has also presented parts of two historic wind
tunnels, recently decommissioned at the Washington Naval Gun Fac-
tory. In these tunnels scale models of many of the Navy’s earliest
and most renowned aircraft were first tested. Individual listing of
the year’s accessions is given in the final pages of this report.
The two exhibits workers of the Museum, in addition to assisting
with unloadings and other operations at the Suitland storage area,
received and placed much of the material above described and in addi-
tion made improvements in existing displays. The parts of the orig-
inal John J. Montgomery gliders of 1905 and 1911 were mounted in
new frames, thereby improving this exhibit. The Naval Curtiss F9C-2
Sparrowhawk fighter of 1935 was completed by addition of its over-
head hook-on gear supplied by the Navy Department Bureau of
Aeronautics. The scale model of the U. S. S. Pennsylvania, which
had been reconstructed to show the landing deck on which Eugene
Ely made the first landing followed by a take-off on January 18, 1911,
was provided with a more attractive base on which photographs of
the event are mounted and in which a slide projector recounts the
story of the evolution of aircraft carrier operations. The showing
of scale models of aircraft used in World War II was improved;
changes and additions were made in the impressive lineup of air-
craft engines in the Aircraft Building. The famous aeronautical
trophies were placed in larger cases, and material showing the his-
tories of these trophies and their presentations was added, making
the display more attractive and of greater educational value.
134 | ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
STORAGE
The difficulties experienced during the year in operating the Park
Ridge, Il., storage facility and in establishing the one at Suitland,
Md., have been reviewed in the general statement. In spite of these
problems, considerable progress was made in the operations at Park
Ridge.
Because the shipment of the stored material to Washington is the
final objective of the storage facility, the principal project at Park
Ridge is the disassembly, preservation, and boxing of aircraft, en-
gines, and other materials. During the year 9 full-sized airplanes
were taken apart to their major components, given preservative treat-
ment, and boxed, bringing the total of airplanes so prepared to 72 and
leaving but 10 presently scheduled for such treatment. Several of
these, however, are large aircraft and will present serious problems in
disassembly because they are foreign types for which little or no
breakdown data exists, and, having been constructed for immediate
and nearby combat operations they do not have the disassembly fea-
tures common to American aircraft. Of the aircraft boxes formerly
built, 17 were repaired and weatherproofed, 100 were sprayed with
protective material, 4 were provided with new skids, and all were
weighed to obtain data for final shipment. In the latter operation,
the assistance of the State of Illinois Traffic Police, who lent their
large scales, was particularly appreciated. Of the engines, 140 were
given cleaning and preservative treatment, and boxes were constructed
for 8, while all the engine boxes were checked for ventilation and a
number of new lids constructed. In the final weeks of the fiscal year,
when 20 truckloads of boxes containing components were shipped to
Suitland, all those boxes were examined, repaired, their contents
given cleaning and preservation treatment where necessary, the closed
boxes banded, the material prearranged in load lots, and finally loaded
on the trucks. In addition there were times when the two carpenters
were required to construct office space or enclosures and shelves for
tools, supplies, and equipment, and when the three mechanics had to
stop their aircraft work in order to repair the crane, forklifts, and
other handling equipment and vehicles. The guards frequently vol-
unteered a helpful hand, and the manager, Walter Male, to whom
much credit for the efficient operation at Park Ridge is due, appor-
tioned his time so that he was able to visit the plant of Airwork Cor-
poration at Millville, N. J., where they kindly explained to him their
techniques for preserving aircraft, enabling these methods to be added
to our processing. Mr. Male also visited Wright-Patterson Field at
Dayton, where he searched for data on foreign aircraft in order to
better care for those in the Museum collection; and, at the Naval Base
in Mechanicsburg and other places, learned about their methods of
storing aircraft, and related operations.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 135
At Suitland, continuing with the erection of the prefabricated But-
ler buildings, the remaining 4 of the 6 purchased last year were assem-
bled on concrete bases by late November. The 6 buildings provide a
total of 24,000 square feet and enabled the Museum to accept custody
of 3 of the 4 full-sized airplanes received this year and of the 2 large
Martin models; but of very great assistance was the storage of the 20
loads of components shipped from Park Ridge. This operation saved
double handling of those 3,000 boxes which, had Suitland been unavail-
able, would have had to be moved again from one building to another
at Park Ridge, stacked in vitally needed space, and otherwise cared
for. As it is, they are now near their final destination, some have
been inspected, and a few of the more interesting specimens that can
be accommodated are being prepared for exhibition.
Within the Smithsonian buildings in Washington where there have
been two rooms devoted to aeronautical storage, the congestion has
been greatly relieved by transferring material to Suitland; these
rooms are being prepared as extensions of the reference-file space, and
for keeping handling equipment and exhibition supplies.
ASSISTANCE TO OTHER AGENCIES
A large portion of the time of the staff is required in answering
requests for information. During this anniversary year this public
service has increased greatly in volume and variety, and many projects
that are part of the general effort to make this an outstanding year
in aeronautical progress have been aided by the Museum. One under-
taking that will be of great permanent value is the compilation by
the Division of Aeronautics of the Library of Congress of two volumes
intended to be a complete record of the work by the Wright Brothers.
The Museum made available its exhibits and files to the staff of that
division. Other departments of the Government have their Anniver-
sary projects: the Civil Aeronautics Administration is preparing ex-
hibits featuring famous flights, the Office of Education is compiling
lists of aeronautical material for distribution to schools, the Navy’s
Bureau of Aeronautics assembled several displays showing historic
and current developments, and the Air Force for Armed Forces Day
prepared impressive shows. All these projects received help from
the Museum. Some units of the Government in need of assistance in
connection with current work were the Department of Justice, wishing
construction details on cockpit harnesses, parachute hardware, and
engine starters; the Air Force, asking for the loan of ex-enemy aircraft
in order that the crews who were to examine the shot-down planes of
our adversaries in Korea could be indoctrinated in foreign techniques,
and requesting help in preparing educational and historical displays
for student airmen. The Navy received descriptions of helicopter
284725—64——_10
136 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
developments; the State Department asked for help in preparing
articles on aeronautical subjects for use in foreign broadcasts and
papers; and the Weather Bureau was supplied with photographs of
famous flights for which that Bureau had supplied vital meteorologi-
cal information. The artist Allyn Cox required accurate details of
the Wright Brothers’ first aeroplane and facts about the air pioneers
Langley and Chanute for incorporation in the frieze which he is
completing on the rotunda wall of the United States Capitol. Several
schools, including the Northrop Aero Institute and the School of
Aeronautics in Denver, requested and received help from this Museum.
The Institute of Aeronautical Sciences sent its curator to the National
Air Museum to study exhibition procedures and methods of recording
material; and drawings, photographs, and data on aircraft were ex-
changed to mutual advantage with museums in California, France,
Holland, and England. Slides for lectures were supplied to B. L.
Whelan of Sikorsky Aircraft recalling early days in aviation, and to
Capt. Ralph Barnaby, USN Ret., describing the gliders of the Wright
Brothers. The head curator gave 11 lectures during the year on vari-
ous phases of aeronautics and the work of the National Air Museum,
speaking to Reserve units of the Navy and Air Force, airline groups,
and to the American Society of Civil Engineers at their national
meeting in Chicago, September 5.
IMPROVEMENTS IN REFERENCE MATERIAL
The documentation of the aeronautical collection is an important
phase of museum work and must be maintained together with the
preservation of the specimens. Without such documents as original
correspondence records, descriptions of technical details and perform-
ance, drawings, photographs, and related texts, the labeling of speci-
mens and the furnishing of information about them would be difficult
and perhaps inaccurate. With each accession the Museum endeavors
to obtain such data as opportunity permits, and seeks to procure
books, magazines, catalogs, and other literature pertinent to the
general history of aeronautics. Frequently other persons studying the
history and development of aircraft and patriotically interested in
improving the national collections will give or exchange with the
Museum from their collections. Some material has been received
from bequests.
From the Air Force, 170 boxes of technical orders were received.
These cover such subjects as maintenance of aircraft, instructions for
disassembly and overhaul, pilot’s operating instructions and other
operational data, and area very valuable source of information. These
documents are being screened in order to extract data relative to the
collection. The General Services Administration, Department of
Archives, has generously supplied from its files a number of photo-
SECRETARY’S REPORT 137
eraphs of aircraft, and many aircraft manufacturers have responded
to requests for photographs of their current and earlier types. Having
established a periodical library during the previous fiscal year, the
Museum has endeavored to maintain these aeronautical publications
current and to add missing issues. To assist the Museum in filling
requests for information on current aircraft the magazine Aero Digest
very generously gave 500 reprints of their March 1953 Directory num-
ber which featured a complete listing of types now in production.
Maj. Kimbrough Brown of the Air Force, during his recent duty in
Europe, collected much valuable information for the Museum and as-
sisted with its incorporation into the files upon his return to this coun-
try. Bell Aircraft supplied material for the improvement of the Mu-
seum exhibition of the supersonic X-1 and another local exhibit. The
Air Force Association assisted in supplying a catalog of the paintings
by Col. H. H. Sims exhibited during February. The Museum is par-
ticularly indebted to Charles Taylor, the mechanic associated with the
Wright Brothers, who worked on the construction of the engine for
their first airplane and helped to build and repair many of their
aircraft. From his recollections he has been most helpful in answer-
ing questions about the engine, construction details of Wright aircraft,
and events of those wonderful days.
The following lots of reference material have been separately
acknowledged and entered:
Mrs. Gretchen Schneider Black, Fort Worth, Tex.: The Eddie A. Schneider
Memorial Library consisting of 67 books, 35 pamphlets, and a painting.
Division of Military and Naval History, U. S. National Museum: A collection
of 18 books from the Gen. John J. Pershing Library.
Mrs. M. S. Gilpatric, New York, N. Y.: Four scrapbooks, a poster, an insignia
of the First Aero Squadron, photographs, ete., collected by her son, Guy Gil-
patric, renowned pioneer flier and World War I aviator. These are largely
descriptive of the aircraft flown by him, and his piloting experiences.
J. C. MacCartee, Sr., Osteen, Fla.: A collection of 64 photographs taken by
him at College Park, Md., during 1911 and 1912, showing early aircraft and
flights, principally those in Wright Brothers’ airplanes, and by notable military
pilots of that era.
Joseph Nieto, San Antonio, Tex.: Four 3-view scale-dimensioned drawings of
famous aircraft, drawn by himself.
North American Aviation, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif.: A collection of 36 photo-
graphs, enlarged and framed, of types produced by this company.
James J. Sloan, Aero Historical Society, Van Nuys, Calif.: A group of 11
3-view scale-dimensioned drawings of aircraft, including several unique types
of World War I.
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.: A collection of 60 bound
volumes of aviation periodicals.
RESEARCH
The quantity of work involved in other phases of the Museum pro-
gram limits the amount of time that can be devoted to personal re-
138 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
search by the staff, but as opportunity permitted, several projects
were advanced.
Anticipating that the Fiftieth Anniversary of Powered Flight
would be celebrated during 1953, the Museum intensified the collect-
ing of photographs and other material relative to the Wright Broth-
ers. Persons who had taken pictures of the Wrights and their air-
craft and pupils in America were generous in sharing them with the
Museum, but it was difficult to find photographs taken when the
brothers were in Europe. Persistent correspondence by the associate
curator finally located several helpful sources in England, France,
Germany, and Holland and, thanks to such cooperation, the Museum’s
collection is now one of the most complete. This material has been
of great service to many publishers, writers, artists, modelmakers,
and others, and selections will form part of the special Wright dis-
play being planned for December of 1953.
Efforts were continued throughout the year to procure authentic
documents and drawings about America’s early work in the guided-
missile field. Extensive material was obtained describing the Dayton-
Kettering developments during the First World War, but little has
been received about the Long Island-Sperry efforts.
ACCESSIONS
This year the National Air Museum received 32 accessions from 28
sources totaling 112 specimens. Those from Government departments
are recorded as transfers; others were received as gifts except as
noted.
Arr Force, DEPARTMENT OF, Washington, D. C.: German Messerschmitt Me 163
rocket interceptor, used in World War II to oppose operations of American
and English bombers (N. A. M. 763). (Through Pratt & Whitney Aircraft)
The Pratt & Whitney R-4860-35 Wasp Major aircraft engine, Serial No.
P-675, from the B-50-A bomber Lucky Lady II which made the first nonstop
flight around the world, February 26—March 2, 1949 (N, A. M. 753).
ALLEGHENY AIRLINES, Washington, D. C.: Scale exhibition model 1:16 of Stinson
SR-10 airplane of type used by the predecessor company, All American Air-
ways, from 1939 to 1949 for airmail service, featuring a unique pickup-in-
flight system (N. A. M. 758).
ArMy AND Navy CLug, Washington, D. C.: An automatic pilot from a German
V-1 flying bomb which came down in the vicinity of the United Service Club,
London, England, World War II (N. A. M. 757).
Avuaustine, David, Landover, Md.: An airplane propeller of Micarta, a com-
pressed resinous material, in use about 1928 (N. A. M. 782).
Burkes, Mrs. OLiviA BENDELARI, New Hope, Pa.: An aviator’s restrictive garment
for maintaining pressure on parts of the body to reduce effects of inertia
during extreme maneuvers at high speeds. Devised by her husband, Wood-
ward Burke, test pilot, who gave his life in 1945 during development of a
Navy jet fighter (N. A. M. 765).
Bastern Arm Lines, New York, N. Y.: Douglas DC-3 airplane No. 164, con-
structed 1937, and veteran of over 814 million air miles (N. A. M. 766).
SECRETARY’S REPORT 139
EMSCHWILLER, LT. WILLIAM M., U. S. M. C., Hyattsville, Md.: Scale exhibition
model 1:24 of the McDonnell FH-1 Phantom, a current type of Naval jet-
powered airplane (N. A. M. 752, loan).
ENGLEMAN, WILLIAM F., Miami, Fla.: Two portrait busts, one of Adm. Richard
E. Byrd, Naval pilot and polar explorer, and one of Donald W. Douglas, noted
aircraft designer and manufacturer (N. A. M. 755).
GARBER, PAUL Epwagrp, Washington, D. C.: Five kites, one a reproduction of that
used by Benjamin Franklin 200 years ago in his experiments with lightning,
and four of Chinese origin in outlines of a butterfly, fish, bat, and bird
(N. A. M. 761).
HarTney, Mrs. Harorp, Washington, D. C.: Material associated with the military
and aeronautical accomplishments of her husband, the late Col. Harold
Hartney, commander of the First Pursuit Group, World War I (N. A. M. 767).
HeEkgRING, M. G., Washington, D. C.: An aircraft propeller, wooden, two-bladed,
from an Aeromarine—40 flying boat, about 1921 (N. A. M. 779).
Hitter Heticorrers, Palo Alto, Calif.: The XH-44, origina! Hiiler-copter de-
signed and constructed by Stanley Hiller in 1944; it has two 2-bladed conitra-
rotating rotors (N. A. M. 769).
HUBBELL, CHARLES, Cleveland, Ohio: Scale exhibition model 1:16 of the Wright
Brothers’ first glider, 1900 (N. A. M. 771, purchase).
HUNDEMER, CHARLES, Baton Rouge, La.: A mixing valve or “puddle carburetor”
used on an airplane engine of the period 1908-1910 (N. A. M. 780).
JEROME, IvAN, Massapequa, L. I., N. Y.: Original control stick from the helicopter
constructed by the Engineering Division of the U. S. Army Air Service, McCook
Field, Dayton, Ohio, 1922, designed by Dr. George DeBothezat and Mr. Jerome
(N. A. M. 768).
KicKkert, Howarp, Arlington, Va.: An aircraft propeller, wooden, 2-bladed, of
early design, used with a low-horsepower engine (N. A. M. 772, loan).
Krixcer, M. A., Dallas, Tex.: Scale exhibition model 1: 24 of transparent mate-
rials showing construction of a German V-1 buzz bomb as used against Eng-
land, World War II; with associated data (N. A. M. 781).
Martin, GLENN L., Co., Middle River, Md.: Two quarter-sized models of Martin
flying boats, one being the flying model with which characteristics of the Navy
PBM Mariner were predetermined; the other the wind-tunnel model of the
Navy JRM Mars, long-range patrol and cargo plane (N. A. M. 774).
Mopet Buiupers, Inc., William Chaffee, President, Chicago, Ill.: Two scale ex-
hibition models, 1: 16, illustrating the Nieuport 28 and Spad 13 airplanes flown
in World War I by Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker (N. A. M. 760, purchase).
Navy, DEPARTMENT or, Washington, D. C.: Parts of two wind tunnels recently
decommissioned at the Naval Gun Factory in Washington; the earlier was the
8-foot square-throat wooden tunnel built in 1914; the other circular, of metal,
was constructed about 15 years later (N. A. M. 776). The “How-Goes-It-
Board” used by pilot and navigator of the Navy’s Lockheed Truculent Turtie
which established the world record for nonstop distance, 11,822 miles, October
1, 1946 (N. A. M. 777). (Through Reaction Motors, Inc., Rockaway, N. J.)
The original Black Betsy rocket engine which served as prototype for the
engines that powered the first manned supersonic flight by the Air Force’s
Bell X-1 and the Navy’s Douglas D-558-2, which has flown higher and faster
than any other manned aircraft (N. A. M. 754). A collection of 48 aircraft
models, scale 1: 72, of recent and current types; used for training in aircraft
recognition (N. A. M. 751).
NicHoLs, Matcorm E., THe Faminy or, Boston, Mass.: A small American flag,
-carried by Amelia Earhart on her first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, with
140 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Wilmer Stultz, pilot, and Lew Gordon, mechanic, in the Fokker seaplane
Friendship, June 17-18, 1928 (N. A. M. 762).
NortTHRop AIRCRAFT, INc., Hawthorne, Calif.: Experimental glide model of the
flying wing, used for the original test of this configuration (N. A. M. 778).
Pan AMERICAN AIRWAYS, New York, N. Y.: The airplane Hzcalibur III in which
Capt. Charles Blair made a transatlantic record flight and the first nonstop
solo flight over the North Pole, 1951 (N. A. M. 775).
RICKENBACKER, CAPT. Epwarp V., New York, N. Y.: The uniform worn by him
in World War I with records and photographs of members of the 94th Squad-
ron which he commanded (N. A. M. 759).
Roperick, Harry M., Oakland, Calif.: Compressed-air-powered experimental
model airplane, 1909 (N. A. M. 778).
SHort, Roxor V., Madison, Conn.: Seale exhibition model, 1: 16, of the Gallaudet
D-4 Navy seaplane, 1918, an advanced pusher biplane design (N. A. M. 756,
purchase).
Sikorsky AircraFt, Division of the United Aircraft Corp., Bridgeport, Conn.:
Scale exhibition model, 1: 16, of the proposed delta-winged fighter designed by
M. E. Gluhareff in 1941 (N. A. M. 770).
Sruart, H. R., and Fauss, E. N., Washington, D. C.: Original wind-driven electric
generator, equipped with a propeller similar to the airplane type, developed
jointly by the donors in 1922 (N. A. M. 764).
Respectfully submitted.
Paut E. Garner, Head Curator.
Dr. Leonarp CARMICHAEL,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
APPENDIX 10
Report on the Canal Zone Biological Area
Sir: It gives me pleasure to present herewith the annual report
of the Canal Zone Biological Area for the fiscal year ended June 30,
1953.
BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT
The major accomplishment at Barro Colorado Island during the
year was the installation of two 15-KVA Diesel-driven generators.
This required the construction of a concrete foundation, to which the
generators had to be anchored, and a well-ventilated building to house
the units; the installation of large instrument panels and insulated
pipes for overhead distribution; and procurement of necessary acces-
sories for operation. Although the annual operating cost of the
generators amounts to about $1,650, the benefits to be derived from a
constant flow of current are inestimable; and being able to operate
the refrigerator, deep freeze, dry cabinets, and dehumidifiers 24 hours
a day, thereby eliminating spoilage, will result in considerable sav-
ings. Also, an adequate and uninterrupted supply of electricity
should attract many more investigators who need current at all hours.
The pit for the rainwater reservoir, west of the new laboratory
building, was completed, and the reinforcing steel and form lumber
were cut to size. Because of deficient rainfall, there was not enough
water to mix the concrete, and so this project was not finished.
Shelving was added to the large (original) laboratory building for
a collection of reptiles and amphibians, largely from the island, and
for the extensive collection of Central American fruits, mostly from
Panama, obtained by the resident manager during his years of study
of fruit flies of the genus Anastrepha. Dr. and Mrs. E. R. Dunn, of
Haverford College, put most of the reptile and amphibian specimens
in new jars and relabeled them.
An electrically heated plant drier was built and has already been
put to good use by scientists.
It was necessary to build an extension to the dock at the island, and
also to the covered area for the launches. Both launches required
minor repairs to the hulls, and the engine of one needed replacement,
of parts. A large, well-built cayuco was obtained, for use with an
outboard motor, in order to police the island more adequately.
The trails are in good condition, but some of the markers need to
be replaced.
141
142 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
The Fuertes house and the houses at the end of Drayton trail are in
excellent condition. The old main laboratory is in good shape, except
for minor repairs, and can accommodate at least 20 scientists a day.
The Chapman house can still be used as a laboratory building, and
with a minimum of repairs should serve well for 5 years or more.
The buildings occupied by the warden-caretaker and the cook are in
good condition; the one used by the laborers needs some repairs. The
plywood building at the tower was primarily a test for termites and
resin glues, and can still be used as a shelter.
MOST URGENT NEEDS
Most urgently needed is the rainwater reservoir. It is hoped that
the concrete for this can be poured early in the next fiscal year and
that funds will be available to cover it with concrete slabs, add the
necessary pipes, and divert the runoff from the aluminum roof into
the tank. Also, a new 2-horsepower electric motor to run the pump
must be purchased. With this reservoir we should have adequate
“safe” water to last through even a dry season.
Next in importance is the need for electric wiring in the new build-
ing, water service for the lower floor, the installation of sinks, tables,
and shelves, so that at least the two main laboratory rooms (each ac-
commodating four persons) can be made available to scientists; and
the installation of exhaust fans, shelves, and other equipment in the
photographic dark room. Dehumidifiers will have to be purchased;
these are very necessary to prevent deterioration and corrosion from
the high humidity.
With these things accomplished, the library, herbarium, and index
cabinets can be transferred from the Haskins building to the new
building, and the kitchens moved to the fireproof Haskins building.
Purchase of an electric water heater for the kitchen, an urgent need,
has been approved.
SCIENTISTS AND THEIR STUDIES
The primary purpose of the Canal Zone Biological Area is to pro-
vide a safe and accessible area for scientific research in the lower
humid tropics in the Americas. Probably nowhere else in the world
can be found the combination of unspoiled tropical jungle and health-
ful laboratory surroundings. Here scientists find a profusion of
plants and animals and are able to carry on a wide variety of special
studies.
During the 1953 fiscal year, 57 scientists came to the island. The
high cost of transportation prevents many from coming and also, in
SECRETARY’S REPORT
143
many cases, curtails the length of stay. A list of the season’s in-
vestigators, with a brief summary of their interests, follows:
investigator
Ajello, Dr. Libero, U. 8. Public Health Service,
Atlanta, Ga.
Anderberg, T., Sweden.
Andrew, Dr. Warren, Bowman Gray School of
Medicine, Winston-Salem, N. C.
Ansley, Dr. Hudson R., Columbia University,
New York, N. Y.
Bloedel, Prentiss,
Berkeley, Calif.
Blomberg, Dr. Rolf, Sweden and Eeuador.
University of California,
Boberg, Walter, Sweden.
Bradley, John ©. Waterbury, Conn.
Bromfield, Louis, Malabar Farm, Lucas, Ohio.
Buchanan, Charles, Puerto Rico.
Burk, Gordan, Scripps Institution of Oceanog-
raphy, La Jolla, Calif.
Chamberlain, Mrs. Florence, Des Moines, Iowa.
Clark, Dr. Walter, Hastman Kodak Research
Laboratories, Rochester, N. Y.
Crookchewit, Hans, Amsterdam, Holland.
Drury, Dr, William, Harvard University, Cam-
bridge, Mass.
Dunn, Dr. and Mrs. HE. R., Haverford College,
Haverford, Pa.
Hisenmann, Dr. Eugene, New York, N. Y.
Erickson, Clarence O., Paramount Pictures,
Hollywood, Calif.
Geysa, Vanita yon, Illinois.
Goelet, Dr. Robert, New York Zoological Society,
New York, N. Y.
Goodale, Dr. Robert L., Boston, Mass.
Graham, Dr. H. H., U. S. Soil Conservation Serv-
ice, Washington, D. C.
Griffin, Dr. Donald R., Cornell University,
Ithaca, N. Y.
Hartman, Dr. Frank M., Ohio State University,
Columbus, Ohio.
Heim, Roger,
Paris, France.
Museum of Natural History,
Principal interest or special
study
Environmental factors.
Member of Blomberg expedi-
tion. (See Dr. Rolf Blom-
berg.)
Land mollusks.
Sex determination in centi-
pedes,
Orientation in bats.
Color photography, stills, and
sound recordings; intensive
study of tropical wildlife.
Member of Blomberg expedi-
tion. (See Dr. Rolf Blom-
berg. )
Mollusks.
Tropical flora and birds.
Bird survey and habitats.
Mammals and birds.
Bird survey and nests.
Review of Hastman Kodak ex-
posure tests; color photog-
raphy and sound recordings.
Birds.
Forest topography as affecting
bird life.
Amphibians and reptiles and
rearrangement of island col-
lection.
Continuation
bird studies.
Appraisal of island for motion
film of army ants.
Continuation of her painting.
Birds, mammals, and flora.
of long-range
Bird studies.
Wildlife and flora.
Orientation in bats.
Continuation of studies on
adrenals of birds and mam-
mals,
Fungi and environment.
144 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953 |
Investigator
Henry, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R., Washington
Star, Washington, D.C.
Hiestand, Dr. Norman T., Los Alamos, N. Mex.
Hodgson, Dr. Edward §., Barnard College, Co-
lumbia University, New York, N. Y.
Kelly, Dr. Junea, Alameda, Calif.
Kerr, Miss Charlotte, U. S. Embassy, Panama.
Koronda, John, Michigan State College, East
Lansing, Mich.
Loegering, William I., IICA Turrialba, Costa
Rica.
Lundy, William E., Assistant Paymaster, Panama
Canal.
MacLeish, Kenneth, Life Magazine, New York,
INST RY:
Martin, Dr. George W., State University of Iowa,
Iowa City, Iowa.
McGinty, Thomas, Florida.
Miller, Melville W., Vermillion, 8S. Dak.
Monros, Dr. and Mrs. F., Instituto Miguel Lillo,
Tucumdn, Argentina.
Morris, Robert C., U. S. Bureau of Entomology
and Plant Quarantine, Gulfport, Miss.
Murie, Dr. Olaus J., Wilderness Society, Moose,
Wyo.
Nadler, Aaron M., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Olsson, Dr. A. A., Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia.
Parsons, Dr. James J., University of California,
Berkeley, Calif.
Perrygo, Watson M., U. S. National Museum,
Washington, D. C.
Prescott, Dr. George W., Michigan State College,
East Lansing, Mich.
Rimmer, David, Malabar Farm, Lucas, Ohio.
Scattergood, Dr. Leslie, U. S. Legation Mission.
Setzer, Dr. Henry W., U. S. National Museum,
Washington, D. C.
Soper, Dr. Cleveland C., Tropical Research Lab-
oratory, Eastman Kodak Co., Panama City,
Panama.
Steward, Richard, National Geographic Society,
Washington, D. C.
Stirling, Dr. and Mrs. M. W., Smithsonian Insti-
tution.
Principal interest or special
study
To collect data on plants and
animals for press releases,
General biology, color photog-
raphy, and sound recordings.
Behavior of leaf-cutting ants.
Continuation of bird studies.
Observations on birds and
mammals,
Algae.
Plants and ecology.
Continuation of studies on
birds and mammals.
Appraisal of animal life in
rain forest of American
Tropics.
Fungi.
Mollusks.
Birds, mammals, and flora.
Coleoptera.
Termites.
Animal footprints.
Intensive collecting and study
of Psocidae.
Paleontology.
Grasses.
Birds.
Algae.
Birds and plants.
Tropical flora.
Mammals.
Deterioration and corrosion of
photographic equipment and
supplies. Gave technical ad-
vice and help on Diesel gen-
erators.
Photography.
General biology and reconnais-
sance.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 145
Principal interest or special
Investigator study
Swift, Lloyd W., U. S. Forest Service, Washing- | Wildlife and flora.
ton, D. C.
Weber, Dr. Jay A., Miami, Fla. Mollusks.
Weldon, A. L., State University of Iowa, Iowa | Fungi.
City, Iowa.
Wetmore, Dr. Alexander, Smithsonian Institu- | Birds, and general inspection
tion. of the plant.
VISITORS
There were about 700 visitors to the island during the year. Most
of them came in small groups, and quite a number stayed overnight or
for a few days. Among these were Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and
photography clubs; groups from schools in Panama City, Colon, and
elsewhere; from colleges, and from the University of Panama. There
were also a number of groups from the Armed Forces, the United
States Embassy in Panama, many technical and specialized missions,
and branches of the Point-4 Program.
DONATIONS
The resident manager donated to the library a complete series of
bound volumes of the Journal of Agricultural Research; a series of
Natural History magazines, complete to date; many miscellaneous pub-
lications; and a quantity of laboratory glassware, chemicals, and other
supplies.
RAINFALL
In 1952, during the dry season (January to April) rains of 0.01 inch
or more fell on 36 days (98 hours), and on 203 days (744) hours during
the 8 months of the wet season.
Rainfall was 9.26 inches below the station average for 28 years—an
excess of 1.09 inches during the dry season and a deficiency of 10.35
inches during the wet season. March was the driest month, 0.11 inch,
and October the wettest, 16.96 inches.
TABLE 1.—Annual rainfall, Barro Colorado Island, 0. Z.
Total Station Total Station
Year inches average | Year inches average
[OQ base ees MOAT SS Tihs wpelee ee NGS Oi oes 115. 47 110. 94
UC es a tela 118. 22 HTS. SGM O4OL ess 86. 51 109. 43
BLS Ae (meted Sea Dg ae 116. 36 T4568) OA 91. 82 108. 41
[9Q8 eer en Sey 101. 52 PO SS OAD Aerie 111. 10 108. 55
1G 20s cee ae 87. 84 LOGT5GIRIO4S 2s oo 120. 29 109. 20
UOSO0S Se ee Les 76. 57 TOL oO Osa ees 111. 96 109. 30
POST Fe 2 Spe ere 123. 30 NO4SG6ONMOA He. ee Ue 3 120. 42 109. 84
LO ee aa MR a LOS VGN MO4G see a ee 87. 38 108. 81
L933 Beare ees 101. 73 I UCG HS Pt PES fea st atl 77. 92 107. 49
BOS4 yo. Tatas 122. 42 LO 7AO4 | MOAS illness 83. 16 106. 43
OS at ad oe ae ie 143. 42 TVORSHi 19402) & a ey 114. 86 106. 76
OS Glee see 93. 88 1OSPOSMOD0ne A= ae 114. 51 107. 07
ih oy ee aS 124. 13 VETO}, S12 | C0 G51 a a ae 112. 72 107. 28
$Ras <4 202222507 117. 09 $1OsG2)ROG2Z.. 22 se 5255 97. 68 106. 94
146 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
TasLE 2.—Comparison of 1951 and 1952 rainfull, Barro Colorado Isiand, C. Z.
(inches
Total Accumu-
Month SPS eee) ini Years of | Excess or | lated excess
average record deficiency or defi-
1951 1952 cisncy
Januaryoe< 22th Ph te 2.21 2. 40 19% 27 +0. 63 +0. 63
MGDIUALY cae oe eee 3. 76 .39 1, 26 27 —. 87 -
arcs see aren .3 Sue 1. 20 27 —1.09 —1.3
9.3) 0) | eS 2 ee A 2 Pe es, 8. 53 5.46 3.04 28 +2, 42 +1. 09
DY cos ke een ee. Poe 12.19 12.39 10.89 28 +1. 50 +2. 59
DUNG oo oe 2 ee ed a ee 10. 94 11. 76 11, 40 28 +. 36 +2. 95
Ub Ges en ees ee es 5.37 6.01 11. 28 28 —5. 27 —2.3
AUSTISES tt retain phe eS 11,29 9.1 12.16 28 —3.05 —5. 37
Sentemier:< "5 eee 22 Ne | 11.13 10. 06 28 +1. 07 —4.30
ctoberss rere areas. 19. 43 16. 96 13. 52 28 +3. 44 —. 86
November2..- 7.225 sa2e 16.15 9. 50 19.10 28 —9. 60 —10. 46
December! rat te} 12. 93 12. 46 11. 26 28 +1. 20 —9, 26
Wear:c» 3... <4". 3 am 112. 72 97. 68 106945 a sen eed 5 eee eee —9. 26
Dryjseason =e vet ech) be 14. 80 8. 36 IID: | Re Aa be TAF le | iat eo oe +1.09
WOU ROASON oso ee eee 97. 92 89. 32 £27 1 ye PS eed | erigarteaeec VE Bu) —10.35
The maximum yearly rainfall of record on the island was 143.42
inches, and the minimum 76.57 inches. The maximums of record for
short periods were as follows: 5 minutes, 1.30 inches ( a new record) ;
10 minutes, 1.65 inches (a new record) ; 1 hour, 4.11 inches; 2 hours,
4.81 inches; 24 hours, 10.48 inches.
During 1952 the maximums were: 5 minutes, 1.30 inches; 10 minutes,
1.65 inches; 15 minutes, 1.71 inches; 30 minutes, 2.15 inches; 1 hour,
2.86 inches; 2 hours, 3.43 inches; 24 hours, 4.48 inches.
FISCAL REPORT
Trust funds during the 1953 fiscal year amounted to $11,255.03, as
follows: Balance from fiscal year 1952, $264.03; fees from scientists,
$2,501.16; fees from visitors, $2,177; table subscriptions, $1,900;
Smithsonian Institution private funds, $2,800; donations, $1,180;
miscellaneous, $482.84.
Items paid from trust funds are: Wages of warden-caretaker and
laborers, food, office expenses, and miscellaneous items for upkeep and
repairs. Wages amounted to 58.2 percent of the expenditures, and
food and kitchen needs 35.8 percent, a total of 94 percent. At the
close of the 1953 fiscal year there remained a balance of $437.74 in the
trust funds.
The Smithsonian Institution allotted $7,033.29 from Government-
appropriated funds. Approximately 60 percent of this was expended
for supplies from Panama Canal Storehouses, the major items being
$614.63 for lumber; $198.98 for gravel; $490.88 for cement; $192.94
for water lines and toilets; $390.77 for reinforcing steel, pipe, etc., for
the water reservoir; $550.90 for the overhead installation of the
Diesel generators; $493.66 for Diesel fuel; $72.08 for lubricating oil;
SECRETARY’S REPORT 147
$114.64 for the dock extension ; $846.62 for the extension of the sheds
for the launches; and $60.78 for materials for the launches.
The other 40 percent covered such items as gasoline, ice, freight,
telephone, and rentals; repairs to launches ($214.74) ; transportation
of the two Diesels to the Isthmus ($190.74) ; parts, filters, repairs,
and maintenance inspections for the generators ($370.96) ; and shelv-
ing ($255.86).
The rates for scientists and visitors now in effect are $3 a day per
person for 1-day visitors, $4 a full day for scientists from institutions
that support the laboratory through table subscriptions, and $5 a full
day for all others. A 1-day visit includes the use of the launch to
and from the island, the noon meal, and the guide in the morning.
A full day for scientists includes three meals and lodging.
The following institutions continued their support to the laboratory
through the payment of table subscriptions:
ASIN AMIN OUL Sl Kee Oe tee ee tec Cette ete een eee ee oe $1, 000
New SVork, Zoological’ Society22282 e217) 255) 2b) ee 2 Pea 300
American Museumof:Naturall Jdistorys2) eee eee eee 300
Smithsoniany, nstitution=<=2 2% 300
It is gratifying to record again donations from Dr. Eugene Eisen-
mann of New York, Dr. Robert L. Goodale of Boston, and Dr. Robert
Goelet of New York.
Those contemplating a visit to this unique spot of the Americas
should communicate with the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion, Washington 25, D. C., or with the Resident Manager of the Canal
Zone Biological Area, Drawer C, Balboa, Canal Zone.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks are due to the Panama Canal Company, particularly the
Dredging and Commissary Divisions and the Storehouses; the Canal
Zone Government, especially the Police Division; and the officials and
employees of the Panama Railroad for their wholehearted cooperation.
Without their generous and unfailing assistance, the Area could not
function so successfully.
Respectfully submitted.
Jamus Zurex, Resident Manager.
Dr. Leonarp CARMICHAEL,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
APPENDIX 11
Report on the Library
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the activi-
ties of the Smithsonian library for the fiscal year ended June 30,
1953:
More than 100 foreign countries, including dominions, colonies,
and protectorates, were represented among the 68,414 publications
that came to the Smithsonian library, many of them through the
International Exchange Service, during the past year. Of these pub-
lications, all except 734 books which were purchased, and the serial
parts of the 430 journals for which the library subscribed, came
either in exchange for Smithsonian publications or as gifts. The
acquisiiton by exchange or gift of so large a proportion of the im-
portant additions, mostly serials, to the library each year is made
possible by the cordial cooperation of issuing agencies all over the
world and by the generosity of many friends. The constant inflow
of these records of scientific and cultural advance is the lifeblood of
research, and the library is the pipeline through which this indispen-
sable material is channeled to all parts of the Institution.
The postwar years have seen many changes among scientific and
other journals, but “births” continue to outnumber “deaths”; and
in spite of wars and other vicissitudes the continuity of a surprising
number of the series of publications issued by long-established insti-
tutions and learned societies has been unbroken. So eternal vigi-
lance is necessary not only to see that important new serials are ob-
tained but also that missing parts of old ones are procured as promptly
as possible. This is especially true of complicated irregularly issued
foreign serials, often published in very small editions which quickly go
out of print. To meet the larger number of these needs, 573 new
exchanges were arranged during the year, and 7,073 volumes and
parts were obtained by exchange to fill gaps in existing sets or to sup-
ply individual publications on special subjects.
Of the many gifts presented to the library by generous friends,
the Eugene N. Costales philatelic library was one of the largest.
Together with the many rare nineteenth-century publications on
philately that Malcom MacGregor added to his previously reported
gifts, these were especially important additions to the library’s fast-
growing collection of philatelic literature.
Extensive as are the exchange relations of the Institution, there
are many books and periodicals in its subject fields that can be ob-
148
SECRETARY’S REPORT 149
tained only by purchase. In the face of limited funds, rising prices,
and the unceasing and increasing output of scientific and technical
literature, careful screening is imperative. Of the many books re-
quested during the year only 734 could be bought. About half the
allotment of funds had to be earmarked for subscriptions to periodi-
cals; and as usual allowance had to be made for the purchase of the
annual volumes of reference books on special subjects.
The library has no interest in acquiring rare books as such, but occa-
sionally it is possible through one of the Institution’s special funds to
acquire a much-needed rare work. Notable among such during the
year was the purchase out of the Frances Lee Chamberlain fund of the
extremely rare Gastropoda parts, by W. Wenz, of the “Handbuch der
Palaozoologie,” for the division of mollusks. At present, this is the
only complete and original copy of this very important work, pub-
lished in seven parts in Berlin in 1938-44, known to be in this country.
The stock of some of the parts was almost completely destroyed during
the war.
Additions to the Smithsonian Deposit at the Library of Congress,
mostly parts of serial publications, numbered 5,840, of which 261 went
to the Langley Aeronautical Library. Other publications sent to the
Library of Congress, counted but not individually cataloged or entered
here in the serial records, were 2,250 doctoral dissertations, chiefly from
European universities, 5,507 documents, mostly from foreign govern-
ments, and 14,231 miscellaneous pieces of literature, from all over the
world, on subjects of little or no immediate interest to the Institution.
Many publications on subjects in the special fields of other Govern-
ment agencies were transferred to those agencies, the largest number
being 4,104 pieces sent to the Armed Forces Medical Library, 881 of
which were medical dissertations.
Every effort was made to keep additions to the library’s collection of
duplicates to a minimum; 14,326 pieces sent to the United States Book
Exchange for exchange credit reduced the collection somewhat but
still made no appreciable visible impression on the whole.
Statistics of the catalog section show that 3,185 books were cataloged,
22,625 periodicals entered, and 31,761 new cards added to the catalog
and shelf lists and that more than 110,000 cards were handled in the
task of merging the two formerly separately maintained main catalogs.
This merging of records points continually to the large amount of
greatly needed cataloging or recataloging to be done, notably of special
collections, which have previously been sketchily recorded, or not cata-
loged at all.
Funds for binding permitted only 700 volumes to be sent to the
Government Printing Office bindery, and so the large backlog of bind-
ing continued to increase. In the library, 1,527 books were expertly
repaired.
150 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
The 8,641 loans recorded during the year show only a fraction of
the use of the library’s collections. Many more than this number of
books were consulted in the reference room and in the stacks of the
main and branch libraries, while the annual use of publications on the
highly specialized subjects of the different divisions of the Museum,
shelved in their sectional liabraries, could certainly be counted well up
in the thousands. Intramural circulation of the 3,370 publications,
mostly parts of periodicals, assigned to the sectional libraries for fil-
ing this past year, would alone, in terms of use, need to be multiplied
by several times that number.
Beside the use of books within the Institution, the library serves,
and is in turn served by, outside libraries through interlibrary loans.
During the year, 82 different libraries throughout the country bor-
rowed 965 books from us for the use of local scientists and other
serious students. In addition to the many books borrowed from the
Library of Congress, a large number of which were Smithsonian De-
posit copies, 891 were borrowed from other libraries, chiefly from the
library of the Department of Agriculture.
The reference and informational use of the library was especially
heavy, and more than 27,000 questions, many of them in response to
letters and telephone calls from outside the Institution, were answered
in the reference and circulation section.
The virtual closing of the branch libraries because of understafling
made it extremely difficult to give more than token service from them
to the staff of the Institution; and special arrangements had to be
made to serve the visiting scholars who needed to have access to the
material housed in them. The scattered, inconveniently arranged,
and overcrowded housing of the library throughout the Institution,
worsened by the hundreds of volumes needing binding or repair, has
long since become a chronic and increasinly serious condition, for
the full relief of which a practical solution is yet to be found.
SUMMARIZED STATISTICS
ACCESSIONS
vernon | Tele
Smithsonian Deposit at the Library of Congress - - ~~~ 82 584, 295
Smithsonian main library (includes former Office and
MiusemmMpranches) ae ee eee ee eee eee 2, 142 289, 787
Astrophysical Observatory (includes Radiation
OPPADISINE eo. 5 See ee oe er 62 14, 102
Bureau of American Ethnology -...----------- 282 35, 350
NationalpAir Museums) 62 seer oes eee 18 306
National Collection of Fine Arts_._.._.__--------- 599 13, 284
National Zooldgical Park. 2 See. los. sees ee ee sine 4, 204
gO 5 a Bp OR ES 3, 185 941, 328
SECRETARY’S REPORT 151
Cataloged volumes only have been counted in the records of current
accessions, and no incomplete volumes of serial publications or sepa-
rates and reprints from serial publications are included in any of the
totals.
EXCHANGES
NGWiExGhangesia rian 9 ibe 2 ee eh ae OR ee a 573
189 of these were for the Smithsonian Deposit.
Specially, requested! publications receitved2e2 =) ae eee 7, O73
999 of these were obtained to fill gaps in Smithsonian Deposit sets.
CATALOGING
NOULINES Meat alo Zed sae eee air AA eae ee) ey Pt a Ae 8, 185
Cardsiadded to catalogs and shelfilists 22 2o so tr ee I 31, 761
PERIODICALS
Periodical parts entered _.-----.__ ee peter a ee ee 3 ete 22, 625
5,758 were for the Smithsonian Deposit.
CIRCULATION
oanstotibooks/and period calsssaesae 2 eh ee ee a ee 8, 641
Circulation of books and periodicals in sectional libraries is not
counted, except in the division of insects.
BINDING
Volumes sent to the Government Printing Office bindery___..._____ 700
Volumes HepaAiTed tn ch evi ra reyes es eee ee Ce ae ee ee ee 15527
Respectfully submitted.
Lema F. Cuarn, Librarian.
Dr. Leonarp CarMICHAEL,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
284725—54-——-11
APPENDIX 12
Report on Publications
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the publica-
tions of the Smithsonian Institution and its branches for the year
ended June 30, 1953:
The publications of the Smithsonian Institution are in two cate-
gories—those issued from federally appropriated funds (particularly
the publications of the National Museum and the Bureau of American
Ethnology, and the Smithsonian Report) and those issued under in-
come from the Institution’s various endowment funds (Smithsonian
Miscellaneous Collections, publications of the Freer Gallery of Art,
and special publications). Eight regular series are issued, plus six
others that appear less frequently. Publications are distributed free
to more than a thousand libraries, both in this country and abroad, as
well as to a large list of educational and scientific organizations and
specialists in various fields. ‘The Smithsonian publications program is
a major part in the Institution’s endeavor to fulfill the diffusion-of-
knowledge function prescribed by its founder.
During 1952-53 the Institution published 23 papers in the Smith-
sonian Miscellaneous Collections and title page and table of contents
for 1 volume in this series; 1 Annual Report of the Board of Regents
and pamphlet copies of 20 articles in the Report appendix, 1 Annual
Report of the Secretary, and 1 special publication.
The United States National Museum issued 1 Annual Report of the
Director, 13 Proceedings papers, 3 Bulletins, and 1 paper in the series
Contributions from the United States National Herbarium.
The Bureau of Amercan Ethnology issued 1 Annual Report, 5
Bulletins, and 3 papers in the series Publications of the Institute of
Social Anthropology.
The National Collection of Fine Arts issued 6 catalogs; and the
Freer Gallery of Art published 1 paper in the Occasional Papers series.
At the end of the year practically all the galley proofs of the tables
in the ninth revised edition of the Smithsonian Physical Tables had
been received from the printer.
Of the publications there were distributed 177,675 copies, which in-
cluded 11 volumes and separates of Smithsonian Contributions to
Knowledge, 50,185 volumes and separates of Smithsonian Miscel-
laneous Collections, 31,317 volumes and separates of Smithsonian
Annual Reports, 1,988 War Background Studies, 4,582 Smithsonian
152
SECRETARY’S REPORT 153
special publications, 49 reports and 142 sets of pictures of the Harri-
man Alaska Expedition, 41,111 volumes and separates of National
Museum publications, 30,281 publications of the Bureau of American
Ethnology, 8,315 publications of the Institute of Social Anthropology,
2,817 catalogs of the National Collection of Fine Arts, 588 volumes
and pamphlets of the Freer Gallery of Art, 9 Annals of the Astro-
physical Observatory, 2,554 reports of the American Historical Asso-
ciation, and 3,731 miscellaneous publications not published by the
Smithsonian Institution (mostly Survival Manuals).
In addition, 22,851 picture pamphlets, 97,922 guide books, 119,881
natural-history, Smithsonian buildings, and art postcards, 14,825 sets
of photo cards and picture postcards, 18 sets and § prints of North
American Wild Flowers, and 4 volumes of Pitcher Plants were
distributed.
The 1953 allotment from Government funds of $92,320 for printing
and binding was entirely obligated at the close of the year.
SMITHSONIAN PUBLICATIONS
SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS
VOLUME 117
No. 12. Two aboriginal works of art from the Veracruz coast, by Philip Drucker.
7 pp.,3 pls., 1 fig. (Publ. 4091.) Aug. 26,1952. (20 cents.)
No. 13. Primitive fossil gastropods and their bearing on gastropod classification,
by J. Brookes Knight. 56 pp., 2 pls., 10 figs. (Publ. 4092.) Oct. 29, 1952.
(60 cents.)
No. 14. New and unusual species of brachiopods from the Arbuckle group in
Oklahoma, by G. Arthur Cooper. 35 pp., 4 pls. (Publ. 4093.) Sept. 23, 1952.
(50 cents.)
No. 15. The foraminiferal genus Triplasia Reuss, 1854, by Alfred R. Loeblich,
Jr., and Helen Tappan. 61 pp., 8 pls., 11 figs. (Publ. 4094.) Sept. 9, 1952.
(60 cents.)
No. 16. Solar variation and precipitation at Peoria, Illinois, by C. G. Abbot,
18 pp., 8 figs. (Publ. 4095.) Sept.3,1952. (30 cents.)
No. 17. A generic synopsis of the lizards of the subfamily Lygosominae, by M.
B. Mittleman. 385 pp. (Publ. 4096.) Nov. 4, 1952. (50 cents.)
No. 18. The lower Eocene Knight formation of western Wyoming and its mam-
malian fauna, by C. Lewis Gazin. 82 pp., 11 pls., 6 figs. (Publ. 4097.) Dee.
9, 1952. ($1.00.)
Title page and table of contents. (Publ. 4134.) [May 27] 1953.
VOLUME 119
No. 1. Cambrian stratigraphy and paleontology near Caborca, northwestern
Sonora, Mexico, by G. Arthur Cooper et al. 184 pp., 31 pls., 9 figs., 2 charts.
(Publ. 4085.) Aug. 6, 1952. ($3.00.)
No. 2. Permian fauna at El Antimonio, western Sonora, Mexico, by G. Arthur
Cooper et al. 111 pp., 25 pls., 3 figs. (Publ. 4108.) June 25, 1953. ($2.50.)
154 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
VOLUME 121
No. 1. Geology of the San Jon site, eastern New Mexico, by Sheldon 8. Judson.
70 pp., 5 pls., 22 figs. (Publ.4098.) Mar.5,19538. ($1.15.)
No. 2. The birds of the Islands of Taboga, Taboguilla, and UravA, Panama, by
Alexander Wetmore. 32 pp., 3 pls. (Publ. 4099.) Dec. 2, 1952. (35 cents.)
No. 3. A revision of the Colombian species of Monnina, by Ramon Ferreyra.
59 pp., 7 figs. (Publ. 4100.) Feb.3,1953. (50 cents.)
No. 4. Structure and function of the genitalia in some American agelenid spiders,
by Robert L. Gering. 84pp.,72figs. (Pubi.4101.) Mar.17,1953. (80 cents.)
No. 5. Solar variation and precipitation at Albany, N .Y., by C. G. Abbot. 16 pp.,
6 figs. (Publ. 4103.) Jan. 27,1958. (380 cents.)
No. 6. Sponges of the Alaskan Arctic, by M. W. de Laubenfels. 22 pp., 12 figs.
(Publ. 4104.) Mar. 19,1953. (30 cents.)
No. 7. Some Recent Arctic Foraminifera, by Alfred R. Loeblich, Jr., and Helen
Tappan. 150 pp., 24 pls., 1 fig. (Publ. 4105.) Apr. 2, 1958. ($2.00.)
No. 8. Western Atlantic scorpionfishes, by Isaac Ginsburg. 103 pp.,6 figs. (Publ.
4106.) May 28, 1953. ($1.10.)
No. 9. A new Devonian crinoid from western Maryland, by Arthur L. Bowsher.
8 pp., 1 pl., 1 fig. (Publ. 4107.) Apr. 16,1953. (20 cents.)
No. 10. The Tillodontia: An early Tertiary order of mammals, by C. Lewis Gazin.
110 pp., 16 pls., 38 figs. (Publ. 4109.) June 23, 1953. ($1.50.)
No. 11. Geologic background of Iyatayet archeological site, Cape Denbigh, Alaska,
by D. M. Hopkins and J. L. Giddings, Jr. 33 pp., 4 pls., 7 figs. (Publ. 4110.)
June 11, 1953. (50 cents.)
No. 18. Regarding Washington, D. C., precipitation and temperature, 1952 and
1953, by C. G. Abbot. 7 pp., 2 figs. (Publ. 4130.) Mar. 3, 1953. (10 cents.)
VOLUME 122
No.1. Long-range effects of the sun’s variation on the temperature of Washington,
D.C. 14 pp.,5 figs. (Publ. 4131.) May 12, 1953. (25 cents.)
No. 3. The metamorphosis of a fly’s head, by R. E. Snodgrass. 25 pp., 7 figs.
(Publ. 4138.) June 25, 1858. (30 cents.)
ANNUAL REPORTS
Report for 1951.—The complete volume of the Annual Report of the
Board of Regents for 1951 was received from the printer October
7, 1952:
Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution showing
the operations, expenditures, and condition of the Institution for the year ended
June 30, 1951. ix + 449 pp., 69 pls., 16 figs. (Publ. 4062.) 1952.
The general appendix contained the following papers (Publs. 4063-
4082) :
Stormy weather on the sun, by Walter Orr Roberts.
An appraisal of cloud seeding as a means of increasing precipitation, by Henry G.
Houghton.
On Hinstein’s new theory, by Leopold Infeld.
Some results in the field of high-pressure physics, by P. W. Bridgman.
Ultrasonics, by Arthur R. Laufer.
The industrial applications of atomic energy, by M. L. Oliphant.
Some prospects in the field of electronics, by V. K. Zworykin.
The new chemical elements, by Saul Dushman.
SECRETARY'S REPORT LHS
The insides of metals, by Carl A. Zapffe.
Atomic weapons against cancer, by Wi. N. Lockard.
Enzymes: Machine tools of the cellular factory, by B. A. Kilby.
The fauna of America, by Austin H. Clark.
The mechanics of snakes, by Alfred Leutscher.
Hormones and the metamorphosis of insects, by V. B. Wigglesworth.
Utilizing our soil resources for greater production, by Robert M. Salter.
The carbon—14 method of age determination, by Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr.
River Basin Surveys: The first five years of the Inter-Agency Archeological and
Paleontological Salvage Program, by Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr.
Artificial lighting in America: 1830-1860, by C. Malcolm Watkins.
The development of the halftone screen, by Jacob Kainen.
The artist and the atom, by Peter Blanc.
Report for 1952.—The Report of the Secretary, which will form part
of the Annual Report of the Board of Regents to Congress, was issued
January 8, 1953:
Report of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and financial report of
the executive committee of the Board of Regents for the year ended June 30,
1952. ix + 175 pp., 3 pls., 1 fig. (Publ. 4102.) 1953.
SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS
Dresses of the First Ladies of the White House, by Margaret W. Brown. 149 pp.,
70 pls. (85 in color). (Publ. 4060.) [Aug. 19] 1952. ($6.00.)
PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
The editorial work of the National Museum continued under the
immediate direction of the editor, John S. Lea. Ernest EK. Biebig-
hauser was added to the editorial staff on January 5, 1953, by transfer
from the Public Health Service. The Museum issued during the year
1 Annual Report, 18 Proceedings papers, 3 Bulletins, and 1 paper in
the series Contributions from the United States National Herbarium,
as follows:
ANNUAL REPORT
Annual Report for the year ended June 80,1952. iv + 103 pp. [Jan. 15, 1953.)
PROCEEDINGS
VOLUME 102
No. 3306. The sipunculid worms of California and Baja California, by Walter
Kenrick Fisher. Pp. 371-450, pls. 18-39. July 8, 1952.
VOLUME 108
No. 3311. Two new naucorid bugs of the genus Ambrysus, by Ira La Rivers.
Pp. 1-7, fig. 1. Feb. 12, 1953.
No. 8312. Two new scale-mite parasites of lizards, by R. F. Lawrence. Pp.
9-18, figs. 2-7. Mar. 10, 1953.
No. 8213. Notes on the biology and immature stages of a cricket parasite of the
genus Rhopalosoma, by Ashley B. Gurney. Pp. 19-34, pl. 1, figs. 8 and 9.
* Mar. 10, 1953.
156 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
No. 3314. Photuris bethaniensis, a new lampyrid firefly, by Frank A. McDermott.
Pp. 35-37. Feb. 26, 1953.
No. 3315. Distribution, general bionomics, and recognition characters of two
cockroaches recently established in the United States, by Ashley B. Gurney.
Pp. 39-56, pl. 2, fig. 10. Mar. 10, 1953.
No. 3316. Biting midges of the heleid genus Stilobezzia in North America, by
Willis W. Wirth. Pp. 57-85, figs. ll and12. May 15, 1953.
No. 3317. Beetles of oedemerid genus Vasaces Champion, by Ross H. Arnett,
Jr. Pp. 87-94, fig. 18. . Apr. 30, 1958.
No. 3318. Scarabaeid beetles of the genus Bradycinetulus and closely related
genera in the United States, by O. L. Cartwright. Pp. 95-120, pls. 3 and 4, figs.
14-16. June 5, 1953.
No. 3319. The chrysomelid beetles of the genus Strabala Chevrolat, by Doris
Holmes Blake. Pp. 121-134, fig. 17. June 5, 1958.
No. 3320. American biting midges of the heleid genus Monohelea, by Willis W.
Wirth. Pp. 185-154, figs. 18 and 19. June 17, 1953.
No. 3321. A review of the beetle family Cephaloidae, by Ross H. Arnett, Jr.
Pp. 155-161, pl. 5, fig. 20. May 15, 1953.
No. 3322. The fresh-water triclads (Turbellaria) of Alaska, by Roman Kenk.
Pp. 163-186, pls. 6-8, figs. 21-25. June 5, 19538.
BULLETINS
200. The generic names of the beetle family Staphylinidae, by Richard HE. Black-
welder. iv -+ 483 pp. July 21, 1952.
203. Life histories of North American wood warblers, by Arthur Cleveland Bent.
Pp. xi + 734, 83 pls. June 15, 1953.
204. Catalog of the cycle collection of the Division of Engineering, United States
National Museum, by Smith Hempstone Oliver. Pp. vi 4+ 40, 24 pls., 1 fig. May
26, 1953.
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL HERBARIUM
VOLUME 30
Part 5. Studies of Pacific Island plants, XV. The genus Hlaeocarpus in the New
Hebrides, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga, by A. C. Smith. Pp. i-v + 523-575. [May
8] 1953.
PUBLICATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
During the year the Bureau issued 1 Annual Report, 5 Bulletins, and
3 papers in the series Publications of the Institute of Social Anthro-
pology, as follows:
ANNUAL REPORT
Sixty-ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1951-1952.
ii + 30 pp. [Feb. 6] 19538.
BULLETINS
145. The Indian tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton. Pp. i-vi + 1-726,
5 maps. [Nov. 10] 1952.
150. The modal personality structure of the Tuscarora Indians, as revealed by
the Rorschach test, by Anthony F. C. Wallace. Pp. i-viii + 1-120, 1 pl. 8 figs.
[Oct. 9] 1952.
151. Anthropological Papers, Nos. 38-42. Pp. i-ix + 1-507, 37 pls., 25 figs., 7
maps. [Mar. 16] 1953.
SECRETARY’S REPORT 157
No. 33. “Of the Crow Nation,” by Edwin Thompson Denig, edited, with bio-
graphical sketch and footnotes, by John C. Ewers.
No. 34. The water lily in Maya art: A complex of alleged Asiatic origin,
by Robert L. Rands.
No. 35. The Medicine Bundies of the Florida Seminole and the Green Corn
Dance, by Louis Capron.
No. 36. Technique in the music of the American Indian, by Frances
Densmore.
No. 37. The belief of the Indian in a connection between song and the super-
natural, by Frances Densmore.
No. 38. Aboriginal fish poisons, by Robert F. Heizer.
No. 39. Aboriginal navigation off the coasts of Upper and Baja California,
by Robert F’. Heizer and William C. Massey.
No. 40. Exploration of an Adena mound at Natrium, West Virginia, by
Ralph 8. Solecki.
No. 41. The Wind River Shoshone Sun Dance, by D. B. Shimkin.
No. 42. Current trends in the Wind River Shoshone Sun Dance, by Fred W.
Voget.
153. La Venta, Tabasco: A study of Olmec ceramics and art, by Philip Drucker.
Pp. i-x-+1-257, 66 pls., 64 figs. [Dec. 17] 1952.
155. Prehistoric settlement patterns in the Vira Valley, Pert, by Gordon R.
Willey. Pp. i-xxii + 1-453, 60 pls., 88 figs. [Apr. 10] 1953.
PUBLICATIONS OF THE INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
No. 13. The Tajin Totonac. Part 1. History, subsistence, shelter, and tech-
nology, by Isabel Kelly and Angel Palerm. Pp. i-xiv + 1-869, 33 pls., 69 figs.,
18 maps. [Sept. 22] 1952.
No. 15. Indian tribes of northern Mato Grosso, Brazil, by Kalervo Oberg. Pp.
i-vii+1-144, 10 pls., 2 figs., 3 maps, 14 charts. [Apr. 2] 1953.
No. 16. Penny Capitalism: A Guatemalan Indian economy, by Sol Tax. Pp.
i-x + 1-230, 6 maps, 19 charts. [June 16] 1953.
PUBLICATIONS OF THE NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS
Contemporary Swiss paintings. (Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition
Service). Illustrated. [July 1952.]
Reveries of Paris, by Edwin Scott (18638-1929). Illustrated. [August 1952.]
French drawings. (Smithsonian Institution Traveling Hxhibition Service.)
Illustrated. [November 1952.]
Pastel portraits by Alice Pike Barney, and Paintings of Paris by Edwin Scott.
Illustrated. [November 1952.]
Art and magic in Arnhem Land. (Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition
Service.) Illustrated. [November 1952.]
Design from Britain. (Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.)
Illustrated. [May 1953.]
PUBLICATIONS OF THE FREER GALLERY OF ART
OCCASIONAL PAPERS
VOLUME 2
No. 1. Fourteenth-century blue-and-white: A group of Chinese porcelains in the
Topkapu Sarayi Miizesi, Istanbul, by John Alexander Pope. 85 pp., 44 pls.
[July 1] 1952.
158 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
REPORT OF THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
The annual reports of the American Historical Association are
transmitted by the Association to the Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution and are by him communicated to Congress, as provided by
the act of incorporation of the Association. The following report
volumes were issued during the year:
Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1950. Vol. 2. Writings
on American history, 1948. xxxiii + 462 pp. [Oct. 31] 1952.
Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1951. Vol. 1. Proceed-
ings and list of members. 207 pp. [Apr. 14] 1953.
REPORT OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY, DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTION
The manuscript of the Fifty-fifth Annual Report of the National
Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, was transmitted to
Congress, in accordance with law, on January 28, 1953.
Respectfully submitted.
Paux H. Oruser, Chief, Editorial Division.
Dr. Leonarp CARMICHAEL,
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
Report of the Executive Committee of the Board of
Regents of the Smithsonian Institution
For the Year Ended June 30, 1953
To the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution:
Your executive committee respectfully submits the following report
in relation to the funds of the Smithsonian Institution, together with
a statement of the appropriations by Congress for the Government
bureaus in the administrative charge of the Institution.
SMITHSONIAN ENDOWMENT FUND
The original bequest of James Smithson was £104,960 8s. 6d.—
$508,318.46. Refunds of money expended in prosecution of the claim,
freights, insurance, and other incidental expenses, together with pay-
ment into the fund of the sum of £5,015, which had been withheld
during the lifetime of Madame de la Batut, brought the fund to the
amount of $550,000.
Since the original bequest, the Institution has received gifts from
various sources, the income from which may be used for the general
work of the Institution. These, including the original bequest, plus
savings, are listed below, together with the income for the present year.
ENDOWMENT FUNDS
(Income for the unrestricted use of the Institution)
Partly deposited in the United States Treasury at 6 percent and partly invested
in stocks, bonds, and other holdings
Income
Fund Investment present year
Parent fund (original Smithson bequest, plus accumulated savings) ----_-____- $728, 977. 24 $43, 726. 13
Subsequent bequests, gifts, and other funds, partly deposited in the U. S.
Treasury and partly invested in the consolidated fund:
AD bOttss Wie la.. SDOCIAl fit di ee Poe totic ee Sey Rt) a Lae ye Tare) 5, 270. 00 52. 00
Avery, Robert 8..and Lydia, bequest fund__.....-..-......_../.-- 57, 267. 18 3, 031. 80
Mndow ment fan =. set Se ee ae a la eh a 387, 154. 40 19, 612. 18
Habelebra seibeduest funds... 2222-8 72 es ed 500. 00 30.00
Hachenberg, George P. and Caroline, bequest fund___.__________________ 4, 405. 40 223. 12
Hamilton, ames) pequestfunGg... oo) es ee ee 2, 942. 20 172. 42
Henry, Caroline, bequest fund____-.___-- ee See ee at Rae eee 1, 324. 81 67. 09
Hodgkins) \Thomss'G; (general) gift). 2 22. ee ee Fgh Bs 149, 182. 04 8, 640. 91
Porter, Henry Karke Memorial ftir dee ee cree tee ee ee a 313, 713. 17 15, 891. 75
Hhees; WilliamiJiones: bequest funds see se Lee pee me elbela Ie ae t 1, 108. 21 61. 67
Sanford; GeorgesH..smemorial fund= 2-220. oe 2, 075. 12 115. 37
Witherspoon, Thomas A., memorial fund___..-.._._____________ Sera Seale 141, 360. 51 7, 160. 86
Dotalssateececsees. cs /eseee bh! EE YAC Shomer tame es oe ey een eh Oe 1, 066, 303. 04 55, 059. 17
Granditotaliestes4: 2-5 ste 2 a En eevee Ai Mealy de ete Ue 1, 795, 280. 28 $8, 785. 30
—_—_—— rr
159
160 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
The Institution holds also a number of endowment gifts, the income
of each being restricted to specific use. These, plus accretions to date,
are listed below, together with income for the present year.
Fund Investment iceenee a
Abbot, William L., fund, for investigations in biology .---------------------- $114, 655, 51 $5, 786. 26
Arthur, James, fund, for investigations and study of the sun and annual lec-
turelonisames 725 Jt £3 = Ee Pee TOC ee eT A ee ec ee 43, 808. 44 2, 219. 20
Bacon, Virginia Purdy, fund, for traveling scholarship to investigate fauna of
countries'other thanvthe Unibed SUAveS sone anne een ae ae eee nearer 54, 880. 05 2, 779. 99
Baird, Lucy H., fund, for creating a memorial to Secretary Baird_---.-------- 26, 373. 56 1, 335. 98
Barney, Alice Pike, memorial fund, for collecting of paintings and pastels and
for encouragement of American artistic endeavor-_---.---------------------- 26, 477. 87 1, 341, 25
Barstow, Frederick D., fund, for purchase of animals for Zoological Park- - -- 1, 095. 17 55. 49
Canfield Collection fund, for increase and care of the Canfield collection of
minerals: sah cee SV AEE Ae a fe ee poe ae ene See eee 41, 895. 57 2, 122. 29
Casey, Thomas L., fund, for maintenance of the Casey collection and pro-
motion of researches relating to Coleoptera. __..--------------------------- 13, 730. 13 695. 53
Chamberlain, Francis Lea, fund, for increase and promotion of Isaac Lea
collectionvofcemsiand-mollusks== 229) eee ee 30, 846. 83 1, 562. 61
Dykes, Charles, bequest fund, for support in financial research -------------- 47, 166. 59 2, 388. 99
Eickemeyer, Florence Brevoort, fund, for preservation and exhibition of the
™ photographic collection of Rudolph Eickemeyer, Jr-_----------------------- 11, 906. 67 603. 17
Hillyer, Virgil, fund, for increase and care of Virgil Hillyer collection of light-
ine Objects esas. eae sea tee Seen sae See oe eaten Se ere ee ee Ee eee 7, 199. 12 364. 67
Hitchcock, Albert S., library fund, for care of the Hitchcock Agrostological
LIDTEry costae pan nae cont eas sean caso teat canes cee eee nee eee mene eee 1, 728. 46 87. 56
Hodgkins fund, specific, for increase and diffusion of more exact knowledge in
regard to nature and properties of atmospheric air___---------------------- 100, 000. 00 6, 000. 00
Hrdlitka, Ale§ and Marie, fund, to further researches in physical anthro-
pology and publication in connection therewith___.....---..--------------- 34, 747. 61 1, 675. 31
Hughes, Bruce, fund, to found Hughes alcove-__.--.--.---------------------- 20, 967. 27 1, 062 16
Long, Annette and Edith C., fund, for upkeep and preservation of Long col-
lection of embroideries, laces, and. textiles............-.......-.-....<---.-. 594. 78 30. 12
Maxwell, Mary E., fund, for care and exhibition of Maxwell collection -_-___- 21, 485. 60 1, 088. 36
Myer, Catherine Walden, fund, for purchase of first-class works of art for use
and benefit of the National Collection of Fine Arts_...__......-------_--_- 20, 763. 96 1, 051. 81
Nelson, Edward W., fund, for support of biological studies._...__.._.______- 5, 290. 60 147. 43
Noyes, Frank B., fund, for use in connection with the collection of dolls
placed in the U. 8S. National Museum through the interest of Mr. and Mrs.
INO VOS ess Sree eed ee ee ie ee ks ed 1, 052. 40 53.33
Pell, Cornelia Livingston, fund, for maintenance of Alfred Duane Pell collec-
PLOT aire ee me AE ee Rane Se eR A RS Dee oy 21h ell De Spee ieee en 8, 119. 55 411.31
Poore, Lucy T. and George W., fund, for general use of the Institution when
PIN CIDA AITO UES EO. gy OU ae cee a er ee 155, 971. 69 7, 757. 27
Rathbun, Richard, memorial fund, for use of division of U. S. National
Museum ‘containing’ Crustacea.-2 2-2 eee eee 11, 650. 56 590. 19
Reid, Addison T., fund, for founding chair in biology, in memory of Asher
AM nise . - = ete See eo ts OS ee eo Ee ee 31, 440.75 1, 692. 52
Roebling Collection fund, for care, improvement, and increase of Roebling
collectionof minerals). ba Ses eed a eee 132, 200. 95 6, 696. 88
Rollins, Miriam and William, fund, for investigations in physics and chem-
NS trys Ta Ss Re eke ee pee et ee 102, 854. 58 5, 210. 36
Smithsonian employees’ retirement fund............-..-.--------.---------- 30, 221. 14 1, 590. 59
Springer, Frank, fund, for care and increase of the Springer collection and
libranye 202 ieee Bee eh ee le east OR oR 19, 643, 49 995. 06
Strong, Julia D., bequest fund, for benefit of the National Collection of Fine
SATUS 5 che 6 RE Re be Fe cee cee ee ee eee er re ee 10, 952, 22 554. 79
Walcott, Charles D. and Mary Vaux, research fund, for development of
geological and paleontological studies and publishing results thereof_.__.__- 486, 060. 81 21, 419. 18
Walcott, Mary Vaux, fund, for publications in botany__--_.____------_------ 63, 407. 02 3, 212.10
Younger, Helen Walcott, fund, held in trust................._.________-_-___ 69, 077. 72 3, 120. 88
Zerbee, Frances Brincklé, fund, for endowment of aquaria_______._-_-----__- 1, 039. 05 52.65
US NX) 2 |e Ee hE le A I rae MeL Puan PN J Jamey UE End et 1, 749, 305. 72 86, 162. 30
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT 161
FREER GALLERY OF ART FUND
Early in 1906, by deed of gift, Charles L. Freer, of Detroit, gave
to the Institution his collection of Chinese and other Oriental objects
of art, as well as paintings, etchings, and other works of art by
Whistler, Thayer, Dewing, and other artists. Later he also gave
funds for construction of a building to house the collection, and
finally in his will, probated November 6, 1919, he provided stock and
securities to the estimated value of $1,958,591.42, as an endowment
fund for the operation of the Gallery.
The above fund of Mr. Freer was almost entirely represented by
20,465 shares of stock in Parke, Davis & Co. As this stock advanced
in value, much of it was sold and the proceeds reinvested so that the
fund now amounts to $6,951,703.80 in selected securities.
SUMMARY OF ENDOWMENTS
Invested endowment for general purposes__..___.___._._--____- $1, 795, 280. 28
Invested endowment for specific purposes other than Freer endow-
XE TG ee ee a a a Na OU IRC YL ac LI ea 1, 749, 305. 72
Total invested endowment other than Freer endow-
VG OYA 0 ORS ah hep Rs S29 an 3, 544, 586. 00
Freer invested endowment for specific purposes___..______-___-_ 6, 951, 703. 80
Total invested endowment for all purposes____________ 10, 496, 289. 80
CLASSIFICATION OF INVESTMENTS
Deposited in the U. S. Treasury at 6 percent per annum, as
authorized in the U. S. Revised Statutes, sec. 5591____._____- 1, 000, 000. 00
Investments other than Freer endowment (cost
or market value at date acquired):
Bones = me Se eM eer ee see $873, 194. 93
DUOCKS=- ee ee Bee Ree 1, 558, 447. 71
Real estate and first-mortgage notes_______ 6, 071. 00
Wninvested Ganitalese. .. 22 ok kat 106, 872. 36
2, 544, 586. 00
Total investments other than Freer endowment__-_____ 3, 544, 586. 00
Investments of Freer endowment (cost or market
value at date acquired):
BESO CS cm as VE a cre ee $4, 012, 1380. 08
SOON crete Me se hs i a 2, 925, 890. 21
Unisvested capitals: 2s 2s ee 13, 6838. 51
6, 951, 703. 80
Potalinvestmonts. <2 2. ee eee et OA GE 2ROn SO
162 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
CASH BALANCES, RECEIPTS, AND DISBURSEMENTS DURING FISCAL
YEAR 1953?
Cash. balance on band June30, 1952 2s ee ee $511, 063. 79
Receipts, other than Freer endowment:
Income from investments—=-------22_2-=-22- $207, 174. 39
Giftsiandicontributions =]: =e eee 120, 932. 05
Booksiand! publications) - 25. 522) =e 42, 325. 07
Miscellanecouse o>) 2~ see Bie Se 30, 612, 65
Proceeds fromrealiestate=2 52-4 = Sa ee 8, 643. 96
Payroll withholdings and refund of advances
CEG) ee ee orn Eee te ne eee re ee 375. 05
Proceeds from other stocks and bonds (net)____ 102, 912. 53
Total receipts other then Freer endowment------------ 512, 975. 70
Receipts from Freer endowment:
Interestiand dividends=22e2se see 7b see ata es $326, 453. 31
Proceeds from sales and purchases (net) _~___-_- 138, 477. 04
Total receipts from Freer endowment---_-------------- 339, 930. 35
DOtale eae OT, ae ee es alle a ee 1, 363, 969. 84
Disbursements other than Freer endowment:
AGIMINIStraAtlon? 25.2222 2e eens ween eae $95, 643. 45
TER GUS) BUCY A 10) 0 f= pene Nana ie het ie Sy wes a es ea ee 28, 196. 50
WPT area ee So ee oe en eee 855. 51
Custodian fees and servicing securities_______- 1, 260. 72
Miscellaneous: i<j eis eel ee 2, 213. 40
Resesne lepers at ker is See he ea cee aOR 194, 674. 67
N. t. netirement Systenbs 22 44h is Bee Se 2, 768. 34
U.S. Government and other contracts (net) __-- 571. 63
Purchase and sale of securities (net)____.______- 130, 637. 20
Total disbursements other than Freer endowment_-_-__-__- 456, 821. 42
Disbursements from Freer endowment:
rot Fig V2) pep a eR ge nals Ay a ee Le Oe $108, 485. 59
Purchasesitonarcicollection. 25455244 s—> a= 134, 955. 00
Custodian fees and servicing securities _ ___---- 10, 494, 99
IMiscéllaneoug eye ot SS a ee ee Sy Se 20, 041. 87
Total disbursements from Freer endowment-_-_-_-___---- 273, 977. 45
Disbursements of current funds for investments in
U.S. Government bonds:
PIT CWA SCS ae ea las Mg Eel oi lpn a $798, 746. 76
Soldionredeemed a ith hs st) eed yee ee 699, 406. 13
Total disbursements of current funds for investments in
U.S. Government bonds (net)) 22-022) ee 99, 340. 63
‘[Lotaldisbursementsseas2 2-22 ee ene 2 ee eee 830, 139. 50
Gashipalances une oU; Lode. 2 2 eee Set ee eee 533, 830. 34
Gta he Ae NE i eo ee ree 1, 363, 969. 84
1 This statement does not include Government appropriations under the admin-
istrative charge of the Institution.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT
ASSETS
Cash:
United States Treasury cur-
rent account= ass ee = $369, 195. 19
In banks and on hand___-_-_-_ 164, 665. 15
533, 860. 34
Less uninvested endowment
PUGS ee ee Se Pein Sh 120, 555. 87
eee NSS cy
Gravelvand other advances. 22. = Soe. 6 ee Ae 16, 252. 81
Cash invested (U. S. Treasury
rioters) Fafa craic wh pepe lT ih Ad peel pe way yey 699, 594. 60
Investments—at book value:
Endowment funds:
Freer Gallery of Art:
Stocks and bonds_______- $6, 938, 020. 29
Uninvested, cash) secu aun 13, 683. 51
6, 951, 703. 80
Investments at book value other
than Freer:
Stocks and bonds________ 2, 431, 642. 64
Real-estate and mortgage
v0) te). aad a ee OAT 6, 071. 00
Uninvested cash________- 106, 872. 36
Special deposit in U. S.
Treasury at 6 percent
INGETES tse ee oe 1, 000, 000. 00
——_—_—————_ 3, 544, 586. 00
163
$1, 129, 151. 88
10, 496, 289. 80
11, 625, 441. 68
UNEXPENDED FUNDS AND ENDOWMENTS
Unexpended funds:
Income from Freer Gallery of Art endowment_____________
Income from other endowments:
LETT g TC] O26 IRB em Ae 12/4 me ea IOLA $246, 696. 79
(ESHER a A OIE HV RL OP LS 126, 323. 90
$477, 020. 89
373, 020. 69
279, 110. 30
1, 129, 151, 88
Endowment funds:
Hreen Gallery jofArto. 2. lotta ule es $6, 951, 7038. 80
Other:
TRepericbed see) a. 1 le $1, 749, 305. 72
General. eee a ok ee 1, 795, 280. 28
ae Oss 0S0700
10, 496, 289. 80
11, 625, 441. 68
The practice of maintaining savings accounts in several of the
Washington banks and trust companies has been continued during the
past year, and interest on these deposits amounted to $871.17.
164 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
In many instances, deposits are made in banks for convenience in
collection of checks, and later such funds are withdrawn and deposited
in the United States Treasury. Disbursement of funds is made by
check signed by the Secretary of the Institution and drawn on the
United States Treasury.
The foregoing report relates only to the private funds of the
Institution.
The Institution gratefully acknowledges gifts from the following:
Brittain Thompson.
Laura D. Barney, additional gift for the Alice Pike Barney memorial fund.
Rose Banon.
Robert M. de Calry.
Guggenheim Foundation, grant for Honey Guide Bird Publication.
E. A. Link, Link Aviation Corporation, additional gift for historical research
(marine archeology).
Dr. R. C. Moore, for illustrations fund for Foraminifera.
National Science Foundation, for research, Descriptive Flora of the Fiji Islands.
National Science Foundation, grant for foreign exchanges.
Edward W. Nelson, for biological studies.
National Geographic Society, for archeological work in Panama.
Research Corporation, for Canal Zone Biological Area.
The following appropriations were made by Congress for the Gov-
ernment bureaus under the administrative charge of the Smithsonian
Institution for the fiscal year 1953:
Salaries and (expel SCs mee eee a eee eee ee reer ea seh ee ne $2, 419, 500. 00
Nationale zoological Parke = sss 22 ee we ee ae ee 615, 000. 00
In addition, funds were transferred from other departments of the
Government for expenditure under the direction of the Smithsonian
Institution as follows:
Working fund (transferred to the Smithsonian Institution by the
IMsStinte of Inter-American wAtralrs)) ese ee re er $24, 287. 37
Working funds, transferred from the National Park Service, Interior
Department, for archeological investigations in river basins
throughout. the United :States- 2255 ls sets ee 122, 700. 00
The Institution also administers a trust fund for partial support
of the Canal Zone Biological Area, located on Barro Colorado Island
in the Canal Zone.
The report of the audit of the Smithsonian private funds follows:
WASHINGTON, D. C., September 8, 1953.
To THE BOARD OF REGENTS,
Smithsonian Institution,
Washington 25, D. C.:
We have examined the accounts of the Smithsonian Institution relative to its
private endowment funds and gifts (but excluding the National Gallery of Art
and other departments, bureaus, or operations administered by the Institution
under Federal appropriations) for the year ended June 30, 1953. Our examina-
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT 165
tion was made in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, and
accordingly included such tests of the accounting records and such other auditing
procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances.
The Institution maintains its accounts on a cash basis and does not accrue
income and expenses. Land, buildings, furniture, equipment, works of art,
living and other specimens and certain sundry property are not included in
the accounts of the Institution.
In our opinion, the accompanying financial statements present fairly the posi-
tion of the private funds and the cash and investments thereof of the Smith-
sonian Institution at June 30, 1953 (excluding the National Gallery of Art and
other departments, bureaus, or operations administered by the Institution under
Federal appropriations) and the cash receipts and disbursements for the year
then ended, in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles applied
on a basis consistent with that of the preceding year.
PEAT, MARWICK, MrTcuHeELy & Co.
Respectfully submitted.
Rosert V. FLemine,
VaANNEVAR Bus,
CLARENCE CANNON,
Executive Committee.
GENERAL APPENDIX
to the
SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOR 1953
284725—54-—--12
ADVERTISEMENT
The object of the Gznrrat AprEenprx to the Annual Report of the
Smithsonian Institution is to furnish brief accounts of scientific dis-
covery in particular directions; reports of investigations made by
staff members and collaborators of the Institution; and memoirs of a
general character or on special topics that are of interest or value to
the numerous correspondents of the Institution.
It has been a prominent object of the Board of Regents of the
Smithsonian Institution from a very early date to enrich the annual
report required of them by law with memoirs illustrating the more
remarkable and important developments in physical and biological
discovery, as well as showing the general character of the operations
of the Institution; and, during the greater part of its history, this
purpose has been carried out largely by the publication of such papers
as would possess an interest to all attracted by scientific progress.
In 1880, induced in part by the discontinuance of an annual sum-
mary of progress which for 30 years previously had been issued by
well-known private publishing firms, the Secretary had a series of
abstracts prepared by competent collaborators, showing concisely the
prominent features of recent scientific progress in astronomy, geology,
meteorology, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, botany, zoology, and
anthropology. This latter plan was continued, though not altogether
satisfactorily, down to and including the year 1888.
In the report of 1889, a return was made to the earlier method of
presenting a miscellaneous selection of papers (some of them original)
embracing a considerable range of scientific investigation and discus-
sion. This method has been continued in the present report for 1953.
Reprints of the various papers in the General Appendix may be
obtained, as long as the supply lasts, on request addressed to the Edi-
torial and Publications Division, Smithsonian Institution, Washing-
ton 25, DiC:
168
Science, Art, and Education’
By R. E. Gipson
Director, Applied Physics Laboratory
The Johns Hopkins University
“The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfills Himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.”
Tennyson—WMorte d@’ Arthur.
Extensive changes in the scope and character of scientific research
have taken place during the past 75 years. Scientific research began
as a private activity of interest to a few inquiring minds, pursuing
knowledge for its own sake and their own esthetic satisfaction. It
has grown to be an activity of widespread public interest cultivated
for results that have an immediate and far-reaching effect on eco-
nomic, social, political, and military thought and action. This change
has proceeded at an ever-increasing rate. Its extent may be appreci-
ated when we consider the large sums of money now devoted by the
industries and government of this country to the support of scientific
research, and remember that only 40 years ago Moseley thanked
another college at Oxford for the loan of a vacuum pump that made
possible his classical experiments in the X-ray spectra of the elements.
For reasons we shall explore later, it was inevitable that science
and scientific research should emerge into a dominant role in modern
technology and that concomitant changes should occur in the outlook
of educational and research institutions. The enrichening effect of
technology on our material civilization is unquestionable, and the
continued extension of the role of science in technology is imperative,
if we are to preserve ascendancy in a world of keen economic and
military competition. We may, however, wonder about the increasing
involvement of universities, of centers of original scientific thought,
and of individual scientists in the maelstrom of practical affairs
through the magnetic effect of the large financial support available
from industrial and governmental sources. The study of science
1This paper is based on articles that appeared in the American Scientist, vol. 41,
pp. 389-409, 1953, and the Armed Forces Chemical Journal for July 1953, and other
unpublished lectures given by the author.
169
170 § ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
started as an intellectual pursuit, and it still offers to mankind con-
tributions that transcend purely materialistic considerations. Herein
lie its points of contact with the other esthetic and intellectual activi-
ties, and its disciplines and methods, whose value in cultivating dis-
crimination and judgment in the average citizen constitutes one of the
strongest educational assets of our time. It is possible that this side
of science is being neglected and depleted by excessive preoccupation
with material advances. This is one of the problems arising from the
accelerating growth of scientific technology, and its solution demands
the establishment of a balanced perspective in which to view the
kaleidoscopic scene presented by our times.
In order to develop a background for considering the delicate bal-
ance between material progress on the one hand, and the search for
new truths on the other, I propose to look again at the incentives and
objectives of science and the useful arts and to sketch a simple pattern
by which we may trace fundamentals through the maze of modern
technology. To achieve this balanced perspective, we shall attempt
to bring out resemblances and differences that exist between the
sciences and the arts, and consider human attributes and relationships
involved in their cultivation. This will lead us to the implications of
the growth of scientific technology in education, and consequent ex-
pansion in the scope of universities and colleges. Finally, we shall
note that the meager influence of scientific thought on the intellectual
outlook of society at large suggests that there are ideas arising in
the field of natural philosophy which might be profitably transplanted
into the field of moral philosophy.
THE USEFUL ARTS
From earliest times, man has sought by the use of his intelligence
and skill to adapt the resources of the physical world to the enhance-
ment of his own welfare, comfort, and security. Thanks to his capac-
ity for conceptual thought and his ability to communicate thought
through true speech, man has been able to preserve the results of his
efforts in a cumulative tradition. Thus, there arose over the centuries
the practice of the “useful arts,” an activity that has supplied all the
material benefits which mankind has enjoyed and on which its very
existence depends. “Art” is a word used in a variety of senses, but
I suggest that in its principal connotation it refers to the reduction
of a complex of ideas to a form that appeals directly to the emotions
of man. This is a definition that covers the art of the painter, the
musician, the actor, and the poet, as well as that of the weaver or
designer, the silversmith, the engineer, and the physician. The in-
centives of the useful arts lay in a realization of the needs or wants
of society, of possible markets, and of military or economic problems.
The methods used by artists and artisans were purely empirical, based
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON (7a
on individual training, skill, ingenuity, or experience. Imaginative
ability to perceive, weigh, and integrate intuitively the many ele-
ments of a complex phenomenon and to express the results of this
intuition in tangible form or communicable pattern is an essential
trait of the successful artist. By these attributes, artists through
the centuries have been able to reduce to readily apprehended or
useful forms complexes of ideas they did not understand explicitly,
by rules or practices learned by empirical cut-and-try methods. Thus,
the useful arts and industries were founded on complex rules and
procedures of purely local or specific application which were often
the result of years of patient and groping search. Frequently these
rules and procedures were so specific in their application that a slight
departure from standard practice resulted in failure. It is not sur-
prising, therefore, that trade secrets were one of the most highly
valued possessions of each art or craft. Teamwork was not a char-
acteristic of the arts. Departures from standard practice were dis-
couraged, and the extension of an art or the creation of a new one
depended on chance or on individual intuition.
In the intensely competitive atmosphere of the modern world,
the traditional methods of the arts with their reliance on the expert
and his rules have proved to be inadequate and uncertain. Industries
have turned more and more to science for assistance in advancing
the arts on which they depend.
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
“Science,” says C. N. Hinshelwood, “is not the mere collection of
facts, which are infinitely numerous and mostly uninteresting, but
the attempt of the human mind to order these facts into satisfying
patterns ... The imposition of design on nature is in fact an act of
artistic creation on the part of the man of science, though it is subject
to a discipline more exacting than of poetry or painting.”? I sub-
seribe without reservation to this statement, which places as the
principal objectives of science the study of human experience, the
establishment of the validity of this experience, and the fitting of
valid experiences into satisfying patterns or structures, which can
be communicated unambiguously to others. The great contribution
of Newton was not the observation that apples fall, but the fitting of
this fact into the same pattern that describes the motion of the planets
in their orbits and the expression of this pattern by a general formula.
Thus, while the byproducts of scientific research may be items of
such importance as new instruments, new materials, new machines,
the amassing of data—or even the creation of new sciences such as
electronics or nucleonics—its unique objective is the systematization
? Hinshelwood, C. N., The structure of physical chemistry. Oxford, 1951.
172 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
of valid human experience in satisfying patterns that can be described
exactly. This attempt to fit valid experiences or facts into satisfying
patterns with the help of the cohesive bond of a system of logic is
important from three points of view. In the first place, it facilitates
comprehension. An established pattern is an excellent aid to memory ;
we can carry around a great deal of knowledge merely by remembering
the pattern and not overburdening ourselves with isolated facts.
This increases the power of the human mind to comprehend its cumu-
lative experience; I need hardly remind you that such a pattern is
exemplified by the laws of thermodynamics and the theory that makes
possible rigorous deductions from them. This pattern embraces a
large fraction of the experience of chemistry and engineering. In
the second place, a pattern gives us a basis for understanding by bring-
ing out relationships among isolated facts or events. We understand
new experiences when we can express them in terms of experiences
already familiar tous. In the third place, a satisfying pattern always
suggests extensions of itself and, thereby, gives a sound and fertile
foundation for the prediction of new facts or events. In short, a
satisfying pattern (or theory) enables us to mobilize knowledge for
immediate use, not only in the domain of pure science but also in the
domain of applied science.
Over the course of three centuries this quest for understanding has
developed a natural philosophy whose foundations have become pro-
gressively simpler and whose logic has grown more powerful. The
elements of the satisfying pattern have become simpler, its design
more apparent. Its realm of application has broadened from the
simple mechanics of Newton to cover the various branches of modern
physics, chemistry, and engineering, and it is rapidly embracing the
more chaotic experience of biology and medicine. Indeed, the pattern
has become more than satisfying; it has become compelling. When
our experience does not fit the pattern, our first reaction is to make
sure that the experience is valid and not vitiated by some instrumental
error or oversimplification of the conditions of observation. Some-
times the pattern itself must be changed radically, as occurred with
the introduction of the relativity theories and quantum mechanics,
but these changes merely enlarged the whole pattern, requiring the
rearrangement but not the abandonment of the existing elements of
design. Like a piece of fine tapestry, the pattern of natural philos-
ophy is made up of numerous smaller patterns, each of which has an
artistic consistency in itself and in its relation to others. As scientific
knowledge has grown, broader patterns have become apparent;
the detailed design has merged into a consistent whole without loss of
individual] identity.
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON-) ~ 173
The foregoing discussion is summarized graphically in figure 1,
where the incentives and objectives of the sciences and the arts are
given. The right-hand column represents the useful arts, whose in-
centives are the realization of a need or a market, the desirability of a
new luxury, or the urgency of a new weapon of defense. Its methods
are purely empirical, the work of the expert and the inventor. Its
objectives are commodities or other tangible products for use or orna-
ment that appeal directly to the emotions. The byproducts of the
arts are new facts, new materials or techniques, or new problems.
The practice of useful arts is a clear-cut human activity whose utility
S apparent and whose definition is relatively easy. On the left-hand
side is a column representing pure science, a private activity whose
P ERIE ETE TIT SENN SEE aE
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(co nr NATURAL, LABORATORY MARKETS, MILITARY MARKETS, MILITARY |]
INCENTIVES { OR INDUSTRIAL : AND ECONOMIC AND ECONOMIC
PHENOMENA 3 PROBLEMS PROBLEMS ,
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MMe Willy MM MMM LLY
PURE RESEARCH APPLIED SCIENCE
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RAMS SN
Ficure 1.—Relationship between pure and applied science and the arts.
incentives lie in the desires of individuals to widen human experience
by the collection of new facts or in the curiosity of individuals to
explain new phenomena. Its chief product is understanding. The
methods of pure scientific research involve, first, the establishment of
the validity of the experience involved, i. e., the establishment of
scientific facts, and second, the fitting of these facts into satisfying
patterns (theories) to achieve comprehension, understanding, and
power of prediction.
Although I have labeled new substances, new instruments, new
techniques, etc., as “byproducts” in order to simplify our definitions,
I do not underestimate their importance. Indeed, they are part of a
very important closed circuit. In order to extend and integrate their
patterns, to make them more and more satisfying, scientists have
174. ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
found it necessary to explore into every region susceptible to precise
observation. The history of natural philosophy has been marked
by milestones, each indicating the discovery of a new device or tech-
nique which opened up to human experience regions that were hitherto
inaccessible. ‘These devices were means to an end, but the end would
never have been achieved without the means. Telescopes, microscopes,
X-ray diffraction apparatus, chemical analysis, cyclotrons, and rockets
have all been means of opening up new areas for valid experiences—
there are more to come.
APPLIED SCIENCE
About one hundred years ago, natural philosophy reached a stage
where it could make significant contributions to the useful arts by
providing for them a broader basis for understanding and conse-
quently making predictions about the processes and products that
are the business of the useful arts. In other words, the satisfying
patterns had been extended so far that they now began to accom-
modate the experiences already gained in the useful arts and to pre-
dict new possibilities for application in the production of commod-
ities. The industrial uses of electricity and the application of organic
chemistry to the manufacture of synthetic dyes ushered in an era
characterized by the increasing use of the discipline and understand-
ing of science to supplement the empirical knowledge and intuitive
skill characteristic of the useful arts. This has resulted in an accel-
eration of the development of the new technologies on which modern
life depends. Practical technologists have sought more and more
to broaden the basis of their operations by drawing on the power of
the satisfying patterns of human experience to predict promising
directions for advancement of their arts and for the cure of the in-
evitable troubles associated with new advances. This admixture of
thought and action, of understanding and practical knowledge, known
as applied research, is now the basis of all progressive technology
either in peace or in war; however, its organization, direction, ob-
jectives, and even its meaning are subject to considerable argument.
In figure 1, I have indicated applied research in the center column
as having the same incentives and objectives as the useful arts; how-
ever, the methods are different. In figure 2, an attempt is made to
illustrate in more detail the place of applied research in the over-all
scientific and technological scheme of things. The realism of this
diagram depends on the use of closed loops or circuits, rather than
straight-line flow patterns, to depict the interrelationships. The idea
of closed-loop relations is borrowed from the technical fields of elec-
tronics and automatic control (although it dates far back in organic
evolution). It requires little imagination to see that any organiza-
tion designed to make the best use of collective human intelligence
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 175
must involve a complex network of feedback loops in which ideas
are generated and regenerated by their transfer from one field to
another.
On the left side of figure 2 we see a “red” circuit involving pure
research—the step between curiosity and understanding. Since un-
derstanding leads to keener, more intelligent, and more powerful ob-
servations, a positive feedback exists in this circuit and ideas build
up rapidly. The growth of centers of research and the tremendous
increase in the size and number of scientific journals bears eloquent
testimony to the effectiveness of this feedback. On the right, the
useful arts are represented by their modern counterpart, development
| OBSERVATION |
OF NATURE §f
g
y
Y
aay. Pues j
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APPLIED
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AND =
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commopities LY
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AU gre PE cee ATA RTT eg .
Ficure 2.—Regenerative circuits in science and technology.
and engineering, the step leading from the awareness of a need or
market to a commodity to supply the need. New products stimulate
the desire for newer products and a positive feedback exists in this
circuit also—a feedback fortified by competition and profit motives.
In the military field, this positive feedback is particularly pronounced.
The development of a new weapon of offense demands immediate
advances in weapons of defense and vice versa. We can expect the
amplitude of the current in this circuit to build up at ever-increasing
rates, and the history of technological output of this country in the
past 20 years is ample evidence of this buildup. In between the two
extremes, represented by the red circuits, lies the region of applied
176 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
research, the region in which most of our larger research institutions
now operate. I have purposely refrained from representing applied
research by a block with special incentives and objectives but have
used, instead, two circuits to typify its functions.
The “blue” arrow indicates the demands of development and engi-
neering for understanding. In the course of a development, new
phenomena may be encountered or problems arise that require elucida-
tion from a broad point of view. If brought to his attention, these
stimulate the interest of the scientist, and the understanding resulting
from his researches feeds back to broaden the basis on which the de-
velopment rests, to predict promising modifications, or suggest reme-
dies for troubles. The development of high-performance jet engines
furnishes an excellent example of the working of the “blue” circuit.
These engines depend on combustion reactions in gases moving at
relatively high speeds, and in the course of their development many
significant problems have been brought to light in chemical kinetics,
fluid dynamics, and thermodynamics—the need for a fundamental
theory of flames has been accentuated. These problems have chal-
lenged the research physicists and chemists to develop understanding,
and already their results are being fed back into the design of practical
engines.
The “green” arrow indicates a circuit energized by what are essen-
tially byproducts in the quest for understanding, new substances,
techniques, or principles. The outstanding example of this circuit is
the use of atomic energy, which applies on a large scale substances
and techniques that were completely in the domain of pure research
only a few years ago. Another current example is a byproduct of
solid-state physics (one of the more academic subjects in modern
physics), namely, transistors. The “green” circuit has already started
to oscillate in the transistor field, and a revolution in electronics is in
process.
Figure 2 presents a simplified and unified picture of modern tech-
nology, the interlocking world of technical thought and action in
which the professional scientist works and for which he must be
educated. It suggests several interesting points: (1) The intrinsic
place of pure research as a necessity and not a luxury in the integral
scheme of technology is brought out; pure research is the source of
understanding, the catalyst of technological progress. (2) The dia-
gram is noteworthy for the absence of any mechanism for negative
feedback or automatic volume control in any of the circuits. In the
long run negative feedback may be needed for stability, but in the
meantime explosive buildup in any of the circuits is inhibited by such
attenuation or friction-damping factors as the shortage of well-
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON LZ
trained, imaginative men, impedances in communications, or limita-
tions on capital for extension of facilities. (3) The diagram empha-
sizes the need for good communications between fundamental research
and engineering if we are to realize and use most effectively the cata-
lytic effect of understanding so necessary in a world dominated by
intense economic and military competition. This part will be enlarged
upon later.
Figure 2 also suggests a reason why it is so difficult to define or
classify applied research in terms of conventional organizational con-
cepts. The incentives of applied research are varied, for they may
be either the realization of a need or a market, or the conviction that a
new idea may, upon conversion to practice, create a need or a market.
The chief products of applied research are commodities, but under-
standing is a byproduct. Applied research bridges the gap between
activities carried out for intellectual satisfaction and those whose
aims are materialistic. Nor is it remarkable that such an activity
eludes simple definition and organization; applied research can per-
haps best be described as teamwork between those who think and those
who do.
Perhaps the outstanding contribution of the Western nations to
civilization is the application of natural philosophy to accelerate and
extend the progress of the useful arts. The increase in the productive
capacity of the individual worker, achieved in these nations through
technology, has made possible for the majority of their populations
a standard of material welfare unequaled in the history of man.
SCIENCE AND CREATIVE ART
Art and science have come to be regarded as entirely separate and
even antagonistic human activities. Indeed, there has grown up a
legend which represents the scientist as a cold-blooded, objective
dealer in facts and figures, whose imagination, if any, is narrow and
distorted, a man with whom esthetic sensibilities are not associated,
and who possesses a “scientific mind,’ a relentless logical machine
endowed with undefined mental characteristics beyond the reach of
ordinary humanity. At the same time, the artist is associated with
loose living and looser thinking, a genius dealing with abstractions
from the penumbra of human experience, whose creations are entirely
subjective in meaning, luxuries rather than necessities in the world
of reality. I need hardly add that both these legends are quite
misleading.
A very significant change is in progress; the kinship between the
creative artist and the scientist is being rediscovered and reaffirmed,
and scientists, it seems, are taking the initiative in this movement.
178 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
The quotation I made from Hinshelwood’s “Structure of Physical
Chemistry” is an example. I should like to quote two other passages
expressing the same thought:
We have a paradox in the method of science. The research man may often
think and work like an artist, but he has to talk like a bookkeeper in terms of
facts, figures and logical sequence of thought. [H. D. Smyth, quoted by Gerald
Nolton in American Scientist, vol. 41, p. 93, 1953.]
The great scientist must be regarded as a creative artist and it is quite false
to think of the scientist as a man who merely follows rules of logic and experi-
ment. [W. I. B. Beveridge, “The Art of Scientific Investigation,” 1952.]
It has been realized for a long time that the choice of a fruitful
research problem, the selection of a fertile hypothesis, and the genesis
of a brilliant theory are decisions whose quality differentiates the
greater scientist from the lesser. They are decisions for which no
rules of logic exist but in which the imagination and the intuition of
the investigator play the dominant part. In this sense the great
scientist is also an artist, and his imposing of a pattern on nature is
definitely an artistic creation.
However, we may go further in establishing an aflinity between art
and science along lines that were laid down by Martin Johnson a few
years ago in an interesting book entitled “Art and Scientific
Thought—Historical Studies Toward a Modern Revision of Their
Antagonism.” The creative artist is one whose imagination gives
him a penetrating insight into the significance of human experience,
and whose craftsmanship enables him to build this insight into a
pattern or structure by which it is communicated to sophisticated
observers. Ina disciplined art imagination does not become fantastic
but weaves ideas into a pattern that awakens the observer to a tran-
scending realization of some truth or experience. The actual ideas
conjured up in the mind of one observer may, however, differ in
detail from those of the artist or those of some other observer, de-
pending on their past experiences. Compare this with the work of
the creative scientist whose imagination sees the significant facts in
certain phenomena and leads him to weave these facts into a satisfying
pattern that he can communicate to others. The resemblance is
obvious, but there is one important difference; the patterns (theories)
of the scientist must be communicable to his audience in such a way
that formal deductions and interpretations made by each individual
agree exactly with those of any other individual and with those of the
author. This quantitative communicability of patterns of fact is the
characteristic that differentiates science from art and, even more, that
provides the only criterion for the validity of the scientist’s facts and
patterns. As Martin Johnson remarks,’
2 Art and scientific thought, p. 42. New York, 1949.
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—-GIBSON 179
. . . the work of scientist and artist alike is the presentation of Form, Pattern,
Structure, in material or in mental images. For the work of either to fulfill its
function it must be communicable; the hearer, reader, or beholder of the work
of art must in the end find coherence and feeling from the images aroused in
his own mind, and the verifier of the scientific theory must be able to reproduce
in his own mathematics and experiments the measurable facts communicated.
The most obvious divergence between art and science is that any number of
responding personalities to a work of art will find themselves creating any
number of differing emotional patterns: on the other hand, the numerical veri-
fication of a scientific theory is unique, all the different scientific minds con-
verging upon identity. They invoke this identity as the only test that the
communication of the pattern of electrons or atoms or time and space measure-
ments is valid. The identity is possible because the subject of physical
science is confined to the measurable, whereas the subject of the arts is quali-
tative, not quantitative. With this distinction guarded, the physicist and the
imaginative artist might learn to see in one another the reflection each of
his own aim, discipline, and method.
Aside from establishing a basis for interaction between two great
human activities, and thereby strengthening both, the foregoing
considerations have implications of great interest in science. In the
first place, they point up the need for a constant flow of imaginative
workers into the fields of basic and creative research. <A liberal
education in school and college is the best vehicle we have today for
cultivating both imagination and powers of communication. A
feeling that the physical sciences are an integral part of human knowl-
edge and experience, and not the specialized preoccupation of a few
odd characters, promotes the formation of a climate in which imagi-
native men wish to devote their lives to research. This subject will
be discussed in more detail later.
In the second place, these considerations suggest that quantitative
communicability of facts and patterns is a fundamental, if not the
fundamental, characteristic of science. Imagination enters into the
ordering of the facts into satisfyinig patterns or theories and in the
perception of the implications of the patterns but not into the inter-
pretations of the communications the listener receives from the author.
Results are valid scientifically only when they can be communicated
to any serious and intelligent listener, conveying to him a meaning
which is exactly that intended by the author—a quantitative descrip-
tion of experience that the listener can verify independently. The
scientist must have the power of exact expression—nowadays this
generally means a facility with mathematics, but this is not all;
the pattern he wishes to communicate must also be capable of exact
and unambiguous expression and interpretation.
There are three further interesting implications of the require-
ment for exact and quantitative communicability in science:
(1) It has placed severe limitations on the subjects available up to
now for scientific study. These subjects must be so simple that all
180 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
the significant variables can be isolated, expressed quantitatively,
and related by some logic such as mathematics. As the patterns of
science are extended, their ability to include more complex subjects
grows exponentially and the limits of their application are still far
away. Indeed, if we follow H. Dingle and use the term “valid
human experiences” rather than “facts,” we see that the application of
sciences may extend beyond the physical world of the Victorians.
In the meantime, however, there are areas of such complexity and
haziness that they are currently beyond the reach of exact science
and must, as yet, be left to the artist.
(2) The requirement for quantitative communicability has led to
a, steady monotonic progress of science from one generation to an-
other, knowledge fulfilling this requirement being immune to the
vagaries of fashion which cause periodic fluctuations of value in
the creations of the artist. The young scientist of today sees the
universe from a vantage point on the shoulders of the giants of the
past, the inheritor of a cumulative tradition which enables him to
attack problems that were impossible in bygone years. The steady
progress of science, contrasted with the cycles of opinion in the arts,
is the reward the scientist receives for confining his attention to
simple subjects and avoiding the siren call of the colorful wildernesses
of human experiences. The steady progress of science over the last
300 years, contrasted with the changing natural philosophies of the
previous millennia, leads us to speculate about natural selection in
the survival of systems of knowledge. Was it a happy accident that
Galileo, Newton, and others stumbled on a pattern that has been
capable of continuous extension, that accommodates such a range of
valid experiences, and that had the property of quantitative
communicability ?
(3) In regions simple enough for the application of science, con-
sistent patterns of knowledge and quantitative communicability give
to the inexperienced and even mediocre practitioner powers that
otherwise are gained only after long experience by the highly accom-
plished expert. For example, the brilliant and experienced surgeon
may look at a patient and with unerring intuition decide that he
needs a blood transfusion, but he cannot communicate exactly to his
students the complex integration of observations that leads him to
this conclusion; they must have experiences similar to his before
such communication is possible. If, however, the problem is sim-
plified by systematic study to a point where the necessity for a trans-
fusion can be correlated exactly with the presence or absence of def-
inite amounts of identifiable substances in the blood, and methods
for measuring these are devised, then a pattern that is exactly com-
municable is developed which even the novice can completely ap-
prehend and apply with confidence.
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 181
Up to this point we have discussed science, the creative arts, and
the useful arts and shown, I think, that these have much in common,
all containing the elements of pattern and communicability. In sci-
ence and the useful arts, the pattern and its elements (facts) must
be susceptible to quantitative and exact communication so that the
reader develops identically the meaning the author tries to give. Per-
haps the chief difference between science and the useful arts is that
the former strives toward patterns of general and even universal
comprehensiveness, whereas the latter is content with patterns of
very local application. The creative arts strive for patterns of uni-
versal comprehensiveness, but their communicability is qualitative
rather than quantitative.
In the light of these thoughts, the quotation from H. D. Smyth
takes on a meaning that was not apparent before; the scientist works
like an artist in making his patterns and like a bookkeeper in his
communications.
ATTRIBUTES OF MIND IN RESEARCH
In commenting on figure 2, we noted the integrated role played by
pure, or basic, scientific research in developing patterns of under-
standing to catalyze technological advances. ‘This role is being real-
ized more and more, but it is by no means ingrained deeply in the
minds of those who have power to affect the research and develop-
ment policies of universities, industrial firms, and nations. There
is at present grave concern that there is a shortage of basic research
in this country, that the applied sciences with their greater material
rewards are draining away the remaining resources that are available
for the cultivation of pure science, and that we face a bankruptcy
of ideas for future developments. A real problem exists. It is a
problem whose ramifications extend much further than the need of
understanding on which to build tomorrow’s technologies and whose
roots lie in the substratum of philosophy. Its solution involves much
more than short-range material considerations. In discussing this
subject let us first consider the attributes of mind and the education
of the research scientists who are the effective agents in producing
oscillations in the pure-research circuit.
If we take a cross section of productive research workers in this
country, perhaps by studying the authors of articles in the better
journals, we find represented several kinds of minds which may be
classified as: (a) the Promethean, (b) the critical or analytical, (c)
the cumulative and inductive, (d) the cumulative and descriptive,
(e) the meticulous, (f) the routine-industrious. It is evident that
more than one of these attributes may be found in any given indi-
vidual, although one will generally predominate. (a) The Promethean
182 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
mind tries to inject something radically new into anything it does.
It may provide the flash of genius that shows up a new continent of
knowledge or gives rise to a new all-embracing theory. It may throw
new light on old tough problems. It may just invent an easier and
better way of performing an experiment or making a commodity.
It is a mind that transmutes ideas from one field of experience to
another. (b) The critical or analytical mind takes nothing for
granted, but examines keenly all statements presented to it, probing
deeply into their consequences for consistency and rigor. It is the
questioning mind so needed for clarification of complex situations
and for establishing the validity of experience. (c) The cumulative-
inductive mind ranges in the literature and in experiment, collecting
facts and attempting to put them roughly in order. It is a type of
mind that has contributed, for example, largely to physical chemistry.
It is a type of mind that makes local elements of pattern. (d) The
cumulative and descriptive mind is that of the trained and keen
observer who remembers what he sees and describes it clearly for
others to read. It is the mind that has laid the foundations of the
complex sciences of astronomy, geology, and natural history. It
is always evident on the frontiers of knowledge and is the stock-in-
trade of the effective teacher. (e) The meticulous mind is concerned
about the correctness of all details in observation, procedure, and proc-
esses. It is concerned with the search for accuracy and precision. (f)
Finally, we have the routine-industrious mind that follows through
relentlessly, especially where many experiments are needed to estab-
lish one fact and where repetitive processes are of the essence.
History has shown that all these mental attributes have important
roles to play in the sound and steady growth of all branches of science
and engineering, and we should be guilty of crass intellectual snob-
bery if we discounted any one of them. The meticulous worker who
spends years establishing the real facts in a complex phenomenon
or in perfecting a technique, or the routine-industrious man who ex-
plores an area thoroughly by a long series of measurements, provides
means and materials for the inductive thinker and the creative artist,
materials they might not be able to get for themselves. The critical
mind keeps thought and observations on the track, saving costly
detours along false trails. Each has his place, and the secret of the
efficient use of manpower either on a laboratory scale or on a nation-
wide basis lies in assigning to each mind a job suited to its attributes
and carrying with it recognition of contributons to a worthwhile
objective.
Throughout the centuries, the progress of science has depended on
teamwork. Although each investigator planned and carried out his
work in a very private manner, he took care to make his results public
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 183
as soon as possible through communications to colleagues in various
parts of the world or through articles in journals. As a result, the
work of any investigator became available to others for criticism and
extension ; in short, all attributes of mind could be brought to bear on
a scientific topic once it had been formulated and exposed by an inves-
tigator. An unorganized, but none the less effective, team made up
of men from all nations quarried and polished the stones of which
the structure of science is built.
Two thoughts prompted by the previous paragraph may be men-
tioned in passing: (1) In areas of work where national safety re-
quires a high security classification, it is impossible to use the method
of publication to enlist the services of all the attributes of mind neces-
sary ona team. Special efforts should be made, therefore, to ensure
that all security-classified fields of work are furnished with teams
diversified enough to have within themselves all the attributes of mind
necessary for a sound and critical program of research and develop-
ment. (2) Problems in the distribution and employment of man-
power might be approached more realistically on the basis of the
mental attributes of scientists and engineers (similar to those I have
enumerated) rather than on the basis of their professional training
alone. There are many examples of chemists who do excellent jobs
as engineers or administrators and still retain their interests in
chemistry, but if Promethean minds are set to work on routine prob-
lems, or if routine-industrious minds are given problems that depend
on creative ability even in the field of their own training, frustration
of the men, mediocrity of the product, and a general waste of man-
power are the results.
Returning to our main theme, I should like to suggest that the al-
leged shortage of basic research in this country really means that we
need more creative and imaginative minds in our national portfolio
of scientific assets. The catalytic effect of a creative piece of work in
providing new and speedier channels along which men with other
attributes of mind can effectively devote their efforts is a phenomenon
that has been demonstrated time after time in the history of pure
science. I recognize fully the importance of all attributes of mind
in the development of science, and of fundamental training in scientific
discipline, of the acquisition of habits of careful observation and criti-
cal reasoning together with the cultivation of experimental skill as
ingredients in the education of a research scientist. However, an
alert mind and a fertile but disciplined imagination are characteristics
that are indispensable to the scientist whose work is to rise above
mediocrity and blaze trails for others to follow. I also wish to em-
phasize that we need more young imaginative workers who can sense
the significant problems, plan original methods for their solution,
2847255418
184 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
and point out ways in which the patterns of knowledge may be fruit-
fully extended or enriched if our national scientific effort is to be
more than pedestrian.
The place of imagination in science was emphasized by Francis
Bacon in the Novum Organum :
Those who have treated of the sciences have been either empirics or dog-
matical. The former, like ants, only heap up and use their store; the latter, like
spiders, spin out their own webs. The bee, the mean of both, extracts matter
from the flowers of the garden and the field, but works and fashions it by its
own efforts. The true labor of philosophy resembles her, for it neither relies
entirely or principally on the powers of the mind nor yet lays up in the memory
the matter afforded by the experiments of natural history or mechanics in the
raw state, but changes and works it in the understanding. [The italics are
mine.—R. E. G.]
Bacon’s contributions to the techniques of acquiring knowledge arose
from his realization that in matters relating to problems of fact the
function of the mind is one of transmutation. Ideas culled from one
set of experiences may be digested by the mind, transformed, and ap-
plied with creative results to problems presented by another set of
experiences. In the isolated mind, ideas are neither created nor
destroyed.
The history of science is full of illuminating examples; I shall
mention one to illustrate a point I wish to make. In the last half of
the nineteenth century, organic chemistry was changed from an un-
wieldy collection of facts into an esthetically satisfying science by the
systematic application of a few hypotheses concerning the nature of the
carbon atom, its valency, and its ability to join with itself and other
atoms to form geometric structures. The name of August Kekule
is permanently associated with this major scientific advance. In early
life, Kekule set out to be an architect and studied this subject at the
University of Giessen. Under Liebig’s influence, he became interested
in organic chemistry, but instead of following the usual routine of
student, assistant, privat docent, and so forth, at Giessen, he left the
University after finishing his course and wandered around the scien-
tific centers in Paris and London. Here he met the foremost thinkers
of his time and, to quote his own words: “Originaly a pupil of
Liebig, I had become a pupil of Dumas, Gerhardt, and Williamson.
I no longer belonged to any school.” Kekule’s reveries on top of a
London bus or before the fire in his study at Ghent are well known.
In these dreams, the ideas of form and structure, gathered from his
experience as an architect, were interwoven with the ideas and prob-
lems arising in his chemical studies. He saw atoms dance before
his eyes, arranging themselves in structures and manifold conforma-
tions. He awoke and spent the night writing down the substance of
his reveries. This was the beginning of the theory of the structure
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 185
of molecules. In describing the reveries that led him to the hypothesis
of the structure of benzene, he closes with the remark: “Let us learn
to dream, gentlemen, then perhaps we shall find the truth, but let us
beware of publishing our dreams before they have been put to the
proof of our waking understanding.” Let us also beware of try-
ing to dream like Kekule before we have had his experience; the mental
inventory of the research worker determines whether he is a day
dreamer or the possessor of a fertile imagination.
In my opinion, this example bears directly on the problem of the
shortage of basic research. The present situation will not be rem-
edied by turning out more highly skilled but unimaginative technical
men from the colleges, nor by pouring more funds into the support
of mediocre institutions where they work. At most, the returns will
be small compared with the effort expended. The remedy lies in
providing embryo research scientists with an education calculated to
sharpen the alertness of their minds and strengthen their imagina-
tions. This is, of course, easier said than done, but a few suggestions
for possible action may be developed from the foregoing discussion.
EDUCATION AND IMAGINATIVE RESEARCH
In the first place, we should recognize that imagination flourishes
only in minds stocked with a choice and varied inventory of knowl-
edge. On the average, the graduates of our universities have an ex-
cellent store of knowledge in one or two technical fields, but all too
often their education is confined to these fields only. Although their
capacity for imaginative thinking may be great, they have no exten-
sive background in literature, the humanities, the fine arts, or other
branches of human activity from which to generate novel ideas for
transplantation into scientific fields.) A number of colleges have rec-
ognized this need and are attempting to broaden the education of
their students. ‘This is a step in the right direction, but at the college
level the acquisition of fundamental training in the methods and dis-
cipline of the sciences and of the specialized knowledge necessary to
begin research work requires almost the full attention of the student.
In my opinion, survey courses have little of real value to offer, al-
though they might serve as dessert in the nutrition of the young
imagination.
Breadth of knowledge should first be cultivated at the grammar-
school or high-school level where attention can be given to enlarging
the intellectual repertoire of the better students without overworking
them. Experience in the British and European schools indicates that
facility in the use of language and logic and a wide permanent knowl-
edge of literature, history, and the arts can be attained by a student
at the age of 18. The average intellectual development of a British
186 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
or French student on leaving a secondary school is comparable to that
of a student entering his junior year at college in this country. Now
the task of making a radical change in a body whose inertia is as great
as that of our public-school system is one which no one can face
lightly. However, our requirements do not call for thousands of
highly educated scientists but only for scores or, at most, hundreds.
Realizing that in education the private schools and universities are
the pacemakers in setting new standards, I suggest that the problem
might be approached by arousing the interest of a few forward-look-
ing schools and encouraging them by financial help to adjust their
curricula to meet the objectives just outlined. Such a program should
be supported by scholarships in order to prevent economic circum-
stances from limiting unduly the sources from which students could
be selected. An expenditure of half a million dollars a year would
support 250 boys and girls on full scholarships and give 25 schools
somewhat less than $10,000 a year to strengthen their staffs in order
to meet the new requirements. Half a million dollars a year is less
than one two-thousandths of the Nation’s budget for research and de-
velopment. The experiment would not bea costly one over a period of
10 years—the least to be expected would be an increase by a hundred
or so in our supply of well-educated research scientists, and a reason-
able expectation would be the gradual spread of higher standards
of secondary education with special emphasis on the intellectual train-
ing of the promising youngster.
Another method of increasing the supply of imaginative young
scientists and engineers is the introduction into the high schools and
colleges of some courses in the history of science and technology for
the purpose of inspiring imaginative youngsters who might normally
seek other vocations to take up a career in science. This also has its
difficulties because adequate textbooks have not been written. The
historians of science have generally been interested in the growth
of ideas, and their works cannot be properly appreciated without a
fairly thorough knowledge of the content of the various sciences.
However, this challenge could be met successfully by a teacher who
is interested in tracing the influence of technological advances on the
general history of the nations, and in exploring the circumstances
leading up to these technological advances right back through the
development and research stages to the methods and characters of the
men who originated the basic ideas. In such a book the scientific
background could be supplied in a general way without misleading
the reader or disturbing the emphasis. A knowledge of the difficul-
ties encountered and the successes achieved by men in past genera-
tions, together with a realization of the consequences of their labors
as seen from the vantage point of the historian, has a moulding and
inspirational influence on young minds that cannot be overestimated.
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 187
Finally, the example of Kekule leads me to suggest a less funda-
mental but much easier step that can be taken to develop the imagi-
native powers of our scientists, namely the revival of the Wanderjahr.
“Free yourselves from the spirit of the school,” says Kekule; “you
will then be capable of doing something of your own.” In these days
when fellowships are numerous, the obstacles to a young Ph. D. taking
a year off to wander around the centers of learning are not insuperable.
What is needed to facilitate such travel is a clearer realization by his
professors, or by those in a position to award fellowships, that the
ideas planted in the student’s mind during a year of leisurely and
aimless wandering may bear abundant fruit later on, fruit whose
value in terms of original contributions to understanding may far
transcend that of a few routine papers laboriously ground out during
the tenure of a fellowship. It would simplify matters if one could
differentiate beforehand between those who could profit by a Wander-
jahr and those who would only waste it. We are not yet in this happy
position, but I feel that university professors have a real responsi-
bility in advising such a course to men who, in their judgment, are
promising. Even with a high percentage of failures, we would still
profit by granting fellowships for this purpose.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
Now let us consider the habitat of basic scientific research with
special reference to the objectives, scope, and quality of basic scientific
research in educational and in technological organizations. In spite
of a prevailing impression to the contrary, pure scientific research is
not indigenous to the universities, although it has been one of their
prominent activities during the past five or six decades. In the early
days scientific inquiry was fostered by societies and carried on largely
by wealthy amateurs or by enthusiasts who could enlist the support
of a patron. We have only to recall such names as Bacon, Gilbert,
Boyle, Cavendish, Rumford, Franklin, Lavoisier, Priestley, Davy,
Faraday, Joule, Hooke, Napier, and Jeans, none of whom worked in
a university, to realize the truth of this statement. From the earliest
times, the primary objective of universities and colleges has been the
preparation of the youth for intellectual leadership in meeting the
problems of their day and generation. In striving toward this objec-
tive, the universities have properly followed a conservative policy,
introducing changes only when the educational value of new subjects
had been proved, or when problems of the day called urgently for
extension of the classical curriculum. Pioneering into new and un-
trodden regions of thought and experience has not been a dominant
characteristic of the universities, although from time to time excep-
tional individuals associated with them have blazed new trails. In-
188 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
deed, the proportion of pioneers and prophets on the faculties of
colleges and universities has not been higher than that found in other
portions of the population, and recognition of the significance of
radically new and fruitful ideas has all too often been quite accidental.
To support this statement, I quote from Sir James Walker’s Memorial
Lecture on J. H. van’t Hoff:
In order to obtain his doctor’s degree, van’t Hoff rematriculated in the Uni-
versity of Utrecht in October 1874, and was prompted to his doctorate in Decem-
ber of the same year. His dissertation was entitled, “A Contribution to Our
Knowledge of Cyanacetic Acid and Malonic Acid.” It was of a routine character,
and contained nothing beyond the powers of an ordinary advanced laboratory
student. This is at first sight surprising, for van’t Hoff had in the preceding
September issued as a pamphlet his famous paper on space-formulae. ‘The
original pamphlet was in Dutch, and bore the title, “An attempt to extend to space
the present structural chemical formulae, with an observation on the relation
between optical activity and the chemical constitution of organic compounds.”
It argues well for the sound common sense of the young van’t Hoff that he
presented a humdrum piece of practical work for his dissertation rather than the
startling innovation contained in his pamphlet, for the latter might have had an
even worse fate than the equally famous thesis of Arrhenius, containing the first
statement of the theory of electrolytic dissociation.
However, once a field of knowledge has been opened up and its implhi-
cations for society made evident, the universities have not been slow in
admitting it to their territories, cultivating it, and teaching it sys-
tematically to their students. In the seventeenth and the early part
of the eighteenth century scientific research was really a pioneering
activity maintained by a few individuals who wandered far beyond
the frontiers of then current knowledge. As these pioneers progressed,
the results of their work became important additions to the store of
existing knowledge. Professors of natural philosophy and, much
later, professors of chemistry and of biology were accepted into the
academic world. In teaching such subjects as physics, chemistry, or
biology to students, the professors encountered many problems that
could be answered only by recourse to theoretical or experimental
research. Thus to doa thorough job of advanced teaching, a professor
became a research man and devoted a considerable portion of his time
to the discovery of new knowledge as well as to imparting the old.
Like their predecessors, the amateurs, the professors acquired a pas-
sionate interest in searching for new facts about their subjects and in
ordering these facts into satisfying patterns that could be communi-
cated to their collaborators and to their students. Slowly but surely
research became recognized as one of the fundamental and, later, one
of the characteristic features of universities. During this era, which
extended from the latter half of the eighteenth century to the latter
half of the nineteenth, students of the sciences were not numerous
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 189
and most of them went on to careers in medicine or pharmacy. A
few advanced students went into professional careers, and the most
brilliant became teachers and research leaders in schools or universi-
ties; very few found careers in industry, and privately endowed
research institutions were extremely rare.
The coming of this century saw the beginning of another major
change; the impact of scientific research on the useful arts had begun.
Scientists, particularly chemists and chemical engineers, entered in-
dustry, and the demand for more such men placed on the universities as
well as the technical schools another obligation, that of training men
who could take part in industry not merely as adjuncts to product
and process control, but as creators of new processes and products.
New vistas for intellectual leadership were opened up and the uni-
versities responded to the new challenges. Members of the faculties
of science and engineering found that they needed to establish direct
contact with the rapidly changing problems of industry in order to
provide realistic courses of study for an increasing number of students
destined for careers in industry. Closer relations between university
scientists and the industries developed, schools of chemical engineering
and other applied sciences were established, and, as consultants, many
professors of chemistry, physics, and other sciences not only realized
the power of their disciplines to solve problems that had baffled the
empirical technologists, but also brought to their students experience
and fertile lines of research which prepared them admirably for lead-
ership in their chosen fields. This relationship between the universi-
ties and industry was established in Germany 25 years before it became
effective in this country. A conservative course, charted according to
their traditional objectives, brought about gradual but deep-seated
changes in the universities. It should be noted that in these changes
the better universities did not attempt to compete with technical
schools in producing technicians. Industry called for and received
well-trained scientists to solve its problems and spearhead new
advances in its growing laboratories.
During this same period the increasing appreciation of scientific
research by the general public was marked by the endowment and
establishment of private research institutions and by the rapid growth
of large government laboratories devoted to research and development
in fields such as agriculture, mining, and scientific standards that
were vital to the country’s economic growth. To summarize, the half
century from 1890 to 1940 saw an increasing dependence of the indus-
trial and economic life of the country on the application of science.
This was recognized to be a fundamental and stable trend, and the
universities reflected this realization in changing their curricula to
provide men educated for leadership in the new order.
190 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
The onslaught of World War II, with its urgent demands for an
all-out mobilization, presented another severe challenge to the universi-
ties. The design of the weapons and equipment needed to support our
Armed Forces had not kept pace with advancing technology. To
meet the emergency the best scientific and engineering minds of the
country were requisitioned to set up and conduct research, development,
and engineering programs aimed at the solution of urgent military
problems. Not only were the faculties and graduate students of our
universities drawn into this effort on a large scale, but the universities
themselves undertook the sponsorship of development and engineering
projects of unprecedented magnitude. The success of these enter-
prises in providing our troops with superior weapons and equipment,
such as radar, proximity fuzes, and rockets, is a matter of history.
At the close of hostilities the relationship between the armed serv-
ices and the universities had undergone a profound change—a new
mutual respect had developed. On the one hand, the armed services
recognized our universities and technical schools to be highly signifi-
cant assets in the preservation of national security not only for their
capacity to train leaders in science, engineering, medicine, and other
walks of life, but also for their capacity to bring to bear a powerful
combination of science and art to develop imaginative and effective
solutions of complex military problems. The Armed Forces have
learned to rely more and more on universities and other nonprofit
research institutions to operate teams of creative workers in science
and engineering to provide the weapons and equipment that can make
the American fighting man superior to four or five of his adversaries.
In this effort, a working concept of the unity of technology, as shown
in figure 2, and unimpeded flow in the “green” and “blue” circuits, were
found to be of paramount importance. The long-range implications
of pure scientific research acquired new respect in the minds of those
concerned with national security, a respect that has been demon-
strated in a very substantial and intelligent way during the last seven
years, particularly by the Office of Naval Research and by other
agencies charged with the supply of weapons and equipment to the
Armed Forces. Of the latter, an outstanding example is the Bureau
of Ordnance of the Department of the Navy.
Secondly, a very large number of research scientists, many of them
steeped in the true academic tradition, learned for the first time that
the tactical and technical problems encountered by the armed services
can present the scientist or engineer with research problems that are
as challenging and stimulating as those encountered in teaching or in
industry. The degree of this challenge is understandable when one
remembers that the technological ascendancy needed to maintain
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 191
superiority over an enemy requires that the development of new
weapons and equipment be based on the newest ideas available. The
research investigator in this area must be in the forefront of knowl-
edge. Hence, aside from patriotic motives and aside from the
attractions of substantial financial support, many research men found
themselves thoroughly interested from a purely scientific point of
view in the research problems raised by military needs, and continued
to study them when they returned to their universities.
A number of universities, furthermore, undertook to continue the
operation of laboratories that had been fledged during the war by
placing them after 1945 on a continuing basis as independent divisions
of the university organization. Other universities, which had dis-
continued the operation of laboratories set up during the war, under-
took responsibility for the operation of new ones, when the emergency
of 1950 demanded a greater defense effort in this country. The reali-
zation that a long period of preparedness for an emergency now lies
ahead of us places a continuing and inescapable demand for the serv-
ices of such groups. Geography no longer provides convenient pro-
tection for a powerful nation to exert a powerful voice in world coun-
cils; this protection must be sought in strength through technology.
Universities have changed greatly from what they were 150 years
ago, when the classics, literature, moral and natural philosophy, logic,
metaphysics, law, medicine, and theology marked the extent of their
curricula; when most learning was derived from books; and when the
idea of even a small chemistry or physics laboratory would have been
far more shocking to their faculties than are today such organizations
as the Argonne Laboratory of the University of Chicago, Project
Lincoln of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Applied Physics
Laboratory of The Johns Hopkins University, or Los Alamos of the
University of California. This change has come about naturally
through the intrinsic interest of the universities in all forms of human
knowledge; through their avowed mission to serve their day and
generation by educating the youth for intellectual leadership in meet-
ing the problems of their age, stimulated by the stupendous conse-
quences of scientific research in the progress of the useful arts and
those phases of modern life—such as economic and national security—
that now depend upon them.
All these changes have brought problems with them, some of which
are the results of the usual reaction of conservatives to an innovation;
others arise from adjustments within the universities which are neces-
sary in order to achieve equilibrium with their environment. We
can only consider here problems that affect the prosecution of basic
research. A serious problem was first encountered in the late 1920’s
192 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
when the rapidly growing recognition of the importance of research
to the future of industry brought about a strong demand for well-
trained and able research workers. The differential in salaries be-
tween industries and the universities was great enough to attract away
from the latter too many of the promising postgraduates and younger
faculty members whose continued presence in the universities was
essential for the preservation of high standards of teaching and re-
search. At that time the condition was especially true in chemistry ;
it is now true in physics. It can safely be said that the universities
have not completely restored the former balance, although the
wealthier universities are now able to attract and keep the best men.
Since the end of World War II the additional governmental require-
ments for men with sound scientific training and good technical judg-
ment have caused new inroads on the staffs of universities as well as
of industrial laboratories. Many productive investigators have spent
much time as consultants to, or full-time participants in, Government
organizations. The importance of this participation in national
affairs is unquestionable; it is a service that the universities are
uniquely fitted to render to the nation. It does, however, withdraw
keymen from teaching and research. Furthermore, the needs of the
Defense Establishment, backed by large budgets, have brought con-
tracts for research and development into the departments of many of
our universities and colleges. Many of these projects fall more in
the class of development than that of research, and their value in
promoting sound training for scientists or in leading men into habits
of imaginative research is open to question. Indeed, a number of
serious thinkers have expressed concern—for example, the Vew York
Times recently quoted G. B. Kistiakowsky as saying to a conference
at Mount Holyoke:
I see ourselves threatened with a generation of scientific workers who know
how to carry out instructions and to follow in the footsteps of others, but who
have not learned how to discover a rewarding research problem, how to plan the
attack on it and how to solve it. And whether we are training the students
for industrial leadership or perchance for a life of a college scientist, we are not
doing a good job this way.
Altogether, it might appear that pure research is in danger of being
smothered or starved by its own aggressive and powerful offspring.
In passing, however, we may note that much more serious problems
would have faced the world of science had these offspring been weak
and sickly.
PROMOTION OF BASIC RESEARCH
In discussing figure 2, I stated that the incentive for pure research
was curiosity aroused by some phenomenon, and that its objective
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 193
was an understanding of the phenomenon—that is to say, the fitting
of it, together with previously known facts, into a satisfying pattern.
The source of the research problem is not mentioned and is immate-
rial; it may come from a man’s communing with nature, from his
realization of an inconsistency or a hiatus in the subject he is teach-
ing, from difficulties encountered in an industrial process, or from
the knowledge of an urgent military problem. As long as good judg-
ment, fortified by training and experience, is exercised to ascertain
the significance of the problem,‘ its source need not prejudice its
value for mental discipline or instruction. The objective, however,
is important; the investigator must set out to understand the
phenomenon he is to investigate, and this objective will determine
how the work is to be conducted. It will constrain him to isolate
the variables and to determine the facts quantitatively, to advance
hypotheses and plan critical experiments or theoretical studies, to
plan auxiliary investigations or explore side lines, and, above all, to
use his imagination fortified by reading and study of related
phenomena.
In undertaking a problem from any source whatever, the professor
in a scientific department of a university has the right and obliga-
tion to inquire into its significance and, having satisfied himself in
the light of his knowledge and intuition that it is not trivial, to set
as an objective the understanding of something of putative significance
before assigning the formulation and prosecution of the problem’s
subdivisions to graduate students. If, in the professor’s judgment,
the problem cannot be judged significant in this sense, he has the
obligation of refusing to accept it. Under such initial conditions,
it is highly probable that the work accepted will become a piece of
basic research that is intrinsically valuable for its results and for
the training it affords a student no matter what its subsequent
application may be.
When the role of the university in local or national affairs requires
it to sponsor larger problems in which development and objectives
other than understanding are important, it is advisable to set up an
organization sufficiently separated from regular university activities
to avoid the distractions that arise from full-time efforts with pro-
grammed time scales, the influx of a number and variety of new
4The reader may ask for a definition of a significant problem. An answer is extremely
hard to give, since the significance of an investigation often depends on the peculiar quality
of the imagination and creative ability that the investigator can bring to its prosecution.
Conventional and contemporary opinions do not give sufficient basis for determining the
signifieance of a problem; it must be judged in the light of its challenge, its possibility
of opening up new vistas, and the ability of the current state of science to provide a
background for understanding it. A problem is really a springboard for a leap into
the unknown.
194 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
workers, sizable budgets, and business operations. There is ample
precedent for this procedure in the agricultural experiment stations
and in the hospitals which are now traditionally a part of almost every
large university. Such hospitals are usually separate or related or-
ganizations integrated into the whole university structure only at the
policy levels.
However, this country no longer depends entirely on the universities
for basic research, and we may now consider another means of pro-
viding for this fundamental activity. Through the establishment
of the Research Society of America,’ the Society of Sigma Xi has
deliberately served notice that the band of Companions in Zealous
Research has been extended beyond the academic halls to scientists
in the laboratories of the Government and industry. In terms of
figure 2, the “blue” circuit is endorsed as a means of increasing our
store of understanding of the physical world. The industrial and
Government laboratories have a wonderful source of problems in
the phenomena encountered in the development and engineering
phases of the useful arts. They also have on their staffs men whose
curiosity can be effectively challenged to seek an understanding of
these phenomena. In other words, all the elements of the “blue” cir-
cuit are in place. However, severe impedances exist. The com-
munication of ideas between development engineers and research
scientists is still hampered by a lack of common language and stand-
ards. Furthermore, those charged with the responsibility of deter-
mining the policies of these laboratories have not often taken the
step of specifically allocating their funds in such a way as to broaden
and deepen the scientific understanding of phenomena encountered
in industrial work. As a result, the current in the circuit is fre-
quently shunted or even cut off just as it starts to build up. The
day-to-day pressures generated by the “red” development loop sap the
blue circuit so that the circulation of understanding, which could
bring intellectual satisfaction and perhaps the foundations of a future
development, is severely attenuated. May I suggest that RESA is
in a good position to remedy this situation, and that one of its objec-
tives might well be the promotion of the idea that industrial and
Government laboratories have the responsibility of allocating a part
of their vast resources to the pursuit of understanding. All that is
needed is a firmly rooted conviction that the “blue” circuit in figure 2
not only spans the gap between the universities and industry, but
also has all its elements present within the framework of many indus-
trial laboratories. Attention to these internal circuits will radiate
some of the imaginative and creative basic research we so badly need.
5 A substantial portion of this paper was delivered on the occasion of the founding ofa
branch of RESA at the Burroughs Adding Machine Co. in Philadelphia, Pa., November 1952,
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 195
It is hardly necessary to state that there are outstanding examples of
industrial and Government laboratories where this principle is
already developed and operating. An extension of the idea to more
and more organizations is required.
COMMUNICATIONS IN TECHNICAL TEAMS
Returning to figure 2, I should recall that an important province
of the professional scientist is that labeled “Applied Research Cir-
cuits,” and the success of his effort in this field will depend on the
ease and certainty with which ideas circulate in the “green” and “blue”
circuits. Portentous ideas may be generated or regenerated in either
main block, pure research or engineering, and the transmission of
ideas depends on the facility of scientists and engineers to communi-
cate with each other. Although conditions have improved enor-
mously since 1940, the impedances in these circuits are still too high
and the circuits themselves are “noisy,” with the result that transmis-
sion of ideas is neither speedy nor certain. The establishment of
communications in a technological team involves many personal and
other problems that are hard to generalize. There is, however, one
fundamental aspect of the subject that does permit of general dis-
cussion and deserves attention here. I think we can safely say, as a
matter of experience, that communications flow most rapidly and
effectively in a group where all the members share a common point
of view, or perhaps I might say, a common set of standards of validity.
Thornton Page has advanced this thought ® and pointed out how a
common viewpoint provides a basis within which men trained in radi-
cally different disciplines can talk together intelligently.
In a technical team, this common point of view, this common set
of standards of validity, is compounded of a thoroughgoing belief
in the value of satisfying patterns of facts that fulfill the require-
ment of quantitative communicability, together with a realistic knowl-
edge of the limitations of current satisfying patterns. In other words,
it contains a balanced admixture of science and art. With this view-
point, a man strives to fit valid facts into a consistent theory as a
necessary step in developing knowledge and understanding, is dis-
contented with facts or tests treated as isolated events, and is disgusted
with speculation on strange phenomena or events without any refer-
ence to theory or even examination of the facts. At the same time,
he realizes that patterns or theories are constantly growing and will
never be perfect until we know and understand everything. Thus,
he expects every scientific or engineering project to have its groping,
unpredictable, empirical phases, but he makes the best and fullest
i *Team work in research, edited by G. P. Bush and L. H. Hattery, ch. 7, p. 55, 1953.
196 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
use of current patterns of science where they can be applied, and sup-
plements them by the skills of the arts. He is well aware of the fact
that empirical results are not really valid until they are related to
other experiences in a satisfying pattern, and at the same time he
fully knows that the practical applications based on predictions from
theory require for their full development the proper economic and
technological climate.
Physicists, chemists, and, to some extent, biologists who have been
well trained in graduate schools have, in general, an innate apprecia-
tion of the use and value of satisfying patterns of valid facts. This
appreciation motivates their approach to all problems, setting before
them always the objective of developing theoretically the field in
which they work. However, many engineers and other professional
men who have had elementary and even advanced undergraduate
courses in physics and chemistry and mathematics do not have this
viewpoint. No lasting appreciation of the need for consistent theories
to guide their work has been imparted to them by undergraduate
science courses. If this seems exaggerated, note a statement made in a
responsible publication by an authority on the administration of in-
dustrial research: “The process of research of whatever type and
regardless of when, where or to what applied is nothing more or less
than an organized, diligent investigation to discover facts.” When
such views are held by leaders, it is small wonder that the followers
are confused.
On the other hand, engineers have an innate appreciation of the
practical value of quantitative communicability which is the result
of training, reinforced by experience. In this respect, they are ahead
of the average physicist and chemist. In expressing his results, the
engineer uses drawings and specifications in which all details are
expressed not only quantitatively, but also with tolerances that indi-
cate the permissible compromises between the exigencies of design
for performance and the limitations of the skills and techniques of
artisans to realize these in practical working devices.
The establishment of a common viewpoint or common standard of
values among technical men and the consequent improvement of com-
munications among them are matters of real concern in university
education at all levels. We need to devise methods for impressing
more deeply on all students of science that quantitative communica-
tions, clear, concise, and exact expression of ideas, results, and pat-
terns of facts, are an intrinsic part of science without which it is no
longer science but art. Furthermore, we need to impart to all stu-
dents of science and technology a lasting feeling of the practical
importance and the esthetic appeal of consistent patterns of valid
human experiences, the essential place of theoretical development in
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 197
modern thought. The disciplines of the pure sciences are ideal
vehicles for this type of education, but the teaching of these disciplines
will become effective only when professors of the pure sciences take
stock of the essentials of their subjects and devise courses which bring
to students the spirit as well as the results of basic scientific research.
COMMUNICATIONS WITH SOCIETY—COMMON SENSE
A very disturbing symptom of the postwar era, resplendent as it is
with spectacular technological advances, is the evident ignorance
among even educated people concerning the attitudes of mind and
the disciplines of thought that underlie these advances. The impact
on the general public of guided missiles, rockets, radar, television,
and, above all, the large-scale release of atomic energy has been one
of inducing paralysis in the centers of higher thought and discrimina-
tion. There has been an abandonment of all restraints on imagination
and credulity. After these spectacular advances, people are willing
to believe anything and unwilling to accept any of the discipline which
established scientific theory or sound engineering practice must impose
on the trained mind. This is becoming an age of unbridled fantasy
and superstition, an age devoid of critical discrimination.
Thus, we have “flying saucers.” I shall not venture any opinion or
possible explanation of these alleged phenomena, but I can state
that the credence placed on so-called “reliable observers,” who from
one visual observation can give the size, speed, and the distance of an
unknown and remote object, implies a complete disregard for the most
elementary principles upon which scientists and engineers have built
so surely and successfully for hundreds of years. This is but one
example of the tendency to accept any story, however improbable,
without critical review or reference to some standards of credulity.
It points up a region where communications between the scientist and
society at large are woefully inadequate, a situation fraught with
considerable danger. The scientist is running the risk of becoming
separated from society, misunderstood as to his motives, and distrusted
as to his intent.
Earlier I directed your attention to the place of satisfying patterns
of valid experiences, of qualitative and quantitative communications,
and of common viewpoints or common standards of validity in art,
science, and technology. These ideas are, of course, not confined to
these sophisticated human activities but are to be found in the mental
equipment of every rational man or woman. From infancy, the nor-
mal human being attempts to order his experiences into rational pat-
terns which he conjures up to orient himself in encounters with new
and strange phenomena or events. This is referred to colloquially as
“making sense” of something new. Since the experiences of large
198 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
groups of people are fundamentally quite similar, there have grown
up widespread patterns of experiences to which the general name
“common sense” is given. These patterns represent the common view-
point upon which the majority of human beings communicate with
each other. The patterns of common sense differ from those of science
and art in being haphazard and fragmentary rather than systematic
and integrated, little critical effort being made to establish the validity
of the experiences they encompass, and no emphasis being placed on
unambiguity of communication. Furthermore, their growth and
transmission are subject to individual and local fashions and preju-
dices. It is obvious that common sense changes from generation to
generation and is strongly influenced by a group’s background.
Since the results of science and art seep into the consciousness of
all civilized groups, it can be expected that the progress of common
sense follows that of the arts and sciences with an indeterminate time
lag. I have emphasized the acceleration in the advances of science
that arises from its very nature, it being a regenerative circuit. In an
era when this acceleration is high, it can be supposed that common
sense lags far behind science unless the coupling is tight. We may
imagine the accelerating advance of science as a rocket towing behind
it, by means of a spring, a car labeled “common sense,” the spring
representing the communication between the analyzed patterns of
scientific fact and the haphazard patterns of common sense. When the
rocket is accelerating rapidly and the spring is weak, the towed car
lags far behind and confusion reigns. If we are to preserve the mate-
rial benefits of rapidly advancing technology and avoid confusion of
public thought, the spring must be tightened, the communications
between science and the public must reflect the methods—particularly
the discipline of scientific thinking—as well as the results of scientific
research.
I have presented this discussion on common sense because it repre-
sents the background against which the average man judges new
things. We have all been asked about a scientific theory, “What is
the common-sense explanation?” Furthermore, this background is
fairly well set early in life, and efforts to popularize science in the
press, in books, or on radio and television have only a superficial effect
upon it. From what I said earlier, it seems that after 25 years of
popularization of science, we still have a very unscientific common
sense. It is clear that this state of affairs can be remedied only by
enlightened effort in secondary school and undergraduate education
and, here again, all teachers, especially the teachers of the pure
sciences, have an important part to play in giving to all who pass
through their hands a balanced picture of the satisfying patterns of
facts and the disciplined methods by which human experiences are
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 199
analyzed and fitted into structures that may be communicated exactly
to others.
INTEGRATION OF SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
In the foregoing discussions we have devoted much of our attention
to the far-reaching consequences of the growth of natural philosophy
on the material aspects of human life. It has increased beyond meas-
ure our ability to control and use the physical world. In this direction,
the history of the last three centuries has been one of accelerating and
inspiring progress. However, we have also noted certain elements
which indicate that this progress has not been completely satisfying.
The modern search for the kinship of science and the creative arts,
the real concern that universities and other centers of scientific thought
are becoming excessively preoccupied with the applications of science,
and the consciousness that the communications between science and
the general public require strengthening, all point to a feeling of un-
easiness, of dissatisfaction with the purely material objectives of
science. When we link such considerations with the present chaotic
state of human and international relations, we are convinced that our
progress in understanding and using the physical world is out of
phase with other aspects of intellectual and spiritual development. It
is perhaps timely to survey the scene from a mountaintop and readjust
our perspective.
Deeply ingrained in all religions, and in most systems of philosophy,
is the concept of the dual nature of man. He is a material being who
must derive his security and comfort from mastery of the physical
world; he also has a spiritual and intellectual nature which tirelessly
seeks to transcend material things, which seeks to know why things
are as they are and which seeks to create a world in its own image.
The interdependence of the material and the transcendental is one of
the baffling complexities in philosophy. Now it is also agreed by all
religions and most philosophies that, if man is to fulfill his destiny,
he must place his primary emphasis on reaching out for the tran-
scendental and his secondary emphasis on concern for the material
welfare of his fellows and himself. This is expressed clearly by the
order of the Ten Commandments and by the Christian epitome of the
Law and the Prophets, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength. This is the first and great commandment and the second is
like unto it, thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself.”
Being a human activity, science reflects this duality in the nature
of man, and the scientist can approach the problems of the physical
world with two objectives in mind. He can give his allegiance to the
transcendental and, in order to satisfy his intellectual and esthetic
284725—34——_14
200 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
longings, seek to understand why things happen; or he can seek to
improve the material welfare of mankind by asking how things happen
so that he can utilize the knowledge to make tools or commodities.
In his last work on Cosmology, E. A. Milne quoted the song of the
angels, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of
good will,” as the definition of these two objectives of science.”
Although the advances of science toward the second objective are
those that have caught the popular imagination by raising our mate-
rial standards of life to unprecedented heights, it is the paradox of
history that those who sought the first objective, who labored to find
understanding, have, in the long run, done more to enrich the material
as well as the esthetic phases of human life than those who set out
directly to supply immediate material needs. Thus, in science, as in
other phases of human life, the first and great commandment exhorts
devotion to the unseen, to that which transcends current understand-
ing. The uneasiness we have noted springs, therefore, from very
profound sources; it is the reaction of a corporate conscience to the
realization that the major commandment is being transgressed. All
our deep-rooted instincts demand that we must nurture scientific re-
search for reasons that transcend material considerations. The uni-
versities and the privately endowed institutions have inherited the
privilege and the responsibility of cultivating pure science as an in-
tellectual pursuit, the quest for understanding. This is a responsi-
bility they must and can discharge regardless of what other activities
they must foster in the service of their generation. If they fail, a new
dark age will be the result, an age described by Isaiah, “It is a people of
no understanding; therefore, He that made them will not have mercy
on them, and He that formed them will show them no favor.” If the
universities discharge these responsibilities with the breadth and lib-
erality of true education, we can expect generations of research scien-
tists, scholars, and professional men who are imbued with a thirst for
intellectual satisfaction that leads them to extend the range of valid
human experiences, and order them in patterns that make the myster-
ies of nature communicable to all who wish to know them; that will,
in short, inspire them to search for truth. In this spirit, the quest for
understanding through basic scientific research results in much more
than the foundation of tomorrow’s technologies; it becomes a disci-
pline fundamental to civilized life.
Even in the realm of problems of value, in moral philosophy, we
may apply the ideas of circuits or closed loops which we have used
in describing natural philosophy. In figure 8, I show the basic
reciprocal relations between truth, freedom, civilization, and the
‘
"An interesting review of this work is given by G. E. Hutchinson in American Scientist,
vol. 40, p. 509, 1952,
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 201
liberal arts and sciences. Truth, a public basis for agreement which
is open to anyone who takes the trouble to look for it, as opposed to
bases of agreement laid down by authoritarian dogma, leads to free-
dom, which in turn is a necessary condition for civilization. Under
civilization and free inquiry, there flourish the arts, sciences, and
humanities whereby men can broaden and deepen their search for
truth. When this circuit is in stable oscillation with intangible
products of the mind and spirit flowing in the directions shown by
the arrows, a state of healthy moral values exists. Realism, however,
dictates that in the world as it has been up to now, and as it will con-
Public Basis
of Agreement
MAIN
MORAL VALUES
(7 USEFUL ARTS,
=| SCIENCES, Qa
UMANITIES
a
“) | ARR Ss
CIVILIZATION
Ficure 3.—Reciprocal relations between truth, freedom, civilization, and the liberal arts.
tinue to be because of man’s continual desire for personal power and his
lust to impose his will on others, we must add a stabilizing circuit as
is shown in the next diagram, figure 4. In this circuit, the arts and
sciences lead to technology, which in turn provides economic welfare,
which in turn leads to military security which protects the peaceful
institutions that support civilization and promote freedom. Stable
oscillations of this group radiate material welfare.
These diagrams suggest some interesting thoughts. In the first
place they depict a dynamic relation; it is the flow and regeneration
of intellectual ideas and spiritual values in the circuits that give
vitality to the elements depicted in the boxes. If the circuit is cut,
202 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
blocked, or shunted at any point, the elements such as truth, freedom,
or civilization atrophy. Institutions without the dynamic current
of the free but disciplined human spirit, one might almost say the
divine spirit, become mausoleums, empty monuments to dead ideals.
In the second place, this dynamic picture of human affairs, in which
the surges and resurges of the intellect and spirit play the all-im-
portant role, reminds us that human affairs will not be studied profit-
ably by the classical methods applicable to static systems—new meth-
ods for the dynamic study of human relations are needed. In the
Public Basis
of Agreement
| ECONOMIC |, \\
"| WELFARE |“, \
MILITARY |\\\
SECURITY ||
CONTROL LOOP —“
MATERIAL VALUES
CIVILIZATION
Ficure 4,—Reciprocal relations as shown in figure 3, with added “control loop”’ of material
values.
third place, these diagrams suggest that the circuits have no logical
beginnings or endings, the spirit may start moving at any point, and
none of the institutional elements can exist alone or have any absolute
value of itself; they have value only in terms of the whole circuit.
Fourthly, figure 4 recalls the duality in the nature of man and his
activities by two interlocking circuits, the outer loop representing
the transcendental world of ideas, the inner loop representing the
world of material things. The figure suggests that the inner loop
is a control one which preserves in a world ridden with forces of
destruction the freedoms and institutions hard won by forces of con-
struction. It is a stabilizing loop, but only a stabilizing one. The
SCIENCE, ART, AND EDUCATION—GIBSON 203
ultimate destiny of man depends on the promotion of stable and
healthy flow of current in the outer or “main” circuit.
We live in an age when the current in the material circuit is flowing
with an amplitude unequaled in the history of the world. However,
few will contend that the oscillations in the moral loop are equally
strong and healthy. Indeed, it seems that our appreciation of and
respect for truth are becoming weaker as the twentieth century rolls
on. The two circuits are out of phase, the coupling is poor. To re-
turn to a figure of speech we have used a great deal in this paper, this
poor coupling means that our over-all patterns of human experience
are fragmented, inconsistent, and unsatisfying. The suggestion of
a remedy for this state of affairs is far beyond the scope of this paper.
We can only indicate that it constitutes the chief challenge to science,
art, and education for generations to come. It is the challenge to
separate the gold from the dross in human experience, to weave the
gold into satisfying and consistent patterns, and to display this tapes-
try before all mankind through clear-cut, simple, and direct communi-
cation so that all life on this earth may be enriched. Then the world
will realize more fully the truth spoken by the writer of Proverbs:
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth
understanding.
Reprints of the various articles in this Report may be obtained, as long as
the supply lasts, on request addressed to the Fditorial and Publications
Division, Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D. C,
Recent Progress in Astronomical
Photography’
By C, E. KennetH MEEs
Director, Research Laboratories
Eastman Kodak Co.
(With 6 plates]
In THE great epic poem which has come down to us under the name
of the Book of Job, God issues a challenge to man in which he sets
forth the wonders of the universe and asks whether the mind of man
is such that he can comprehend them. Turning to the stars, he says,
“Canst thou loose the bands of Orion? Knowest thou the ordinances
of heaven?” And as if to make a suggestion for the meeting of the
challenge, he asks, “Where is the way where light dwelleth?”
All that we know of the universe, apart from that small portion of
the earth which appeals to our other senses, we obtain through our
eyes by the medium of light. Long before the Book of Job was
written, the apparent motion of the heavenly bodies had been studied
and mapped, primarily with a view to the measurement of time, since
the rotation of the earth on its axis and its revolution in its orbit
form the primary clock by which time is measured. The earliest
dates that we know definitely are determined from the record that
Sirius, the brightest star in the northern sky, rose at the same time
as the sun. This enables us to compute approximately the year in
which that event occurred, since it can recur only at intervals of
1,400 years.
But the desire to know, which is at the root of all scientific progress,
led men not only to measure the apparent motion of the heavenly
bodies but to make maps showing the positions of the stars. The stars
were observed one at a time, their positions in the heavens were
plotted and maps drawn from which the positions of the stars could
be identified. It was as a result of the patient work of Tycho Brahe,
in the latter half of the sixteenth century, that Kepler was able to
1 Twentieth James Arthur lecture, given under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion on May 21, 1953.
205
206 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
formulate the laws from which Newton deduced the general laws of
motion.
Today the time at which the stars pass an indicating point in a
fixed telescope is observed in order to check our computation of time,
and studies have been made even recently of minute differences in
the observed and calculated movement of the planets. Observations
of the movements of the stars themselves are still being continued, but
all this is now a small portion of astronomical work, which is con-
cerned primarily with the study of the probable composition of the
stars and of their life history, their probable origin, and their eventual
fate. The popular picture of an astronomer is perhaps still that of
an oldish man looking through a large telescope and noting down the
readings that he makes of the positions of the stars. Many years ago,
however, such recordings by the astronomer were replaced by a young
lady measuring a photographic plate under a micrometer, for today
all the observing is recorded by photography, and the really pains-
taking work is done by the computer, who measures the plates and
reduces the observations to tables. A telescope today is a camera,
and for all scientific purposes the eye has been replaced by the photo-
graphic plate.
Over 40 years ago, when I was still in England, I had a visit from
F. H. Seares, the assistant, as he was then, to G. E. Hale at Mount
Wilson Observatory. Dr. Seares told me of the importance to the
astronomer of the quality of the photographic plates he used and
said that Dr. Hale believed that the most important advance that
could be made in astronomical practice was to increase the effective
sensitivity of the plates available. He asked if I would be willing
to come to Mount Wilson and try to make improved plates for
astronomical work. I told him that I had just accepted Mr. East-
man’s invitation to go to Rochester to found a research laboratory for
the Eastman Kodak Co. and that I hoped that in my work at Rochester
I might be able to develop improved photographic materials for
astronomical use. This promise was not forgotten, and I kept in
touch with the people at Mount Wilson after we started work at
Rochester.
What astronomers want in general are plates that will take photo-
graphs in less time; that is, plates that are more sensitive to light.
Unfortunately, however, those plates must have properties that are
not easy to combine with increased speed. The astronomers want
all the speed that can be obtained; they want the sharpest possible
image; and they want the least possible graininess.
At first it might appear that the demand of astronomers for more
sensitive plates does not differ from the requirements of other
photographers. As the years have passed, the sensitivity of photo-
graphic materials has been increased, but everybody still wants more
ASTRONOMICAL PHOTOGRAPHY—MEES 207
sensitivity in their photographic materials. The news photographer,
for instance, wants the highest speed that can be obtained, so that he
can photograph at night with a minimum of flashlight. The motion-
picture photographer wants to take pictures with a minimum of light.
The aerial photographers, and especially those taking military pic-
tures, want to give very short exposures and to work when the light
is poor. Improvements in the quality of photographic materials
are therefore valuable to all classes of photographer, but, as shown
later, the astronomer has some additional requirements.
There is a relation between the sensitivity and the size of the grains
of an emulsion since the larger the grains, the more effective the ex-
posure of a grain in producing silver on development. It must be
remembered that the unit of exposure is the silver-bromide grain.
The most sensitive grains of a fast emulsion become developable
when they absorb a few quanta of light. The sensitivity that can
be obtained with grains that are not spontaneously developable with-
out exposure seems to reach a limit, with a requirement of approxi-
mately 10 quanta per grain. Once exposed, the grains are completely
developable.
The amount of silver produced by exposure is very small, but de-
velopment produces at least a million times as much silver as is present
in the exposed grain. The larger the grain, the more silver produced
and the greater the multiplying factor introduced by development.
Unfortunately, the use of larger grains, which give increased sensi-
tivity, produces a granular appearance in the image and a limitation
of sharpness and resolving power. The astronomer has always re-
quired, continues to require, and will always require an increase of
sensitivity with no increase in granularity, and he has been telling me
so for the last 40 years! It is even difficult to get him to answer the
question that we put to him: “Would you rather have fineness of grain
or sensitivity #” since his invariable answer is that he wants both. In
practice, the choice between the two is one which has to be made by
the astronomer, gently guided, let us say, by the manufacturer of
the plates. Sometimes the same program, or what appears to a lay-
man to be the same program of two different observatories, in one case
demands plates having maximum sensitivity with whatever graininess
is necessary to achieve it, while the other requires a moderate sensitiv-
ity accompanied by a decreased graininess and enhanced resolving
power in the images.
As we continued to study the properties of photographic materials,
we realized that there is a fundamental difference between the con-
ditions under which most astronomical photographs are taken and
those in which the photographic materials are exposed in other fields
of photography. This is in the time of exposure. The greater num-
ber of ordinary photographic negatives, including those used for the
208 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
taking of motion pictures, are given exposures of the order of one-
fiftieth of a second. Most astronomical photographs are taken with
exposures of the order of an hour. There is thus a factor of about
10° between the two times of exposure.
W. deW. Abney first observed that photographic materials do not
adhere to the reciprocity law of Bunsen and Roscoe; that is, if the
brightness of the exposing light is diminished 100 times and a plate
is exposed to it 100 times as long, exactly the same result is not ob-
tained. The relation between the exposure and the photographic
effect was measured for the range of astronomical levels by K.
Schwarzschild in 1899, and he came to the conclusion that a constant
effect is produced as long as the condition /, the intensity, multiplied
by the time to a constant power is maintained constant; that is, ef-
fective exposure =/¢, For the materials he was using, Schwarzs-
child found the constant p to be about 0.8. It is now known that this
is not a valid criterion for determining a constant photographic effect
over very wide ranges of intensity. It holds fairly well over a limited
range, and in astronomical photography the range is generally limited.
But the relation between exposure and intensity is actually a curve of
a catenary shape, and photographic emulsions can be made to have
their maximum sensitivity at different levels of intensity. The plates
which for so many years were standard in astronomical photography
were those made primarily for use in portraiture, and such plates are
made to have their maximum sensitivity under normal photographic
working conditions; that is, for exposures of a fraction of a second.
If, however, the emulsions are modified in manufacture, it is possible
to increase the sensitivity appreciably at low intensity levels though
a loss of sensitivity may be incurred for short exposures. For in-
stance, two plates used today by astronomers are known as I-O and
103a-O. If we tested the speed of these two plates by practical ex-
posure, we should find that the I-O plate is nearly twice as fast as the
103a-O when used by a press photographer; when used by an astron-
omer, the 103a—O plate would be about three times faster than the I-O.
The realization of the importance of this reciprocity failure led
us to make special emulsions (of which 108a-O is an example) in
which the reciprocity failure at low intensities was reduced to an
absolute minimum and the plates were made essentially to be used
for exposures of the order of hours. So successful has this experi-
mental work been that I was told some years ago by W. S. Adams
that our plates had made the 100-inch telescope at Mount Wilson
effectively as useful in regard to exposure time as they had expected
the 200-inch at Mount Palomar to be when it was completed. This
does not mean, however, that the value of the 200-inch instrument is
in any way less.
ASTRONOMICAL PHOTOGRAPHY—MEES 209
Though the improvement in sensitivity of photographic materials
has depended upon a study of the general principles of emulsion mak-
ing, great progress has been made in another direction. Before 1900,
the photography by which the spectra of the stars was studied was
confined almost entirely to a limited region of the spectrum. Ordi-
nary photographic plates are sensitive to only the blue and violet and
ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. Some 10 miles above the earth
there is a layer that contains ozone, formed by the action of short-wave
ultraviolet light upon the oxygen, in sufficient concentration to ab-
sorb practically all the ultraviolet of shorter wavelength than 3000 A.
At the same time, the ordinary silver-bromide plate cannot record
light of longer wavelength than 5000 A., and thus the astronomer’s
range of the spectrum was originally confined to the spectral regions
between 3000 A. and 5000 A. In 1873 Heinrich Vogel discovered that
silver bromide could be dyed and that some dyes made the bromide
sensitive to the spectral regions corresponding to their absorption
bands.
By the use of cyanine dyes made in Germany in the early years of
this century, it was possible to sensitize photographic emulsions to
the whole of the visible spectrum, and in 1906 commercial panchro-
matic plates were manufactured. They were very useful for the
photography of spectra, and astronomers often sensitized their own
plates by bathing them in solutions of dyes. Curiously, the German
chemists who discovered these dyes did not determine their chemical
structure, and it was not until 1922 that the general structure of the
cyanine dyes was understood, largely as a result of work done in the
chemical laboratories of Cambridge University. Many new dyes
could be prepared, some of which were found to be excellent sensitizers.
Photographic manufacturers in the United States, England, and Ger-
many then started to prepare new sensitizing dyes belonging to, or
related to, the cyanine series.
At this point there arose a problem which is frequently observed
in the application of scientific research. It was comparatively easy
to synthesize dyes of the cyanine type that would probably be sensi-
tizers, but it was necessary to test the dyes adequately for their sensi-
tizing power by adding them to emulsions of which coatings would
have to be made. Different emulsions take dyes differently, so that
it was desirable to test each dye in several emulsions. Moreover, it was’
soon observed that the behavior of the dyes when used together in
the same emulsion was by no means additive. Some dyes greatly
enhanced the sensitizing effect of others; some disagreed with their
fellows. A well-organized study would require the trial of each dye
with every other dye in pairs at least and for several emulsions; and,
in some cases, the use of three or four dyes together. This presented
210 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
a tremendous experimental program, but it was possible to carry it out
by the use of a special laboratory and equipment with which coatings
could be made at the rate of more than 100 a day. The organic
chemists of the Kodak Company alone have made over 7,000 dyes in the
last 20 years, and though it has not been possible to test all the dyes in
combination with all other dyes, an adequate testing program has been
carried out by a process of selection and elimination.
From a photographic point of view, the spectrum may be divided
into four regions: The region from the ultraviolet to 5000 A., which
can be photographed on plates containing no dye sensitizers ; the region
from 5000 A. to 7000 A., which we may call the visible spectrum and
which can be photographed on panchromatic materials with short
exposures; the region from 7000 A. to 9000 A., the near infrared,
which can be photographed on special materials with exposures
greater, but not much greater, than those necessary for the visible
spectrum; and the region beyond 9000 A.
The sensitizing dyes used for the photography of the spectrum
above 5000 A. are cyanine dyes, in which two nuclei formed of rings
of atoms and containing basic nitrogen atoms are joined to form a
dye by a chain of methine, CH, groups. Heavier nuclei give dyes with
absorptions and sensitizing maxima displaced toward longer wave-
lengths. Similarly, lengthening of the chain of methine groups joining
the nuclei moves the absorptions toward longer wavelengths. The
shortest chain consists of one methine group only, and the dyes are
known simply as cyanines. The next chain has three methine groups,
and the dyes were termed carbocyanines by W. H. Mills and W. J.
Pope, who first analyzed the structure of the German dye pinacyanol,
discovered by B. Homolka in 1904. Dyes with five methine groups in
the chain are known as dicarbocyanines; those with seven methine
groups as ¢tricarbocyanines; with nine methine groups as tetracarbo-
cyanines; and with eleven methine groups as pentacarbocyanines
(fig. 1).
Figure 2 shows the progress which has been made in the extension
of the spectral region for which photography can be employed in
practice. At the top is the spectral region, including only the blue,
violet, and ultraviolet, which could be photographed on silver-bromide
plates without any sensitizer. Then the discovery of color sensitizing
by Vogel and particularly the use of erythrosine made it comparatively
easy to photograph through the green region of the spectrum and
record wavelengths up to approximately 6000 A.
In 1904 the application of Homolka’s pinacyanol to the production
of panchromatic plates made it possible to photograph to the limit
of the visible red, a region which may be roughly placed as just beyond
7000 A. In 1919 E. Q. Adams and H. L. Haller in Washington dis-
ASTRONOMICAL PHOTOGRAPHY—MEES yah |
covered the dye kryptocyanine, a carbocyanine from lepidine, with
which sensitivity could be obtained up to beyond 8000 A. In 1925
H. T. Clarke in our own laboratory found that in some kryptocyanine
preparations another dye, which was named neocyanine, was formed,
with which the photographic spectrum was extended to 9000 A. The
discovery of the tricarbocyanines made it possible to make the tricar-
26.80
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VISUAL OND PHOTOGRAPHIC SPECTRA
a
3000 4000 3000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 1000 12000 13000
SCHUMANN PHOTOGRAPHIC RTHOCHROMATI ITZ
PLATE 1893 BEFORE 1875 cables ey Y ERY RYTHROSIN oe
PHOTOGRAPHIC WITH QUARTZ BEFORE 1904 ENS
————
NEAR INFRA~RED SENSITIZING
CAN BE PHOTOGRAPHIC 1904-191
OTOG iC 1904-1919 BY KRYPTOCYANINE
PHOTOGRAPHED -
IN VACUUM PHOTOGRAPHIC 1919-1925 INGBASRED BY NEDO IGE
ONLY INFRA~RED SENSITIZING BY
1 PHOTOGRAPHIC 1925-1931 XENOCYONINE
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SENSITIVITY BY NATURAL SENSITIVITY OF ROMATIC INFRA- a) SENSITIZING
VERY LOW GELATIN = SILVER HALIDE IN GELATIN SENSITIEING BY OYES
FLUORESCENT MATERIALS
Ficure 2.—Chart showing progress in the photography of the spectrum.
bocyanine from lepidine, and it was named wenocyanine. In 1932 it
became possible with long exposures to extend the limit of the photo-
graphic spectrum to 11,000 A. In 1934 the tetracarbocyanines and
pentacarbocyanines were made, with which the spectrum of the sun
212 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
could be photographed to somewhat beyond 13,000 A. Each of these
steps of progress made it much easier, of course, to photograph the
shorter wavelength portions of the infrared spectrum, so that at the
present time photography in the infrared between 8000 A. and 9000 A.
presents little more difficulty than photography in the visible spec-
trum. Only when it is necessary to stretch sensitivity as far as possi-
ble into the infrared is any difficulty encountered with the sensitizing
dyes.
Quite recently an important improvement has been made in the
preparation of dyes sensitizing in the region between 9000 and
12,000 A. For photography of the spectrum beyond 9000 A., the dyes
available are the tetracarbocyanines and pentacarbocyanines. A typi-
cal pentacarbocyanine is shown at the bottom of figure 1, in which the
two nuclei are connected by a conjugate chain containing no less than
11 methine groups. Unfortunately, this very long chain is easily
broken, so that the dye is extremely unstable, and until recently the
spectrum beyond 9000 A. could be photographed only with intense
sources, such as that of the sun. It was almost impossible to photo-
graph stellar spectra in this region, and little success had been
achieved even in the photography of the solar surface by the spec-
troheliograph using the important helium line at 10,830.
The organic chemists in our laboratory have now found a way of
modifying the structure of a pentacarbocyanine dye to obtain greatly
enhanced stability so that the dye can be purified and used in an
essentially pure condition. Using plates made with this new dye,
F. D. Miller has been able to obtain a number of spectra of late-
type stars using an objective prism on a 24- to 36-inch Schmidt tele-
scope. The infrared limit is somewhat beyond 11,000 A. A strong
absorption band at 9300 A. is an atmospheric band due to water vapor,
but a considerable group of absorption bands have been found in the
spectra of N-type stars. Up to the present the molecules responsible
for these bands have not been identified. It is believed that the new
Z-type plates will make it possible to obtain spectroheliograms using
the helium line at 10,830 A.
While the photographic spectrum has been extended by the dis-
covery of new infrared sensitizers, there has also been a great increase
in the sensitivity of photographic materials to the red region of the
spectrum, which has made it possible to make stellar photographs by
red light with exposures not greatly in excess of those required with
the ordinary violet-sensitive materials. It will be recalled that the
different classes of stars are of different colors, and though a number
of stars are definitely bluer, a very large number of stars are distinctly
redder than the sun. In the older photographs, taken on materials
sensitive to only the blue and ultraviolet rays, these red stars were
ASTRONOMICAL PHOTOGRAPHY—MEES 213
recorded as much fainter than they appear to the eye, and conse-
quently astronomical knowledge has been built up chiefly in reference
to the brighter and bluer stars.
With the availability of the new types of panchromatic and red-
sensitive plates, the exploration of the red stars of the universe is
yielding very valuable results. The use of red-sensitive materials
in astronomy has very definite advantages over the use of blue-sensi-
tive materials. The scattered light from the night sky is largely of
short wavelength because the scattering is selective, as is shown by the
color of blue sky, and much more effective exposures can be made on
stars before the scattered light from the sky buries the images in fog
if the photographs are taken by red light. The limit of effective
exposure by violet light, for instance, in the Mount Wilson telescopes
is approximately 90 minutes, after which little is gained because of
the fogging of the plate by scattered ight. Using red-sensitive ma-
terials, the corresponding exposure can be more than five times as
great. Also there are many regions of the sky which are obscured,
and this obscuring material transmits red light much better than it
transmits the blue light.
Plate 1 shows photographs of one of the most heavily obscured
globular clusters, which is situated close to the center of our galaxy.
Figure 1 was taken by W. Baade on a fast blue-sensitive plate with
50 minutes’ exposure. Figure 2 shows the same cluster taken on a
red-sensitive plate with 75 minutes’ exposure through a yellow filter.
These pictures show that the heavily obscured clusters are strongly
reddened and that the reddening not only affects the clusters but the
whole stellar field in which they are imbedded.
The greater penetrating power of the red-sensitive plate enables
us to pass through the outer extensions of the hidden galactic nucleus
when photographing regions near the galactic center, which are ap-
parently little affected by obscuration. The new types of sensitizers
have made it possible to photograph not only the visible red but to
penetrate beyond it into the invisible infrared. J. J. Nassau, at the
Warner and Swazey Observatory, has found that many very red
stars, which are often variable, have absorption bands in the infrared.
Much interesting information is being obtained as to the nature of
these stars, especially as components of binaries and as to the part they
play in the nearer galaxies external to our own Milky Way system.
Moreover, the use of infrared spectra has given a good deal of informa-
tion concerning the planets. It is possible to set an upper limit, for
instance, to the concentration of water vapor in the atmosphere of
Mars and to show the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmos-
phere of Venus, and by means of their absorption lines ammonia and
methane have been identified in the atmospheres of the outer planets.
214 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Owing to its proximity, it is far easier to study the composition
and structure of the sun than that of any other star. The information
obtained from the sun can often be applied to other stars and thus
can suggest explanations for phenomena which might otherwise re-
main obscure. Owing to the fortunate presence of the moon at a
distance from the earth that enables it to eclipse exactly the solar
disk when it happens to come between the earth and the sun, much
knowledge of the atmosphere of the sun has come from the few
moments when the bright disk is obscured and the thin atmosphere
becomes visible. Plate 2, figure 1, shows a magnificent photograph
of the solar corona taken by the Naval Research Laboratory expedi-
tion at Khartoum at the eclipse of February 25, 1952. Plate 2, figure
2, shows a large-scale photograph of a large sunspot taken recently
at Mount Wilson. ‘The detail in the spot and the so-called rice-grain
structure of the sun’s surface are well shown.
R. R. McMath and his associates, at the McMath-Hulbert Observa-
tory of the University of Michigan, have combined a motion-picture
camera with the spectrohelioscope designed by G. E. Hale. An image
of the sun is formed on a slit of a large-grating spectroscope, and the
dispersed image falls on another slit, which is adjusted to transmit
only the position of an absorption line. With this instrument, the
McMath-Hulbert Observatory staff have made beautiful photographs
of solar eruptions.
Photographs of the solar prominences can also be made by the
instrument known as a coronagraph, designed originally by B. Lyot
of the Meudon Observatory in France. This coronagraph consists
essentially of a simple telescope designed to give a minimum of
scattered light and carefully trapped by baffles. The image of the
sun is caught in a light trap so that only the area surrounding the
sun is projected into the field of the instrument. By working at
altitudes above 10,000 feet, where the scattered sky light is at a
minimum, Lyot succeeded in photographing the outline of the corona.
The instrument operated by Harvard and Colorado Observatories
erected at Climax, Colo., has been used to take some very excellent
photographs of the prominences, using film specially sensitized to
the H-alpha line and a special filter by which the transmitted spec-
trum is confined to a very narrow band. Plate 3, figure 1, shows a
huge arch prominence photographed in the light of H-alpha on June
4, 1946. A new solar phenomenon was discovered at Climax. The
edge of the sun photographed by the light of the hydrogen red line
near the North Pole shows a great number of tiny prominences, termed
“spicules,” which have an average life of only about 4 minutes. The
spicules are always present in inactive regions and seem constantly
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1. AN ARCH PROMINENCE PHOTOGRAPHED AT CLIMAX OBSERVATORY, COLORADO,
Photograph courtesy of Harvard University and University of Colorado.
BLUE. 3100-45000 eee YELLOW A5260-A6600
RED A6300-A6750 ' INFRARED. 47200-28400
2. CRAB NEBULA PHOTOGRAPHED BY LIGHT OF DIFFERENT COLORS,
Photograph courtesy of Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories.
PLATE 4
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Mees
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Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Mees PLATE 5
EMISSION OBJECTS IN NGC 6822
AA4900-5700A
103a-D EMULSION
PLUS GG-I! FILTER
RECORDS EMISSION IN
N; AND No [Oll}
A5100-5700A
103a-D EMULSION
PLUS GG-I4 FILTER
RECORDS NO EMISSION
446 400-6700A
1\O3a-E EMULSION
PLUS RG-2 FILTER
RECORDS EMISSION IN Ha
EMISSION OBJECTS IN AN EXTRAGALACTIC STELLAR SYSTEM.
Photograph courtesy of Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories.
Smithsonian Report, |953.—Mees PLATE 6
ANDROMEDA NEBULA.
Photograph courtesy of Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories.
ASTRONOMICAL PHOTOGRAPHY—MEES 215
to erupt radially from the sun in marked contrast to the general be-
havior of other prominences.
Now let us turn from the photography of the planets and the sun
and celestial objects which are near us in space to the work that has
been done on the very distant parts of the universe. Over a hundred
years ago, Sir John Herschel called attention to the presence among
the stars of what he called nebulae—little clouds—and as telescopes
have grown in size and photographic materials have increased in
sensitivity these nebulae have attracted more and more attention.
As soon as the spectroscope was used to analyze the stars, it became
evident that the word “nebula” was being used for two classes of
objects entirely different in structure. If with a pair of fieldglasses
you look at the sword of Orion, you will see a misty patch surrounding
a star in the middle of the sword. This is the great nebula of
Orion, a mass of gas of enormous extent. If, on the other hand,
you turn your fieldglasses on the constellation of Andromeda, you
will find another misty patch, but this is not a mass of gas like the
nebula of Orion; it is a vast agglomeration of stars at a distance so
great that in an ordinary telescope the individual stars cannot be
seen. The distinction becomes clear when we look at the spectra.
The Orion nebula gives us a spectrum consisting of bright lines, as
would be expected from a mass of gas, whereas the spectrum of the
Andromeda nebula is essentially that of a star though it is really
a composite of all the stars of the nebula—a sort of average spectrum.
The gaseous nebulae that we can investigate are situated in our
own galaxy, and in some cases they are probably connected with the
explosion of stars in the form of novae and supernovae. When a
star explodes in a nova, it produces an expanding shell of gas and
can be photographed for many years. By the use of suitable plates
and filters, photographs can be taken by monochromatic light, show-
ing differences in the structure of the envelope as a result of the
distribution of different gases. Thus in photographs which have been
taken of the expanding gas shell produced by Nova Herculis, which
exploded in 1934, the emission of ionized oxygen at A3727 A. causes
a nearly homogeneous cloud around the star, whereas emission of the
same element (in the same state of ionization) at 44986 A. and 5006
A. causes a more clearly defined ring. Emission of H-alpha and
nitrogen in the red causes a ring with a strongly accentuated crossbar.
When the gas shells produced by the explosion of supernovae expand
sufficiently, we get a permanent nebula, usually referred to by astron-
omers as a planetary nebula, such as the Crab Nebula.
A recent photograph of the Crab Nebula is shown in plate 3, figure
2. The different photographs were taken by blue light, yellow light,
28472554 15
216 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
red light, and infrared light, and they show differences in the struc-
ture of the nebula. As is well known, this object is all that remains
of a supernova which flared up in A. D. 1054. It is recorded in
Chinese history as having been seen in full daylight.
Turning to the other type of nebulae—those that are like the An-
dromeda Nebula, those that are agglomerations of stars—in the last
30 years the nature of these great spiral nebulae, as they are called,
has been elucidated. It has been found that they are no less than
stellar universes and that if we could observe the Milky Way, in
which our sun is situated, from the Andromeda Nebula, our galaxy
would appear very much as the Andromeda Nebula does to us, the
two galaxies being of approximately the same size, having in each
of them about a hundred million stars, and according to some very
recent work, being about 1,500,000 light-years apart.
Long ago E. E. Barnard called attention to the existence in our
galaxy of great clouds of obscuring matter as well as of widely dis-
tributed nebulosities. The whole galaxy, in fact, when viewed with
telescopes of low magnification, shows streaks, which may be either
bright or dark against the backgrounds of suns. It is, indeed, prob-
able that a very substantial proportion of the matter of the universe
is not agglomerated into stars, but is dispersed through intergalactic
space in particles and in the molecular form. This dispersed matter
is, of course, greatly concentrated in the galaxies so that perhaps only
half the mass of a galaxy is in the form of stars. The effect on the
calculated dynamics of the galaxies is, of course, enormous, and it gives
a very much simpler pattern of the disklike structure of a rotating
galaxy than if it is assumed that the mass of such a galaxy consists
entirely of discrete stars. One of the most remarkable of these masses
of gas appearing dark against the skies is shown in plate 4. It was
obtained with a 2-hour exposure on a red-sensitive plate with a red
filter and was taken with the Hale telescope. The formation occurs
along the edge of a large cloud of opaque dust and gas in the con-
stellation of Orion. The edge of the cloud is illuminated by nearby
bright stars. The cause of the streamers running outward nearly
perpendicular to the cloud front has never been explained nor has
the cause of the large extension of the cloud front known as the Horse-
head Nebula, so-called because of its shape.
The proper combination of emulsion sensitivities and filters permits
a detailed study of the structure of many astronomical objects such
as the extragalactic stellar system shown in plate 5. Only a portion
of the whole system is shown in order to concentrate attention on the
nebulous objects indicated by arrows. The first picture, taken on a
103a—D plate through a GG-11 filter, isolates the light emitted by
doubly ionized oxygen, which occurs in the so-called nebulium lines
ASTRONOMICAL PHOTOGRAPHY—MEES 217
N, and N,. It has been shown that no such element as nebulium exists
and that these lines are the result of a very unusual state of emission by
oxygen, known as a forbidden state. In a wavelength region isolated
in the second picture, recorded on a 103a—D plate through a GG-14
filter, no emission from the gases in the nebulosity is recorded. Only
starsareshown. Inthe third picture, taken on a 1038a—E plate through
an RG-2 filter, only the emission of the H-alpha line is recorded in
the nebulosity together with the red light of the stars. This series
shows the powerful tool afforded by plates of different color sensitivi-
ties combined with suitable filters in the study of the structure of
extragalactic objects.
During the last few years, a number of new telescopes have come
into use, and their effective use presents some new problems in regard
to the photographic materials, though their application is already
giving results of great interest and value. By far the greatest of
these telescopes is, of course, the 200-inch Hale telescope at Mount
Palomar, of which you have already heard so much. Besides this in-
strument, however, Mount Palomar has the largest Schmidt telescope,
the 48-inch, with which an excellent survey of the sky can be made,
covering a much greater field than was available for previous tele-
scopes. The great 48-inch Schmidt is being used in a survey of the
whole sky accessible to it, using plates 14 inches square sensitive to
blue light and to red light. Sufficient plates for a year’s use are made
to ensure uniformity of material, and they are stored at a low tem-
perature so that they can be expected to remain unchanged until they
are used. Plate 6 is one of the latest pictures of the great Andromeda
Nebula made with an exposure of 35 minutes on the Schmidt telescope.
The excellent definition of this instrument resolves many stars in the
spiral; the two small nebulae are the well-known satellites of the
Great Nebula.
Employing 103a—E plates with a red filter on the Hale telescope,
Baade was able to resolve one of the companions to the Andromeda
Nebula into its individual stars. With other combinations of plates
and filters, the stars of different colors were separated and their dis-
tribution centered. This led to the startling discovery that there
are two types of stars in the nebulae. These are called by Baade
Population I and Population II, and they exist in different propor-
tions in different galaxies. Type I population is composed of stars
that are intrinsically very bright and generally blue in color. A
blue-sensitive plate primarily records these stars. Population II
stars are intrinsically fainter and redder. These are recorded on
red-sensitive plates.
The most sensational discovery of the astronomers in this century
has undoubtedly been the announcement by E. P. Hubble of Mount
218 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Wilson that the spectral absorption lines of distant nebulae show a
shift toward the red. The most obvious explanation of this shift is
that it is caused by a recession of the nebulae in the line of sight, and
Hubble found that the calculated velocities of recession were propor-
tional to the distance of the nebulae. By 1948 the velocities of more
than 500 nebulae were known, and even at distances of 200 million
light-years, which is the limit of the 100-inch telescope for spectra,
the velocity computed from the red shift was found to be proportional
to the distance. One of the points of chief interest in the application
of the 200-inch Hale telescope was to see whether the relation between
the velocity and the distance would hold for even more distant nebu-
Jae than those of which the spectra could be photographed with the
100-inch.
Using the Hale telescope with a short-focus spectrograph at the
principal focus, M. Humason has photographed the spectra of a
cluster of nebulae in Hydra. The shift of the H and K lines of cal-
cium indicates a recession of 37,500 miles a second, and the displace-
ment is so great that the lines fall in the blue-green near the long
wavelength limit of sensitivity of the undyed IJa—O emulsion used.
Recently Baade published evidence for a revision of the distance
scale of the distant stellar systems, as a result of which the nebulae
may have to be assigned distances twice as great as those which have
heretofore been used and the time scale will be doubled. This change
in the scale and the application of the Hale telescope with its powerful
auxiliary equipment may make possible some clearer picture of the
nature of the red shift.
Advance in the study of the universe is dependent on the collabora-
tion of three different branches of science, all of them employed
finally by the skilled astronomer, whose results must be analyzed by
the mathematician. The optician is making great strides in the devel-
opment of new telescopes and new spectroscopes; the chemist is mak-
ing the new sensitizing compounds derived from ever more complex
organic bases; and the photographer must make improved emulsions
and apply to them the sensitizing dyes, so that he can place in the
hands of the astronomer photographic materials worthy of the instru-
ments and the skill that the astronomer employs. Fortunately, we
all are working in harmony and, as the results that I have put before
you in this paper show, we are making progress.
Radioisotopes-—New Keys to Knowledge!
By Paut C. AEBERSOLD
Director, Isotopes Division, U. S. Atomic Energy Commission
Oak Ridge, Tenn.
[With 4 plates]
CHRONOLOGY
TWENTY-FIVE years ago the field of atomic energy as we know it today
had not even been conceived; nuclear science was just getting under
way. Of course, Roentgen had discovered X-rays; Becquerel had
discovered radioactivity; the Curies had discovered radium and
polonium; Rutherford had originated his concept of the atom with a
tiny, heavy nucleus surrounded by planetary electrons; and Soddy
had proved the existence of isotopes—different forms of atoms of the
same element—and some 30 different naturally occurring radioactive
isotopes had been identified. The fact that atoms of an ordinary
stable element may differ in weight, that elements may have stable
isotopes, had been determined from positive ray studies by J. J.
Thompson and Aston. Also, Rutherford, working with alpha par-
ticles from radioactive sources, had observed the transmutation of
nitrogen atoms to oxygen atoms.
In spite of the seemingly large volume of information that had been
accumulated by 1928 on the atom and its nucleus, the real attack on
the nucleus itself and an understanding of what it is made of was yet
to come. Chadwick had not discovered the neutron; Anderson had
not discovered the positron; Urey had not discovered deuterium; I.
Joliot-Curie and her husband, F. Joliot, had not discovered that radio-
activity could be induced in ordinary stable elements; E. O. Lawrence,
of the University of California, had not invented the cyclotron; and
nuclear fission and the uranium chain reactor were entirely beyond the
realm of imagination of our most learned physicists.
Roentgen’s discovery of X-rays and Becquerel’s discovery of radio-
activity just before the turn of the century had begun the era of modern
physics. It was generally agreed by such learned nineteenth-century
1+ Twenty-Sixth Annual Faraday Lecture, Pasadena City College, Pasadena, Calif., Feb-
ruary 19, 1953.
219
220 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
scholars as Kelvin, Helmholtz, Boltzman, Michelson, and Lorentz that
all the great discoveries in physics had already been made and that
future progress was to be looked for, not in bringing to light qualita-
tively new phenomena, but rather in making more exact quantitative
measurements upon old phenomena. In simpler terms this meant ob-
taining more significant figures beyond the decimal point. As Robert
Millikan said after hearing Professor Roentgen report his discovery
of X-rays to the German Physical Society, “. . . we all began to see
that the nineteenth century physicists had taken themselves a little
too seriously, that we had not come quite as near sounding the depths
of the universe, even in the matter of fundamental physical principles,
as we thought we had.” But no one, even as recently as 25 years ago,
dreamed of the amazing developments of nuclear physics or atomic
energy that have taken place since.
Radioactivity was the key that had opened up door after door in
the dramatic development of nuclear science. It was the study and
use of radioactivity that led to Rutherford’s concept of the atom, to
Soddy’s concept of isotopes, to Chadwick’s discovery of the neutron,
to the Joliot-Curie’s man-made radioactivity, and finally to Hahn’s
discovery of fission from which have come both the chain reaction
and the nuclear reactor.
ISOTOPES
But radioactivity proved more than an ordinary key. It has been
a master key, for it has provided us with a whole chain of “new keys.”
We shall concern ourselves here with only one of these “keys”—the
reactor-produced radioactive isotopes. We shall consider the pro-
duction, distribution, and use of these radioisotopes and look at what
radioisotopes have meant to science and what they may mean to the
individual.
At the risk of going backward once more, let us try to imagine what
scientific tool investigators of 25 years ago might have desired most.
I am thinking now not only of physicists but also of chemists, biolo-
gists, physiologists, and other types of researchers. Among the things
that scientists of that day could not do but no doubt sincerely wished
they could do was “to trace atoms.” Think of being able to trace a
certain diet element or compound through the digestive and metabolic
processes of an animal or even a human being. Think of being able
to find out what plants do with carbon dioxide or with fertilizer, or
following the diffusion of atoms in solid metal. Scientists of 25
years ago could only dream of doing these things. Man-made radio-
isotopes have now made these dreams possible! Today, even un-
dreamed of things have become routine. But the story taken from
this page of science is much more dramatic than “first you can’t, then
you can.”
RADIOISOTOPES—-AEBERSOLD 221
DEFINITIONS
Webster reminds us that the word “isotope” comes from two Greek
words, “iso” and “topos,” meaning “same” and “place.” The word
“isotope” was chosen to describe certain atoms which, although differ-
ent in weight, still occupy the same place in the periodic table of ele-
ments. Since they are atoms of the same element, they will behave
alike chemically, their differences being only in physical properties.
Isotopes, therefore, are like twins that look and act alike but that are
different in weight. Radioactive isotopes, or radioisotopes for short,
are atoms that give off radiation and disintegrate to become other
kinds of atoms.
Actually, isotopes are very intimately associated with our everyday
lives. They are not only to be found in the laboratory but everywhere.
Isotopes are common in the elements around us here—including those
in our bodies. For example, hydrogen, the simplest and one of the most
abundant elements, exists naturally in two forms (fig. 1). One is
HYDROGEN ATOMS CAN... THESE.» ARE
WHAT AN HAVE’ SEVERAL FORMS |SOTOPES
NATURAL OCCURRING NATURAL OCCURRING MAN -MADE
Ce Kydragen Atoms Nave One Proton
ELECTRON —— ELECTRON 4°
H S Lard ‘eho Pecren ‘ONE PROTON ATI
EUTAON WEUTRON NEUTRONS
year HYDROGEN 1 HYDROGEN 2 HYDROGEN 3
PROTIUM DEUTERIUM TRITIUM
MAN-MADE MAN -MADE NATURAL OCCURRING NATURAL OCCURRING
Ww
CARBON IO CARBON 11 CARBON 12 CARBON 13 CARBON 14
PROTONS 6 PROTONS 6 PROTONS 6 PROTONS 6 PROTONS 6
NEUTRONS 4 NEUTRONS 5 NEUTRONS (6 NEUTRONS 7 NEUTRONS 8
MASS NO. 10 MASS NO. 11 MASS.NO. Je MASS NO. 13 MASSNO. 14
Ficure 1.—The word “isotope” is used to distinguish different-weight atoms of the same
element. The simplest of the elements, hydrogen, has three isotopes. Two of them—
hydrogen having a unit weight of 1, called protium, and hydrogen having a unit weight
of 2, called deuterium—exist in all naturally occurring hydrogen in the respective con-
centrations of 99.985 percent and 0.015 percent. Hydrogen 3 can be made by man in
the nuclear reactor although it does not occur in nature. All other elements have at
least three isotopes and some have considerably more. The element xenon, for example,
has 24 known isotopes. A total of more than 1,000 isotopes have been identified to date.
Pictured with the isotopes of hydrogen are the isotopes of carbon.
222 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
ordinary hydrogen, which has a weight of approximately one unit
of atomic mass, called hydrogen 1. The other is approximately twice
as heavy and is called heavy hydrogen, or hydrogen 2. We can also
make a still heavier hydrogen 3.
Both hydrogen 1 and hydrogen 2 are stable; that is, they do not
change with time, or disintegrate, or give off radiation. Hydrogen 3,
on the other hand, is radioactive and disintegrates or decays to a
stable isotope of helium. In disintegrating, hydrogen 3 gives off
radiation.
Five isotopes are known for the element carbon, only two of which
are stable and naturally occurring. The other three are radioactive
and have to be made. Generally speaking, most naturally occurring
isotopes are stable, whereas most radioactive isotopes have to be made.
There are, however, exceptions particularly in the case of the heavy
elements.
NATURALLY OCCURRING RADIOISOTOPES
The historical sequence of events leading to today’s widespread
availability of radioisotopes is unique. It was the naturally occurring
radioelement uranium which even before the turn of the century led
to the discovery of radioactivity. This subsequently led to the dis-
covery of some 45 other naturally occurring radioisotopes, including
such important isotopes as radium and radon, whose uses are familiar.
Approximately 50 years later the same radioelement, uranium, led to
the design and operation of the nuclear reactor, today’s mass producer
of man-made radioisotopes. Just as radioactivity proved the key to
the development of nuclear science, uranium proved the key to the
availability of radiomaterials. But we are getting ahead of our story.
In 1918 Hevesy and Paneth conducted the first tracer experiment
when they used minute amounts of naturally occurring radioactive
lead to study the solubilities of sparingly soluble lead salts. Later
these investigators used the same naturally occurring radioactive lead
to study the absorption and translocation of that element in plants.
This was in 1923. Other studies of a similar nature were conducted
in the years that followed, but none of them were very broad in
scope. The reason was simple. There just were not any radioactive
counterparts for most of the elements usually found in plant and
animal systems. No naturally occurring radioisotopes for those ele-
ments existed, and no one knew how to make them. Here then was
a technique that admittedly had unlimited possibilities but that
could not be used because the materials to do the job were not available.
MAN-MADE RADIOISOTOPES
Then came the key to a whole new era for radioactivity. In 19384
I. Joliot-Curie and her husband, F. Joliot, while bombarding light
RADIOISOTOPES—-AEBERSOLD 223
elements with alpha particles from polonium, discovered quite by
accident that ordinary elements can be made to become radioactive.
The first man-made radioactive isotope produced was phosphorus 380.
It was immediately shown that the path of this new isotope in chem-
ical reactions could be followed by its radioactivity. In less than
a year Hevesy was using another form of radioactive phosphorus,
phosphorus 32, to study the uptake of that element in plants, but only
infinitesimally small amounts of radioactive isotopes could be pro-
duced in this way.
CYCLOTRON-PRODUCED RADIOISOTOPES
Shortly thereafter a new way was found for making larger quan-
tities of man-made radioisotopes. E. O. Lawrence and M. 8. Living-
ston had built their first cyclotron at Berkeley in 1931. It was not
long after the discovery of man-made radioactivity that the cyclotron
was put to work making radioactive forms of most of the elements.
Physicists all over the world immediately became engrossed in the
possibilities offered by these two developments, the invention of the
cyclotron and the discovery of man-made radioactivity. By the start
of World War II, 10 years later, radioactive isotopes were being made
in perhaps as many as 50 cyclotrons throughout this country as well
as in a number of foreign laboratories. By this time the usefulness of
radioisotopes for tracing atoms was well established. At least two
isotopes, radioactive iodine 131 and radioactive phosphorus 382, had
also been used in medicine for the radiation treatment of certain
diseases.
But there was still one catch. Cyclotron production of most radio-
isotopes was and still is very slow and very expensive. But most
serious of all, the cyclotron can produce only limited quantities of
radioisotopes. Therefore, with the exception of those laboratories
which were fortunate enough to have cyclotrons, there just were not
enough man-made radiomaterials to go around. And even when a
cyclotron was available, tracer studies were generally limited to those
experiments that would require only a very small amount of the pre-
cious radiomaterial.
REACTOR-PRODUCED RADIOISOTOPES
The nuclear reactor developed during World War II makes an
excellent radioisotope production unit. Although not so wide a vari-
ety of radioisotopes can be produced in the reactor as in the cyclotron,
what is much more important, the radioisotopes can be produced in
large quantity. Also, with the reactor it is possible to produce many
different radioisotopes at the same time. This, of course, is not pos-
sible with the cyclotron or with other particle accelerators.
924 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Uranium, which heralded the discovery and use of naturally occur-
ring radioactivity, reentered the scene to make an even greater con-
tribution in the production of man-made radioactivity or radio-
isotopes.
NUCLEAR REACTOR
A few facts concerning the Oak Ridge reactor, the production unit
for most of the radioisotopes made in the United States today, may
be of interest.
As one first sees the Oak Ridge reactor (fig. 2; pl. 1) it appears to
be a concrete structure 47 feet long, 38 feet high, and 32 feet deep.
The concrete, however, is a 7-foot thick shield built around the reactor
to protect operating personnel. The reactive portion of the reactor
is a 24-foot cube built of stacks of graphite blocks through which pass
some 1,200 channels containing uranium metal as fuel.
CONCRETE SHIELDS ———
REMOVING ALUMINUM. TUBES
CONTAINING RADIOISOTOPES
Tm, BS SNe is
PROTECTIVE LEAD sur eee ep <—=1SECOND FLOOR
LONG GRAPHITE HOLDERS
(STRINGERS)
NUCLEAR REACTOR URANIUM "PILE"
Ficure 2.—This schematic sketch of the reactor is designed to show the two principal
ways in which radioisotopes are produced. The three most important functional parts
of the reactor are the uranium slugs, the graphite moderator, and the boron steel control
rods. When a fissionable uranium 235 atom in one of the slugs is hit by a neutron, it
fissions or splits. In the fission process, 1 to 3 more neutrons are produced which, when
slowed down by the graphite moderator, are available for splitting more uranium 235
atoms. The multiplication of this process many many times leads to the chain reaction.
Boron has a greater affinity for neutrons than does uranium, and therefore when the boron
steel control rods are inserted into the reactor, they “soak up” a sufficient number of
neutrons to slow down the chain reaction or stop it, depending on how far they are inserted
into the reactor.
RADIOISOTOPES—-AEBERSOLD 225
Reactor operation is based on the fissioning or splitting of uranium
235 atoms in the uranium fuel. Perhaps the only other characteristic
necessary for a simple understanding of the reactor as a radioisotope
production unit is the neutron flux or density. The flux of the Oak
Ridge reactor is of the order of a million million neutrons passing
through each square-centimeter area (about the size of a fingernail)
per second.
Radioisotopes are produced in a nuclear reactor either by fission-
ing—that is, by splitting of uranium (figs. 38 and 4)—or by bombard-
ing ordinary stable elements with neutrons, the subatomic particles
that keep the chain reaction going. Although from the standpoint
of the physics involved as well as from the standpoint of a manufac-
turing process, radioisotope production is a complex operation, in
principle it is as simple as putting biscuits in an oven to cook (pl. 2).
Almost any element, or for that matter almost any object such as a
penny or dime or a bobby pin or the phosphorus from the head of a
match, can be placed in a small aluminum tube and introduced into the
URANIUM FISSION AND BETA CHAIN DECAY
HALF LIFE-45 DAYS
a
MASS 103 FISSION CHAIN
“RADIOIODINE 131—
A PRODUCT OF THIS CHAIN”
HALF-LIFE-30 HOURS = HALF-LIFE-25 MINUTES. HALF-UFE-8 DAYS STABLE
Figure 3.—When a fissionable uranium 235 atom is hit by a neutron, it fissions or splits
the uranium atom into two different atoms. These atomic fragments are called fission
products and make up a wide variety of radioisotopes of elements from zinc, with an
atomic number of 30, to gadolinium, with an atomic number of 64. After the uranium
slug is removed from the reactor, the fission products are chemically separated from the
uranium and plutonium and from each other. One of the most useful radioisotopes
produced by this method is radioactive iodine.
226 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
reactor. After neutron irradiation or bombardment for a week, a
month, or perhaps longer, depending on the radioisotope being pro-
duced, the aluminum tube is taken out and the radioactive material
removed. Depending on the radioisotope produced, it may or may
not be chemically processed before shipping it to the user. In some
instances the aluminum tube and all are shipped directly to the user
after having been placed in the proper shipping container.
The production output of the reactor is phenomenal. For ex-
ample, over 14,000 curies? of radioactive cobalt 60 have been shipped
from Oak Ridge in the 6 years since the distribution program began.
This is comparable to nearly 50 pounds of radium. Although it is
difficult to estimate the current world inventory of refined radium,
in the 6 years preceding the availability of reactor-produced cobalt
60, less than 1 pound of radium was imported by the United States.
Another example is the case of radioactive carbon 14, one of the most
useful radioisotopes for biological tracer studies. It has been esti-
mated that 1 millicurie of carbon 14 produced in the cyclotron would
cost $1,000,000. The same quantity of reactor-produced carbon 14 can
be purchased today for $36.
RADIOISOTOPE AVAILABILITY
Of the more than 1,000 nuclear species or isotopes that have been
identified to date, some 275 are stable and over 750 are radioactive.
Approximately 100 of the radioactive variety are routinely manufac-
tured at Oak Ridge and distributed to scientists all over the world.
This means that reactor-produced radioisotopes or radioactive forms
of most of the known elements are now available in quantities sufli-
cient for wide-scale use. Those available include such important
radioisotopes as radiohydrogen (tritium, H 3), radiocarbon (C 14),
radiophosphorus (P 32), radiosulfur (S 35), radiocalcium (Ca 45),
2The curie, which gets its name from Madam Curie, is the unit of radioactivity repre-
sented by 1 gram of radium. Today it is defined as the quantity of any radioactive mate-
rial giving 37 billion disintegrations per second.
Ficure 4.—One of the principal ways of producing radioisotopes in the nuclear reactor is
to bombard ordinary stable isotopes with neutrons, the subatomic particles formed when
a uranium 235 atom fissions. The chart shows two types of nuclear reactions which take
place when a stable isotope is bombarded with neutrons. In the first case a neutron is
absorbed and a gamma ray given off. This has the effect of increasing the atomic weight
of the target nucleus by 1, as shown in the production of carbon 14 from carbon 13 and
in the production of phosphorus 32 from phosphorus 31. In neither instance is this a par-
ticularly good way of producing the radioisotope since there is no way of chemically
separating the radioactive isotope from the original stable isotope. The transmutation
reaction, on the other hand, results in the production a of radioisotope of a different ele-
ment than is used in the original target. Here a chemical separation can be effected and
the resultant radioisotope made available in pure form.
RADIOISOTOPES—-AEBERSOLD 227
PILE PRODUCTION OF RADIOISOTOPES
NEUTRON CAPTURE
(RY) REACTION
NORMAL LOW ACTIVITY PER STABLE
CARBON GRAM OF CARBON
(GAMMA RAY PHOTON) OETA parmicte)
ra
a
NORMAL LOW ACTIVITY PER STABLE
PHOSPHORUS = GRAM OF PHOSPHORUS
TRANSMUTATION
(r Pp) REACTION
p (PROTON) PIBETA PaRricie)
/ /
NORMAL HIGH ACTIVITY PER STABLE
NITROGEN GRAM OF CARBON
@ (rkoT0N) (OETA PARTICLE)
fd
NORMAL HIGH ACTIVITY PER STABLE
SULFUR GRAM OF PHOSPHORUS
Figure 4.—See legend on opposite page.
228 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
and radioiron (Fe 55, 59). Most of these radioisotopes emit either
beta radiation (high-speed electrons) or a mixture of beta and gamma
(electromagnetic radiation like X-rays). However, the energies of
radiation and the half-lives, that is, the rates with which the various
radioisotopes disintegrate, vary widely.
The only radioisotope currently available under the distribution
program which emits alpha radiation (nuclei of helium atoms) is
polonium 210. Although this radioisotope exists in nature as one of
the decay products of radium and is commercially extracted from
radium wastes, it can now be obtained easier and cheaper by producing
it in the reactor by the irradiation of bismuth.
HOW RADIOISOTOPES ARE USED
Sources of radiation—The first and simplest way of using radio-
isotopes is as sources of radiation. Most persons are familiar with
the way in which radium and X-ray machines have been used to treat
certain diseases and to take pictures of heavy metal castings in looking
for possible cracks and flaws. Reactor-produced radioisotopes can
be used in much the same way.
The principal advantage of reactor-produced radioisotopes is that,
because there are a lot of them to choose from, the investigator has a
much wider choice of type and energy of radiation. Also, reactor-
produced radioisotopes are generally easier to handle and are much
cheaper.
Tracers.—Radioisotopes or radioactive atoms are much more widely
used as tracer atoms—atoms that can be traced by the radiations they
emit.
Since the radioactive atoms of an element are like the ordinary
nonradioactive or stable atoms of the element and behave lke them
chemically, they go along with them in all chemical and biochemical
processes. But because of the radiations given off by the radioactive
atoms, they can act as “atomic detectives.” With instruments such as
the geiger counter these radiations can be detected, that is, they can
be made to produce impulses or signals which may be seen or heard
or mechanically counted. This means that we can always locate the
radioactive atoms and hence distinguish between the atoms added to
a system and other atoms of the same element which were already
present. The use of radioisotopes in this way is referred to as the
tracer technique.
POWER OF TRACER TECHNIQUE
The tracer technique derives part of its power from its versatility.
We can label and trace almost any compound or material that we care
to. Sometimes radiomaterials can be used in the simple chemical form
as shipped from Oak Ridge. This means as the element, as a simple
RADIOISOTOPES—-AEBERSOLD 229
salt such as the carbonate or nitrate, or as the oxide. For most bio-
logical tracer experiments, however, it is necessary to incorporate the
radioisotope in some complex compound. If an investigator wants
to use a radioisotope, say carbon 14, in trying to find out what happens
to a sugar or an amino acid or a vitamin in a plant or animal process,
he must first incorporate the radioisotope into the compound being
studied. Sometimes these labeled or tagged compounds can be made
by the chemist in the laboratory. Frequently, however, it is necessary
to make them by biological means, that is, the radioisotope in some
simple form is injected into an animal and subsequently extracted
from the blood, urine, or tissues of the animal as the desired complex
compound.
The tracer technique to a greater extent, however, derives its power
from a combination of extreme sensitivity and unique specificity. So
sensitive are the methods for measuring the radiations from radioiso-
topes that it is possible to detect the presence of atoms with millions
to hundreds of millions times the sensitivity possible with other ordi-
nary physical and chemical means now known. It is not difficult to
detect radioisotopes that have been diluted as much as a billion or
10 billion times, while dilutions of more than a trillion are attainable
(pl. 4, fig. 1). This means that in a tracer experiment in biology it
would be possible to detect one-hundred-millionth of an ounce of radio-
active material after it had become distributed in an animal as large
as a 1,000-pound cow. Or to put it another way, it would be possible
to detect 1 ounce of radioactive material, say radioactive sugar, mixed
uniformly in 100 million tons or in 2 billion 100-pound sacks of
nonradioactive or ordinary sugar.
When we say that the tracer method has a unique specificity, we
mean simply that radioisotopes provide scientists with the ability to
follow a specific batch of atoms through a complicated system irre-
spective of all the chemical processes that may be going on. For ex-
ample, it would be possible to trace an isotope in a soil nutrient through
a plant grown on the soil, through a cow fed on the plant, and finally
through a rabbit fed on milk obtained from the cow. Even though
the isotope would pass through a number of complex processes, its
telltale radiation would permit its positive identification throughout.
Radioactive tracer atoms have allowed us to increase our power
of perception. They have permitted measurements and analyses at
concentrations far below those hitherto permissible. Equally im-
portant, they have permitted us positive identification of products and
processes. Their value as research tools can perhaps be best described
by noting what they have meant to the field of biology.
In the seventeenth century the invention of the microscope marked
the beginning of our understanding of the importance of individual
cells and their relations to the whole organism. The discovery of
230 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19538
isotopes and their applications as tracer atoms in the twentieth cen-
tury has given us a tool whereby we can explore the physiology and
biochemistry of organisms in the dynamic state with even greater
detail. The microscope permits examination of the structural details
of individual cells. Isotopes permit examination of the chemical
activities of individual batches of molecules, atoms, and ions within
cells.
The isotope, particularly the reactor-produced radioactive isotope,
has truly been a new key to knowledge. It is a key that has already
opened up many doors. Many many more, however, remain to be
opened and can be opened by this new key.
EXAMPLES OF APPLICATIONS
Reactor-produced radioisotopes have been used, particularly as
tracer atoms, in nearly every phase of the physical, chemical, and
biological sciences. They have also been used extensively in many of
the applied problems of medicine, agriculture, and industry. Since the
distribution program began in the summer of 1946, more than 32,000
radioisotope shipments have been made from the principal produc-
tion facilities in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to some 2,000 departments of over
1,200 institutions throughout the United States. In addition, more
than 1,600 shipments have gone to approximately 360 institutions lo-
cated in some 83 foreign countries. Also, several thousand shipments
have been made from secondary commercial suppliers in the form
of specially processed radiomaterials, radioactive drugs, radiation
sources, etc.
In the past 6 years somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 papers and
reports dealing with isotope investigations have been published in
some 200 different scientific and technical journals. These only in-
clude papers on work done with Commission-supplied isotopes. Also,
a number of books have been written on the subject.
Since the number of different kinds of applications could run into
the thousands, we shall try to select examples representative of a large
number of applications. Also, to keep the story short, we shall stick
to applications in medicine, agriculture, or industry.
MEDICINE
The largest percentage of radioisotope shipments go for use in the
field of medicine. This is not only because radioisotopes are used
extensively in medicine but because most medical applications use
short-lived radioisotopes and therefore require repeated shipments.
Radioistopes have found valuable uses in medical research, diagnosis,
and treatment.
Smithsonian Report, 1953,—Aebersold PLATE 1
Preparing to remove plugs from some of the 1,248 fuel-channel openings in the shield of the
Oak Ridge graphite reactor, personnel stand on an elevating platform. In brackets on
the wall of the elevator, in front of the two men, can be seen a horizontal bundle of 10-foot
lengths of light steel poles used as “push rods.” As a rod is inserted into a channel,
another rod is threaded to it, increasing its length to permit traversing the length of the
fuel channel.
PLATE 2
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Aebersold
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1. This is a close-up view of the operation shown in plate 2. The graphite “stringer”
containing the holes in which the aluminum tube has been inserted for irradiation can be
seen in the mirror above the lead “‘coffin” through which the stringer is being pulled out
of the reactor. ‘The operator at the left is surveying the level of radiation with a “‘cutie
pie” radiation-detection instrument.
2. This shows a close-up of the lead “‘coffin” through which the stringer shown in the photo-
graph above will be pulled out of the reactor. Note that the operator wears rubber gloves
to prevent the possibility of his hands becoming contaminated. Also note that he wears
a film badge clipped to his collar and two pocket meters in the pocket of his coveralls to
measure the amount of radiation to which he is exposed during the operation.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Aebersold PLATE 4
1. Pictured here is a typical counting setup for assaying radioactive samples in the labora-
tory. The cylindrical unit on the work bench at the right is a shielded container, often
called a “pig,” housing a geiger counter. The sample to be counted has been placed on
one of the shelves in the “pig.” The rectangular unit in the center is the scaler, which
picks up the impulse from the counter, amplifies it, and records it on a mechanical counter.
The plastic box on the left is a container to hold various absorbers which will be used in
counting certain samples. The absorbers, usually aluminum sheets, are placed in the
“nig” on a shelf above the sample.
2. Here we see the application of radioactive phosphate fertilizer. ‘The fertilizer is prepared
in the laboratory and then applied to the soil from a hopper attached to the tractor shown
in the photograph. ‘The operator in the foreground is surveying the row with a radiation-
survey meter to determine the distribution of the radioactive fertilizer. Note that both
of the men in the foreground are wearing dust masks to prevent possible inhalation of the
radioactive fertilizer.
RADIOISOTOPES—-AEBERSOLD 28
MEDICAL RESEARCH
Radioisotopes have been used as tracer atoms in medical research
to study the movement of elements and compounds in the body. For
example, they have permitted investigators for the first time to meas-
ure the absorption of a specific batch of atoms of an element by a
particular tissue or organ. They have shown how elements are trans-
ported within the body, how they are absorbed from the intestinal
tract, and how they move across blood-vessel walls. They have even
been used to measure the uptake and turnover of biochemicals within
cells.
But what can isotopes tell us that cannot be determined by other
methods? Let us assume that we want to find out how rapidly sodium
travels through the body and at what rate it is taken into various body
fluids and tissues. All we have to do is to take some table salt and
irradiate it in the reactor at Oak Ridge. This gives us radioactive
sodium. We can then give some of this radiosodium to a person by
mouth or by vein and then follow its path through the body with a
geiger counter or some other radiation instrument.
The gamma rays from radiosodium are so penetrating that we
can detect them just by holding a counter over various areas of the
body. This simple procedure allows us to see when blood carrying
the radioactive sodium reaches a certain part of the body. In fact,
this technique is used for determining the adequacy of blood circula-
tion to the extremities such as the arms and legs. If we want more
detailed information on the movement of sodium within the body,
we cannot just hold a counter outside but we have to measure the
radioactivity of samples of blood, urine, sweat, and other body fluids
taken at various intervals after the radiosodium is injected.
Such an experiment shows that sodium goes across the blood-vessel
walls at an extremely rapid rate—back and forth at the rate of 50
pounds of salt a day. Movement of this type could not be found by
other methods because we could not tell the ordinary sodium atoms
on one side of the blood-vessel wall from those on the other side.
However, by putting labeled sodium atoms on one side we can observe
the rate at which the labeled sodium atoms appear on the other, and
thus find the rate of transfer of sodium.
Similar experiments using isotopes of hydrogen to label water
molecules show that water passes back and forth across the blood-vessel
walls at the rate of about 20 barrels a day.
The most rapid transfer of sodium in the body is by circulation of
the blood. Only about 15 seconds are required for the sodium to go
from one arm through the heart, through the lungs, and into the other
arm. It was found that in 60 additional seconds the sodium had
2847255416
232 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
diffused out into the tissues and had been excreted from the sweat
glands on the opposite arm.
But radioisotope studies have called our attention to much more
amazing facts on the day-to-day operation of our bodies. Medical
men used to think of the human body as an engine that takes in food,
air, and water mainly as fuel to keep running on. Only a small part
of the intake was thought to go for replacement of engine wear. In-
vestigations with isotopes have demonstrated that the body instead is
much more like a very fluid military regiment which may retain its
size, form, and composition even though the individuals in it are con-
tinually changing: joining up, being transferred from post to post,
promoted, or demoted; acting as reserves; and finally departing after
varying lengths of service.
Tracer studies show that the atomic turnover in our bodies is quite
rapid and quite complete. For example, in a week or two half of the
sodium atoms that are now in our bodies will be replaced by other
sodium atoms. The case is similar for hydrogen and phosphorus.
Even half of the carbon atoms will be replaced in a month or two. And
so the story goes for nearly all the elements. Indeed, it has been shown
that in a year approximately 98 percent of the atoms in us now will be
replaced by other atoms that we take in in our air, food, and drink.
Instead of just tracing atoms of an element in the body, radioisotopes
are used for the much more complicated job of tracing complex com-
pounds and molecules and even parts of molecules. Such studies have
permitted investigators in physiology to develop an entirely new
technique for studying body metabolism, that is, the details of bio-
chemical reactions by which foods and other materials are taken into
the body, used, and finally broken down and eliminated. In such
studies they have been used to label and trace through complex body
processes a wide variety of important materials such as amino acids,
proteins, vitamins, hormones, antibodies, viruses, and cancer-produc-
ing agents.
A typical case would be that of studying the biological fate of a
labeled amino acid. The compound is synthesized using a radioisotope
such as radioactive carbon or radioactive sulfur. It can then be fed
to rats or other animals. After the labeled compound has entered into
the body’s reactions, the animal is sacrificed. Analysis of radioactivity
in various tissues such as the spleen, liver, and kidney indicates where
the radioactive atoms have become located. In addition, biochemical
analysis indicates the chemical form in which the radioisotope now
exists. Some of the radioisotope will be found in protein material,
some in uncombined amino acids, and some in breakdown products of
the amino acids. In this way the investigator determines what hap-
pened to the originally ingested amino acid and what its role is in the
body.
RADIOISOTOPES—-AEBERSOLD 233
Such experiments clearly prove that our body processes are continu-
ally breaking down and building up organic molecules. The breaking-
down process or degradation of complex molecules releases the energy
which is necessary for proper functioning of our bodies. It also fur-
nishes some of the less complex components of our tissue. A fine
balance is maintained between the degradation to obtain energy and
the synthesis to make new organic molecules for our body’s needs.
Radioisotopes are thus providing us with information not only on
how we “tick” when healthy but on what goes wrong in disease. By
comparing the behavior of isotope-labeled compounds in normal ani-
mals with their behavior in animals having diseases such as cirrhosis
of the liver or cancer, investigators are able to look for differences
which may give valuable leads as to the cause and cure of the disease.
Another goal of this type of investigation would be to use the behav-
ior of the labeled compound for diagnosing such diseases.
MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS
In medical diagnosis radioisotopes have been used to determine
blood volumes; blood circulation to the extremities; pumping efficiency
of the heart ; thyroid-gland activity ; and the location of brain tumors.
Radioisotopes have been used by many large hospitals and medical
centers for measuring the volume of blood in patients, especially those
scheduled for surgery. In this particular diagnostic test a portion of
the blood, the serum albumin, is labeled with a known concentration
of radioiodine and then injected into the patient. After the blood
has had a chance to circulate throughout the body, another blood sam-
ple is taken and the concentration redetermined. The amount of dilu-
tion that has taken place is a measure of the total volume of blood in
the patient. Even wounded United Nations troops in Korea have been
tested for loss of blood by radioisotope blood-volume determinations.
These same troops have also benefited from better methods of using
blood preservatives and plasma substitutes developed through tracer
studies.
The most widely used diagnostic test, however, is the radioiodine
test for thyroid activity. The test is also simple. Radioactive iodine
in the simple compound, sodium iodide, is given to the patient by
mouth. It appears that the patient is simply drinking a glass of water.
Practically all iodine, which is absorbed in the body, is taken up by
the thyroid gland. This is because of the gland’s production of an
iodine containing hormone called thyroxine. If the gland is over-
active (hyperthyroidism), its production of thyroxine is large and
accordingly its ability to take up iodine is large. Underactivity of the
gland (hypothyroidism) produces the opposite effect.
The radioactive iodine will also go to the thyroid, but since it gives
off penetrating gamma rays, its rate of uptake in the gland may be
234 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
determined by using a geiger counter or other radiation detector placed
over the neck outside the gland. Comparison with a normal uptake
rate indicates whether the gland is overactive or underactive. This
particular test is now being used routinely by hundreds of hospitals
and physicians all over the world.
One thing that makes radioisotopes such a useful diagnostic aid is
that only extremely small harmless amounts of the radiomaterial are
required. This means that we should see a much wider diagnostic
use of radioisotopes in the future.
MEDICAL THERAPY
Radioisotopes have also been used in medical therapy for treating
such things as hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid), cancer, poly-
cythemia vera (overproduction of red cells), leukemia (overproduc-
tion of white cells) , and lesions of the eye and skin.
Some applications are like those of radium and X-rays; a diseased
tissue or organ is exposed to radiation from a source placed either
inside or outside the body. Some of you no doubt have read in the
papers about the teletherapy cobalt unit at the Los Angeles Tumor
Institute. This device contains a large amount of radioactive cobalt—
about 1,000 curies—and it gives out a penetrating beam of gamma rays
which can be used in treating deep-seated lesions, like cancer of the
lung. The beam is as penetrating as that from a 2- to 3-million volt
X-ray machine. The radiocobalt unit, besides being cheaper to buy
and operate, offers a number of medical advantages. As soon as a
sufficient quantity of highly radioactive cobalt has been produced,
similar units will be put into operation in a number of other hospitals
and clinics throughout the country.
The same radioactive cobalt in much smaller quantities has been
used, again like radium, for treating cancer of easily accessible areas
of the body like the cheek and lip. Radium is usually used as
“seeds” or “needles,” and although it is widely employed it is ex-
pensive and cannot be easily adapted to a wide variety of uses. ‘The
use of cobalt, on the other hand, can be made very flexible. For ex-
ample, radioactive-cobalt wire can be inserted into small-diameter
nylon tubing and sewed into the tissue to be treated.
The more unique type of treatment possible with radioisotopes is
based on giving the radiomaterial to the patient by vein or mouth and
depending on body processes to locate the radioactivity in the desired
tissue or organ. For example, radioactive iodine is used in treating
hyperthyroidism in the same way that it is used to diagnose hyper-
thyroidism, except that much larger quantities of the radiomaterial
are used. Indeed, radioactive iodine is becoming the treatment of
choice in an increasing number of medical centers both in the United
RADIOISOTOPES—-AEBERSOLD 235
States and abroad for hyperthyroidism. It has been reported that
in about 90 percent of the cases treated, hyperthyroidism is controlled
in 2 to 4 months by one or two treatments; 10 percent of the patients
may require a third treatment. Similarly, radioactive phosphorus
is considered the treatment of choice of many physicians in treating
polycythemia vera and has been found to offer some relief in certain
cases of chronic leukemia.
Neither the physical-placement nor biochemical-placement type of
radioisotope treatment, however, should be regarded as a “permanent”
cure. Both are mainly measures to control the disease and prolong
the comfortable and useful life of the patient.
AGRICULTURE
Many of the complex and difficult problems in agriculture, like
those in medical research, have to do with the fundamental processes
of growth. What minerals and organic nutrients do plants need?
How do plant roots pick them up and how are they utilized? What
are the innermost workings of photosynthesis, the little-understood
process of nature that accounts for all the world’s food and most of
its fuel?
In some respects the agricultural problems confronting us today are
even bigger than the medical problems and certainly more critical.
Advances in medicine tend to lengthen man’s life and hence we have
more people to feed, clothe, and house. Also, our birth rate is on the
increase.
Carroll A. Hochwalt, vice president of the Monsanto Chemical Co.,
sized up the situation recently in a paper before a meeting of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science in St. Louis.
As he pointed out, if we keep populating our Nation at the present
rate, by 1975 we shall have at least 25 percent more people to feed
and clothe. It will take 15 billion more eggs a year; 20 million more
hogs; and another 10 billion quarts of milk just to keep our people
eating as well as they are today. And this is only part of the story,
for this only includes the United States. Even today many people in
other areas of the world are badly undernourished.
The problem becomes even more serious when we consider the waste
that is taking place. For example, it has been estimated that insects
alone destroy as much as 4 billion dollars worth of crops annually.
Plant diseases destroy another 4 billion dollars worth. But what is
more amazing is the costly damage that we can attribute to weeds.
It is almost beyond belief to realize that by choking out crops, clogging
irrigation ditches, and poisoning farm animals, weeds cost the farmer
5 billion dollars each year.
236 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Thus, we must find ways to increase the world’s productivity not
only because we have found ways to increase the world’s health and
because our world population is increasing at a rapid rate, but also
because so many factors are working against us.
Radioisotopes are helping to provide some of the answers. They
have, for example, become an extremely useful tool in studying the
efficient use of fertilizers. Since food productivity is dependent to
a large extent on soil fertility, the replenishment of depleted and
overworked soils with fertilizers is a major problem.
One of the most important group of fertilizers, the phosphate fer-
tilizers, can be readily studied with radioactive phosphorus (pl. 4,
fig. 2). Here, as in so many other tracer studies, the radioisotope
technique is used primarily because it provides the means for follow-
ing a specific batch of atoms. The radioactive phosphorus is incor-
porated in the fertilizer which is added to the soil being studied.
Later, radioactivity analyses of the plant show what parts of the
plant have taken up the radioactive atoms and hence the fertilizer.
Chemical analyses of the plant indicate the total amount of phosphorus
coming from the fertilizer plus that coming from the ordinary phos-
phorus previously present in the soil.
From such studies investigators can determine not only how much
phosphorus is taken up by a plant and where it came from but also
the efficiency of the fertilizer, the best type of fertilizer to use, and
the most desirable place to put the fertilizer with reference to the
location of the plant. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, working
with various State agricultural experiment stations, has conducted
an extensive program of such tests during the past 5 years. Last
year the program included 94 field experiments in 26 States, Hawaii,
and Puerto Rico on 18 different crops including alfalfa, cotton, corn,
rice, peanuts, sugarcane, peaches, pineapples, and cantaloupes.
The most fundamental of all tracer experiments, however, is the
use of radioactive carbon and other isotopes in man’s effort to learn
the secret of photosynthesis. Chemical studies have shown that
plants combine water and carbon dioxide in the presence of sunlight
to form sugars and starches, but the details of how the synthesis takes
place are still unknown. By tagging with radioactive carbon 14
the carbon dioxide fed to plants and studying intermediate products
formed during this complicated synthesis, investigators are beginning
to achieve a more detailed understanding of the photosynthetic
process.
Radioisotopes have also been used to supply new knowledge on
reactions between various soil elements, on insecticides and weed
killers, and on various types of blight and other plant diseases. Sim-
RADIOISOTOPES—-AEBERSOLD 237
ilarly, radioisotope investigations have helped scientists to understand
better the problems concerned with nutrition and diseases of livestock
and the production of milk and eggs.
INDUSTRY
Like the fields of medicine and agriculture, industry has used radio-
isotopes most frequently as tracers in its research and development
laboratories. A number of ways, however, have been found for em-
ploying radioisotopes as sources of radiation, especially in the control
of certain manufacturing operations.
The simplest type of application depends merely on measuring the
change in intensity of radiation from a stationary radioactive source
when something is placed between it and the detecting instrument.
This change is usually measured by a counter, such as the radioactive
thickness gage or liquid-level gage. Sometimes, however, as in radiog-
raphy, a photographic film is used as the radiation detector. Instead
of an instrument recording we get a photographic picture of the
change in radiation intensity. Another type of industrial application
depends on using the radioisotope as a movable source of radiation.
A source on the end of a flexible rod in tracking an underground
sewer line or as an oil marker in an overland pipeline illustrates this
type of application. And finally, radioisotopes may be used as tracer
atoms to measure the transfer of materials by physical and physical-
chemical means and to follow the mechanism of industrial chemical
processes.
Radiographic testing is probably the oldest industrial application
of radioactivity and one of the simplest ways of using a radioisotope
as a stationary source of radiation. The test is carried out by placing
the radioactive source on one side of a weld or casting and a photo-
graphic film on the other side. A darkening of the developed film
indicates the location of any flaws or cracks since more radiation pene-
trates through these places and causes greater exposure to the film.
Naturally occurring radium and radon used to be the only radio-
isotopes available for this kind of application. Today, however, more
and more industries are using radioactive cobalt instead; nearly 200
firms have been authorized by the Atomic Energy Commission.
Radiocobalt is more readily available and easier to handle than radium.
It can also be obtained in greater radiation strength, in any desired
shape and size, and is 5 to 40 times cheaper, depending on whether
the radium is purchased or rented.
Another stationary-source type of application is the so-called radio-
active thickness gage. In the simplest type of gage a radioactive
source which emits beta rays, that is, high-speed electrons, is placed
238 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
on one side of the material: whose thickness is to be measured and a
radiation instrument on the other side. The amount of radiation
which penetrates through the material decreases with the thickness
of the material, that is, the thicker the material the less radiation
gets through and vice versa. The radiation meters used in these gages
are designed to read in thickness values.
Radioactive thickness gages are now being sold by three commercial
manufacturers, and approximately 100 industrial firms have obtained
permission from the Commission to buy and install them. They are
very sensitive to small differences in thickness and give very repro-
ducible results. Another big advantage is that the gage makes no
mechanical contact with the material being measured. This means
that the gage can be used without stopping or cutting the rolling sheet
and without danger of tearing or marking the sheet. Still another
advantage is that the gage can be made to control automatically the
settings of the rollers rolling out the sheet.
Radioactive thickness gages have been used to measure the thick-
ness of paper, rubber, plastic, glass, and steel sheets. Firms using
them have been able to meet more exacting specifications and as a
result have been able to cut down on the amount of reject material.
This has meant a savings of thousands of dollars a year to some firms.
An example of an application that uses the radioactive material as
a movable rather than stationary source of radiation is following the
flow of oils through pipe lines. It is common practice to use the same
pipeline to transport a wide variety of crude or refined oils. The
location of the boundary between the two oils must be known in order
to route different oils to different takeoff points and terminals along
the line. The radioisotope method is based on injecting into the line
a small amount of radioactive material just at the boundary as a
product is changed. Geiger counters detect and record the passage of
radioactivity in this boundary at various points along the line. Clean
separation of the different oils means a large saving in money. One
company is routinely using this method of boundary marking in a
pipeline running from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Pasco, Wash.—a dis-
tance of more than 550 miles. The same company has said that the
new method means a saving of hundreds of barrels per day of oils that
would have an average retail value of about $10 a barrel.
An example of an industrial tracer application is the radioisotope
method of measuring wear or friction. Several companies are using
this method for studying wear in engines. A piston ring or some other
motor part is sent to Oak Ridge, made radioactive in the nuclear re-
actor, and then returned for replacement in the engine. The motor
with its radioactive piston rings is then run. As the rings wear, some
RADIOISOTOPES—-AEBERSOLD 239
of the radioactive atoms will get into the oil. Periodic sampling and
radioactivity analysis of the oil lubricant will show just how much the
ring is wearing away by friction.
In summing up the industrial use of radioisotopes as stationary
sources of radiation, we should mention the radioactive liquid-level
gage used in measuring the level of molten metal in a cupola and the
radioactive density gage used in measuring the water content of moun-
tain snowpacks in remote areas and the silt and mud content of water
in front of power dams. Additional examples of applications based
on using radioisotopes as movable sources of radiation include the
detection of leaks in water lines and the control of acid treatment in
oil wells.
As tracers in industrial studies, radioisotopes have also been used
to test the efficiency of washing machines, to follow the movement
of preservatives in telephone poles, to study the action of detergents,
to investigate the mechanism of such industrial processes as vulcaniza-
tion and polymerization, to study the synthetic production of gasoline,
to investigate the raising of bread, and to help solve a host of other
industrial problems.
THE FUTURE OF RADIOISOTOPES
We can certainly expect a much wider use of radioisotopes in the
future. They are being produced in sufficient quantities to make them
available to everybody who has a need for them and who knows how
to use them. They are becoming recognized by scientists everywhere
as a valuable and necessary tool. Old uses, like the radioiodine
treatment of hyperthyroidism and the radioisotope gaging of thick-
nesses, are becoming routine procedures in hundreds of institutions.
New uses keep appearing on the scene. Manufactures are continually
improving the design and performance of radiation instruments and
handling devices. Better techniques are being developed for getting
more out of the sensitivity and precise labeling of the isotope method.
There is little doubt that radioisotopes are one of the most valuable
analytical tools now known. Yet not nearly as many chemists or
biologists or engineers use isotopes as could profitably do so. We need
more people trained in the use of isotopes—people who can apply this
new tool to tomorrow’s problems in medicine, science, and technology—
more “isotopologists.” But the need goes further than this. A rapidly
expanding atomic-energy program, for instance, needs many more
young scientists and engineers who know and want to work with
radioactivity. Our whole national security and national welfare to-
day are more dependent than ever on advancements in science. The
240 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
need for technically trained people has never been greater. The op-
portunities have never been greater.
We have hardly scratched the possibilities of scientific achievement.
I have no doubt that someone 25 years hence in presenting the Fiftieth
Faraday Lecture will tell us of things which even now are beyond our
remotest dreams. I hope, however, that I may be able to point to
some of these developments of the future and say that they were
made possible in part by isotopes—by what we now call new keys to
knowledge.
Reprints of the various articles in this Report may be obtained, as long as
the supply lasts, on request addressed to the Editorial and Publications
Division, Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D. C.
The Push-button Factory!
By Frank K. SHALLENBERGER
Associate Professor of Industrial Management
Stanford University
Six YEARS ago, two Canadian physicists, Eric W. Leaver and Dr.
J. J. Brown, wrote an article for Fortune magazine showing how
electronic controls developed for military use might be used to control
factory machines and processes and thus make possible the push-
button factory of the future—the automatic factory, where all work
would be done by machines without operators, where the only attend-
ants would be observer-technicians.
They devised an automaton, or hand-arm device, directed and con-
trolied by a punched-paper tape, which would automatically load,
operate, and unload the machines. They proposed devices to inspect,
move, and assemble parts. They suggested that with a new set of
tapes and a little rearrangement, the plant might shift from one
product to another—for example, from vacuum cleaners to electric
motors.
The automatic factory has become one of the most challenging sub-
jects of discussion in engineering and management circles today. The
April 1952 issue of Factory magazine was devoted to it. Even the Rus-
sians have climbed on the bandwagon. In February 1952, the
U.S. S. R. Information Bulletin printed a somewhat vague article
which purported to describe “The World’s First Automatic Piston
Factory.” This was proclaimed another Russian “first.” The fact
that a group of “capitalist” Harvard students had demonstrated in
some detail 8 months previously how such a factory might be built was
not mentioned.
Actually, the idea of automation is nothing new. It is the logical
and ultimate result of imaginative methods study and uninhibited
machine design. Anything which substitutes mechanical, electrical,
or other devices for human guidance and control is a form of auto-
mation. The automatic feed or cam which advances the tool and the
template which guides it, the pneumatic cylinder which clamps, in-
7 Reprinted by permission from the Engineering Journal, vol. 35, No. 11, November 1952.
241
242 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
dexes, or positions the work, the hopper which feeds the machine, the
conveyor which takes the finished work away, the elaborate electronic
device which directs, coordinates, and controls a series of complex
operations—all these are examples of automation and as such are
steps toward the push-button factory.
The term “automation” is of postwar vintage, but to discover its
beginnings we must go back even before there was any real American
industry, to 1784, when Oliver Evans built the first mechanized fac-
tory just outside Philadelphia, a continuous flour mill. This mill in-
corporated all three basic types of powered conveyors in a continuous
production line, unloading grain from boat or wagon and processing
it to finished flour without human aid. In 1833 biscuit manufacturing
was mechanized in the “victualling office” of the British Navy, and
in 1869 endless monorails were introduced into the meat-packing in-
dustry. These were designed for disassembly of hogs, but they were
the forerunner of the modern mechanized assembly line.
Henry Ford first used progressive assembly on a powered conveyor
in 1914, the same year in which he offered $5 for an 8-hour day in an
industry where $2.40 for a 9-hour day was standard. That he was
successful in doing both is indicated by the fact that his original
investment of $28,000 grew to three-quarters of a billion dollars
by 1927.
Many process and chemical companies achieved a high degree of
automation in the twenties. So did manufacturers of such products
as electric light bulbs, cigarettes, bottles, and tin cans. The A. O.
Smith Company in 1920 built an automatic factory to make automo-
bile chassis—a plant in which strip steel was blanked, formed, assem-
bled, riveted, and painted, producing a complete chassis every 10
seconds, ultimately 10,000 a day. The few workers present served not
as producers but as observers and troubleshooters. A more recent
milestone was the construction in England in 1948 of two machines to
produce radio sets automatically.
These are the dramatic examples, but we must recognize that auto-
mation is not limited to completely automatic plants. The automation
of segments of industry and of individual machines is much more
widespread and much the same in its economic and social effects. The
lathe was little more than a woodworking novelty until it was given a
mechanical hand to hold the tool. Henry Maudslay in 1797 gave it
a lead screw, in effect a cam to control the movement of the cutting
tool along the work. Today we have the automatic screw machine on
which cams automatically advance the stock, change spindle speeds,
index and feed the tools to the work.
The same story may be repeated for automatic drilling and milling
machines, for punch presses which feed automatically through
PUSH-BUTTON FACTORY—SHALLENBERGER 243
progressive dies, and for grinders which feed and eject stock and
adjust themselves automatically for wheel wear. We have machines
guided automatically by templates and even some guided by a line
on a blueprint. During the war we witnessed the development of
the transfer-type machine, which combined both machining and ma-
terials handling. Raw forgings or castings enter at one end and
emerge as finished products at the other. These are actually a num-
ber of machine units automatically coupled together and centrally
controlled.
As machines become more automatic, emphasis shifts to materials
handling. The word “automation” as originally coined at Ford,
means automatic transfer of parts between machines. Ford has had
an automation department since 1947, and one has only to look at
the “iron hands” which load and unload mammoth presses, conveyors
which carry cylinder blocks through complete processing without
human direction, hoppers and chutes which load grinders or other
machines, and transfer devices which carry forgings through succes-
sive press operations, to realize the effectiveness of this department’s
efforts. Machine time seems destined to be greatly shortened by cur-
rent developments in metal-cutting techniques and in many instances
has been eliminated altogether by die casting, investment casting,
shell molding, and powdered metallurgy. The result will be an even
greater relative emphasis on the automatic handling of materials.
Inspection has also been automatized extensively. Automatic de-
vices count, inspect, and sort by weight, color, or dimension much more
rapidly and reliably than any human could do. They check perform-
ance, seek foreign metals or internal defects, detect overfilling or
underfilling of cans and bottles. Both Ford and De Soto have crank-
shaft-balancing machines which measure out-of-balance condition,
then automatically drill out enough material from the right spot to
remedy it. This will be characteristic of the automatic plant—
inspection devices will not only detect defects but will remedy them
or pass the information back to previous machines to avoid repeating
the error.
Assembly operations have not been so extensively mechanized, al-
though we have continuous brazing, welding, automatic riveting, nail-
ing, cementing, filling containers, packaging, painting, plating, and
the like. Leaver and Brown described in general terms a machine
to assemble a telephone receiver automatically.
The great dream of the future is electronic control. Why, we are
asked, cannot the electronic devices developed by the military to
control the flight of aircraft, to guide unpiloted missiles, to direct
the firing of guns, be used to control industrial processes? We have
devices which can see better, hear better, measure better than humans.
244 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
They are more reliable, more powerful, more precise, think and move
faster than human operators. They never tire, will willingly work
around the clock, do not make mistakes, do not talk back, are obedient
and fully predictable, have few personal problems, and they will not
go on strike.
Actually, many electronic devices are already in industrial use.
There are simple circuits which, through a sensor unit, such as a
photoelectric cell, pick up an impulse, amplify it, and pass it on to
an effector unit, such as a valve or motor, for appropriate action.
There are the complex computers and servomechanisms which can
solve involved equations and translate the solution into automatic
control of complex processes. There are others which can translate
and use information fed in on a tape or cord. It is the ability of such
devices to think, choose, and remember, to move accurately and with
great speed that makes them the key to the factory of the future.
One of the most important characteristics of electronic controls is
their ability to utilize the principle of “feedback,” a sort of built-in
supervision, which insures that the unit has carried out the orders
exactly as they were given it. Thus tolerances become a problem of
little consequence. The versatility of electronic controls is almost
without limit—there are few if any production jobs which they could
not perform.
To me the striking thing about automation is not what can be done
in the future, but rather how little Aas been done in the past. There
are thousands and thousands of jobs now performed by human work-
ers that could be performed more accurately, more efficiently, and
much more cheaply by automatic means, using devices which are
already available.
Why have not industrial engineers taken greater advantage of
these opportunities? The answer seems to lie in limited capital, lack
of knowledge, lack of imagination, inertia, and misguided economic
thinking. In many small plants, funds are lacking even for the
simplest automatic devices. Whatever the potential payoff, there
always seems to be some other need more acute. In other situations
plant management simply does not know what is available and what
can be done, or has not had the time to sit back and evaluate the de-
velopments that have taken place.
Many offer the alibi of low volumes, changing markets, nonrepeti-
tive operations. Certainly transfer machines, custom-built conveyors,
automatic loading and unloading devices are too specialized and too
expensive for the needs of many plants. But this must be examined
further. In the first place, you can buy whatever fits your pocketbook
and your problem. If the stakes are high, you “pull out all the stops”
and make the job fully automatic. However, there is nothing sacred or
PUSH-BUTTON FACTORY—SHALLENBERGER 245
necessarily desirable in 100 percent automation. Circumstances may
warrant making the job only 50 percent or maybe 10 percent auto-
matic. The cost may not be as great as first assumed. Ford reports
that automatic handling equipment frequently costs less than standard
equipment. Moreover, one need not always sacrifice flexibility for
automation. The new Magnadrill, for example, has drill heads which
can be quickly and easily positioned at any angle for cycled multiple
drilling. Keller Airfeedrills, which fasten directly to the drill jig,
can be readily converted to other jobs. Pneumatic pistons can be
switched from one job to another.
General Electric has developed an automatic lathe equipped with
“playback” control. As the machinist makes the first piece, his opera-
tions are recorded on a magnetic tape. The tape can then auto-
matically direct the movements of that lathe or any number of others
so equipped. The Arma Corporation has developed an automatic lathe
directed by a punched-paper tape similar to a player-piano roll. On
demonstration, this lathe turned out in 4 minutes a piece which would
require a skilled machinist 30 minutes, referring to blueprints, to
produce. It took only 15 minutes to punch the tape, and tolerances
were held to 0.0003 inch! Neither of these machines is yet available,
and at this stage they are probably limited to fairly simple parts. But
the same control principles may some day substitute for cams on
automatic machines of all types to make highly versatile yet highly
productive equipment. The next step will be to connect these, or
automatic machines already available, with automatic handling de-
vices, electronically tie in inspection and assembly, and the automatic
factory will be a reality.
Some of the hesitancy in automatizing processes and operations
comes from a feeling that electronic controls are unreliable and ex-
pensive. Past experience has justified that belief. They have been
fragile and temperamental. In most cases they must be engineered
specifically for the job, and that costs money. But it must be recog-
nized that electronic control is not always required. Mechanical
means (cams, templates, pneumatic or hydraulic pistons) or electrical
devices (thermocouples, limit switches, relays, solenoids, and the like)
can often do the job. Our students are developing an almost com-
pletely automatic shell-molding machine without using any elec-
tronic controls whatsoever. The cost of the control mechanism will
be less than $500. And this machine will be highly flexible—it is,
in fact, being developed for the job-shop foundry.
Military demands are leading to electronic controls which are much
more reliable and less expensive. With new developments in minia-
turization, in printed circuits (which in themselves offer tremen-
dously fascinating possibilities for automation), in circuits imbedded
246 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
in plastic, in transistors which will substitute for vacuum tubes, tradi-
tionally the least reliable electronic component, and in unitized cir-
cuits in which whole plug-in segments can be readily replaced, elec-
tronic controls can be as reliable and as easily maintained as the
machine itself.
Inertia is another deterrent to automation, especially in a period
of easy profits. Still another is business uncertainty. Another is
the type of management thinking which keeps equipment operating
long after it is technologically obsolete. It is usually easier to obtain
funds to keep an old machine running than to purchase a new
unit, especially if the old machine still operates well and shows a sub-
stantial undepreciated value on the books. At the same time it must
be evident, to anyone who will exercise the most elemental logic, that
book value is in no way relevant to the question of whether or not
a machine should be replaced. Obsolescence is the result of tech-
nological change and is not affected by accounting procedures.
Whether the machine is 1 year or 20 years old, the question of whether
or not it should be replaced with a better machine depends entirely
upon comparative performance in the future, not upon bookkeeping
entries of the past. Asarule of thumb, Ford assumes that automation
tooling is justified if it will increase production and if its probable
cost will not exceed $3,000 per man transferred. The figure is very low
to insure a writeoff within the model year. Most plants are satis-
fied with a payoff within 8 to 5 years. The intangibles and un-
predictables usually result in a much faster writeoff.
Labor groups have in many plants retarded technological progress
by insistence on former piece rates, prohibitions on the assignment
of workers to more than one machine, and outright obstructionism.
At the same time, the increased cost of labor is without question one
of the greatest incentives to increased automation, and the higher labor
wages go the more the likelihood of replacement.
High income taxes and unrealistically low depreciation rates have
also retarded plant improvement. Management often asks “Why
invite labor trouble and tie up more capital when the Government
takes away in taxes most of the benefits from improved efficiency ?”
It should be noted, however, that with taxes currently at an all-time
high, plant investment is also at an all-time high.
What is the future of the automatic plant? One tries to be logical
and realistic in appraising the prospects and to avoid the temptation
to overrate the possibilities. And like being a poor lawyer, it is far
easier to be a poor engineer, easier to find reasons why it cannot be
done, than develop ways in which it can be done. But there is danger
in being too logical. The famous individual who resigned his position
in the U. S. Patent Office because there was nothing left to invent was
attempting to be logical.
PUSH-BUTTON FACTORY—SHALLENBERGER 247
When I look around at western plants I see many where the volume,
the type of product, or the lack of finances make automation of any
magnitude completely impracticable. On the other hand, when, as a
consumer, I look at the articles I buy, many of them (such as pens,
pins, pencils, lamp bulbs, cigarettes, bottles, nails, paints) already
produced by virtually automatic processes, and others (hardware,
clothing, toys, plumbing fixtures, plastic products, radios and televi-
sion) which could be automatized, I lose any fears of overstating the
possibilities. Certainly there will be many plants which will never
enjoy extensive automation. There will be many products which will,
for purely economic reasons or by customer demand, continue to be
made by nonautomatic methods. Yet every plant will have some
degree of automation, and I cannot doubt that the vast majority of
the things we eat and use and wear will be made in plants where the
only workers will be technicians, not producers. ‘These will not always
be products as we know them today, for automation very often involves
new materials and complete product redesign.
In assessing the prospects for automation, we must stretch our think-
ing far beyond manufacturing alone. The punched card, which may
some day run our machine tools, had its beginning and greatest de-
velopment in the clerical field. It has recently been predicted that
electronic brains will “keep business accounts, run continuous sales
records, compute and send out bills, handle entire payrolls, keep run-
ning inventories, fix production schedules, serve as vast filing systems,
and chart corporate expansion,” all without human aid. In retailing
there is no reason why electronic circuits could not automatically
record each sale, check credit, bill the customer, post the new stock
balance, reorder if necessary, and at the same time give management
a continuous and up-to-the-second accounting of all operations. For
a long time we have had “Automat” restaurants in New York. Auto-
matic vending of candies, beverages, fruits, and other products has
grown rapidly in recent years.
With increased air-traflic congestion and travel at supersonic speeds,
the shortcomings of human control of aircraft become critical. Auto-
matic electronic controls are not subject to such shortcomings, and it
is reasonable to believe that they may some day take over full control
of aircraft in flight. The same may be true of rail, ocean, and other
transportation. Computers are already used to handle plane reserva-
tions in large centers. And the possibilities in accounting, statistical,
securities, research and engineering organizations, and in the making
of management decisions are tremendous. With the aid of computers,
decisions can truly be based on calculated risks, not on hunches.
The possibilities in agriculture are likewise great. Early in 1952
a Senate subcommittee estimated “conservatively” that chemicals
"2847255417
948 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
alone would displace more than 1.5 million farm workers in the next
10 years, and almost 3.5 million (or a third of our farm jobs) over
the next 20 years. Chemical weed killers can do in 12 minutes what
it would require 20 hours to do with a hoe. Chemicals can prevent
premature shedding in fruit trees and increase yield. Others can
induce shedding and replace hand thinning. Chemicals can destroy
the foliage to hasten ripening or facilitate picking. Fungicides,
growth hormones, and soil conditioners will help increase crops.
Most cotton is already picked by machine. One of our western elec-
tronic companies is currently field testing an electronic crop thinner,
which automatically detects and removes unwanted plants four rows
at a time. The experiments conducted by the Bureau of Mines in
burning unmined coal underground in its natural seams may lead
to another form of automation.
What will be the impact of automation on our society, our economy,
our way of life? In the first place, automation should be recognized
as a gradual and progressive development, an extension of changes
which have been underway for over 150 years. Furthermore, there
are whole segments of commerce and industry which will see only
a limited application. This is not to minimize its importance. His-
torians may well point to automation as the heart of the second in-
dustrial revolution. In the first, machines replaced man’s muscle
in plant operations. In the second, controls will replace his brain.
But although there will be an accelerated use in the near future, there
is no reason to think that widespread automation will come overnight.
Commonly associated with technological development. is the fear
of unemployment. But Factory magazine points out that if we are
to continue to increase our standard of living and to support the
current defense program, we will have to increase output per man-
hour 48 percent by 1960, or over twice the increase which took place
between 1940 and 1950. This hardly bespeaks widespread unem-
ployment! If medical science continues to make advances in com-
batting the diseases of old age comparable to those made against
infection, communicable diseases and the like, the support of the non-
working elderly population will in itself demand a large portion of
our increased productivity. Add to this the defense program, the
increased proportion of children bursting the seams of our school
system today, and the demands of other nations whose aid we have
undertaken, and there seems more reason to fear a shortage than a
surplus of workers. Barring a serious depression, there should be
adequate opportunity for reabsorption of displaced workers. Tech-
nology has always created more job opportunities than it has de-
stroyed. A much higher standard of living and a shorter workweek
are both likely when and if automation reaches its full potential.
PUSH-BUTTON FACTORY—-SHALLENBERGER 249
One of the most challenging aspects of automation is its effect on
job skills and job satisfactions. In the past, technology has tended
to degrade skills. The turret lathe and the automatic screw machine,
for example, replaced skilled journeymen lathe operators with rel-
atively unskilled machine tenders. The war brought about an even
greater simplification of jobs and decrease in job skills. Norbert
Wiener has written pointedly, “It is a degradation to a human being
to chain him to an oar and use him as a source of power; but it is
an almost equal degradation to assign him purely repetitive tasks in
a factory which demand less than a millionth of his brain power.”
Further automation may reverse this trend. Gwilym Price is re-
ported to have said at the Corning Seminar on “Living in Industrial
Civilization,” “Unskilled work is a mistake in engineering.” Automa-
tion could remedy that mistake, could replace large numbers of un-
skilled and semiskilled workers with a relatively few highly trained
technicians, whose function it would be to keep these fabulous and ex-
pensive machines operating. But what happens to those who are
displaced, those who have neither the aptitudes nor training to be
technicians? In past years the expanding economy which technology
created has always absorbed those who were displaced. But this
took place during periods of decreasing skill requirements. Can the
worker displaced by automation fill the highly skilled jobs which
automation creates? Henry Ford is reputed to have said that a
whole stratum of humanity was unfit for anything but repetitive
assembly-line work. Modern psychology disputes this. Such workers
may well be the product of the mechanized factory, not a justification
for monotonous, repetitive assignments.
Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that we will always have many
semiautomatic and nonautomatic plants which will employ large
numbers of unskilled and semiskilled workers on routine jobs. Auto-
mation will result in increased leisure and an increased proportion
of the national income available for luxury spending, and thus create
new job opportunities in these nonautomatic industries. This in turn
raises the most challenging question of all—have we the intelligence,
the character, the maturity to use our added leisure constructively ?
Perhaps the other side of the problem is more serious. Will we be
able to find and train the skilled technicians to supervise, service, tool,
and maintain this highly complex equipment? We already have a
severe shortage of technical skills. But is this not the result of our
failure to utilize the aptitudes already available to us? Industry
has much to learn from recent experience of the military in both
aptitude testing and mass training to high technical skills. We have
_ much to learn also on creating the incentives which will induce the
worker to develop these higher skills, incentives which have largely
250 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
disappeared with the reduction of wage differentials and current high
earnings of unskilled workers.
Techniques of personnel administration must necessarily change
with the changing character of the employees. These technicians will
be freed from the anonymity and monotony of the production line.
They will see clearly their part in the operation of the plant, they will
be intelligent, competent, and will insist on being treated as such. In-
dication of the nature of the new personnel problems to be met can be
found in the problems faced in the administration of technical and
research staffs in the armed services and large corporations.
The demand for engineers to design these complex plants, to keep
them operating smoothly, to supervise and control the technicians,
to direct shifts to other products, will be great. Operating and design
problems will cut across several professional fields—industrial, elec-
tronic, instrumentation, mechanical—so a “team” approach will be
needed. These engineers must be trained to exercise a high degree
of competent and intuitive judgment. The stakes will be high and
they will often be forced to make crucial decisions without delay or
assistance from higher levels. There will be little time for the orderly,
studied, analytical, leisurely approach of the laboratory. A new
emphasis in engineering education seems called for. The selection,
organization, and coordination of these specialist engineers and plant
technicians may well be one of management’s most important
functions.
Preventive maintenance will be a must. The automatic factory
will be a closely integrated unit from incoming raw material to a
finished product, and vulnerable at any point. Emphasis will be on
high utilization, with little down time available for maintenance ac-
tivities. Administrative breakdowns, such as materials shortages
or faulty planning, will be as serious as mechanical breakdowns, and
an added premium will be placed on management competence, precise
planning, scheduling, and followup. Relations with suppliers will
take on added importance.
Plant location will no longer be dependent upon availability of
labor. A guaranteed and stable market for the product will be es-
sential. In most cases, the break-even point will be high, and cut-
backs will be costly. Workers can be laid off, control mechanism
and overhead cannot. At the same time, production increases will
be difficult. Since fixed costs will be high, the automatic factory will
operate 24 hours a day. Expansion of production will be impossible
for a plant which is already working around the clock.
This lack of flexibility and emphasis on full utilization indicates
a need for better than usual sales effort, directed first of all to an
accurate determination of the market potential before the plant is
PUSH-BUTTON FACTORY—SHALLENBERGER 251
built and secondly to a steady sale of the product. Consumers must
pe educated to accept more standardized and in most cases completely
redesigned products. How well these requirements can be met will
determine the future of the automatic factory in many industries. In
this area may also lie the answer to whether or not automatic factories
will aggravate the fluctuations of our economy. Cutbacks will be
much more costly to the company, but will at the same time be less
likely to start a chain reaction of reduced purchasing power, for
there will be fewer workers to be laid off. At any rate, the auto-
matic factory offers as great a challenge to sales management as it
does to the engineers and to production managers. It is, in fact, one
of the great challenges to management of our time.
Let me suggest that we in the West—and I believe the same may
be true throughout most of Canada—have the greatest challenge and
the greatest opportunity. For although we have less mass production
than the industrialized East, we are growing, and we are less inhibited
by sunk costs, by existing equipment, by existing plant processes, and
by vested management or Jabor interests.
The automatic factory has a tremendous potential for increasing
our own standard of living and that of much of the world. It can
also shorten our workweek and increase our leisure. It can release us
from dreary, monotonous, unsatisfying repetitive jobs. It can
help protect us against those abroad who would undermine our econ-
omy. It is not the biggest thing in our lives but it is certainly one of
the most important phenomena of our generation. Let us hope that
we are big enough to take advantage of the opportunities it offers.
Every one of us—engineers, management, sociologists, economists—
must read and think and discuss the subject at every opportunity so
that we can foresee and avoid the pitfalls, minimize the mistakes and
dislocations, and make an economic and social asset, not a Franken-
stein, of the push-button factory.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Technology and the concentration of economic power, by Theodore J. Kreps.
Testimony before the Temporary National Economic Committee, Apr. 8,
1940.
. The automatic factory. Fortune, November 1946.
Machines without men. Fortune, November 1946.
. Small parts inspection by automatic gauging. Iron Age, June 19, 1947.
. Cybernetics, by Norbert Wiener. New York, 1948.
. Grease goes on the gauges. The Lamp, Standard Oil Co. (N. J.), June—Sep-
tember 1948.
The first automatic radio factory. Fortune, August 1948.
. Ford handles by automation. American Machinist, Oct. 21, 1948.
. Mechanical muscles release manual labor. Business Week, Oct. 23, 1948.
AAP wh
© © =I
2h? ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
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Revolutionary automation at Ford operated with iron hand. Automotive
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Backgrounds of power, by Roger Burlingame. New York, 1949.
Depreciation, by Hugene L. Grant and P. T. Norton, Jr. New York, 1949.
Dynamic equipment policy, by George Terborgh. New York, 1949.
Mechanization takes command, by Siegfried Giedion. New York, 1949.
Automation. Mechanical Engineering, May 1949.
Key to the automatic factory. Fortune, November 1949.
. Record playback control. General Electric Co., 1950.
. Coming—Tools that read blueprints. Business Week, Apr. 22, 1950.
. Automatic machining reaches the market. Business Week, July 15, 1950.
. Forerunner of the automatic factory. Product Engineering, August 1950.
. Making the automatic factory a reality, by John T. Diebold et al. Chicago,
1951.
. Elements of automatic stock feeds. Tool Engineer, January 1951.
. How a robot factory would work. Business Week, July 21, 1951.
. Napalm making is mechanized. Business Week, Sept. 22, 1951.
. The automatic factory. Harvard Business Review, November 1951.
. The robot with paper brains runs any machine tool. Business Week, Nov.
10, 1951.
. Push button plants come of age. Iron Age, Nov. 29, 1951.
. Office robots. Fortune, January 1952.
. World’s first automatic piston factory. U. S. S. R. Information Bulletin,
Feb. 11, 1952.
. How Ford automates production lines. American Machinist, Mar. 17, 1952.
. Automation: A factory runs itself. Business Week, Mar. 29, 1952.
. The factory of the future. Factory Management and Maintenance, April
1952.
. A numerically controlled milling machine. Servomechanisms Laboratory,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Science of Musical Instruments’
By E. G. Ricarpson, B. A., Ph.D., Sc.
Reader in Physics, University of Durham,
England
[With $3 plates]
Tue past 20 years have seen the development of the electrophonic
organ, in which oscillations of electronic origin are transformed into
audible sounds having their pitch, loudness, and timbre controlled at
the whim of the player. It is not of these that I wish particularly to
speak today; in fact, reading a lecture I gave on the subject in 1940,?
I cannot say that there would now be much new to report on these in-
struments except in connection with the perfection of the technical
details of the tone production. Rather do we now wait upon improve-
ments in loudspeakers, especially those which will handle large power
without distortion, before the electrophonic organ can replace the pipe
organ or the orchestra.
The apparatus which had to be constructed to synthesize tone elec-
tronically for these new musical instruments did, however, serve
equally well for the analysis of tone in the old, and even those who do
not like electrophonic organs owe a debt to their constructors. The
development of electronic analysis in turn directed attention to defects
in the conventional instruments and suggested the means of their
improvement.
The basis of such analysis is that a record of the steady wave form
of the sounds produced on the musical instrument note by note is made
on a disk, magnetic tape, or talkie film, and this record is then played
back to a set of electric filters which respond, each to its own proper
frequency when this particular frequency is present in the note to be
analyzed. The response of each filter may also be made proportional
to the loudness of the component in the note to which it responds. In
some cases the instrument may be played directly to a microphone
connected to a “sound-level recorder” with the aid of which one may
1 Reprinted by permission from the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, vol. 101,
No. 4888, December 12, 1952.
2 Published in the Proceedings of the Musical Association, vol. 66, p. 63.
253
254 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
sweep through the whole gamut of frequencies to obtain an acoustic
spectrum whereon we have the loudness of the component frequencies
of the individual tones which make up a certain note exhibited by the
heights of the peaks standing over those frequencies.
For unsteady notes such as the transients that accompany the start-
ing of a note, we commonly exhibit the wave form on a cathode-ray
oscillograph. Here the electron beam is made to inscribe the wave
form on the screen in the same way that the gramophone needle does
on the plastic disk, or the light spot on the sensitive film when activated
by the sound. <A short portion of the oscillograph record (of which
I will give examples later) is then turned into one of the “hill-and-
dale” type, and fastened round the rim of a heavy wheel (pl. 1, fig. 1)
so that when the latter is rotated the film passes between a pea lamp
and a photoelectric cell, the current of which is passed to a vibration
galvanometer of 50 c/s natural frequency. (This is a development
of an apparatus which I also described in the 1940 lecture.) The
wheel, having been spun by an electric motor up to a considerable speed,
is allowed to come to rest slowly so that the galvanometer responds
each time the rate of rotation momentarily causes the light beam to
be interrupted by the film at the rate—i. e., 50 times a second—to
which the galvanometer is tuned. In this way the component fre-
quencies at various instants during the commencement or dying away
of a note, e. g., of a bell, may be established.
But enough of technical details, let us turn to results. I will first
discuss what has come to light about the acoustics of the orchestra
in a general way and then pass in rapid survey over information
peculiar to the chief types of instruments.
THE ORCHESTRA AS A WHOLE
The complex subjective processes which we call listening to music
involves the three P’s of science: physics, physiology, and psychology.
Although the aspects of musical acoustics with which we are concerned
in the laboratory or instrument factory are mainly physical, they do
not comprise by any means the whole process of musical appreciation,
and he who supposes that physics is the only “science of music” would
err in the same fashion as he who reduces the art of Bach to a set of
rules regarding the resolution of discords, related keys of subject and
answer in fugues, etc., and the like.
One question may properly be answered in physical terms merely :
that is, how the sounds of one instrument, played solo, may be dis-
tinguished from those of another. Every musician knows that this is
mainly a question of timbre, which means the number and magnitude of
the overtones (harmonic or inharmonic) which accompany the funda-
mental or nominal note which the player intends to produce. The
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS—RICHARDSON 255
oboe and the clarinet each sounding A have then different spectra
and organ pipes have different wave form (pl. 1, fig. 2) and can thus
be distinguished. But this distinction is often uncertain between
two instruments at certain parts of the scale, so that, for example,
the violin steady tone is very like that of the oboe. Yet many people
can distinguish a violin solo from an oboe solo.
How then does this happen? One factor is that the timbre of an
instrument is not constant over the whole of its range, so that the
quality just cited is unlikely to persist when the soloist passes from a
note of medium pitch to one higher or lower. Another is the difference
between different instruments in the starting and in the buildup of
steady notes, in the scrape of the bow, and in the tonguing of the reed,
etc. The first of these characteristics is called formant, the second
transient, though sometimes the first word is used to cover both. The
removal of the transients can make a great difference to the ease of
distinguishing between the instruments of different, or even the same
types.
The formant, in the narrower sense of the word which I prefer, is
that feature in the sound of an instrument (or of a voice) which dis-
tinguishes it from another of the same breed and is largely a question
of the existence of resonances which may be excited in the soundboard
or box to which the primary tone producer, vibrating string, reed, etc.,
is coupled. In speaking of “soundboard” one must use the word in
the wide sense to include all neighboring bodies which can be set in
forced vibration. For instance it ought to include the cavity resona-
tor formed by the player’s lungs, whether he is playing oboe or violin!
Another factor which must be considered is the directional char-
acteristic. An instrument with a definite soundboard like the violin
probably radiates best in the direction perpendicular of the board, a
wind instrument in the direction of the bell, though this direction may
be changed by local reflecting surfaces.
The soundboard should vibrate as a whole up to as high a pitch as
possible. If it tends to subdivide into segments—some moving out
while others move in—their mutual effects at a distance will cancel
each other and the sound will not radiate well.
This directivity is only, however, valid for high pitch. At low
frequencies it fails and the sound spreads equally in front of the
player. (Physically this is the same factor that intervenes when
sound passes through a doorway; high-pitched sounds pass mainly
straight ahead in a beam, but low-pitched sounds spread round a
corner.) This is a matter of some importance when one wishes to
localize the sound from a particular instrument in the orchestra—
for instance, a good violin, in the sense of one which, if used for the
solo part in a concerto, will stand out from the mass of other strings.
256 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
It is believed that low-frequency transients help also in this respect.
A factor of similar origin which will make localization of the music
of the wind in an orchestra more certain than that of the strings is that
the former are mostly playing parts which are not doubled, whereas
the latter show a chorus effect. The fact that two or more strings
playing the same part can never exactly reproduce each other’s effect
as to loudness, pitch and timbre, and time of initiation and duration
of transients (even if they were to be played by a machine) masks
any directivity, introduces slight but rapid vibrato, and smudges indi-
vidual characteristics. The same is true of an organ solo stop played
over chorus foundation stops on another manual. This chorus effect
is, in fact, of sufficient importance to be imitated—than which nothing
is easier !—by the makers of electrophonic instruments.
Recording for scientific purposes is properly done in a heavily
lagged room in order that the sounds of the instruments shall not be
overlaid with extraneous echoes, but since one usually listens to music,
whether directly or over the radio, under circumstances in which some
reverberation is superposed on the original sounds, it is proper to
consider the modifications introduced by the acoustics of the buildings
in which the music is produced or reproduced. The general effect of
excessive reverberation is a smudged rendering. The desirable
amount of reverberation depends on the individual’s taste and expe-
rience. Some reverberation is desirable if only for the sake of the
players who would find an anechoic chamber very unsympathetic to
their efforts. What one is willing to tolerate in this respect is largely
a matter of what one is accustomed to. Since we most often hear a
large organ under a high vault and a piano in our own drawing room
we incline to favor long and short reverberation times respectively
for these two instruments.
Another concomitant of reverberation is loss of directivity. Ina
hall of hard wall surfaces sounds will bombard the listener’s ears from
several directions at once, thus masking the direct sound by which he
estimates the true direction of the source. Furthermore, there will
be marked foci and deaf spots at certain frequencies in such a cham-
ber, a condition which is not only unfair to the audience but makes it
impossible for the radio engineers to locate their microphones to
give faithful reproduction.
From the point of view of the latter persons, indeed, the ideal
would be to diffuse the sound equally in all parts of the auditorium,
a condition obtained in broadcasting studios by lining the walls with
half cylinders or other protuberances of varying size. This would,
however, further spoil the directivity by which, as I have already
pointed out, the audience is able to judge which instruments are play-
ing at a given instant and to pick out the soloist in a concerto.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS—RICHARDSON 257
Fortunately a way out of this dilemma is suggested by a recent dis-
covery in the use of the public address system. The disadvantage
of the common use of loudspeakers to amplify sound—for example,
the voice of the preacher in a large church—is that the output of the
nearest loudspeaker to an auditor, since it seems usually louder
than and slightly in advance of phase over the human speaker, gives
the impression that it—the mechanical source—is the true source.
But if the reproduction over the amplifying system is delayed so that
it arrives some millionths of a second later than the direct sound—
which can easily be done by making a record of the sermon on magnetic
tape and picking it up to feed the amplifiers at a point a little farther
along the tape, so as to produce the required delay—the sound is esti-
mated to come from the original source and yet is amplified. Lon-
doners may hear such a device in action in St. Paul’s Cathedral and
although, to my knowledge, it has not been applied to music, it seems to
have possibilities in instances such as those I have cited where loss of
directivity would be a disadvantage.
INDIVIDUAL INSTRUMENTS
Strings—The problem that will most interest string players is:
What, scientifically speaking, differentiates a good violin from a bad
one? Though put in this bald way the problem seems puerile, it
is by no means easy with scientific apparatus to tell a good modern
violin from a classical one. Professor Saunders, at the University
of Harvard, has spent about 20 years trying to discover what he calls
“the secret of Stradivarius” and although some facts have emerged,
a good deal on the psychological side remains to be explained. In
one set of experiments, in which Jascha Heifetz assisted, three
violins, A, B, C—one a good old one and two modern types—were
played behind a screen, while a critical audience was asked to “find
the Strad.” This they were unable to do—that is to say, one-third
named A, one-third B, and the remainder C as the veritable old
master. Heifetz himself, however, claimed that he could tell a dif-
ference in ease of tone production or “singability” while playing them.
Perhaps the older violin from constanly being played had acquired
with age greater “efficiency” as a music maker.
Not much can be learned by comparing acoustic outputs of violins
over their range except that the really bad ones will have in their
formants a few pronounced and strongly separated resonances in each
of which a “wolf” lurks, whereas these resonances ought to be reason-
ably and closely distributed over a range of four octaves. Much
can, of course, be done to improve a poor violin, by altering the
coupling between the strings and resonators by shifting bridge, bass
bar, and sound post.
258 | ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Professor Skudryzk of Vienna emphasizes the importance of the
radiation by a good violin of transients and of low frequencies in order
to make it stand out in solo work (vide supra). From this point
of view tests behind a screen are inadequate to represent the effects
of playing the instrument on the concert platform, particularly in
concerti. Both he and other physicists have tried to pinpoint the
effects of material and varnish. The general conclusions are what one
would expect: the wood should possess good elasticity and small in-
ternal friction. The purpose of the varnish is to reduce the latter
but since a varnish suffers a chemical change with age we cannot be
sure that the old violins are, in respect of internal friction, in the
same condition as when contemporary players used them. In any
case, varnishes have been so much developed by the chemists in recent
years that the modern violinmaker ought to be able to do better than
the old masters in this respect.
In the acoustics of the pianoforte and other instruments having
struck strings, recent scientific interest, particularly in the hands of
Dr. George in England and Dr. Young in the United States, has been
directed to the coupling between the two or three strings of the same
pitch which constitute a note.
A limited amount of mistuning among the members of this trichord
is not undesirable for it adds brightness. The maker aims, as with
the violin, to reduce the attenuation which inevitably occurs after the
string is struck. The timbre varies during the decay of the sound, the
components of low pitch lasting longest. The timbre varies also with
the speed of impact, that is with touch, and it is not possible to change
one without the other.
Wind—Whether the wind instrument is one of a distinct class, like
the orchestral wind, or occurs in ranks all of the same pattern as in
the organ, basically its sound is that of a column of air set in vibration
by an edge tone (whistle type) or reed. In the former a jet of air
debouching through a slit from a wind chest or from the human lung
strikes a sharp edge and is set in pendulation at a frequency eventually
governed by the column of air acting as resonator. In the brass we
have virtually both types of excitation, for the lips of the player act
like a double reed while an edge is furnished by the more or less sharp
constriction where the cup mouthpiece adjoins the tube itself.
The column has either a fixed length so that its possible notes are
limited to the fundamental—in theory, though it is often unattain-
able—and its harmonics, or it is variable by the use of side holes. It is
now possible to calculate the pitch of such a system if one knows the
position and acoustic “admittance”—to borrow a term from the elec-
trician—of the side holes and of the termination or bell mouth. The
principal drawback to the practical use of such theoretical predictions
Se ese ea
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS—RICHARDSON 259
of the hole size and position on the woodwind, in place of the old
hit-or-miss method, is our uncertainty in ascribing precise values to
these admittances, or end corrections. Work is, however, proceeding
on this problem.
The material of the tube seems not to have such a marked effect on
the output as some organ builders suppose. Provided the tube is not
made of very lissom material it will sound—even shellacked paper will
serve—though there may be differences in harmonic development. In
plate 1, figure 2, are shown tracings of the wave form of four metal
diapasons (C 520) of different material but identical shape. It will be
noticed that there is some change in the strength of the second and
third harmonics.
The nature of the coupling between exciter and resonator is a
matter that has interested workers in musical acoustics of late. In
a flue pipe the edge tone, which, unmodulated, would normally have
a pitch proportional to the wind velocity, is brought into consonance
with one of the natural modes of vibration of the column—the funda-
mental at moderate pressure, the overtones at higher (overblown)
pressures. Exceptionally, if the pipe is underblown, a reshuflling of
the pendulations in the jet takes place whereby either the fundamental
or its octave again appear. Although these underblown tones are
undesirable they often appear transiently as the blowing starts. Thus
in the oscillograph record of the commencement of sounding of the
diapason pipe, reproduced in plate 2, figure 2, a, the octave is apparent
in the transient for about one-tenth of a second though not in the final
wave form. The buildup of pressure in this pipe lasted about one-fifth
ef a second. Transients also occur on wind instruments when the
player passes portamento from one note to another (pl. 2, fig. 2, ¢).
The process of “voicing” by which an organ builder gets the pipe
to speak as he wants it, cutting the mouth and making notches in
the lower lip, is a mysterious art which I hope will be clarified in
a scientific study of the process being made by Mr. Mercer at the
University of Southampton.
In a reed pipe the coupling between reed and column may be either
tight or loose. If the reed is slim and rather inelastic because of its
moist condition—like many orchestral reeds, including the brass-
player’s lips—it accommodates itself to whatever note the player
and/or the wind pressure imposes on the column. In the organ reed
pipe, however, the reed is strong and elastic, and if reed and column
are tightly coupled the two can only sound sympathetically when the
length of the pipe is adjusted to synchronism with the reed; otherwise
the system remains silent.
With the partners loosely coupled, the main function of the reso-
nator is to purify the rather raucous sound of the reed by smothering
260 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
its overtones. This has been well shown by a former student of
mine, Professor Mokhtar, who recorded the sound pressure in the
neighborhood of a beating reed. The oscillograms on the left of
plate 2, figure 1, show the sound of the reed in its “boot” without the
pipe, and the ones on the right those when the reed was loosely coupled
to the pipe—a cylindrical tube 45 cm. long and 3.6 cm. diameter—at
the same pressures. Without detailed analysis it is easy by visual
inspection of the records to see how the overtones of the uncoupled
reed intrude as the wind pressure is raised. With the pipe added,
however, these raucous overtones are smoothed off.
The transient sounds of a reed pipe, like those of the violin, are
usually smaller copies of the final steady state (pl. 2, fig. 2, 6) and do
not comprise extraneous harmonics.
Bells.—The scientific interest in the sound of bells is centered on the
remarkable fact that while, from theoretical considerations, it ought
to be one of the most complex of musical instruments, yet through the
ages the craft of the bell founder has made the sound of the church
bell pleasantly simple in the sense that most of the overtones produced
by striking it at the right place are harmonic or quasiharmonic. This
he does mainly by varying the thickness and moving the sound bow
(the place at which the surface changes from convex to concave).
The first six partial tones of bells in a carillon are usually adjusted
to lie as follows:
. Hum note; the lowest.
. Fundamental; one octave above hum note.
. Minor third; above fundamental.
. Fifth; above fundamental.
. Nominal; one octave above fundamental.
. Harmonic decime; a major third above normal.
(It will be noted that this use of the term “fundamental” is unortho-
dox.) Roughly speaking the pitch of the hum note is inversely pro-
portional to the circumference at the sound bow.
A peculiar feature of bell timbre is the “strike note,” the tone most
prominent to the ear and the one which is intended when the pitch
of the bell is named. It seems that this is a beat note formed between
two of the higher partials, falling about one octave below the fifth
partial or, as some maintain, the fifth partial itself wrongly judged
by the ear to be an octave lower than it really is.
Whereas the nominal is most apparent immediately after striking,
it disappears quickly leaving components 1 and 3 as the strongest.
After some 10 seconds, only the hum note remains. I have a record,
too long to reproduce in full, given to me by the late Prof. Taber
Jones, of the sound of a bell at various instants after it was struck.
Oo HB OO De
;
|
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS—RICHARDSON 261
Snippets from this are given in plate 3 to show the simplification of
timbre as the sound decays.
CONCLUSION
I am aware that this survey by no means exhausts all recent work
on musical instruments, but there is a limit to what can be covered
in a single lecture. The instruments and topics to which I have
referred do in fact comprise those which physicists working in musical
acoustics—all too few, unfortunately—have been interested in during
the past decade.
Reprints of the various articles in this Report may be obtained, as long as
the. supply lasts, on request addressed to the Editorial and Publications
Division, Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D. C.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Richardson PLATE 1
1. PHOTOELECTRIC APPARATUS FOR ANALYSIS OF TRANSIENT SOUNDS.
(6) (d)
2. WAVE FORMS OF FLUE ORGAN PIPES (C520).
a, 60 percent lead, 40 percent tin; b, 15 percent tin; c, 50 percent tin; d, all tin. (The pipes
used for the records were made and lent by Harrison’s Organ Works, Durham, England.)
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Richardson PLATE 2
8 Padi pelea pees, ng LOO pil
I Ay Atay! ag AA aay! Aa Al gy
1. WAVE FORM OF REED ORGAN PIPE.
1, Reed alone; 2, 3, 4, mouthpiece alone at increasing blowing pressure; 7, 8, 9, mouthpiece
] > I ce 2 >]
coupled to pipe at same pressures.
a Courtesy of Dr. E. O. Cook
b Courtesy of Prof. F. A. Saunders
i of \
: *% ( af Pid
My a vf ti,
. y 3
i ‘ ' '
WN MN
:
c Courtesy of Dr. J. M. A. Lenihan
2. WAVE FORMS OF TRANSIENTS.
a, Flue organ pipe. (The uppermost trace is of a 25 c/s marker). 6, Violin string.
Bagpipe, passing from B513 to C570.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Richardson PLATE 3
A
tpectnermnmainnceniasacey Smstnincaire, gure crmmtrenrten AR aces Io peenine ey,
WAVE FORMS OF CHURCH BELLS, 0.1 SECOND, 7 SECONDS, AND 12 SECONDS,
RESPECTIVELY, AFTER STRIKING.
Genetics and the World Today’
By Curt STERN
Department of Zoology, University of California
Tue scientists look at our world! Which world? The world of
ideas? The world of human needs? The world of an authoritarian
organization? Of a democracy ?
Science appears different from different viewpoints, but none en-
compasses all its aspects. “The world” has always meant a multitude
of phenomena, some apparently additive, others complementary, still
others seemingly incompatible with one another. In the middle of
the twentieth century we have become more conscious of this multi-
plicity of the world than perhaps ever before. If we look at science
today we cannot afford to select some one of its aspects, but must view
it from high ground and low. Genetics, the branch of science to
which this discourse is devoted, may well serve as an illustration for
several of the problems of science and the world today.
Let us begin with the adventures and delights of the spirit : Genetics
as a pure science. Within the confines of the first half of our century,
a body of knowledge in the field of heredity has been assembled, and
a tool chest of concepts devised, which will always stand as a great
accomplishment of human endeavor.
We all know the story of Mendel’s successful thrust. He crossed
a round-seeded to a wrinkle-seeded pea plant. All their offspring
were round. He crossed the offspring among one another. Their
progeny was part round, part wrinkled. He counted their numbers
and found three round to one wrinkled. What of it?—one might be
inclined to ask—and his contemporaries’ reaction, or lack of reaction,
is testimony to this shrugging of the shoulders. Yet out of this
childishly simple couple of facts, the deep truth was lifted that the
contributions of two parents to their offspring do not blend or merge
into a unique hereditary newness but remain separable, to be recov-
erable unchanged in a later generation : clear-cut roundness and clear-
cut wrinkledness.
1Reprinted by permission from “The Scientists Look at Our World,” the Benjamin
Franklin Lectures of the University of Pennsylvania, Fourth Series, University of Penn-
_ Svlvania Press, 1952.
284725—54——-18 263
264 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Mendel noticed another fact. The round-seeded parent had yellow
seed color, while the wrinkled parent plant had green seeds. Among
the grandchildren four types appeared, with seeds round yellow and
round green, wrinkled yellow and wrinkled green. Some of you will
remember their proportions: 9:3:3:1. But that is a minor matter.
The lever for further insight is the childishly simple fact that the
parental traits round and yellow which came from one parent, and
wrinkled and green which came from the other, had not always re-
appeared together in the combination in which they had been intro-
duced into the cross, but had also appeared in the new combinations
round green and wrinkled yellow. This fact reveals that each parent
does not transmit a unified lump of hereditary matter, one whose
joint consequences are in one case roundness and yellowness and in
the other wrinkledness and greenness. Rather it shows that the hered-
itary matter of an individual is broken up not only into the two
contributions of his parents, but that each contribution itself consists
of separate and separable units. Thus the concept of the hereditary
makeup as an assembly of many independent units was born. Just
as the atomic theory had reduced the ephemeral multitude of chemical
phenomena to the eternal properties of a limited number of atoms, so
the theory of hereditary elements had reduced the multitude of specific
individual appearances and disappearances of traits to the existence
of a limited number of combining and disjoining elementary biological
constituents.
This knowledge, not appreciated during Mendel’s life, became our
property at the beginning of the present century. What grew out of
it are adventures of our time. Mendel knew that the separable
hereditary contributions were contained in the plant’s egg and
pollen, or in the animal’s egg and sperm, but he did not speculate
about their nature or their specific location. A few further facts than
those he knew have permitted us to place the hereditary elements into
the small but microscopically clearly visible bodies of the cell’s nu-
cleus, the chromosomes. Still more facts, demonstrated first in sweet-
peas and fruitflies, have been the clues to the hereditary architecture
of the chromosomes. While the chromosomes are contained in the
nucleus in a haphazard fashion, like string beans in a bag, each
chromosome itself is a well-arranged construction in which specific
hereditary units occupy specific places. ‘Thus we have accurate maps
of the chromosomes of some organisms in which many of their
thousands of different hereditary elements are assigned their loca-
tions: showing which one of the various chromosomes is the carrier
of each specific element; picturing the linear order in which the ele-
ments are arranged within each chromosome; and giving the seriation
of the elements and their relative distances within the chromosomal
lineup.
GENETICS—STERN 265
What are these elements? Mendel himself gave them symbolic
letters, A and B and O, representing the characteristic traits which
he was studying. There is no doubt that he did not think of A as
being redness of flowers but rather as an agent transmitted through
the parental germ cells, whose action, after growth and development
of the fertilized egg cell into a mature plant, resulted in the presence
of red pigment in its flowers. His early followers expressed this con-
cept in the word “factor” (i. e., maker), the factor A leading to the
production of redness. The famous term “gene” at first had no other
connotation. It was to express the fact that the traits of the or-
ganism are generated by “separable, and thus so-to-say independent
‘states,’ ‘factors,’ ‘units,’ or ‘elements’ in the make-up of the germ
cells? a.
The term “gene,” however, did not permit itself to be confined in
the lofty heights of hypothesis-free abstraction. When the gene was
recognized as being associated with the chromosomes, an interpreta-
tion of its nature in terms of matter became an obvious need. We are
still in the middle of this process of interpretation which takes place
at the molecular level. Where the speculations of former times
thought of elementary submicroscopic living units, themselves en-
dowed with the mysterious properties which constitute life, we now
regard the life of cells and of whole organisms as the resultant of
chemical and physical processes which involve properties and re-
actions of molecular matter of the same kind which the chemist and
physicist study in test tubes and with the spectroscope. It is a truism
that this is not all. The mystery of life remains, but it is now seen
in the integrated coupling of the molecular phenomena and the con-
sequences of this over-all molecular organization, not in the elementary
processes themselves.
Thus our problem has doubled. While we want to know, justifi-
ably, the gene’s molecular structure, our task would not be completed
with the attainment of this knowledge. If we could write down
today an accurate structural formula of a gene molecule, the prob-
lems of genetics would not yet be solved. Indeed, we could imagine
that the cellular chemist might have provided us with this structural
knowledge before the science of genetics had been born. The mo-
lecular recognition would not have given us the gene, the generator
of the organism’s traits, but a molecule. The biological problems of
genetics depend on molecular processes, but are larger than they.
As it is, the physicochemical analysis of the chromosomes has not
yet led tothe gene. Beautifully refined micromethods made us recog-
nize various proteins and nucleic acids, and even gave us specific ar-
rangements of regions relatively rich or poor in these substances. It
_ will be a long road, however, toward the recognition of the specificity
266 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
of the thousands of linearly arranged entities which form the chromo-
somal gene string. We do not know whether the molecular analysis
of the chromosomes will lead to the discovery of clearly separate spe-
cific entities, linearly arranged, and insulated from each other by less
specific material. An alternative has been suggested, according to
which a whole chromosome may be a unified kind of super-macro-
molecule, and the genes only regions of specific chemical activity of
parts of the whole. In this extreme form the alternative is not likely
to be correct, since it is possible in the living cell to break a chromo-
some at many places and still retain the functioning of its parts.
Interestingly enough, though, this functioning often is slightly altered
from its normal action in the unbroken chromosome. There is some
interrelation of neighboring genes, be it interpreted as interaction of
separate molecular units or as interdependence of subunits of a larger
molecular aggregation.
What started as a problem of passive transmission has become a
problem of active functioning. Cell growth and development are
now known to be founded on genic action. A simple experiment made
75 years ago, of cutting an ameba into two parts, one with the
nucleus and the other without it, had shown the necessity of the
nucleus for continued life and growth. Now the geneticist can show
that the loss of a single gene may lead to damage and death. ‘This
new fact has provided a new tool to the experimenter. While it
seemed hopeless to replace from the outside the activities of a whole
nucleus, it became possible to discover the specific cause of trouble
due to lack of a single gene, and to supplement the cell or the many-
celled organism with a compound which it had lost the power to
manufacture itself. Not that one can give such a cell a new gene,
but at least we can supply a necessary product that is otherwise
gene-dependent. And what is possible for one lost gene is possible
for two and more. We do not yet know how much of the intrinsic
groundwork of an organism we can do without as long as we take
over its jobs. That one can go very far in this substitution is not
a discovery of man’s intellect. All through the evolution of life
many forms have degenerated, losing their relative autonomy and
becoming dependent parasites upon other creatures.
The role of the genes as key reagents in the biochemistry of the
cell is being elucidated by the brilliant work of our contemporary
biochemical geneticists. They have clarified many of the steps in
which the genes take part in the synthesis of amino acids, vitamins,
and other essential compounds. Different genes control or participate
in successive steps in the so-called biosynthetic pathways. These
studies have made genetics a central aspect of the science of cellular
physiology which comprises nutrition and growth, energy transfer in
GENETICS—STERN 267
respiration and fermentation, in synthesis and decomposition. And
emerging from these phenomena, we are approaching from the aspect
of genic action differentiation and development, maturing, aging, and
death.
As unbelievably remarkable as the functioning of an organism
is under the guidance of its genes, we have not yet spoken of the
still more remarkable fact that an organism can produce another
organism, that it can reproduce. Once, in the century of rationalism
and deism, some men believed that they could dispense with the solu-
tion of this biological enigma by laying it directly in the hands
of the Creator. They thought that a man’s reproductive cells, his
sperm, were fully preformed little men, in turn containing inside
their tiny bodies still smaller fully preformed human beings to con-
stitute the grandchildren and so on in ever smaller proportion the
encapsuled miniatures of all future generations. In terms of molec-
ular biology this picture dissolves if it ever did have justification.
Reproduction of an organism, basically, has become reproduction
of genes. Reproduction of a gene is an elementary process, the
copying of an original molecular configuration within a cell. How-
ever dependent this copying process is on the preexistence of the
larger, living assembly of parts which constitutes a cell, genic repro-
duction becomes accessible to study by the physicist and chemist.
It is at the genic level, once more, that the problems of the evolution
of living forms at present find their most fundamental treatment.
If the genes of an animal or plant are responsible for its given
nature, how is it possible that this nature changes in the course of
biological history? If evolution implies deviation from conservative,
accurate reproduction of an organism, the genetic interpretation
demands deviation from conservative, accurate copying of the gen-
erators of living form. Genetics indeed has demonstrated that the
so perfect copying process of the genic matter leaves room for some
imperfections; that the stabilizing transmission of exact replicas
of parental genes is accompanied by occasional upsetting lapses in
which a new kind of gene originates and causes the appearance of
hereditary newness. Some of these lapses are known to us in detail:
rare cases where the copy of a gene remains with the original gene
assembly instead of becoming part of the general duplicate; or rare
cases where genic material gets lost from the genic assembly. Other
lapses in exact copying may consist in a permanent change within
the molecular makeup of a gene itself, a change which may have
occurred before the gene began its reproduction, or may have been
an error in copying itself.
The occurrence of such changes has been known for some time.
They initiate permanent newness, and their discovery is possible
268 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
primarily on account of the remarkable property that, once changed,
further copies are reproductions of the new kind of gene, and do not
return to the old pattern. We now do not need to wait for these muta-
tions to occur spontaneously; we have learned to produce them arti-
ficially. The same century which brought us the artificial transmuta-
tion of the chemical elements has given us the artificial transmutation
of the hereditary elements. X-rays and gamma rays from radium
were the pioneer tools, and still are indispensable. Most recently,
chemical agents such as mustard gas, formaldehyde, and urathene
have been found which accomplish permanent genic alterations. The
mechanism of induction of mutations is on the way to being clarified.
Undoubtedly the solution of these problems will bring with it insight
into the origin of the natural mutations which, uncontrollable at pres-
ent, occur all the time in all organisms. It is clear already that these
spontaneous mutations are elementary events dependent on accidental
phenomena of nature: intrinsic instability of genic molecular com-
pounds; unusual exposure of genes to reactive chemicals formed in
the cell; and unavoidable events like natural radioactivity or cosmic
irradiation.
These sources of mutagenic action are part of the forces of the
universe. Life pays tribute to them, and harnesses them. The tribute
consists in the sacrifice of many changed genes. Since the change is
accidental in origin, much more often than not its result is detrimental.
The mutated gene will not be suitable to take part in the established
paths of gene action, and early death or weakness of the organism
will result. This tribute is a tragic reality. While any one gene will
mutate only in one out of many thousands of cells, the fact that each
cell embodies many thousands of genes means that in each generation
very many germ cells have acquired at least one mutated gene not
present in their ancestry. In each generation millions of mutations
are dumped into a species. Why then its apparent stability? The
answer to this question has already been given. The early death or
weakness of the individuals who carry the mutations removes the
unstabilizers at the same rate as they are produced.
But not quite at the same rate. A few are harnessed to the yoke
of survival. Are those a few good genes in contrast to the great bulk
of bad genes? Molecules and genes are not good or bad by themselves.
However, a few changes in the living assemblage of cellular mole-
cules will happen to be compatible with continued good function,
although the majority will not. The internally compatible new
assemblages then will have a chance to be perpetuated. Whether they
will coexist with the original ones, or whether they will replace them,
will vary from case to case. Sometimes the new assemblage may
thrive in a niche of the environment which had not been occupied
before. The existence of thousands of different species in the same
GENETICS—STERN 269
environment of a forest or a meadow is evidence of the existence of
thousands of occupied ecological niches, and surely of many more yet
unexplored. Sometimes the new assemblage will happen to survive
in a changing environment where the original assemblage was doomed
to extinction. The “deterioration of the environment,” so-called by
unadjustable men, is a continuous process; for the flexible, environ-
mental change is a challenge to inventiveness.
Let us, however, not be deceived by this anthropomorphic phrase-
ology. It fits our discussion in a figurative manner, but only in a
most indirect way does the genetic model of evolution provide an
organism with attributes of unadjustability or inventiveness.
Changes at the molecular level all too often happen not to be adjusted
to the demands of a higher level. Occasionally they do. The wonder
is that for two billion years the genes have succeeded in escaping
extinction. They survived, that is, left duplicates when they hap-
pened to clothe themselves in lambs and lions, amebae and bacteria,
algae and oak trees, tapeworms and men. They perished when they
were trapped within trilobites and dinosaurs, or within the tree ferns
and giant horsetails of the carbon ages. The genetic view of evolu-
tion may be expressed in a variation of a well-known sentence: All
living forms are only the genes’ ways of making other genes.
Not that the genes could escape the process of evolution themselves.
In order to create the superstructures of animals and plants within
which to survive, the genes had to change themselves. Single, sepa-
rately existing genes at the dawn of life had to become associated into
harmoniously fitting groups; mutations of the genes had to make pos-
sible the development of the manifoldness of organisms. The one
prerequisite invariant in the evolution of the gene had to be its prop-
erty of reproducibility. What else remained constant we can only
guess—perhaps protein or nucleic acid structure, taken in a general
sense; perhaps enzymatic property. The evolution of the gene, as
gene, is a field of inquiry barely touched.
This then is genetics as a way of interpreting living nature. This is
Mendelism—Weismannism—Morganism — Mullerism—Goldschmidt-
ism—Beadleism—Haldaneism—Fisherism—Wrightism. This is the
framework which our times have built. It has been called “idealistic”
by those to whom this term is one of condemnation, and with equal
reproach has been termed “materialistic” by their opponents.
The new view of biology which genetics has provided may seem
to many a denaturation of nature. Instead of birds with beautiful
feathers and sweet songs, with artful nests and loving care of the
young, we speak of the gene molecules which control pigmentation
reactions and the deposition of cartilages in the singing box, deter-
mine the architecture and physiology of the brain, and the hormonal
secretion of the pituitary gland. But the molecular interpretation
270 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
of the individual development and functioning of an organism and
of its historical evolution does not negate the existence of all the
marvels of what we cailed the superstructure. The emergence of
the latter is a miracle itself, and the exploration of life as it exists
truly only above the molecular level remains as valid and tempting a
task as ever before.
Our discussion of genetics up to this point has been subsumed under
the heading “The adventures and delights of the spirit.” The pur-
suit of such adventures and the tasting of their delights has had a
respected place in civilization, not the least in our own Western tradi-
tion. “The world,” wrote Sir Thomas Browne in the seventeenth
century, “was made to be inhabited by beasts, but studied and con-
templated by man: ’tis the debt of our reason we owe unto God, and
the homage we pay for not being beasts. Without this, the world
is still as though it had not been, or as it was before the sixth day,
when as yet there was not a creature that could conceive or say there
was a world. The wisdom of God receives small honour from those
vulgar heads that rudely stare about and with a gross rusticity admire
His works. Those truly magnify Him whose judicious enquiry into
His acts and deliberate research into His creatures return the duty
of a devout and learned admiration.” Had genetics accomplished
nothing else but its studies and contemplations, its position in the
world today would be assured as one worthy of a mankind which not
only wages war, invents nuclear explosives, and cannot learn fast
enough to use its powers for good, but also creates and supports seats
of learning and thought, preserves and defends some of the beauties
of the world, and, in spite of all, succeeds with innumerable unselfish
acts of duty and love.
Yet man liveth not of adventures and delights alone. Genetics has
had the good fortune to fulfill not only the social function of exploring
its realm of the universe, but to contribute to our material well-being
and provide foundations for social measures. Let us now consider
some of these material products which we may call “the produce of
the mind.”
The most famous of the applications of genetics to the practical
world of today is the technique of raising hybrid corn. It had always
been the goal of plant and animal breeders to produce strains which
have two properties: one, to give high yields; and two, to be pure.
This latter trait, purity, would assure the homogeneity of the strain,
that is, the likeness of all individuals grown at the same time, and the
constancy of the strain, that is, the likeness of parents and offspring.
The likeness of the individuals of the same generation would assure
equal potential performance or yield from all of them, the likeness of
successive generations would enable the farmer to continue his stock
through the years. The radical innovation of hybrid corn retained
GENETICS—STERN 271
the goal of homogeneity of one generation and increased immensely
its yield. For this increase it had to pay a price, the renunciation of
likeness of successive generations. The technique of raising hybrid
corn arose from a theoretically and experimentally inspired contem-
plation of the composition of a field of corn as it used to be grown all
over the world. It became apparent that the varieties of corn then on
the market were far from being homogeneous. When genetic proce-
dures were used to obtain pure lines they were successful. Many
different pure lines were produced, each one homogeneous within and
between generations—but none was of practical value. Always
growth was stunted, and fertility low. This appeared strange enough,
but stranger still, and happier, was the outcome of crosses between
the poor, pure lines. The hybrids not only showed better vigor than
their parents, but they surpassed the desirable qualities of the indi-
vidual members of the old field of corn.
That the desirable crossbred plants were undesirable as producers
of seed for future generations lay in the nature of the genetic makeup
of the hybrids. The shuffling in reproduction of the parental genes
would result in renewed heterogeneity of the next generation, and in
loss of the specific hybrid vigor. Thus the discovery which had
yielded such desirable produce requires each year anew the effort of
hybridization of the, by themselves, undesirable pure strains.
The theoretical problems of hybrid vigor are not yet solved. On
the contrary, the cause of this phenomenon is a matter of extensive
research at present. The practical fact is that after a slow start with
the first commercial seed field of hybrid corn grown in 1921, and a
gradual rise to 80,000 acres in 1932, now the greater part of the nearly
90,000,000 acres of field corn and sweet corn in the United States are
planted with hybridcorn. It has been estimated that perhaps a billion
bushels a year are now harvested in excess of the best national yields
we enjoyed before we had hybrid corn.
Genetics is credited for this practical result because of the historical
fact that a pure geneticist, G. H. Shull, working at the Station for
Experimental Evolution on Long Island—not at an agricultural ex-
periment station—was the father of hybrid corn. Admittedly it was
no absolute internal necessity that the introduction of hybrid corn
into practice had to wait for the concepts of genetics. Indeed, the use
of crossbred field corn had been proposed many years earlier, while
mules, the vigorous but sterile hybrids of the horse and ass, had long
had a recognized place in animal production. Yet it seems that the
modern intellectual penetration into the phenomena of heredity was
required to rediscover, refine, and assure the acceptance of the uncon-
ventional procedure.
The success of applied genetics with hybrid corn is followed closely
by the success of the breeder of disease-resistant wheat plants. Each
272 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
year the loss of yield due to widespread infection of wheat by parasitic
fungi used to be a drain on the national economy and, even worse, on
the source of livelihood of many farmers. Then genetically trained
plant pathologists discovered that susceptibility to infection was not
a. ubiquitous fate. Specific genetic constitutions were present in many
plants which endowed them with resistance to the invaders. Varieties
were bred which not only possessed those desirable properties for
which they had been selected by plant breeders, but which combine
these properties with resistance to infection. In this way for many
years whole regions suffered little loss in the yield of this important
crop. Genetics, furthermore, served to explain and to prepare the
farmer for the breakdown in protection which again and again brought
catastrophe to the wheat grower. A gene that protects a wheat variety
is not all-powerful. The fungus itself is heterogeneous, and different
genetic types of the parasite are repulsed by different genetic types of
the potential host. Invasion by a new strain of the fungus into a
territory where no resistance against this specific strain existed, seems
to undo past successful efforts. Even worse, mutations in some of the
myriads of spores produced by even a few fungi may lead to the origin
of new virulent varieties. Thus the plant pathologist and geneticist
has a never-ending task, but he can anticipate a future unavoidable
genetic breakdown of any specific resistance mechanism by preparing
new varieties of wheat, resistant to new laboratory-cultivated varieties
of the fungus.
This recognition of parasite mutability strikes still nearer home.
Bacteria have been found which are resistant to sulfa drugs or strep-
tomycin, though their ancestors could have been combated successfully
with these drugs. Even streptomycin-dependent bacteria occur which
thrive only on what means death to their brethren. The origin of
these new types is due to mutations in the genetic composition of the
bacteria. One of the newest branches of genetics, microbial genetics,
is now elucidating these phenomena and contributes to overcoming the
impediments to drug therapy.
It happened that at about the time when the artificial production of
mutations was first accomplished by means of radiations, the action
of the penicillium mold in inhibiting bacterial growth was discovered.
Years later, during the last war, when the large-scale production of
penicillin became an urgent task, the geneticist’s method was applied
to the production of strains of the mold with greatly increased output.
The strain now used most widely by commercial firms originated from
irradiating spores from relatively low-yielding strains and selection
of a spore in which a mutation to high yield had been induced. Sim-
ilar methods of causing mutations responsible for desirable new qual-
ities in agricultural plants have been employed, particularly in
GENETICS—STERN 273
Sweden. Success has been slow in coming, for reasons which might
have been foreseen. In evolution, establishment of new genetic types
results not directly from the occurrence of a new, mutated gene variety
within the genic assemblage of an individual. Rather, it requires a
process of selecting some of the varied genic assemblages of the species,
namely, those which happen to complement in a harmonious way the
newness of the mutation. Similarly, in artificial breeding the produc-
tion of a useful mutant requires a selection of suitable genetic back-
ground. This adjustment between the new and the suitable elements
of the old takes time. By now, improved strains with superior stiff-
ness of the straw in barley, and an improved strain with superior seed
and oil yield in white mustard, have been created on the basis of
X-ray-induced mutations.
They were pure geneticists who discovered the peculiar mode of
inheritance of some special traits which are called “sex-linked.” In
suitable crosses with such traits all daughters resemble their fathers
and all sons their mothers. It was another pure geneticist who pro-
posed to use this criss-cross inheritance for the sexing of chicks. Male
and female chicks are hard to distinguish until they are several weeks
old. But when you cross barred Plymouth Rock hens and not-barred
Rhode Island Red roosters, the female chicks are not barred and the
male chicks are barred. This trick is now being used each year for
the commercial production of several million chicks in the United
States alone. Obviously, only females can be used for the all-impor-
tant egg production, and it is more economical to destroy most of the
newly hatched now easily recognized males than to feed them until
their normal development betrays their relative uselessness.
One more example from agriculture. Cattle and horse breeders
as well as breeders of other animals have always been troubled by the
birth of abnormal types of young, often doomed to early death.
When genetics arose it showed the frequent occurrence of lethal genes
in mice and in fruitflies, genes that lead to abnormal, destructive
development of their bearers. Soon it was recognized that many
of the stillbirths which had troubled the animal breeder were due to
specific lethal genes, often brought into a herd by some famous sire
who carried the lethal gene in a harmless combination with a normal
one. Among his numerous descendants many would be carriers again,
and breeding the carriers with one another would result in 25 percent
of the pregnancies ending in disaster. This insight into the stock
breeders’ troubles carried with it means of avoiding them. It was
easy, on the basis of Mendel’s first law, to devise trial matings through
which bulls or stallions could be recognized as carriers of dangerous
lethal genes and, if found genetically unsound, be excluded as sires
of large numbers of offspring. The savings accomplished in this
274 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
way are very considerable. Even in so inexpensive an animal as the
chicken the recent discovery of a particular lethal gene has bared
losses, now avoidable, which in a single hatchery amounted to more
than $180,000 over the last 10 years.
The most significant applications of genetics concern ourselves.
Men are born genetically unequal. This is a fact of nature, and quite
independent of the conclusions which may result from its political
and sociological interpretations. Man is therefore a subject of genetic
investigation, and much has been learned about him in our time. The
produce of this knowledge extends both to the individual and to the
community. How much personal worry is relieved when the human
geneticist can advise a healthy questioner that his or her chances of
having normal children are as good as anyone else’s in spite of the
fact that perhaps the father, his mother, and several brothers and
sisters have been afflicted with some serious abnormality. How much
further suffering has been avoided when the genetic counselor had to
predict the high probability of a sad aflliction reappearing in a
family, should a new pregnancy be attempted. Human heredity
clinics fulfill a great need, and are still all too few.
Yet more important than such advice from case to case are the
applications to policy. The urgent warnings of geneticists against
careless use of X-rays and other ionizing radiations may well have
prevented the production of thousands of human mutations bad in
effect, as most of them are. In today’s world of atomic-energy use,
the need of shielding workers from radiation has taken on greater
significance than ever.
The case against careless irradiation transcends the interest in
the immediate offspring of exposed persons. Many induced mutant
genes will not show their effect in the first generation but at any time,
far into the future. This aspect widens the responsibility of a
world today beyond its usual care. The well- or ill-being of our
distant descendants is, to some extent, in our power. This power
is not restricted to the yet minor aspect of radiation genetics. If
men are unequal genetically, then our actions and inactions are
bound to influence the genetic composition of the future human
populations.
The applications of genetic knowledge to this great problem are
largely negative at present in that they serve to expose misconceptions.
It is important, for instance, to debunk authoritatively distributed
pamphlets which endeavor to encourage large families by the mis-
statement: “Heredity favors the third, fourth, fifth and subsequent
children rather than the first two, who are apt to inherit some of
the commonest physical and mental defects!” It is important to
rectify the opinion that political and moral equalitarianism has any
bearing on the biological facts of man’s genetic diversity. It is
GENETICS—STERN 275
equally important to stress the great adaptability and plasticity of
man particularly in mental attributes. Much of the genetic diversity
may play an insignificant role in the actually observed range of nor-
mal and even abnormal human behavior and accomplishments. The
results of genetics are fully compatible with the recognition that
many men with equal accomplishments may greatly differ genetically,
and many other men with different accomplishments be much alike.
Genetics gives little basis for belief in basic distinctions among
classes and races.
Those who in their hearts applaud the last statement in general
often are loath to accept the relative term “little” which was used.
“No basis,” they feel, would be a more fortunate expression. The
observing scientist, however, has no power over what is fortunate or
unfortunate. If he comes to the conclusion that there is no dif-
ference he will say so, but if his finding is “some difference, even if
slight” he cannot falsify the record as he reads it.
One of the most comforting results of the geneticist’s thoughts has
been the recognition that the problems of the genetic future of man-
kind are not as urgent as they seemed a generation ago. Mankind
will not degenerate overnight if nothing is done to change its re-
productive patterns, nor would it have blossomed out suddenly if the
old-time eugenicists had had their will. We now know that the
immense genetic pool of mankind can be changed only very slowly,
for better or worse. Here then is one problem at least about which
mankind can take its time.
A problem it is, nevertheless, and eugenics, in a sobered mood,
is still a demanding goal. While it is true that the methods of the
animal husbandman should not be applied to human beings, the dis-
covery of man’s genetic diversity cannot escape the treatment which
men have successfully applied to so many other facts, namely, use in
intelligent planning. It is strange that resistance to this proposition
seems strongest among some of the most audacious social designers.
Genetics in the world today can point to spiritual flowers as well
as to material fruits. It can justify its existence on either ground.
Nor does it need to be ashamed of either. The student of universal
phenomena may well rejoice when his search leads to practical
benefits, and the biological engineer may well appreciate the more
detached task of his theoretical colleague. We cannot afford to
measure all human endeavor by its practical benefits. Where would
painting and poetry be, where astronomy and archeology, where games
and hiking and sports? If we do not permit these activities for
pure joy’s sake alone, we shall end up with the slogan Kraft durch
Freude (strength through joy) which historically turned strength
into disaster. If you might call my point of view “romanticism” then
276 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
I would reply that it is one aspect of reality, and would paraphrase
a poet’s lines regarding a too narrow view of reality:
Never mind reality ...
Holy hold life’s ecstasy.
The enjoyment of the arts and the sciences, of nature and life, is
the individual’s privilege, but it can be thwarted or encouraged by
a social control. ‘The munificence of princes made possible the paint-
ing and sculpture of the Renaissance, that of the wealthy men in
our country the foundation of research institutes and of well-endowed
centers of learning. Now that learned activities depend more and
more on society at large, on its delegates to the Congress and the
State legislatures, an enlightened understanding of the spiritual
significance of thought and search must be kept awake and strength-
ened over the widest possible ranges of our citizenship. Should
that not be possible in a country in which almost one-fifth of the young
people between 18 and 24 years of age are enrolled in school or college?
Genetics has a particular reason to sound a warning. Its recent
fate in Russia was intimately bound up with a disdain for the
humanistic aspects of science. It is unavoidable, in any society,
that the support of humanistic activities is subject to general con-
ditions. The demands of economics, of a mobilization, of changing
social needs, will create forces which divert at one time more, at
another time less manpower and funds to a given function. There
would not have been necessarily dangerous implications had the
Soviet Government decided to curtail to some extent the expenditure
of its intellectual and financial resources which had been devoted
to genetics. It would probably have meant bad judgment about the
long-term advantages to be gained from asking experts in basic
research to turn to more immediate tasks. What is so distressing
was the contempt for scholarship and abstract—yet real—thought
which motivated, not the curtailment, but the suppression of
genetics. In his “victory” address of 1948, Lysenko made this clear
once more when he emphasized “. . . what led me to study pro-
foundly theoretical problems . . . was never mere curiosity and a
fondness for abstract theorizing,” and when he held up to the ridicule
of his audience a basic work of one of the most brilliant of his
countrymen.
We ourselves are by no means immune to influences which regard
the activities of the spirit as dispensable luxuries. Let us remember
the sober words which Washington wrote in the war-torn America
of 1780: “The Arts and Sciences essential to the prosperity of the
State, and to the ornament and happiness of human life, have a pri-
mary claim to the encouragement of every lover of his country and
of mankind.”
Climate and Race!
By CarLeTon Coon
University of Pennsylvania Museum
THREE-QUARTERS of a century ago, in 1877, J. A. Allen, a zoologist at
the American Museum of Natural History, wrote, in an article re-
printed, like this one, in a Smithsonian Annual Report: “The study
of man from a geographical standpoint, or with special reference to
conditions of environment, offers a most important and fruitful field
of research, which, it is to be hoped, will soon receive a more careful
attention than has as yet been given it” (Allen, 1877, p. 399). Allen’s
paper dealt with geographically correlated variations in North Amer-
ican animals and birds, on three axes: color, general size, and the
relative size of the peripheral parts; or more simply, color, size, and
form. The first of these had already been studied in 1833 by Gloger,
the second by Bergmann in 1847. Only the third was new with Allen.
Wholly apart from the study of man, few scientists in the zoological
field have concerned themselves, since Allen’s day, with the subject of
geographical variations within species. An outstanding exception is
Rensch (1936-37) who, during the late twenties and thirties tested
these rules and added several observations of his own; but even with
this work available, Ernst Mayr (1942, p. 93) was moved to state:
“The study of these ecological correlations and the establishment of
definite rules is such a new field that we may consider ourselves at the
beginning of the work.”
If, 64 years after Allen’s statement, an authority of Mayr’s stature
could say that we were at the beginning of the work, it is clear that
up to 11 years ago this aspect of biology had been greatly neglected,
and such is still the case. During those 64 years the study of biology
passed through several phases of emphasis. First was the Darwinian
epoch, in which Allen’s work could clearly be rejected as Lamarckian-
ism, and then came the era of genetic orthodoxy, during which it
could be tossed into the bin of discredited interests, for at this time it
was fashionable to call people interested in taxonomy, naturalists.
1 Copyright 1954 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Reprinted by per-
mission of the publishers from “Climatic Change,” edited by Harlow Shapley, Harvard
University Press.
277
278 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Mayr himself, probably more than any other man, has brought
taxonomy back into the biological social register. He has shown how
essential the study of systematics is to a comprehension of the total
life process. Although his interest in ecological rules does not repre-
sent a complete rediscovery, as Morgan rediscovered Mendelian
genetics, yet his emphasis on this aspect of biology may turn out to
be an equally important landmark in biological history.
If the study of ecological rules has been neglected by biologists,
physical anthropologists have slighted it even more. The study of
race in man has been influenced not only by biological fashion but
also by current political ideologies. In each country of Europe, as
in America, and in some African and Asiatic nations, a small but
persistent group of men has continued to pile up objective data on
the metrical and morphological characters of human beings. In some
European and Asiatic countries, before World War II, politicians
and propagandists concocted theories of racial superiority and in-
feriority with which to bolster their political schemes. In other
European countries corresponding politicians and propagandists in-
terested in internationalism brewed up opposite theories: first, to the
effect that all races are equal in every respect, and second, to deny
the existence of races at all. In America we have followed both of
these fashions in turn. Each has served the political motives of its
period. The second movement, unfortunately for the progress of
science, is still with us. So strong is the feeling against thinking or
talking about race that the study of the facts of race itself is nearly
at a standstill. But fashions come and go. What is laughed at in
one decade becomes the rage in another. Perhaps our turn will come.
Just as Rensch was the only voice crying in the zoological wilder-
ness, the combined plea of three men, Garn, Birdsell, and myself,
raised, in 1949, a feeble noise in the desert of physical anthropology.
In our small and conceptually indiscreet book “Races” (Coon, Garn,
and Birdsell, 1950), we suggested that some of the racial variations
in man may be due to adaptations, by mechanism or mechanisms
unknown, to extremes of environment. At the time we wrote it I,
at least, had never heard of Allen, Gloger, Bergmann, or Rensch. It
was only in a review of our book by Dr. M. T. Newman (1951) that
I learned of their work. Since then I have found a little time to read
what these zoologists have written, and to think about how their find-
ings may possibly apply toman. Just this small amount of contempla-
tion has made it abundantly clear that if a person is to study the racial
variations in man in terms of ecology, he must be a superscientist,
thoroughly conversant not only with his own subject, including
anatomy, but also with physiology, particularly heat-and-sweat physi-
ology, nutrition and growth, radiation physics, optics, body mechanics,
CLIMATE AND RACE—COON 279
genetics, and cultural anthropology in time and space. With all due
respect to my colleagues I know of no one individual who can meet
these qualifications. Hence it looks as though Allen’s prediction would
have to be still further delayed.
Still the problem can be stated. According to the modern concept
of species formation expounded by Mayr and others, most animal
species are polytypic—that is, they extend over a varied geographical
range, and in a number of observable characteristics the local popula-
tions vary gradually from one end of the spatial range to another. A
minority of species is monotypic—that is, lacking in geographical
variation in any known character. Monotypic species are usually
confined to small and isolated areas. Man is a polytypic species.
Cases of genuine isolation, like that of the Polar Eskimo, are rare and
probably of short duration. Like other polytypic species man varies
from place to place, and the different forms which his variations take
seem, In some, but not all, instances, to follow the same ecological
rules as do those of other warm-blooded animals. Three of these
rules, the longest known, concern us here.
1. Gloger’s rule-—“In mammals and birds, races which inhabit
warm and humid regions have more melanin pigmentation than races
of the same species in cooler and drier regions; arid regions are char-
acterized by accumulation of yellow and reddish-brown phaeomelanin
pigmentation.” (Dobzhansky, 1951.) “The phaeomelanins are sub-
ject to reduction in cold climate, and in extreme cases also the eumel-
anin” (polar white). (Mayr, 1942, p. 90.)
2. Bergmann’s rule—“The smaller-sized geographic races of a spe-
cies are found in the warmer parts of the range, the larger sized
races in the cooler districts.” (Ibid., p. 283.)
3. Allen’s rule-—Protruding body parts, such as tails, ears, bills,
extremities, and so forth, are relatively shorter in the cooler parts of
the range of the species than in the warmer parts.” (Idem.)
The rest of this paper will be devoted to an inquiry into the possible
application of these three rules to man. They cannot be called laws
in the sense of Newton’s Law or the Second Law of Thermodynamics,
although these two, and other well-established physical principles, no
doubt contribute to whatever validity they may be shown to possess.
That no one simple law is involved in any instance is shown by Rensch’s
discovery (1929, 1936-37) that these three rules, along with several
others of his own formulation (Rensch’s clutch rule and hair rule, for
example) are subject to 10 to 30 percent of exceptions. They cannot
be called laws, because controls have not been sufficiently established
to eliminate outside functions, and because not enough experiments
have been made. However, a hibernating animal that defies Berg-
mann’s rule is no more a valid exception to it than a helicopter is to
2847255419
280 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
the law of gravity; if all exceptions were run to the ground and all
leads followed, the physical basis for these observations could in each
case be established, or the rule refuted.
With man we have several advantages, and one disadvantage. We
are dealing with a single species, or rassenkreis, to use Rensch’s term
(1929, 1936-87), that is extremely numerous for a mammal and that
covers a larger geographical area than that of almost any other
mammal. More human beings have been “collected” than any other
kind of fauna. Our measurements, while far from adequate, are
relatively numerous. Another advantage is that we know quite a lot
about the history of man. One principal disadvantage is that man
possesses culture. In addition to his enormous capacity for physical
adjustment to many climates, he has developed artificial adaptive
aids, such as the use of fire, shelter, clothing, food preservation, and
transportation, which have permitted him to occupy every single part
of the land surface of the world except the Greenland and Antarctic
icecaps, and by means of which he is already looking for further
conquests in other planets and outer space. There neither Gloger,
nor Bergmann, nor Allen can help him.
For the best part of a million years, some kind of man has existed,
probably occupying not one but several environments, and during his
evolutionary life span the climates of most, if not all, of the regions in
which he has lived have been altered, in most cases more than once.
As part of the cultural growth of man, two principal evolutionary
shifts have been achieved. The brain has gone through two major
changes in size, quite independently of body size,? by means of two
consecutive doublings of the cortical area. This means that two major
steps in human evolution may have taken place since the ancestors of
man became erect bipedal primates feeding themselves with their
hands. This further means that some, if not all, of the climatically
adaptive changes which distinguish modern races from one another
may have been acquired in stage 1—or stage 2 of this process, rather
than in stage 3, the modern level of potential cerebration. The late
Franz Weidenreich postulated (1948) that the Mongoloid face began
with Sinanthropus in stage 2. Whether or not he was correct, that
anatomist was prepared to accept the thesis of presapiens raciation,
and the concomitant thesis of multiple evolution from an earlier
evolutionary level. Whether or not one or several human stocks made
this jump, we do not know, but for present purposes the latter pos-
sibility must be taken into consideration.
We must not, however, assume that any or all stocks which passed
through the first two cerebral size stages to the third were any more
2Schultz, 1950, graph on p. 45. See also Bok, 1939; Bonin, 1937, 1938, 1950;
Danilewsky, 1880; Dubois, 1898; Kraus, Davison, and Weil, 1928; Schepers, 1946;
Stiles, 1946; Van Dilla, Day, and Siple, 1949.
CLIMATE AND RACE—COON 281
apelike in many respects than the reader. Schultz has shown (1950)
that some of the features which distinguish man from his fellow
occupants of the great primate house are more conservative and
ancient in man than in the apes. For example, the heavy hair on
the human scalp is also present in the newborn chimpanzee, which
has hair elsewhere only on its eyelids, eyebrows, and arms. The erect
position of the head on the top of the spine, with the position of the
face and orbits below the brain case, is another example of what
Schultz calls ontogenic retardation, or conservatism, rather than
using the less palatable and perhaps less truthful, if commoner, word,
fetalization. The human position of the great toe falls also in this
class of phenomena, while the smaller size of the other toes is due to
shortening rather than to an increase of the length of the big toe itself.
Furthermore, we cannot assume that all earlier human types had big
teeth and prognathous jaws. The gibbon’s face is no larger in pro-
portion to its brain and body than that of man. The siamang,
in a few examples, has a chin.
In the basic evolutionary characters all men are equally human as
far as we can tell; if some races resemble one or another of the an-
thropoids in some particular feature, that may mean only that that
particular race is more specialized, more differentiated from the
common stock, than the others. No earlier evolutionary status is
necessarily implied, at least until we know all the pertinent facts.
Schultz has shown that among the apes just as much variation
is seen as among men, if not more. He says (1950, p. 49) that the
“skin color of the chimpanzee varies from black to white ... the
writer has the body of a young chimpanzee, born of black haired
parents, which had straw-colored hair at birth, and later this color
changed to a reddish tint. . . . Giants and pygmies have developed
among chimpanzees and orang-utans, and long-armed and short-armed
varieties among gorillas. ... Of the great apes... each has a
very limited distribution, in contrast to man, yet each has produced
several species or subspecies which are morphologically but not geo-
graphically as different from each other as the main races of man.”
Schultz’s statement shows that many of the differences between
men which we consider racial also occur individually and racially
among the apes. This means that the early human forms must have
possessed the capacities for these same variations, some of which can,
therefore, be very ancient and can go back to the earlier evolutionary
stages. In other words, a Negro may have become black before he
became a man, a Nordic’s ancestor blond and blue-eyed while his
brain was still half its present cortical surface size. The evidence
used in this paper does not favor any such interpretation, but neither
does it render it impossible.
282 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Taking up Gloger’s rule, first, we find that it was originally form-
ulated to account for the color of feathers and fur, rather than skin.
Birds and beasts of humid forested regions, in the cooler latitudes
as well as in the Tropics, tend to adopt sombre colors; the association
is with humidity and shade, rather than with temperature. Since
individual birds and animals have been seen to grow darker or
lighter when carried from one environment to another, it is clear
that whatever influence produces this effect reflects a genetic capacity
of considerable latitude. At any rate, it does not apply to man.
His color variation is primarily concerned with the skin, which in
a precultural state must have been wholly, except for the scalp,
exposed to the elements, as in some racial and cultural situations
it still is.
Speaking very broadly, human beings have three kinds of skin.
One is the pinkish-white variety that burns badly on exposure to
the sun and fails to tan. Such skin is found in a minority of indi-
viduals in the cloudy region of northwest Europe, among descendants
of the inhabitants of this area who have migrated elsewhere, and
among albinos anywhere. It is quite clearly defective skin, and
causes its owners trouble anywhere anytime they step out of the
shade. Clothing, lotions, wide-brimmed hats, and sun glasses help
to mitigate its deficiency. Luckily for the rest, relatively few of
mankind possess it.
At the opposite extreme is black or chocolate-brown skin, familiar
as the integumental garb of the full-blooded Negro. Persons who
wear skin of this type are the same color all over, except for their
palms and soles. As I discovered in Ethiopia, the unexposed skin is
sometimes even darker than the portions exposed to the sun such as
the hands and face, perhaps owing to an increased thickening of the
horny layer in contact with solar radiations. Once this layer has
thickened, man with this kind of skin can travel anywhere without fear
of the sun; he can roll up his sleeves, toss off his shirt, or run naked in
any climate where he or any other human would not be hindered by
the cold. Negroes have gone to Alaska and to the North Pole.
In between is the range of integumental color possessed by the ma-
jority of mankind, belonging to skins which, although appearing as
white, olive, yellowish, reddish, or brown, have one feature in com-
mon. The skin that is covered by clothing, if any, is relatively light.
Exposed areas, if the light is strong enough, tan. In some populations
this tanning can approach the darkness of the black-skinned peoples.
However, skin that can tan can also bleach. Peoples who live in mid-
latitude regions where the air is dry and the sky cloudless in summer,
while in winter dampness and clouds are the rule, can shift their skin
color with the seasons. This capacity for developing pigment in re-
CLIMATE AND RACE—COON 283
sponse to light and losing it when the light is gone is probably the
original genetic situation with man.
The physiological advantages of the second and third types of pig-
ment are easy enough tosee. They concern entirely, as far as we know,
ultraviolet radiation. The UV scale runs from about 2,400 to 3,900
Angstrom units, where it joins the lower end of the range of visible
light. Actually, although shorter waves are produced artificially by
lamp makers, all solar radiation under about 2,900 units is filtered out
by the earth’s atmosphere and has nothing to do with the adaptive
character of the human skin (Luckeish, 1946, pp. 59-72). Through
the remaining thousand-unit range, UV radiation penetrates exposed
skin to irradiate some of the subcutaneous fats, thus producing
vitamin D, which is of benefit to the system.
However, those rays which are concentrated in an extremely narrow
peak near the short end of the range, and centered at 2,967 units, can
damage the unpigmented skin if the sky is clear, the sun overhead,
and if the exposure is prolonged past a critical time limit. Sunburn,
erythema, prickly heat, and sunstroke can follow. However, the
hazard carries its own cure, for if the skin is exposed for short periods
it will tan. The pigment so acquired absorbs the UV radiation con-
centrated at this critical peak and converts it into radiant heat, which
the skin then loses through the normal processes of radiation, convec-
tion, and sweating, along with other heat produced by the metabolism
of food within the body. The pigment granules do not interfere with
UV penetration along the rest of the scale, and thus vitamin D pro-
duction can continue. Tanned skin is thus useful in regions where the
peak of UV radiation is seasonal, since in the season of reduced light
the skin bleaches and permits the maximum of irradiation.
In contrast to the genetic capacity for change inherent in skin that
tans, black skin is constant. In the distant and naked past, it must
have had a clear advantage in the Tropics over tannable skin. That
advantage remains to be discovered experimentally. Geographically
speaking, peoples with black skin who are known to have lived in their
present habitats since the rather mobile dawn of history live in regions
close to the Equator where UV is strongest. They inhabit the forests
and adjacent grasslands of central Africa. The second great center
is Melanesia, including Papua and northern Australia. They also in-
clude the extinct (in the full-blooded state) Tasmanians. In between
Africa and Melanesia fringes of land and islands hold connecting
links; southern India, Ceylon, the Andamans, the Malay Peninsula,
and the Lesser Sundas contain black-skinned peoples, as do some of
the islands of the Philippines.
Except for Tasmania, whose inhabitants had obviously migrated
there from a region of lower latitude, these areas are all within 20°
284 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
of the Equator, and most of them are within 10°. In all of them there
is little seasonal change. Aside from these uniformities, they repre-
sent a variety of environments, including shady forests, grasslands,
deserts, and coast lines. Since we have a good idea what black skin is
good for, we can discover no particular reason for it in the forests.
Bright equatorial sun is, however, a problem in grasslands, deserts,
and on the water.
Returning to the rest of the animal kingdom, we find that grass-
land and desert mammals are generally light or tawny colored (Bux-
ton, 1923). This is true of animals whose skins are protected by hair.
A few animals, however, are naked like man, and these are black or
dark gray. They include the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus,
buffalo, and certain types of pig. These animals reach their peak
of numbers and development in the grasslands or desert fringe; ex-
cept for the rhino they enter the forest, where they are fewer and less
favored. Their color, carried in from the sunlight, is neither an
advantage nor a disadvantage in the shade.
In Africa the blackest Negroes live in the grasslands. In the for-
est we find two kinds of people: Pygmies, who are not completely
black, and Negroes. The Pygmies hunt, the Negroes farm. The
two exchange products. Since the Negroes make the arrowheads
and nets with which the Pygmies hunt, the latter would have a hard
time living without either these implements or the plantains which
the Negroes give them for food. Furthermore, the food plants which
the Negroes cultivate are of southeast Asiatic origin, and they could
hardly have been introduced later than the first millennium B. C.
Since southern India got iron during this same millennium, and the
motive which brought people across the Indian Ocean to Africa was
a search for iron, it is unlikely that the Negroes entered the forest
to live much before the time of Christ. If we look at Melanesia we
see again that the forest is poor in game, the principal animal being
the pig, escaped from domestication. The pig came in with agri-
culture, and neither can have been introduced much before the first
millennium B. C. Therefore, the present black-skinned populations
of these two tropical forest areas must be historically recent; black
skins go with grasslands or deserts and have entered forests in num-
bers only with agriculture. In the Belgian Congo the forest Negroes
are decreasing in numbers while the Pygmy population remains con-
stant. If we look back to the Pleistocene, we see that the glacial ad-
vances and retreats in the north were accompanied by a succession
of pluvial and interpluvial periods in the Tropics. At least once the
Sahara was blooming with grass and flowers, and at other times the
forest was reduced to a fraction of its present area.
Why, one may ask, did not black skins develop in the Americas,
where land within 10° of the Equator runs along a course of 4,000
i
;
CLIMATE AND RACE—COON 285
miles? The answer, which is geographical, confirms our interpreta-
tion of black skins in the Old World. The coast of Ecuador is heavily
forested. Open country begins at the Peruvian border, 4° south of
the Equator, whence it continues to the forest zone of Chile. The
coastal desert averages only 20 miles wide. Owing to the combina-
tion of the mountains behind and the cold Humboldt Current in front,
the air is cool, the humidity high, the sky usually overcast, and little
solar radiation gets through. Moving up into the highlands, we
should expect a double concentration of UV at 10,000 feet, where one-
sixth more solar radiation penetrates the atmosphere than at sea level.
However, the region of Quito, which is on the Equator, is frequently
cloudy ; the year has two rainy peaks. Thunder, Brooks says (1930),
is heard on 99 days each year. Since the air is also cold, the Indians
cover up as much of their skin as possible. At 17° farther south,
on the shores of Lake Titicaca, less rain and clouds appear, but the
humidity is moderately high. Americans with untannable blond
skins suffer intensely. The Indians, who wear broad-brimmed hats
as well as the usual heavy clothing, tan to a deep reddish brown on
exposed parts.
Moving eastward we find most of the Amazonian countryside heay-
ily forested. Indians, Negroes, Whites, and all shades between get
along with equal ease as far as UV is concerned. However, between
the great river system in Brazil, the Guianas, and Venezuela are patches
of savannah, precisely the kind of country in which black-skinned ani-
mals and men luxuriate in Africa. However, these patches are small
and not long ago may have been smaller. They support no tempt-
ing animal life as in Africa, and the few Indians who go out there are
refugees from the forests that line the streams. There is no evidence
of any earlier population in this region at all. From all these con-
siderations no reason appears for a black-skinned population to have
developed in the Americas. The relative antiquity of man in the
two hemispheres is therefore beside the point.
While Gloger’s rule appears to cover variations in the response
of the human skin to UV, both Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules are cut
to fit the other end of the scale, radiant heat. Unlike UV, radiant
heat both enters and leaves the body, which is physiologically well
adapted to maintain an even temperature under extreme environ-
mental conditions. Clothing, shelter, and fire also help, but not to
the exclusion of physiological adaptation.
Bergmann’s rule, that warm-blooded animals of a given polytypic
species will be larger in the colder and smaller in the warmer portions
of its ecological range, is based on the physical fact that the larger
a body, all else, including shape, being equal, the smaller the ratio
of skin surface area to bulk, one being a square, and the other a cube.
286 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Since most of the heat loss comes through the skin, the larger the
animal, all else being equal, the easier the process of keeping it warm.
Other factors, some of which will be dealt with presently, enter into
this picture, and if they and others still to be determined did not, it
would be more than a rule.
The simplest test of Bergmann’s rule is to compare mean body
weight * of different human populations with climate as expressed
by latitude. In Europe a regular cline is found between the peoples
of the northwest, as the Irish with 157 pounds and the Finns with
154, down to the Spaniards with 132 and the racially white Berbers
of Algeria with 124 pounds. In Asia the Mongoloid peoples show
the same tendency, with the North Chinese weighing 142 and the
Annamites 112 pounds, respectively. In America the Eastern Aleuts
average 150 pounds, a level maintained by most of the Indians of
the northern United States and Canada, while the Maya of Central
America tip the scales at only 119 pounds. In South America weight
rises with altitude and latitude to a peak among the bulky Indians
of Patagonia and the grasslands of Tierra del Fuego. The equatorial
Andamanese weighed only 98 pounds, the Kalahari Bushmen 89. The
Baluba, a non-Pygmy Negro tribe of the Belgian Congo, average only
118 pounds, which seems to be par for tropical rain forests. In
Polynesia, where offshore breezes make heat loss no problem, weights
are high, as they are in cool New Zealand. Polynesian figures range
from 140 pounds upward. Indonesians, to whom Polynesians are
supposed to be related, are 20 to 30 pounds lighter. Their islands are
hotter.
It can be easily demonstrated that changes in body size may take
place in a single generation. Whatever genetic mechanisms control
weight permit a useful capacity for variation. Man’s size is as plastic
as his tannable skin color and as automatically regulated. Anyone
who has visited the Lower Amazon country has seen that the Brazilian
citizens in that tropical forest are of one size, whatever their hair
form, skin color, or cast of facial features. At least three racial
stocks are concerned, the Mediterranean, Negro, and American Indian.
All come out the same size. Farther south representatives of these
same three stocks are much larger.
One other environmental factor affects body size, causing different
populations within a given climatic zone to vary within their limits
of tolerance. Thatisnutrition. In my North Albanian series (Coon,
1950) I found that the tribesmen living on food raised on granitic
soil were significantly smaller than those who walked over limestone,
thus confirming the results of French investigators more than half
8 Baker, 1953';, Coon, 1939; Hiernaux, 1952; Hooton, 1928; Howells, 1937; Russell W.
Newman, 1952b; Rodahl and Edwards, 1952; Weidenreich, 1943.
)
,
CLIMATE AND RACE—COON 287
a century earlier. Trace elements are important, and so are feeding
habits. In a Moroccan village studied by Schorger (Ph. D. thesis)
the boys were given almost no meat until they reached the age of 14,
at which time they were expected to work. From then on they ate
with the men, whose diet included animal proteins. At that point
their growth was relatively rapid. A main diet of polished rice goes
with small people; we do not know how big they would have been
if they had eaten other foods in a hot climate.
Most striking of all the size differences in man are those between
the Pygmy peoples of Africa, the Indian Ocean countries, Indonesia
and Melanesia, and normal human beings. However, the Pygmies
are not much smaller than some of the people of the Amazon Valley.
In all these selvas the leaching of the soil through excessive rainfall
is held responsible, through the agency of washing out of trace ele-
ments. But man is not the only pygmy in the forest. In Africa the
elephant, hippopotamus, buffalo, and chimpanzee all have pygmy
counterparts. What affects man there cannot be cultural; it is of
universal mammalian application, since the animals mentioned eat the
whole range of available foodstuffs and are exposed to the same range
of temperature, humidity, and solar radiation.
Along with size comes the question of basal metabolism. Although
questions have arisen about coordinating techniques, still the geo-
graphical distribution of the results follows a Bergmannian pattern
(Wilson, 1945). The norm is set for Europe and the northeastern
United States; rates more than 10 percent above normal are found
among the Eskimo, who reach 30 percent of excess, the Ojibwa Indians
of the Great Lakes region, and the Araucanians of southern Chile.
Rates 10 percent and more below the norm are found among Australian
aborigines and inhabitants of the hotter parts of India, Australia, and
Brazil. Americans in New Orleans are also below par. This needs
a lot of checking and controlling, but despite two exceptions‘ the
trend is clear. Furthermore, like alterations of pigment and gross
size, changes in basal metabolism can in some cases be acquired.
That basal metabolism should change with climate makes sense, as
does the whole mechanism of heat control in man. Here we enter a
field where many physiologists have brutalized themselves and their
friends for the sake of science; one investigator writes that he and his
team even took the rectal temperatures of porcupines in the Talkeetna
Mountains of Alaska at — 22° F. (Irving, 1951, p. 543). Others thrust
thermocouples into their own flesh, piercing their palms and wrists
to the depth of the bone. Still others consented to be locked in sealed
chambers from which heat and oxygen, alternately, were withdrawn,
while a few pedaled themselves nearly to death on bicycles. As a
‘Italians and Somalis in Italian Somaliland ; see Wilson, op. cit.
288 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
result of this self-sacrifice we are in a position to evaluate Allen’s
rule in man.
Being a warm-blooded animal is a great advantage. It permits one
to move and act at nearly all times in nearly all places, instead of
scampering feverishly for shade or waiting for the chill to burn off
before moving. However, the process of keeping the internal organs
at a temperature of 98.6° F. has its problems too. This temperature
can fall to 77° F. or rise to 110° F. before death intervenes, but varia-
tions of half these magnitudes are serious, particularly on the high side,
for man can lose heat more safely that he can gain it. Even when he is
trying to keep warm, man loses a certain amount of heat functionally
in evaporation of moisture through the palms, soles, axillae, and pubic
regions, just to keep tactile and hinge areas ready for action.
As long as the temperature of the outside environment is below
83° F., the body normally loses heat by radiation and convection.
At 83° F. it begins to sweat, and the surface of the body grows increas-
ingly moist, until at 93° F., in a saturated atmosphere, the whole body
is covered, water is dripping off the surface, and the perspiration
fails to do its work, which is to cool the surface of the skin by evapora-
tion. At this point, if the temperature rises without a drop in
humidity, trouble is near. However, in dry air only 40 percent of the
body surface is normally wet at 98° F.; at blood temperature the ratio
is 50 percent, and a complete coverage, in the American human guinea
pig, is not attained until 106° F.°
The evaporation of sweat is the principal means by which the body
loses its radiant heat. Experiments have shown that a resting man at
122° F. and a humidity of 44 percent will lose 1,798 grams of sweat
per hour; a working man, in a humidity of 35.6 percent saturation,
will lose 3,880 grams per half hour, or half his normal blood volume,
at a cooling potential of 25 to 30 times the normal resting metabolism.
Needless to say such a liquid turnover requires him to drink gallons of
water and also taxes hisheart. Itis greatly to the advantage of human
beings living under conditions of extreme heat to avoid this circum-
stance as much as possible.
Such heat is found largely in the deserts of the world,’ which lie
on either side of the Equator, on the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
Chief among them are the Sahara, the Arabian, Persian, Thar, Kala-
hari, Australian, Argentine, Chilean, and Colorado Deserts. Of these
the Turkestan, Gobi, Argentine, and Colorado Deserts lie farthest
from the Equator. Characteristic of deserts is a great diurnal varia-
tion in temperature, and often a seasonal one as well. On a hot day
5 Bazett, 1949; Best and Taylor, 1948; Day, 1949; Hardy, 1949; Herrington, 1949;
Robinson, 1949:; Spealman, 1949a.
* Adolph, 1847 ; Brooks, 1930; Buxton, 1923.
CLIMATE AND RACE-——COON 289
the mercury may fall to 71° ¥. at 5 a. m., reach the critical sweating
point of 93° F. at 10: 15 a.m., hit a peak of 108° F. at 2 p. m., and fall to
93° F. again at 7:45 p.m. A hunter, who has nothing to work with but
his own body and a bow and arrows or a handful of spears, will be up
before daylight, and he will be on his way by the time the coolest point
of the daily cycle will have been reached. He will be able to go out to
his hunting ground before the heat bothers him, and if he is lucky
he can make his kill early and take his time on the way home before
or during the heat of the day. If he is on a 2- or 3-day hunting trip,
he can nap under a bush in siesta time, and return on another morning.
An Arab who is herding camels or conducting a caravan will travel
by the light of the moon and stars and sleep under a lightproof black
tent in the middle of the afternoon. In Middle Eastern desert
countries even truck drivers prefer to work at night, to save their tires
as well as their own systems. If forced to do so, a desert-dwelling
human being can walk in the heat of the day, but if he confines his
traveling to the nighttime he can go three times as far, without water,
before collapsing.
Animals that live in the desert belong to two classes, those that
can do without water and those that use it to cool the body through
evaporation. The first category includes especially a number of
rodents, which derive water from desert vegetation and can even
extract it metabolically from dry seeds. Such animals have no
water to spare; they hide behind or under rocks or bushes during
the heat of the day, or burrow far underground, in some cases pulling
stoppers of earth in behind them. When the surface ground temper-
ature is 122° F’. it may be only 83° at a depth of 1 foot 3 inches, while
at 6 feet it may fall as low as 68° F., with considerable humidity.
Animals that hide during the day to save water will die when forced
to spend a few hours in the bright sun in the heat of the day.
The other class of animals is composed of larger forms, such as
the camel, oryx, and addax, which are able to hold up to a fifth of
their body bulk in stored water and to utilize it gradually. In this
sense they are no better off than a man weighing 120 pounds carrying
a 5-quart canteen. In cool spring weather they are at an advantage
over the man, however, for they can derive their moisture from herb-
age; only in the hot and barren season do they depend on their speed
to carry them to water. In addition to their water-holding capacity,
these animals have something else in common. They all have long
legs and necks and are extremely gracile for their weight. Their
bones are long, fine, and hard; their musculature light. In treeless
country they can make high speeds. Even the cat family has its
desert representative, the long-legged cheetah, which is said to be
the fastest runner of all living things.
290 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Man in the desert is also light and gracile. He too needs to be able
to travel far on a small heat load. But his animal companions have
buff-colored hairy coats, which reflect solar light; it is unlikely that
they lose their heat in this fashion. Man must lose it through his
skin surface, and the more surface he has per unit of weight the better.
The more he can lose through radiation and convection the less he
has to sweat, and the more skin surface he can use for evaporation the
higher the temperature he can stand. The smaller his bulk, the less
the load on his heart. The shape of his body takes on added import-
ance as we realize that all parts of its surface do not lose heat equally.
The back of his hand has about 400 sweat glands to the square centi-
meter, the forehead 200, and the cheek as few as 50. The hands,
which comprise 5 percent of the body surface on normal Americans,
lose 20 percent of the heat of the body by evaporation (Bazett, 1949,
p. 131).
When a man begins to perspire, moisture appears first on his fore-
head, neck, some of the larger areas on the front and back of his
trunk, the back of the hand, and the adjacent part of the forearm.
The head and neck must lose heat rapidly for they have the brain to
keep in thermal equilibrium, and if the head is globular in form, it
has the worst possible shape for heat loss. Old World hot-desert
peoples are narrow headed. After this the cheek, the lateral surfaces
of the trunk, and the rest of the extremity surfaces begin, but these
regions sweat much less. Sweating is always slight to moderate on
areas rich in subcutaneous fat, such as the cheek and the gluteal and
mammary regions. The inside of the thighs and armpits sweat even
less, since they face in and not out and are in a poor position for heat
loss. The palins and soles, which perspire at lower temperatures, lose
the least of all in periods of stress.
The chief burdens then are on the neck and head, which have purely
local duties, and on the hands and forearms, which act as radiators
for the whole body. It has been shown that the average human
body (American) loses heat after the fashion of a cylinder averaging
7 cm. in diameter (Hardy, 1949, p.97). While the head and trunk are
bulkier than this, the forearms and hands resemble even smaller cylin-
ders, and the fingers and toes even smaller yet. Now heat loss increases
as the square of the diameter of the cylinder decreases. Hence the
survival value of long, tapering forearms and fingers in a dry, hot
place becomes self-evident.
One of the racial pecularities of Negroes is long arms, with par-
ticular emphasis on the length of the forearm, and large hands with
long fingers. Forest Negroes often have relatively short legs, but
we have seen that the legs have much less to do with heat regulation
7” ee
a ee
CLIMATE AND RACE—COON 291
than the arms. The Nilotics and Somalis and Masai and other black-
skinned peoples of the Sahara, Sudan, and the Horn of Africa have
long skinny legs and long gracile necks; no case of adaptation to a
given environmental situation could be clearer. The same is true
of South Indians, Ceylonese Vedda, most Melanesians, and the
Australian aborigines of the desert, as well as of white Australians
from Queensland. The Bushman of the Kalahari is extremely slen-
der; of the inhabitants of the American deserts information is
defective. At any rate, as far as we know, the desert portion of
Allen’s rule holds for man, for obvious reasons. The mechanism
of change is less obvious.
The other end of Allen’s rule applies to adaptation to cold. Naked
savages can live without much clothing in temperatures down to the
freezing point. Several technical experiments have been performed
on Australian aborigines sleeping naked in the desert’when the night
temperature fell to the frost point (Wulsin, 1948). These people keep
rows of small fires burning and sleep between rows. Parts of their
skin surface becomes quite cold, others hot. They seem to be able to
absorb radiant heat from the fires on some parts of their skin surface
in all of which the venous blood is at a minimum. Thus they survive
until morning. In the daytime the air temperature rises rapidly.
The Yaghans (Hooton, 1928; Wulsin, 1948), canoe Indians of Tierra
del Fuego, paddle nearly naked in their boats in foggy channels, in
an environment where year-round temperatures hover above and
about the freezing point. Darwin saw a naked woman nurse a naked
baby while sleet melted on her body, and a group of Yaghans who drew
up to the outer glow of the explorers’ fire sweated profusely. The
Ona, foot Indians of the plains on the northern part of the island,
wore guanaco skin robes and moccasins, and slept behind skin wind-
breaks in the snow. The Chukchi of Siberia, who wear Eskimo-style
clothing, like to remove their shirts to cool off, and Bogoras saw
. Chukchi women thrust lumps of snow between their breasts for the
same purpose.
The mechanism of heat loss in cold conditions will explain this.
When the environmental temperature falls the body stops sweating
at 83° F., and heat loss is accomplished wholly by radiation and con-
vection. Venous blood, which has been returning from the back of
the hand through superficial blood vessels on the arm, is rerouted;
vasoconstriction shuts off this road, and vasodilation opens alternate
channels through deep-lying veins which surround the artery. The
chilled venous blood returning to the heart cools the arterial blood,
so that it will have less heat to lose, and the heat gained by the venous
blood is carried to the heart. Thus heat loss through the hand and
292 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
arm is reduced to but 1.5 percent of the body’s total at higher tem-
peratures. The amount of blood that flows through 100 ce. of finger-
tip tissue falls from a maximum of 120 cc. to 0.2 cc. per minute (Day,
1949). The arm itself becomes an insulator in depth.
At an air temperature of 73° F. a naked American with a rectal
temperature of 97° will show the following skin temperatures: head,
94°; trunk, 93°; hands, 86°; feet, 77°. Deep thermocouple work has
shown that the hands and wrists chill to the bone literally. How-
ever, when the temperature of the extremities falls below a point
between 41° and 50° F., vasoconstriction ceases, and peripheral blood-
flow is accelerated, to keep the extremities from freezing (Spealman,
1949a, p. 236). What this means racially is that a person of north
European ancestry can afford to have big bony hands which help keep
him cool in hot weather, because at the winter temperatures at which
he operates, particularly when clothed, the size of his hands makes no
difference in heat economy; they are simply shut off from the heat
system, like an empty room.
It is a matter of casual observance that most Mongoloids have small
and delicate hands and feet, short distal segments of both upper and
lower limbs, and short necks. However, recent studies of the Eskimo
have shown that despite expectation these people have large hands
(Rodahl and Edwards, 1952). It is believed, although the material
proving this has not yet been published, that racial differences in
venous patterns exist, which would account for the Eskimo hand as
well as for the ability of the Australian aborigine to sleep in the cold
without clothing.
Turning to the Eskimo foot, which is small as expected, it is common
knowledge that his excellent boot keeps this extremity warm, as
long as it is dry. Water can leak in through the stitch holes if the
sinew is not preswollen (Spealman, 1949b; Wulsin, 1948), and it can
also come from sweat induced through exertion. A wet boot affords
little insulation, and some Eskimos freeze their toes. Similarly the
hand is here a liability; as Quartermaster Corps researchers have
shown, it is almost impossible to keep a hand warm in the best of
mittens when the body is at rest outdoors in very low temperatures
(Belding, 1949; Van Dilla, Day, and Siple, 1949, p. 884). Eskimos
bring their arms and hands in next to the body skin, leaving sleeves
dangling, when they can.
Kars, nose tips, and other protrusions need special protection; with
the fall of the glass the amount of blood sent to the ears increases
greatly, and a relatively great loss occurs at this vulnerable point.
Polar and subpolar peoples are invariably described, in the prime
of the individual, as being well equipped with subcutaneous fat. This
fat is especially well developed on critical spots, such as the cheek,
CLIMATE AND RACE—COON 293
wrist, and ankles. One centimeter of fat is given the same insulation
rating as a complete suit of winter clothing (Bazett, 1949, p. 145).
The healthy Negro living in a hot country carries almost no sub-
cutaneous fat. His superior performance in the desert, compared to
Whites of the same age and weight, has been demonstrated (Baker,
1953).
In summary, adjustment to the cold requires large body mass, short
extremities, much fat, deep vein routing, a high basal metabolism, or
some combination of these five features. Adjustment to the heat re-
quires small body mass, attenuated extremities, little fat, extensive
superficial vein routing, a low basal metabolism, and a greater num-
ber of sweat glands per unit of surface area. Possibly the role of
melanin in starting the skin to sweat at a lower threshold by con-
version of UV to radiant heat may be added. Any combination of
these seven may be involved. The type or types of physique most
suited to cold resistance are exactly those which, the doctors tell us,
are most likely to suffer from heart trouble, and so it is a lucky thing
that adjustment to the cold does not place an extra load on the heart.
Heat-adapted physiques are those best calculated to stand the extra
heart load, which they receive.
So far we have been thinking about heat loss from the skin, but
calories also leave the body through the lungs. In hot weather the
heat loss from the lungs through respiration is negligible and of
little help to the suffering organism, but as the mercury drops this
source of leakage becomes serious, reaching 50 kg. calories per 1,000
liters of expired air in extreme cold (Irving, 1951). Not only does
this affect the total heat load of the body, but it subjects the nasal
passages to heavy chilling. To what extent the Mongoloid face,
inside and out, may compensate for this by its special architecture
remains to be discovered.
One other climatic hazard which human beings have faced and
overcome is that of reduced oxygen at high altitudes. Dill (1938)
and his associates have found that the inhabitants of the Andes have
become able to live and work at 17,500 feet and more, through the
fact that their blood carries a much higher concentration of red
corpuscles than of people at sea level. At the same time they need
more air, which they obtain through more efficient automatic breath-
ing control as well as the larger lungs. The requirements for physique
in high altitude resemble those for cold. Perhaps it is no coinci-
dence that the two great high-altitude plateaus of the world, the
Andean and the Tibetan, are inhabited by Mongoloid peoples who
greatly resemble each other.
This paper does not pretend to cover, even in outline, all the more
obvious adaptive variations in man in the fields of color, size, and
994 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
form. No attempt has been made to deal with the eye or the hair.
Little attention has been paid to genetics, in the belief that before
we can discover the biological techniques by which a set of variations
is inherited we should first describe the variations themselves. Since
blood groups are believed to be nonadaptive, they have been tempo-
rarily ignored.
Since I started this racial heresy in 1946, when I wrote the first
draft of what was to be expanded into the book “Races,” with the
help of Garn and Birdsell, many others who possess special technical
skills, and whose interests are focused in other than purely racial
channels, have been working on important aspects of the problem.
Garn is conducting experiments with metabolism and body heat at
the Fels Institute, Yellow Springs. Ancel Keys and Josef Brozek,
in Minneapolis, have independently studied the basic components of
the human body, with special emphasis on its fat content. Russell
Newman, Phillip Wedgewood, and Paul Baker have been devising
techniques for the same purpose in Lawrence, Mass., and conducting
interracial studies of physiological tolerance for the Armed Forces.
Various other Army and Air Force scientists, and their Canadian
colleagues, have been working on basic differences in anatomy and
physiology between Eskimos, Indians, Whites, and Negroes.
Our subject is acquiring dignity, and results are being produced.
We are now on the road to learning the basic facts about race in man,
facts of which no one should be proud or ashamed. In an atom-age
world in which men of all races are coming into increasing contact
with one another on a basis of equality and cooperation, a knowledge
of what a wonderfully adaptive thing the human body is, is a much
healthier commodity than the recently traditional hide-race point
of view.
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Reprints of the various articles in this Report may be obtained, as long as
the supply lasts, on request to the Editorial and Publications Division,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D. C.
Vegetation Management for Rights-of-Way
and Roadsides
By FRANK E. EGLER 1
Department of Conservation and General Ecology
American Museum of Natural History
[With 6 plates]
In Tux short time of less than a decade, a totally new field of vege-
tation management, that concerned with rights-of-way and roadsides,
shows signs of being born as an integrated division of land manage-
ment. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss some of the problems
of managing this type of vegetation and especially to assess the value
of herbicides when used as a “tool” in this management.
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—WHAT IT IS
“Vegetation,” a technical term used to refer to natural and semi-
natural complexes of plant communities, is the subject of scientific
investigation by numerous groups. “Management” is commonly
used where manipulation for practical ends is involved. For pur-
poses of orientation, we use the phrase “vegetation management” to
refer collectively to the principles and practices of all these groups.
On the practical side, this includes forestry, range and pasture man-
agement, wildlife management, soil conservation, and watershed
management, each with its own body of data, and each often de-
veloped independently of the others. On the academic side, we have
the various disciplines of plant ecology, phytosociology, geobotany,
and many other realms.
THE ROADSIDES AND THE RIGHTS-OF-WAY
Most people are only subconsciously aware of roadsides and rights-
of-way. To them the world consists of cities, with their industrial
and residential areas, and of “country,” with forests and grasslands
and croplands. But gradually a new type of acreage is becoming
+ Chairman, Committee for Chemical Brush Control Recommendations for Rightofways,
American Museum of Natural History.
299
300 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
manifest in our national economy—narrow strips that we cannot get
away from. They hem us in on every automobile and train ride.
They are with us even when we stay at home, for our telephone service
involves the rights-of-way of toll lines as well as roadside distribution
lines, and each electrical appliance we use involves mammoth transmis-
sion lines, as well as those for local distribution. Roadways, rail-
ways, and utility lines are thus lacing our country with superposed
patterns of ever-increasing complexity. What does all this amount
to, acreage-wise? No one knows, for no agency has ever made a rea-
sonable survey. One utility in a New England State claims it has
600 miles of transmission lines and 6,000 miles of distribution lines.
The average power company frequently has over 15,000 acres in
rights-of-way. The State of Ohio has over 16,000 miles of State
highways and over 70,000 miles of secondary roads, involving to-
gether 830,000 roadside acres, more than all State-owned forest land.
Towa has 427,000 acres of secondary roads alone, comprising a greater
acreage than the largest county in the State. It is not unreasonable
to assume that there are 20 million acres of roadsides and rights-of-
way, not including those of the railroads, in the eastern forested
areas of the United States. It is this land with which we are con-
cerned in this article. Possessing high values for the public and for
the Nation in addition to its immediate use, such tracts can be managed
for multiple purposes or they can be subjected to practices detrimental
to their owners as well as to the public. Each of these types of land
has its own special problems.
ROADSIDES
A roadway may be defined as the roadbed itself, flanked by several
parallel belts that have different functions, depending on what use
is to be made of the highway. Adjacent to the paved or traveled
part is a bare, oiled or grassed shoulder 5 to 10 feet wide. At the
far side of this is generally a ditch for drainage. Beyond is a 5- to
15-foot strip, which is mowed once or twice a year. And farthest
from the road is a strip 10 to 20 or more feet wide, which is not mowed
and which often bears telephone and power lines. In addition, there
are poles, posts, and signs, immediately adjacent to which no vegeta-
tion is wanted and treatment for which is beyond the scope of this
discussion.
The mowed strip offers no serious problems. It rarely has any
woody brush on it. The very process of mowing, perhaps by remov-
ing what would otherwise be a heavy mulch of dead grass, seems to
favor the growth of colorful flowers. In many parts of the country
these are the brightest parts of the landscape, and the succession of
flowering forms is a never-ending delight through the seasons, from
the first bloodroots to the last asters. Strange as it may seem, some
ee eee eee
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—EGLER 301
of these strips have been indiscriminately sprayed, with a consequent
loss of almost all these wildflowers.
It is the unmowed strip that offers excellent opportunities for ra-
tional management techniques. Basically, it must satisfy the needs
of the highway departments. The needs involve the elements of
trafic safety, mainly visibility along the line of travel, especially
around curves and at intersections. Locally there is the problem of
snow fences, for which shrubs are valuable in some places but un-
wanted in others. Not of minor importance is the matter of five
hazard, especially since Americans have developed the habit of fling-
ing lighted cigarettes from their cars. All plant life is flammable
in times of extreme drought; at other times fire hazards depend
Ficure 1.—Generalized view of roadside vegetation, showing the shrub border at the left
with plants of ornamental and wildlife values. These are the plants that are needlessly
destroyed by indiscriminate spraying. (Drawn by W. Thayer Chase.)
on the relative flammability of the different plant communities. In
general, grasslands have a far greater flammability than other types
of vegetation. Unnecessary spraying, which produces these very
grasslands, should therefore not be permitted along highways where
the fire hazard is great. In addition to these primary factors in
roadside management, there are others which are significant in their
public-relations values. Both noxious weeds and insect pests present
local problems that must be solved independently, either by the ad-
jacent landowner or the highway agency. Herbicides are of value
in removing such plants as ragweed (though if the soil is left bare,
ragweed will probably return, to make more business for the sprayer).
302 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
They are also of value in removing vegetation which harbors destruc-
tive insects. Nevertheless each plant, each insect, demands a separate
decision. As in the field of human medicine, there is no panacea
for all diseases. From another point of view, ornamental values rank
high in roadside management, and most State departments now have
their own landscape divisions, often involved in planting shrubs in
strategic places along the roadways. It has sometimes seemed in-
consistent therefore to find miles and miles of laurels, viburnums,
azaleas, blueberries, cornels, and other brightly flowering shrubs
destroyed.
Finally we have the wildlife values. The question of the preserva-
tion or destruction of wildlife cannot be decided arbitrarily. Each
highway has its own wildlife problems. On major arteries and near
the centers of population, big game quite obviously should not be en-
couraged because of traffic hazards. In suburban areas, song birds
are appreciated and enjoyed by many groups of residents. It is
known that most of these birds increase in number in the crop borders
and roadside thickets. Yet it is these thickets that are often destroyed
by indiscriminate spraying. The same habitats foster grouse, pheas-
ant, quail, and other game animals. Most wildlife inhabits “edges”
er “borders”—combinations of vegetation types, not solid forest or
wide-open grasslands. To preserve these wildlife habitats, we must
also preserve the roadside thickets.
RAILROAD RIGHTS-OF-WAY
The situation along railroads is in many ways similar to that of
the roadsides. The vegetation to be treated parallels a high-speed
transportation route, so that the procedure can be highly mechanized
and uncostly. The land can be segregated into a series of parallel
belts, for each of which the fundamental needs are different. The
stone ballast surrounding the rails and ties must remain free of all
vegetation, to insure quick drainage. Likewise, strips a few feet wide
on each side of this should remain clear of plants. The rest of the
right-of-way, often involving side strips up to 50 feet wide, can
remain in plants, but of a low-growing variety. For lines using
steam locomotives, the fire hazard is a factor.
POWER AND TELEPHONE RIGHTS-OF-WAY
The cross-country rights-of-way of these public utilities differ in
important respects from the two preceding. Usually, the only routes
they parallel are those of the crow. Sometimes, as in southern West
Virginia, the lines leap from crest to crest, and progression under them
is all but impossible, for either man or mule.
Telephone toll lines are generally only 40 or 50 feet wide. Power
transmission lines are usually 100 feet wide but may be as much as
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—-EGLER 303
250 feet wide. In all these, we have a parallel series of belts, each of
which has its own function for the utility. At or near the center of
the right-of-way is a foot trail, for patrol and inspection. Under
the wires, in a belt 25 to 40 feet wide, the vegetation should be low—
about 2 feet—or with isolated higher shrubs of such a nature as not
to hinder entry for emergency reconstruction and repair. The sides
of the right-of-way, with a minimum width of 25 feet, serve only
indirectly. They exist for controlling trees that would grow upward
or sidewise into the wires, that would contact the wires when they
swing outward in strong winds, or that would fall into the wires.
Furthermore, in the sense that the sides are lower than the adjacent
forest, they serve to demarcate and perpetuate property lines, indicat-
ing the area under the jurisdiction of the utility.
With these limitations it can be seen that the vegetation that can be
tolerated on such a right-of-way would have an ultimately valley-
shaped cross section. It so happens that such a cross section involves a
maximum amount of the border effects and edges mentioned above as
being the optimum wildlife habitat. Thus wildlife conservationists
and sportsmen, were they to gain the cooperation of the utilities,
could, without expending any extra money, add more game-producing
acreage to the country than now exists.
CAS-PIPE LINES
The building of gas-pipe lines has been extended enormously within
the last few years. These relatively narrow rights-of-way differ in
several very important respects from all the preceding. In the laying
of the pipe, the land is laid bare and is thus subject to initial invasion
by all kinds of plants, including trees. Most of these lines have been
recently laid, and invading brush has not reached sufficient proportions
to become a problem to the companies owning the lines. Furthermore,
patrol is often aerial, leaks in the line being indicated by discolored
vegetation; and entry for repair is by heavy mechanized equipment.
For all these reasons, no concern has yet been expressed for the man-
agement of vegetation on the lines. Even if the pipeline companies
have not shown interest, it would be reasonable for wildlife managers
to undertake the modification of these areas for their own purposes,
since the major expense, that of forest removal, has already been
effected.
HERBICIDES FOR BRUSH CONTROL
Let it be said first that the use of herbicides is not the cheapest means
of brush control. Cropping, grazing, and burning are techniques that
should take precedence whenever and wherever possible. Neverthe-
less such management practices are feasible only on a very minor part
of the rights-of-way considered in this discussion,
304 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
I do not know who claims first honors for using herbicides for brush
control. Probably even the Greeks did not overlook the possibility
(as earlier races must have), for it would take no great powers of
observation to note that storm floods of salt water would kill plants;
and such an observation might be expected to result in the purposeful
use of crystals from evaporated ocean water, either for the destruc-
tion of unwanted weeds on one’s own land, or of the crops of one’s
enemies. Modern herbicides have been developed from research in cer-
tain hormone and growth-stimulating substances. When it was found
that a few of these chemicals applied in relatively concentrated
dosages would be lethal, a new industry was born. Compounds re-
lated to 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid, because of their effect on
broad-leaved herbs but not on grasses, were quickly adopted for lawn
management.
In the winter of 1945-46, I gave my first consideration to the use
of herbicides for brush control. At that time I located but one pub-
lished reference to effects on a few woody species, and these only
on a small scale. At least one manufacturer had been applying
herbicides the previous summer on a pilot-plant basis, but no data
were available. From then on, the activity has mushroomed like an
exploding atom bomb.
CHEMICALS
Chemically, the materials now mostly used are derivatives of both
9,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy
acetic acid (2,4,5-T). The latter was found effective against certain
species, especially blackberry, for which 2,4-D was useless. Now
various mixtures of D and T, or T alone, are promoted. Salts, amines,
and the acids themselves have yielded their place to esters. The
original esters were methyl, ethyl, butyl, propyl, and other so-called
“high-volatility” compounds. Because of extraordinary damage suits,
following destruction of such sensitive crop species as tomatoes, cot-
ton, and grapes, industry developed the so-called “low-volatility”
esters. These have complex organic radicals, one of which is a
polyethylene glycol butyl ether group.
In addition to 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, ammonium sulfamate is widely
advertised and frequently used. This chemical, corrosive to metal
and thus presenting problems of its own, is dissolved in water and
applied blanketwise as a foliage spray. The cost for one spray is
considerably more than for a single foliage D-T spray, but the effects
are said to be the equivalent of two or more such D-T sprays. This
chemical is relatively unsuccessful in killing the roots of certain root-
suckering woody plants, and the results of spraying the herbaceous
areas, some becoming predominantly grasses and others forbs, vary er-
ratically. Since botanical analyses have never been made of the pre-
sprayed vegetation, it is difficult to estimate the amount of destruction
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—EGLER 305
to desirable plants. Ammate is also applied in powder form to cups
notched in the bases of trees. Although this practice has been adopted
for control of weed trees in timber forests, it is relatively unusable
on rights-of-way, where the individual stems are usually too small
for cupping. Stump treatment on rights-of-way where the forest
has been newly cut is another possibility, but here also comparative
data with D-T treatments are lacking.
SPRAYING
Techniques of D-T spraying are sharply divided into opposing
groups. ‘There is dormant-season vs. growing-season spraying; pack-
sack vs. power spraying; blanket spraying vs. selective spraying;
and foliage vs. basal spraying. Most treatments are either (1) sum-
mer foliage blanket-power spraying, or (2) winter basal selective
pack-sack spraying. Neither of these is a panacea for all ills, but
both have their roles. Nevertheless, it is the former which, though
giving relative relief from the high costs of hand-cutting and show-
ing quick visual results, is unsupported by impartial vegetation-
management data; whereas the latter is primarily responsible for
results that point to the lowest long-term costs and the highest public
benefits.
Foliage spraying involves large quantities of spray mixture (100 to
250 or more gallons per acre) at relatively low concentrations (in
ratios of 1 part of commercial chemical, at 4 pounds acid equivalent
per gallon, to 99 parts of solute, usually water). The actual physio-
logical action on the plant is unknown. At one time it was widely
believed that the chemical is absorbed through the leaves and then
moves down through the stems and into the roots, to kill the entire
plant. This theory had its origin in university studies indicating a
downward movement from the cotyledons of herbaceous seedlings
grown in greenhouses. Nevertheless all field evidence, except in a very
few anomalous situations, indicates no downward movement in the
stems of mature woody plants. The only (unpublished) study at-
tempting to find traces of the chemical at significant distances in the
roots was negative; and other studies indicate that the chemical disin-
tegrates in the leaves and never moves out of them. The kill-to-ground
effects of foliage spraying may be due in part to the chemical that
accidentally gets on the stems. In any event, the effects of foliage
spraying are rapid and striking. Within a week the foliage begins to
turn color and soon browns to a crisp. By the next spring all woody
plants and broad-leaved herbs appear dead; only the grasses survive
(if there were grasses to begin with; otherwise the land is bare and
may remain bare of grasses). In the second year those same root sys-
tems usually resprout, and in 2 years may be as high as 5 or 6 years
of growth preceding spraying. It is true that three or four annual
306 § ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
sprays may possibly root-kill these plants, but such costs are prohibi-
tive. I myself worked with foliage sprays in 1946, 1947, 1948, and
1949, and then gave them up, for though I was getting good kill-to-
ground results, I was not getting root-kill on enough species. Despite
these disadvantages, the very striking photogenic effects of these
sprays, the over-all browning of the foliage, and the clean and neat-
looking grassland the year after have all served to sell the treatment
on many thousand acres.
Basal spraying involves small quantities of spray mixture (averag-
ing between 10 and 50 gallons per acre) at relatively high concentra-
tions (in ratios of 1 part of commercial chemical to 20, 40, or more
parts of solute, usually oil). Application is generally by 5-gallon
pack-sack sprayers, equipped with special nozzles. Attempts to use
power equipment, either to cut costs or to avoid using human labor,
have not yet been satisfactory, either in the degree of kill obtained or
in the selectivity and gallonages used. Actually, the technique of
application is of considerable importance, for the basal bark must not
only be wetted, but soaked thoroughly for extensive rundown. This
rundown (downward movement within bark or wood is apparently
negligible) affects the crown collar, the source of future resprouting,
although in field practice such an aim may be thwarted by deposition
of soil, stones, logs, or leaves around the base of the plant.
Again, the physiological effects on the plant of this spraying are not
known. Two separate phenomena seem to be involved. The first is an
upward movement of chemical through the wood. This movement is
evidenced in the field by a relatively early top kill, followed by kill
progressively downward. The second may possibly be related to a
chemical ringing, without chemical top-poisoning. In this instance,
effect is deferred often for a full season. Then the entire foliage of
the tree, from top to bottom, uniformly turns yellow and dries. In
this deferred killing resprouting seems less likely to occur than in the
more rapid top-poisoning, and there is thus an implication—though
unsupported at present by any research data—that if chemical ringing
does take place, it may be the roots that die first by starvation. In any
event, basal spraying requires a patient and understanding client.
The spraying is usually done in winter. When spring comes the
buds may burst and the plant may grow vigorously through to mid-
summer. Only then may the leaves begin to curl and the plant show
signs of dying. By fall, kill-to-ground may or may not be complete,
depending on the adequacy of the spraying and other as yet uncon-
trollable factors. Ultimate kill-to-ground may not occur until the
end of the second growing season, and instances are known where the
tree died in the fourth year, though appearing perfectly healthy in
the preceding years. To make the situation more exasperating, re-
sprouting may occur, sometimes abundantly. If the root collar was
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—EGLER 307
not adequately soaked, the sprouts may survive and require respraying
when they become larger. Sometimes they will die of their own
accord, either in the second or third year. Very frequently such re-
sprouts will appear after complete dormancy through one entire grow-
ing season. ‘They have been observed to die without further spraying,
either from continued effects of the chemical or secondary fungal!
decay. Needless to say, these delayed effects and aftereffects, both
for basal spraying and foliage spraying, make any rational compari-
son of the two systems a matter involving several years, even though
the bulk of the industry and trade literature gives glowing descrip-
tions of situations one year after treatment.
From the standpoint of spraying, all woody species may be segre-
gated into the stwmpsprouters (sprouting from the base of the original
stump) and the rootsuckerers (sprouting from the roots, at some dis-
tance from the treated stump). The stumpsprouters, including the
maples, almost all the oaks, and numerous others, offer relatively few
problems, if the crown collar can be soaked. The basswoods are prob-
ably the most resistant, with completely green foliage even two seasons
after spraying. Nevertheless, in some of these instances the basal cam-
bium was found to be entirely dead, and it is believed that such indi-
viduals will die from root starvation. The ashes, especially white ash,
are also unusually resistant, but heavy applications seem to be
effective.
The rootsuckerers give the most trouble, and this very fact indicates
that the chemical or its effect does not readily pass into the roots.
Kill-to-ground is easily obtained both by basal and by foliage spray-
ing, but the resprouting may result in a greater number of stems per
unit area than before the spraying. The species here involved are
blackberry, sassafras, black locust, tree of heaven, and trembling
aspen, as well as the sumacs. Since these are all species of abandoned
agricultural lands, they can be locally predominant and demand radi-
eal alterations in any program of vegetation management. Although
apparently complete root-kill of staghorn sumac has been observed
at the time of this writing (October 1953) from a commercial spray-
ing in January 1952, such a situation is anomalous. On the other
hand, experiment-station tests on aspen in the Lake States, based on
data taken for growing seasons after treatment, indicate that the only
treatments in which basal spraying does not result in rootsuckering
are those applied in late June, July, and August. These data are in
accord with an as yet incompleted experiment on staghorn sumac, also
dating from 1950, in Colebrook, Conn.
Of all the factors involved in successful basal spraying, the most
important single variable seems to be that of qualified personnel. Sev-
eral skills are involved. Not only must the bark be adequately soaked,
but decisions must be made concerning snow depth and rain, which
308 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
affect adequate bark absorption. In addition, the person doing the
spraying must be able to recognize plant species, for unnecessary
spraying of permissible shrubs not only needlessly increases present
costs but may increase future costs by allowing new trees to reinvade
those spots. Knowledge of such factors as concentration of chemical
used, type of oil solute, kind and combination of esters, season of treat-
ment, soil moisture conditions, and products of different manufacturers
are also important.
This discussion of herbicides for brush control has until now pur-
posely been restricted to the effects on certain plant species, mainly
trees. One must not forget, however, that the vegetation of rights-
of-way is not composed only of unwanted trees and wanted grass:
it is an infinitely complex assemblage of plant communities, each com-
posed of various grasses, forbs (herbaceous plants, not grasses) , ferns,
shrubs, and trees. These communities vary regionally, according to
floristic area, climate, soil, fauna, and human history. The problem
is far more than one of “brush” and “grass.” It is a problem for the
plant ecologist who understands the ramifications of these plant com-
munities, rather than for the contractor or maintenance engineer whose
objective is simply to destroy the brush in order to get grass to beautify’
the right-of-way. The rest of this paper will deal with certain phases
of vegetation science that apply to the problem at hand.
SOME PRINCIPLES OF VEGETATION DEVELOPMENT
In forested regions of the globe, all new or disturbed areas tend to
progress, in a predictable or unpredictable manner and more or less
quickly, to some forest type. In academic lingo, this is “plant suc-
cession”—a very unsatisfactory term, for the word “plant” gives no
indication that reference is to a community, not a species or an indi-
vidual, and the word “succession” implies a series of discrete steps,
which usually do not occur. The theory of plant succession was
developed from early studies of quiescent sand dunes and of floating
bogs, types of habitat that really do show a succession of vegetative
stages. Actually, the theory of plant succession has done much to
retard the development of a rational vegetation management for
rights-of-way, since it presupposes that every shrub stage is relatively
quickly followed by a tree stage, a situation that may occur but is
relatively rare, for reasons discussed below.
Rights-of-way and roadsides are nothing more than nonforested
lands which are tending to develop into forests. They may start
off as bare raw road cuts or fills, or abandoned agricultural lands, or
lumbered areas. In each instance the normal trend is back toward
forest. Forest is the one vegetation type that here is not wanted,
and thus management of these lands involves (a) the destruction of
the incipient forest and (b) the prevention, insofar as possible, of
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—EGLER 309
reinvasion by new trees. If this reinvasion can be slowed down only
by half (for example, the time for removal of new trees postponed
from 5 to 10 years hence) then the yearly maintenance costs will be
halved, a matter of considerable economic importance. As will be
shown later, this, and much more, can be done.
PHYSIOGNOMIC DEVELOPMENT
By physiognomy is meant the gross morphologic appearance of the
vegetation, as grassland, shrubland, or forest. Though there are
many exceptions, the normal course of development from open land
to forest is through an orderly sequence of stages, starting with (1)
annual weeds, such as ragweed and pigweed, and progressing through
(2) grasslands with forbs, such as goldenrods and asters, (3) shrub-
lands, and (4) forests, often themselves composed of a sequence of
stages, such as gray birch at the start, then a white-pine forest, and
lastly, a hundred or more years later, a forest of oaks, maples, beeches,
hemlocks, and others. For rights-of-way and roadsides, stages 1
and 4 are not wanted, and choices may be made from among those in
stages 2 and 3.
There are two mechanical interpretations of this physiognomic
development, “relay floristics” and “initial floristic composition.”
Relay floristics is the conventional and commonly accepted view-
point on vegetation development. The theory assumes (fig. 2) that
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weeds | grassland | shrubland i forest
species
years
_ Ficure 2.—A diagrammatic presentation of vegetation development in terms of relay
floristics. According to this theory, a relay of plants invades the previous stage, and is
in turn replaced by a succeeding stage.
310 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
the first community to invade the bare site changes that site, making
it unfit for itself, but fit for the invasion of new species which in turn
kill out the species of the previous stage. Thus, as grasses succeed
annual weeds, and forbs succeed grasses, and these are ousted by
shrubs, and those by trees, each group replaces, and is replaced by, the
plants of the community adjacent to it in the sequence of plant
succession.
The selective application of herbicides gave us the first experimental
“tool” in history to test this hypothesis. Previously, we could only
set back the stage of development by physically removing, e. g., the
trees of the supposed last stage. Actually such removal involved the
baring of the soil at that spot, which in effect was returning that spot
to the very first stage of succession, not to the preceding one. Basal
spraying gave us a remarkably precise tool with which to kill a species
and leave it in situ. Actually, the decaying roots are an extraneous
factor, and yet the resulting treeless community is a reasonable fac-
simile of the supposed preceding shrub stage. When and as the prin-
ciple of relay floristics applies in nature, it can be seen from figure 2
that removal of the tree stage is a relatively ephemeral phenomenen
and that the area will again be invaded by trees. Maintenance will
thus be a repetitive process of removing these invaders.
From experimental field studies at Norfolk, Conn., came the first
indication to me that many of the native woody plants had not learned
their ecology lessons. Of 65 woody species that were spot-sprayed out
of various kinds of nonforest associations which supposedly they
had previously invaded, only half a dozen showed any urge to return.
All these few were trees, not shrubs; and those were returning in such
abundance as no respectable “old field succession” had previously
known.
Initial floristic composition was developed as a working hypothesis,
and it remains a hypothesis, to account for the fact that most of the
woody plants seemed incapable of invading, as seedlings, the grass-
land and shrubland stages. This hypothesis, graphically expressed
in figure 3, assumes that the weeds, grasses, forbs, shrubs, and trees
were all present on or in the soil at the time of abandonment, last
grazing, last fire, or last destruction, as seeds, seedlings, or shoot-
producing roots. Development through successive stages is then a
matter of unfolding that which was determined at the start. Weeds
at first outgrow and overtop all others, but soon the perennial grasses
become visually predominant. Eventually the coarse forbs take over,
through which the shrubs, originally present, eventually make their
way. Finally the trees, there from the start, overtop the other plants
and kill them out or relegate them to an inferior status.
The economic importance of this hypothesis is at once apparent.
If the trees had invaded at the very start of vegetation development,
—- ee ee
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Egler PLATE 1
1. Control area at WHDH transmitter site, Needham, Mass., shows dense growth of tree
sprouts. Figure in line with tower. (Photograph by Boston Herald Traveler Corpora-
tion.)
2. View from same point as figure 1, above, showing an herbaceous cover of low grasses and
forbs 344 years after selective spraying. ‘The chemical treatment costs much less than the
blanket spraying of the area shown on plate 2, figure 2, and no need for a future treatment
is yet appearing. (Photograph by Boston Herald Traveler Corporation.)
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Egler PLATE 2
1. A low ground cover of spray-sensitive dewberry (Rubus hispidus) at WHDH transmitter
site. Appearance 31% years after selective spraying of brush. (Photograph by Boston
Herald ‘Traveler Corporation.)
2. A cover of swamp grass (Calamagrostis canadensis) on the same peat soil as that shown
in figure 1, above, on an area blanket-sprayed 3 years previously. The grass is tall, dense,
difficult to walk through, and a fire hazard at many seasons. (Photograph by Boston
Herald Traveler Corporation.)
PEATE 3
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Egler
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Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Egler PLATE 4
1. View of experimental plot on the Bald Eagle Area, maintained by the Pennsylvania
Department of Forests and Waters. Right-of-way of the Pennsylvania Power and Light
Co., in the Bald Eagle State Forest, as it appeared during the first growing season after
selective basal dormant spraying, with ground cover of forbs and low shrubs.
2. View of another experimental plot on the Bald Eagle Area similarly treated for brush
control. Ground cover of sweetfern, huckleberries, and blueberries, with a patch of grass
in the foreground.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Egler PLATE 5
1. Typical untreated mixed oak brush at right. At left, low vegetation two seasons after
one selective basal spray. Power transmission line, loblolly pine-hardwoods region, Fed-
eral Hitchiti Experimental Forest, central Georgia.
2. Sward of carpet grass (Axonopus compressus), established and maintained by physical
breakage, trampling, and grazing. Gallberry (Ilex glabra) at the sides, a stable low cover
that resists reinvasion by tree seedlings. Slash-pine region near Federal Olustee Experi-
mental Forest, northeastern Florida.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Egler PLATE 6
=>
3% FY a
1. Seedlings of white pine (Pinus strobus) invading thin grassland of poverty grass (Danthonia
spicata) and Canada bluegrass (Poacompressa). Centre County, central Pennsylvania.
At left, low vegetation two seasons after
2. Typical untreated mixed oak brush at right.
one selective basal spray. Power distribution line, shortleaf pine-hardwoods region, Fed-
eral Lee Experimental Forest, central Virginia.
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—EGLER al
and are not part of an invading relay succeeding the shrub stages,
then the dollar costs of brush (tree) control are on an entirely dif-
ferent plane. These trees once removed are not capable of reinvading
the remaining shrublands and will not invade unless bare soil (their
requisite for reinvasion) is again produced. In short, such species can
be eliminated, not controlled.
weeds | grassland | shrubland j forest
crop
abandonment
species
— ee
ER
ee
EE
ee EE
TT
a TY
a EPI Rr
TEE,
years
Ficure 3.—A diagrammatic presentation of initial floristic composition. According to this
theory, weeds, grasses, shrubs, and trees were all present in the soil at the time of last
cropping, fire, or other catastrophe, as roots, seedlings, or dormant seeds. The successive
physiognomic stages are then due to the progressive development of these plants, with
the later stages taking longer to grow up and crowd out the preceding stages.
THE APPLICATION OF VEGETATION DEVELOPMENT
It is not to be assumed that one or the other of these hypotheses,
“relay floristics” or “initial floristic composition,” is exclusive in any
one region. Every case of vegetation development known to me is a
combination of both, with initial composition playing a larger role
than had been previously anticipated. Every tree species in every
type of vegetation development has a role worthy of impartial in-
vestigation if lowest-cost brush control is to be obtained for the
land manager.
GRASSLAND ys. SHRUBLAND
Consideration of the above principles leads inevitably and logically
to the next thought on vegetation management of these lands. Both
forests (4) and annual weeds (1) are not permissible cover types.
284725—54——21
312 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
One has to choose from among the gamut of communities lying be-
tween these, and somewhat unfortunately segregated as “grasslands”
and “shrublands.” Their number and variety should demand a far
more complex classification. The type of community should be chosen
in respect to its nature as: (1) fulfilling the physical demands of the
land in respect to passability for patrol, maintenance, reconstruction,
etc.; (2) being cheapest in its “construction,” i. e., herbicidal root-kill
(not just top-kill) of the unwanted existing trees; (3) being cheapest
in its maintenance through the years, i. e., with the smallest invading
relay of trees; and (4) being highest in conservation and public-rela-
tions values, involving landscape, game animals, song birds, and fire
hazards.
The type of herbicide treatment now enters the botanical picture.
Summer-foliage blanket spraying tends to remove the broad-leaved
plants, trees, shrubs, and forbs, and to leave communities of grasslike
plants—some of them grasses, others sedges—devoid of attractive
wildflowers, and of legumes so important to wildlife. Such vegeta-
tion, extraordinarily varied from region to region and soil to soil, is
arbitrarily and unsatisfactorily here lumped under the designation of
“orassland.” Conversely, selective basal spraying leaves a far more
varied mixture of grasses, forbes, and shrubs, each community of
which is worthy of separate observation and study. Since shrubs
frequently dominate, this entire assemblage of plant communities is
unceremoniously referred to as “shrubland,” so called by virtue of the
herbicidal treatment applied, and not because it is composed con-
tinuously and constantly of shrubs.
The economics of vegetation management of rights-of-way and
roadsides has now developed into an evaluation of whether the post-
blanket-sprayed “grasslands” or the post-selective-sprayed “shrub-
lands” are: (1) cheapest for conversion to them; (2) cheapest for
maintenance of them in respect to reinvading tree seedlings; and
(3) highest in public relations. Brought to play upon this subject
are my own investigations at Norfolk, Conn., extending through a
quarter of a century. Field studies of rights-of-way have taken me
in recent years through a territory stretching from the St. Lawrence
River and the entire Atlantic seaboard to Hlinois, Colorado, Okla-
homa, and the Gulf coast. With this territory in view, and other
lands in mind, no botanist would ever make dogmatic assertions con-
cerning “brush” and “grass,” any more than a forester would encom-
pass his knowledge of American forest types and forest-management
practices in a single paragraph.
A generalization is showing through the welter of botanical details.
Grasslands of forested regions, 90 percent of them, are appearing as
relatively “open” communities—open to invading relays of trees,
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—EGLER S318;
especially pines, but also white ash, maples, elms, and birches. They
are not open to invasion by the shrubs of ornamental and wildlife
value, and so the unnecessary destruction of these by promiscuous
spraying becomes of very critical importance. The shrublands, 90
percent of them, are relatively “closed” communities, not being invaded
by tree seedlings once the original component of trees has been re-
moved. Some have lasted 25 years and are still flourishing.
Blanket-sprayed grasslands have been more difficult to investigate,
for understandable reasons. Nevertheless I have inspected the rights-
of-way of the three eastern organizations that have most enthusiasti-
cally embraced this type of management, and that have been most
pleased with it. Let it be admitted that this type of herbicide treat-
ment has cut brush control costs markedly below those of the original
hand cutting. On the other hand, even if one were to ignore the
increased fire hazards and the destroyed wildlife and landscape values,
I still consider that the program is technologically short-sighted. The
first project, in New Hampshire, is relatively young, but white-pine
seedlings are already beginning to invade. The second, in western
Pennsylvania, is difficult to evaluate, for its sponsor has usually stopped
short of the goal of grassland (or rather, the herbicides have), and
is allowing “brush” of increasingly greater heights to develop before
respraying. After 9 years of spraying, it is not yet known what species
are still being sprayed and whether these are from original root
systems, or are seedling reinvaders. They are just “brush.” The
third, in Virginia, is “successful” in having established about 4,000
acres of a vegetation predominantly broom sedge, widely known as
the Southeast’s most flammable vegetation. Scrub pine is so rapidly
invading this community that respraying is planned on a 5-year cycle.
(This pine is peculiarly resistant to D-T sprays.)
THE EXPERIMENTAL AREAS
The committee on brush control of the American Museum of
Natural History has a policy of establishing research and demonstra-
tion areas in critical regions and continuing studies of the relative
stabilities of various grasslands and shrublands and thus their com-
parative costs of maintenance. The studies are being carried out in
cooperation with other agencies, and technical reports appear at
irregular intervals in various publications. The publications collec-
tively represent the American Museum System of Rightsofways Vege-
tation Management. A list follows of the areas already established
(fig. 4). The town in which the area is located is of the same name,
unless otherwise given. All such lands have already undergone herbi-
cidal treatments, either on a commercial or research basis.
314 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Vermont.—Vershire Area, Orange County, in spruce-fir northern hardwoods.
Middleser Area, southern part of the town, Washington County, in white-pine
northern hardwoods. Both are roadside areas, on lands of the Washington
Electric Cooperative, Inc., Hast Montpelier.
Massachusetts.—Shirley-Ayer Area, northwestern Middlesex County, in white-
pine transition hardwoods, on lands of the New England Power Co. Lexington
Area, southeastern Middlesex County, in central hardwoods, on lands of the
Boston Edison Company. WHDH, Needham, Norfolk County, a red-maple
swamp in central hardwoods, in cooperation with WHDH Radio Station and
the Boston Herald Traveler Corp.
Connecticut.—Aton Forest Area, Norfolk, Litchfield County, roadsides and old
fields in white-pine northern hardwoods. Farmington Area, Hartford County,
on future gravel pits, in pitch-pine central hardwoods, in cooperation with the
Dunning Sand and Gravel Company. Greenwich Area, Fairfield County, a
community of Viburnum lentago over 25 years old, in central hardwoods, in
cooperation with the Audubon Nature Center. Old Saybrook Area, Middlesex
County, in central hardwoods, on lands of the southern New England Telephone
Co. Preston Area, New London County, in central hardwoods, on lands of the
Connecticut Light & Power Co.
New York.—Allegany Area, Cattaraugus County, in beech-maple, on lands of the
Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. Wawarsing Area, Ulster County, in pitch-pine
central hardwoods of the Shawangunk Mountains, on lands of the Central
Hudson Gas & Hlectric Corp. Ten Mile River Area, Bethel, Sullivan County,
in central hardwoods, of the southern Catskills, on a line uninvaded by trees
since 1936, in cooperation with the Boy Scouts of America.
Pennsyivania— Bald Hagie Area on the Bald Eagle State Forest, Lewis and
Hartley, Union County, and Miles, Centre County, in central hardwoods of
the folded Appalachians, in cooperation with the State Department of Forests
and Waters, on lands of the Pennsylvania Power & Light Co.
West Virginia.—Clinton-Morgan Area, Monongalia County, on abandoned agri-
cultural sites in central hardwoods, on lands of the American Telephone &
Telegraph Co., Long Lines Department, Washington Division. Scott Area,
Boone County, in humid central hardwoods, on lands of Appalachian Electric
Power Co. Logen Area, Logan County, in humid central hardwoods, on lands
of Island Creek Coal Co.
Virginia——Lee Area, Lee Experimental Forest, Buckingham, Buckingham
County, in central hardwoods of the upper Piedmont, on rights-of-way, in
cooperation with the U. S. Southeastern Forest Experiment Station.
North Carolina—Bent Creek Area, Bent Creek Experimental Forest, Avery
Creek, Buncombe County, in central hardwoods of the southern Appalachians,
on rights-of-way, in cooperation with the U. 8S. Southeastern Forest Experiment
Station. Coweeta Area, Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, Macon County, in
humid transition hardwoods of the southern Appalachians, on a rain-gage
site, in cooperation with the U. S. Southeastern Forest Experiment Station.
South Carolina.—Santee Area, Santee Experimental Forest, Berkeley County, in
loblolly-longleaf hardwoods of the coastal plain, on rights-of-way, in coopera-
tion with the U. 8. Southeastern Forest Experiment Station.
Georgia.—Hitchiti Area, Hitchiti Experimental Forest, Jones County, in loblolly
hardwoods of the lower Piedmont, on rights-of-way, in cooperation with the
U. S. Southeastern Forest Experiment Station.
Florida.—Olustee Area, Olustee Experimental Forest, Baker County, in slash-
pine flatwoods of the Coastal Plain, on rights-of-way, in cooperation with the
U. 8. Southeastern Forest Experiment Station.
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—EGLER ald
MIDDLESEK
VERSHIRE
LEXINGTON
i SHIRLEY-AVER
iMcTON I
UWA DH
PRESTON
ae, OLD SAYBSOOK
x FE&RMINGYONW CONN
\ ALD Pe LE ¥ ATOM FoREesT
" We — REEM WICH
Clinyon- -MOREAN™ |
Scorr WV A. sh
ieGANN
pena VA
A ee a
beprillbarbe te “Wo. CAR,
eo rae
BENT CREEK
FLORIDA
Ficure 4.—Map of the eastern United States, showing location of the research areas of the
Committee for Chemical Brush Contrel Recommendations, and its cooperating agencies.
(Drawn by W. Thayer Chase.)
SIGNIFICANT PLANTS
In the present state of knowledge it is difficult if not impossible to
summarize the data from the experimental areas and from my other
studies in terms of vegetation types or vegetation regions. On the
other hand, certain generalizations can be tentatively proposed for
species that are known to be regionally abundant. These will be
considered in the following four sections, dealing respectively with
trees, shrubs (including vines), forbs and ferns, and grasses.
316 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
TREES
The following species have been investigated in studies on rights-
of-way and other nonforest vegetation types. The list includes
only those seen in sufficient abundance to permit an estimate of their
vegetational status.
Pinus strobus (white pine) Quercus phellos (willow oak)
Pinus palustris (longleaf pine) Quercus cinerea (bluejack oak)
Pinus caribaea (slash pine) Quercus virginiana (live oak)
Pinus taeda (loblolly pine) Quercus stellata (post oak)
Pinus rigida (pitch pine) Quercus alba (white oak)
Pinus echinata (shortleaf pine) Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Pinus virginiana (serub pine) Ulmus americana (American elm)
Lariz laricina (tamarack) Ulmus alata (winged elm)
Picea mariana (black spruce) Ulmus rubra (slippery elm)
Picea rubens (red spruce) Celtis occidentalis (hackberry )
Tsuga canadensis (hemlock) Morus rubra (red mulberry)
Abies balsamea (balsam fir) Magnolia acuminata (cucumber tree)
Tavtodium distichum (bald eypress) Magnolia virginiana (sweet bay)
Taxodium ascendens (pond cypress) Magnolia tripetala (umbrella tree)
Thuja occidentalis (white cedar) Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar) Persea palustris (swamp bay)
Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen) Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Populus grandidentata (bigtooth aspen) | Liquidambar styraciflua (red gum)
Populus balsamifera (balsam popular) | Platanus occidentalis (sycamore)
Populus deltoides (eastern cottonwood) | Malus pumila (apple)
Saliz nigra (black willow) Amelanchier spp. (tree shadbushes)
Juglans cinerea (butternut) Crataegus spp. (hawthorns)
Juglans nigra (black walnut) Prunus pennsylvanica (pin cherry)
Carya cordiformis (bitternut) Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory) Gleditsia triacanthos (honey locust)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory) Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Carpinus caroliniana (blue beech) Ailanthus altissima (ailanthus)
Ostrya virginiana (hop hornbeam) Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula lenta (black birch) Acer saccharinum (silver maple)
Betula lutea (yellow birch) Acer rubrum (red maple)
Betula nigra (river birch) Acer negundo (box-elder)
Betula populifolia (gray birch) Tilia americana (basswood )
Betula papyrifera (paper birch) Nyssa sylwatica (black gum)
Fagus grandifolia (beech) Nyssa aquatica (tupelo gum)
Quercus borealis (northern red oak) Oxydendrum arboreum (sourwood)
Quercus coccinea (scarlet oak) Diospyros virginiana (persimmon)
Quercus velutina (black oak) Fravinus americana (white ash)
Quercus laevis (turkey oak) Frazinus pennsylwanica (red and green
Quercus falcata (southern red oak) ashes)
Quercus marilandica (blackjack oak) | Frawinus nigra (black ash)
Quercus nigra (water oak)
In right-of-way vegetation management, trees are of significance
in two respects. First are the trees that are already there and that
must sooner or later be root-killed. These include not only the
large and obvious sprouts and suckers, but also a vast number of small
shoots a foot high and less. Such shoots have customarily passed,
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—EGLER ou7
even among botanists and foresters, as “seedlings.” Upon investiga-
tion, however, the great majority appear to arise from the under-
ground parts of such root-suckering species as black locust, ailanthus,
quaking aspen, and sassafras; from large massive roots, so large in
the case of some oaks, that they are known as “stool sprouts” in the
Ozarks, with an age of several decades at least ; and from small plants
10 years of age or more, growing less than an inch a year, and being
constantly nipped back by animals. These last two categories are not
considered a management problem, as natural agencies have served
to keep them in check and may be presumed to continue to do so.
Second are the true seedlings that are currently invading. From a
management viewpoint, these include all young trees less than 10
years of age which will become a future brush problem requiring
“maintenance” sprayings. Thus, “conversion” is designed to leave
such plant communities as will resist invasion by these seedlings; and
a study of where these seedlings occur becomes a most important field
of botanical investigation.
Most tree species are not actively invading nonforest plant com-
munities, despite the assertions of ecological theory and a wealth of
ecological literature which interprets mixtures of trees and shrubs
as demonstrations of such successions. Even the oaks and hickories,
predominant in a majority of eastern forests, show no evidence of
such active invasion. This is true for the southeastern pinelands,
where the hardwood invasion is an unquestioned silvicultural fact,
doubted by none but a few persons who consider the bulk of such
hardwoods as coming from root systems of the same age as, or older
than, the silviculturally desired pines.
The following, and only the following, tree species have been seen
to invade in sufficient numbers to create a serious brush problem,
involving additional costly sprayings:
Pinus strobus (white pine) Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Pinus palustris (longleaf pine) Uimus americana (American elm)
Pinus caribaea (slash pine) Ulnus fulva (slippery elm)
Pinus taeda (loblolly pine) Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip-tree)
Pinus rigida (pitch pine) Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Pinus eclinata (shortleaf pine) Acer rubrum (red maple)
Pinus virginiana (scrub pine) Fravrinus americana (white ash)
Of these, the one genus Pinus far outranks the others in acres and
in numbers of individuals so invading. White ash is next in abun-
dance. The elms, maples, birches, and tulip-trees are less important,
and, in the case of gray birch, far less so than its commonly assumed
status as an old-field invader would indicate.
A very sharp difference exists between the ability of these trees
to invade the majority of thin grasslands (produced by indiscriminate
blanket spraying) and the shrublands (produced by selective spray-
318 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
ing). All seedling invasion mentioned above is restricted exclusively
to such grasslands, even though the production of such grasslands on
rights-of-way is being advocated by the country’s leading chemical
manufacturers and spraying contractors. No tree seedling invasion
in significant quantities has yet been observed in any shrubland, even
though some of these shrubland types are known to be 25 years of age.
SHRUBS
The following shrubs and vines have been found to occur in sufii-
cient abundance on rights-of-way and roadsides to form either a pure
type or to give character to the vegetation. The starred names are
those of importance to wildlife as food, three stars indicating those
of the greatest importance. The daggered names are those of high
landscape value. All these species are being destroyed in the present
programs to eliminate woody growth.
*Juniperus communis (low juniper) f
*** Jerenod repens (palmetto)
*** Smilax rotundifolia (greenbrier)
*** Smilax glauca (greenbrier )
*Salix cordata (willow)
*Salix discolor (pussywillow)
*Salix humilis (prairie willow)
* Salix bebbiana (Bebb’s willow)
*Salixv sericea (silky willow)
*Comptonia peregrina (sweetfern )
*Myrica cerifera (waxmyrtle)
*Corylus americana (American hazel)
*Corylus cornuta (beaked hazel)
*Alnus rugosa (northern alder)
*Alnus serrulata (southern alder)
*Castanea pumila (chinquapin)
***Quercus ilicifolia (scrub oak)
*Quercus prinoides (chinquapin oak)
*Berberis canadensis (American bar-
berry)7
*Berberis
berry) 7
Asinina triloba (pawpaw)
*Lindera benzoin (spicebush )
Hydrangea arborescens (wild hy-
drangea) +
** Tamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Spiraea latifolia (meadowsweet )
Spiraea tomentosa (steeplebush )
Aronia arbutifolia (red chokeberry) +
Aronia melanocarpa (black choke-
berry) 7
*Amelanchier spp. (low shadbushes) +
*** Rubus allegheniensis (blackberry)
&** Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry )
vulgaris (common bar-
*** Rubus idaeus (raspberry )
**Rubus odoratus (flowering rasp-
berry ) ¢
**Rosa spp. (wild roses) +
**Prunus allegheniensis
plum) +
*Prunus americana (wild plum) 7+
xk Prunus virginiana (chokecherry) +
*Orataegus spp. (hawthorns) {
Cercis canadensis (redbud) +
**Rhus copallina (winged sumac) 7
** Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac) f
**Rhus glabra (smooth sumac) ft
**Tlex opaca (American holly) +
**Tlex verticillata (winterbervy ) +
*Tlex glabra (gallberry)
*Huonymus americana (strawberry-
bush) +
*Celastrus scandens (bittersweet) 7
Staphylea trifolia (bladdernut)
Ceanothus americanus (New Jersey
tea)
*** Vitis spp. (grapes)
**Parthenocissus quinquefolia
ginia creeper)
Hypericum spp.
cums)
** Cornus florida (flowering dogwood ) 7
**Oornus stolonifera (red osier) +
**Oornus rugosa (round-leaved dog-
wood)
*kOornus amomum (silky dogwood)
**OQornus racemosa (panicled dog-
wood) 7
(Alleghany
(Vir-
(shrubby hyperi-
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—EGLER
** Cornus alternifolia (alternate-leaved
dogwood)
Clethra alnifolia (pepperbush) +
Clethra tomentosa (white alder)
Rhododendron marimum (rhododen-
dron) f
Rhododendron nudiflorum (pink
azalea ) +
Rhododendron roseum (pink aza-
lea) {
Rhododendron viscosum (white
swamp azalea) +
*Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel) f
Kalmia angustifolia (sheep laurel) +
Lyonia ligustrina (maleberry)
*k*Gaylussacia baccata (huckleberry)
**Gaylussacia frondosa (dangleberry )
Vaccinium stamineum (deerberry )
*** Vaccinium vacillans (low blueberry )
***Vaccinium angustifolium (low blue-
berry )
*** Vaccinium corymbosum (tall blue-
berry )
Symplocos tinctoria (sweetleaf)
319
Gelsemium sempervirens (yellow
jessamine) 7
Callicarpa americana (French mul-
berry )
Campsis radicans (trumpetecreeper ) t
Bignonia capreolata (crossvine )
Cephalanthus occidentalis (button-
bush )
*** Sambucus canadensis (blackberried
elder ) +
*eE Sambucus pubnens (redberried
elder ) +
**Viburnum alnifolium (hobblebush ) +
**Viburnum cassinoides (wild raisin ) +
**Viburnum lentago (nannyberry ) 7
**Viburnum rafinesquianum (downy
arrowwood) +
**Viburnum nudum (possum haw) +
**Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood) tf
**Tonicera japonica (Japanese honey-
suckle) f
**Symphoricarpos orbiculatus (coral-
berry) 7
Diervilla
suckle )
lonicera (bush honey-
FORBS AND FERNS
There are relatively few species of forbs (herbaceous seed plants
other than grasslike plants) and ferns capable of predominating in
plant communities, although the number of different species which
enter all communities as minor components runs up to several hun-
dred. Among the colonial ferns are:
*Pteridium aquilinum (bracken)
Thelypteris noveboracensis.
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-
scented fern)
These are all resistant to sprays and consequently tend to predomi-
nate on blanket-sprayed areas. Yet, except for the occasional use of
bracken by deer, these communities are of negligible value for wildlife.
They are also resistant to invasion by tree seedlings.
The only forbs observed to produce dense covers in the East are the
goldenrods, and of them only the following as yet can be mentioned:
Solidago altissima
Solidago aspera
Solidago canadensis
Solidago graminifolia
Solidago juncea
Solidago rugosa
Such covers have high value as deterrents to tree-seedling invasion
and for their insect populations needed as wildlife food. They are
easily destroyed by indiscriminate spraying and have not been seen to
return if thus eliminated.
320 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
GRASSES
Although the number of species of grasses and grasslike plants
totals several hundred, those that predominate in seminatural grass-
lands in the East are remarkably few. Swamp grasses form a group
that can be studied separately. They include not only true grasses
such as Calamagrostis canadensis and Arundinaria tecta, but also many
juncuses, sedges, and cyperuses. Such plant covers, not areally im-
portant, may grow 4 to 6 or more feet high, and although they can
resist forest invasion they are more difficult to traverse than some
shrub covers.
Among the upland grasses, Awonopus compressus is unique. It oc-
curs abundantly in only a limited area of the Southeast, where it in-
vades readily after disturbance if the land is being pastured, and pro-
duces a dense lawnlike turf as long as the pasturing is continued. In
this respect, it is ideal for rights-of-way. Many of the ungrazed south-
eastern grasslands are mixtures of Aristida (three-awns), Sporobolus
(dropseeds) , Stipa (needle grasses) and Andropogon (beardgrasses).
Throughout the Northeast and Central East, predominating species
include the following:
Agrostis alba (redtop) Panicum clandestinum and P. latifolium
Festuca rubra (red fescue) (panics)
Anthozanthum odoratum (June grass) | Danthonia spicata (poverty grass)
Andropogon scoparius (bunch grass) Carex pensylvanica (sedge)
Andropogon virginicus (broom sedge)
Of these, the two panics, of similar site requirements, form a dense
grassland, knee-high, that should successfully keep out tree seedlings
but is not too easy to walk through. All the other grassland types are
low and open and successfully serve as a seedbed for the invading trees
mentioned above, whenever parent trees are present. It has long been
known to foresters and other field biologists that certain trees, espe-
cially pines, will invade these grasslands, and such knowledge has con-
ditioned their silvicultural practices. Furthermore, the value of such
grasslands for wildlife is extremely low. They are grazed for a very
short time in spring by deer, and the insect populations are needed
for the chicks of game birds, though this factor is seldom limiting
because grassy patches are almost always scattered through the “shrub-
land” types. A few species of grasses produce important seed crops,
but these have not yet been seen to predominate in right-of-way
grasslands. Contemporary scientific knowledge certainly does not
recommend these grasslands to the utility corporations as ideal for
their brush-control problems or as satisfying the needs of wildlife.
It should perhaps be added that certain lands give no indication of
having the potentiality of bearing any grassy cover. This is true for
certain acid, steep, or rocky slopes. In these instances, no amount of
brush spraying will create a grassland.
VEGETATION MANAGEMENT—EGLER aul
SUMMARY
Vegetation management, a synthetic field involving basic sciences
as well as forestry, range management, wildlife management, and
other branches of land management, has recently been applied to
roadsides and rights-of-way. The rights-of-way include electric-
power transmission and distribution lines, telephone lines, pipelines,
railroad rights-of-way, and roadways, and in the aggregate repre-
sent a large acreage. These lands comprise a series of narrow belts,
each with its different demands and tolerances, varying from complete
bareness, as on rail ballast, to tall shrubs on the sides of power lines.
In addition to the direct importance of these lands for transportation
of men, materials, and power, they are of great public interest and
are important in the national economy. Factors involved in maintain-
ing such areas include potential fire hazards (such as flammable dry
grasses), landscaping with ornamental shrubs, control of undesirable
plants, and the preservation of wildlife habitats for game and small
birds.
The control of vegetation with herbicide sprays is being studied.
The chemicals now mostly used are esters of 2, 4-D and 2, 4, 5-T and,
to a lesser extent, ammonium sulfamate. These are generally applied
as a summer-foliage blanket spray, using knapsack sprayers. This
technique has been heavily exploited by many chemical manufacturers
and spraying contractors to produce grasslands. The grasslands,
attractive in superficial appearance, are open to invasion by certain
tree species, are frequently a fire hazard, are relative deserts for
wildlife, and are devoid of ornamental shrubs and wildflowers. The
technique of selective basal spraying is usually preferable, and results
in a “shrubland” composed of shrubs, forbs, and grass. Such vegeta-
tion resists tree-seedling invasion, is less of a fire hazard, and has
optimum value for wildlife and the ornamental plants naturally
occurring.
The vegetation development refers to the orderly succession of
vegetation types on land from which the original vegetation has been
removed. On abandoned agricultural lands, this development com-
prises a succession from annual weeds, through grasslands, forblands,
shrublands, and finally forests. The interpretation of this develop-
ment has usually been in terms of a succession of invading “relays,”
each succeeding another in one community. Recent investigations
show that the initial floristic composition is of major importance in
that most of the trees and shrubs entered in a very early stage of de-
velopment, and only assumed physiognomic importance at a later
time. Such conditions are of considerable economic value, for un-
wanted trees of this category do not reinvade, once they are root-
killed by herbicides.
a22 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Twenty-three research areas, mainly sprayed rights-of-way, have
now been established in 11 States, in cooperation with research, edu-
cational, and nonprofit organizations. Over 75 species of trees are
on the plots, none of which show significant evidence of invading
shrub communities. Pines, birches, elms, tulip-trees, maples, and
ashes can invade the grasslands however, sometimes so readily and in
such numbers as to require respraying at 5-year intervals. Over 90
kinds of shrubs can be sufficiently abundant to characterize the vegeta-
tion, and the majority of these have high values as ornamentals and
as a source of food for wildlife. Only four ferns and six forbs (all
goldenrods) form relatively pure plant communities, and all are re-
sistant to tree reinvasion. The number of upland grasses and grass-
like plants that predominate in pure stands has been far fewer than
originally anticipated. 'The commonest in the Northeast and Central
East belong to but seven genera. All except two panics show them-
selves open to invasion by tree seedlings, but not by shrub seedlings.
Creation of these grasslands is therefore usually detrimental to the
interests of both the managers of the lands and the public through
the permanent loss of attractive landscape and wildlife habitats.
In conclusion, present botanical knowledge indicates that most of
the upland grasslands are easily invaded by a few species of trees,
whereas the shrublands are relatively sealed against tree reinvasion.
A list of literature references concerning the American Museum
System of Rightofways Vegetation Management may be had on
request from the Department of Conservation and General Ecology,
American Museum of Natural History, New York 24. Arrangements
for the loan of a colored talking film on the subject may be made by
addressing the Film Library of the Museum.
Applied Systematics:
The Usefulness of Scientific Names of
Animals and Plants’
By Waupo L, ScHMITT
Head Curator of Zoology
U. S. National Museum
It is an error to suppose as many do that classification is an outmoded phase
of natural history. It affords a continuing test of evolutionary doctrine. The
increasing refinement of biological study requires greater certainty than ever
before of the identity of animals and plants used in experimental work. The
fact that all organisms are now considered to be part of one great family tree
is a challenge to the intelligence and skill of the classifier who must reconstruct
that tree. Actually the business of classification has today greater vitality
and significance than ever before. .
—PauL B. Sars
THE FIELD of biological systematics is a broad one, and within it are
brought together at least a part of all natural-science disciplines. It
represents the orderly understanding and the sum total of our know]l-
edge of the animal and plant kingdoms. I shall confine myself chiefly
to the taxonomic side of the subject, so largely devoted to knowing the
scientific names of organisms. However, to name animals and plants
intelligently you need to know a great deal about them, their makeup,
lives, growth, behavior, and geographic distribution; in short, their
biology in the broadest sense of the word.
1 Address given at the Zoologists’ Dinner, annual meeting of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, St. Louis, December 80, 1952. Grateful acknowledgment
is made to Dr. Paul B. Sears, of Yale University, and Charles Scribner’s Sons, Inc., for
permission to use as epigraph to this article a quotation from Dr. Sears’s book ‘Charles
Darwin” (1950); to the late Raymond Pearl, of Johns Hopkins University, for a few
pertinent words from his address ‘Trends of Modern Biology,’ published in Science
(1922) ; to Charles Elton for a quotation from his ‘‘Animal Ecology” (1927 ; 1948) ; and to
Dr. George Gaylord Simpson, of the American Museum of Natural History, for the quota-
tion from his ‘“‘The Principles of Classification and a Classification of Mammals’ (1945).
323
324 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
SYSTEMATICS IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Everyone at heart is a taxonomist, either by virtue of necessity
or because of mere curiosity. From childhood up we want to know
the names of things. What is this, that, or the other object—how,
where, why, and what? Children at an early age readily learn to
distinguish a number of common things—birds, the various wild-
flowers, poison-ivy, bees, wasps, and yellow jackets—according to their
experience.
Every good housewife can identify the tiny moth flitting through
the bedroom or the parlor if it be a clothes moth. This knowledge
has a dollars-and-cents value, for the name of a beast or a pest indicates
the method of control to be applied. With further experience she
can distinguish this kind or species from one that may more rarely
flutter through the house but in more disturbing numbers—the moth
that sometimes appears in your packaged grain or cereals. Or per-
haps it is the winged ant coming out from under the house that catches
her attention. In mere self-interest she will want to know if it is
an ant or a termite, which, by the way, is not an ant but an insect of
quite another order and family. There are also wood-destroying
ants, the carpenter ants, infesting houses, yet these rarely if ever
become serious pests. With the identification comes the scientific
name, which is the key, the index entry, indeed the only device which
will open up for one the world’s literature containing the extant in-
formation regarding any object, animal, mineral, or plant. If a
name cannot be found for it, the object is probably new and unde-
scribed, in which case the information regarding it is yet to be
developed.
Indeed, wherever man comes to grips with the problems of life and
living, the importance of the names of things is most vital, whether
he be concerned with disease, the production of food, or merely safe
drinking water.
The physical fitness of drinking water can readily be determined by
chemical analysis, but only by identifying the organisms existing in
it, or rather determining the absence of certain of them, can its safety
be assured. Among the biological contaminants that need to be dis-
tinguished are to be numbered first of all the enteric bacilli and
amoebae, the “germs” of typhoid and cholera; copepods, which are the
intermediate hosts of the broad tapeworm of Europe now established
in parts of this country; and a host of other organisms that vary as to
locality. Unknown waters are not safe to drink even in the high
Arctic with its extremely low, often killing temperatures, for there
the melting ice and snow in the spring expose and redistribute the
well-preserved refuse of the long winter months from human habita-
tions. But please do not look askance at the glass of drinking water
APPLIED SYSTEMATICS—SCHMITT S25
before you. Our modern municipal waterworks take pains to treat
and filter it carefully. Yet accidents happen and plumbing installa-
tions have been found faulty, as in Chicago, where carelessness in
this respect resulted in 70 deaths from amoebic dysentery a few years
ago.
Whether the water be fresh or salt, pollution not only renders it
unfit for use, but, if in sufficient degree, will also destroy the inhabi-
tants useful and economically important to man.
Dr. Ruth Patrick, curator of limnology, specializing in diatoms at
the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, as the result of her
investigations in certain Pennsylvania streams, was perhaps the first
to stress the importance of the specific naming of the organisms present
in the evaluation of stream pollution, its kind or type, and duration.
She found that the heretofore frequently tried method of using
indicator organisms simply did not supply the data needed to make
such evaluations.
All groups of plants and animals living in a stream, particularly the
sessile or attached forms, or those which moved about in only a small
area, merited serious consideration definitely at the species level. This
entailed extensive collecting in relatively shallow water, the area in
which the majority of such forms live, and required the cooperation
of a number of experienced taxonomists to identify specifically the
material collected, especially the algae, rotifers, worms, mollusks,
Crustacea, insects, and fishes. Sooner or later we all discover, as did
Dr. Patrick, that there is no satisfactory shortcut to the solution of
a biologic problem, ecologic, medical, agricultural, or otherwise, that
ignores names of the species involved.
ENGINEERING
Ordinarily you would not expect an electric light company to have
a biological problem, let alone one in which mollusks were involved.
Six or seven years ago a heavily armored power cable lying on the
bottom of the bay between Palm Beach and West Palm Beach suffered
one of a series of blowouts as the result of the penetration of the
outer insulation and the heavy-load casing by marine mollusks. The
company’s officials naturally wanted to know what manner of shell-
fish this was and what could be done to prevent further damage.
Though the animal was found to be a new species, which was subse-
quently described, it was at once recognized by the expert to whom
it was submitted as belonging to a genus of boring mollusks which
would quickly be suffocated if the cable were buried several inches
below the bottom of the bay. This would also prevent further damage
326 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
of the same sort. In the 8 years preceding, the cable had suffered 15
failures, entailing repairs costing upwards of $12,000. Here an
identification solved a costly engineering problem.
THE FIELD OF ECOLOGY
Engineering problems accompanied by specimens are easier to solve
than ecological ones unsupported by specimens. Recently an ecologist
was discussing the behavior of a green parrotfish in the waters about a
tropical island. You can imagine his consternation when he was
asked to which of 10 possible species he was referring !
The importance of specific names to ecologists may be illustrated
by this excerpt from a letter received by one of our Museum curators
from a well-known student of jungle life: “I have all of my volumi-
nous field notes ready and only await the names of the [specimens]
which I sent you a long time ago. Have you had a chance to go over
them? Ihave the names of most, but there are still many left and I can
publish nothing until I get them.”
And Charles Elton, in his book “Animal Ecology,” writes: “One of
the biggest tasks confronting anyone engaged upon ecological survey
work is that of getting all the animals identified. Indeed, it is usually
impossible to get all groups identified down to species, owing to lag
in the systematic study of some of them. The material collected may
either be worked out by the ecologist himself or he may get the speci-
mens identified by experts. The latter plan is the better of the two,
since it is much more sensible to get animals identified properly by a
man who knows them well, than to attain a fallacious sense of inde-
pendence by working them out oneself—wrong.”
EVOLUTION AND GENETICS STUDIES
The abundance of the pasturage in what are known as “the meadows
of the sea” is being evaluated these days by the oceanographers in
terms of the chlorophyll collected by their continuous plankton re-
corders without having to take the pains of identifying the many
species of which the plankton mass is composed. At least samplings of
the organisms involved should be specifically determined, for there
are bad as well as good planktoners in the sea, just as there are good
and bad plants on some of our western ranges. Pasturage in meadows
on land, by certain tests, may yield a very high chlorophyll rating,
but a lot of it could be locoweed. If the marine chlorophyll ratings
are to have real significance, the species on which they are based need
to be known.
In evolutionary and genetic studies, it is especially important to
know well the species dealt with and the literature about them. Years
of effort can go for naught if pertinent taxonomic finds, procedures,
and discoveries are disregarded.
APPLIED SYSTEMATICS—SCHMITT aot
An unfortunate instance of this sort was a rather impressive report
on “An Investigation of Evolution in Chrysomelid Beetles of the
Genus Leptinotarsa,” published some years ago, a 320-page volume,
illustrated with 31 text figures and 30 plates, some in color. Aside
from a number of unnecessary nomenclatorial mistakes, records of
distribution and occurrence were far out of line with published work
on these beetles. Although the author stated that three species were
found in the United States, and that life histories were almost entirely
undescribed, actually eight species were known from the States at the
time, and seven life histories had been published previously. Several
forms which he enumerated as species were invalidated by evidence
given in his own work, and to have given it standing he should have
supplied or published elsewhere satisfactory descriptions of the new
forms he mentioned but concerning which his text was insufficient and
unclear.
As the informed entomologist who reviewed this work remarked,
“Even a slight acquaintance with the literature of the subject would
have saved [the author] from errors which are surprising in a man
who claims to have devoted eleven years to his subject.” Is it not to be
regretted that so much time and money were expended on work so
deficient for want of adequate taxonomic background? For “it is the
systematist,” said Raymond Pearl, “who has furnished the bricks with
which the whole structure of biological knowledge has been reared.
Without his labors the fact of organic evolution could scarcely have
been perceived and it is he who today really sets the basic problem for
the geneticist and the student of experimental evolution.”
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM’S CONTRIBUTION TO SYSTEMATIC STUDIES
The U.S. National Museum is one of the world’s great centers for
systematic research. The studies that the Museum is unable to accom-
plish with its own staff it tries to encourage others to undertake. That
is how it happened that the late Dr. J. A. Cushman became interested
in working up the Museum’s collections of Foraminifera. In his day
he knew more about the classification and distribution in time and
space of Foraminifera than perhaps any other man. His great knowl-
edge of these shelled protozoans was derived in great measure from
the vast collections that had been dredged up from the seven seas and
stored in the National Museum, largely unstudied, before his time.
When these microscopic organisms came into prominence as primary
indicators of oil-bearing strata, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico
region, Dr. Cushman was the authority to whom the oil companies
turned for help in applying this information. His special taxonomic
knowledge of the group enabled him to predict from the species
brought up in drillings the proximity of a given sample to oil-bearing
"2847255429
328 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
strata within several hundred feet. His determinations were worth
millions of dollars in revenue to the oil companies and in taxes to the
United States Government. Though other techniques, electronic and
geophysical, are now frequently employed in prospecting for oil, the
Foraminifera are still important in identifying and correlating strata
and in subsurface mapping in oil-producing areas.
The foregoing is perhaps the most outstanding example of the even-
tual successful application of purely systematic studies and the nam-
ing of species to economic ends. It can safely be said that most, if not
all, systematic work has a dollars-and-cents value, perhaps not today
or tomorrow, but certainly in time.
BIOLOGICAL CONTROLS
In looking over some recent literature dealing with biological con-
trols, I saw reference to the classical example with which I became
acquainted in my earlier days in the Government service some 40 years
ago. It was the story of the identification of an insect that played
the role of a villain threatening the destruction of the sugar industry
of Mauritius back in 1910, and how it was circumvented in the best
tradition of the popular “who-done-its” by a systematic entomologist.
The villain was a destructive white grub that bored in the roots of
the sugarcane, killing the plant. It appeared very suddenly in such
alarming numbers and spread so rapidly that the threat of the ruina-
tion of the plantations of sugarcane, the big money crop of the island,
could not be ignored. With such information as was at hand, the best
guess was that the borer was the larva of an African genus of beetle
represented on the island by two species and the only remedies that
suggested themselves were to dig up the root stumps to destroy the
larvae or to catch the beetles as they flew about at night in search of
food. The invader, lurking unknown in introduced cane cuttings,
and finding itself a favorable environment without enemies, in re-
productive capacity far outstripped all human efforts to control it
despite the fact that in less than 6 months more than 27 million insects
were accounted for. Meanwhile, the aid of the specialists in the
British Museum was sought. With the extensive reference collec-
tions and library there available, it was soon determined that the beetle
was not an African one, but a New World form, of which, however,
no record or specific description could be found. In an ensuing search
through the large collections of that Museum three specimens of this
selfsame beetle, labeled “Trinidad,” turned up. The fact that this
native of the West Indies had never been mentioned in literature
implied that it was of so little economic importance that it had failed
to attract the attention of any entomologists stationed in the islands.
What kept its numbers down at home?
APPLIED SYSTEMATICS—SCHMITT 329
With specimens for comparison, a trained entomologist soon located
both the beetle and its larval stages in cane roots on Barbados. It
further developed that there it had two natural enemies. The only
one in evidence at the time was a so-called blackbird which eagerly
followed field hands rooting up cane stumps, to eat the grubs turned
up, but unable to reach those beneath the ground. The other natural
enemy, a tiny, inconspicuous wasp, was discovered by a neat bit of
detective work on the part of the entomologists. Attached to one of
several Barbados root borers transmitted to the British Museum was
observed a tiny white grub. In the manner of its attachment it sug-
gested the larval stage of a small wasp common in Barbados, one of
the family of solitary wasps known to parasitize beetle larvae but
not heretofore the cane borer. The wasp lays her eggs upon the borers
after paralyzing them with her sting so that they will serve as food
for her own young on hatching. Introduced into Mauritius, this little
wasp soon turned the tables on the cane borer.
One cannot leave the subject of biological controls in the field of
agriculture without touching upon one of the most remarkable suc-
cesses of all time. This particular one was made possible by the
taxonomic studies that preceded, and were undertaken in connection
with it. It was the conquest of the prickly pear in Australia by the
cactus moth borer, Cactoblastis.
Cactuses are peculiar to the New World. As horticultural curiosi-
ties, and also as hosts of the cochineal insect, they were introduced
shortly after their discovery into many other lands. The dates of
the early introductions of the prickly pears, or Opuntias, into Austra-
lia are not known. Some planted as hedges and in gardens escaped
to run wild in the surrounding country. As with the cane borer in
Mauritius, in a favorable environment and without natural enemies
to keep them in check, they spread at a tremendous rate. The rapidity
of their increase has been called one of the botanical wonders of the
world. In a period of 20 years the land area preempted by these
prickly pears increased from 10 million to 50 million acres.
It was imperative that something drastic be done if the Opuntias
were not to take over the land. Millions of acres had become veri-
table wildernesses of prickly pears. The Australians soon discovered
that the cost of eradicating cacti by hand, poison, or mechanical means
so greatly exceeded the value of the land that it was prohibitive.
Some less costly method would have to be employed if the land was
to be reclaimed. Biological control seemed to offer the greatest hope.
Forthwith, the systematic literature of the world was searched for all
pertinent information—the kinds, distribution, and habits of the
prickly pears, and especially the literature relating to the animals
and plants that have been reported to live in or upon them. Austral-
ian ‘entomologists searched the world, so to speak, for the known and
330 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
yet unknown enemies of prickly pears, studying those preserved in
museum collections, as well as the living ones in the field. The most
favorable places for these investigations were Argentina and the
United States, where the great natural stands of “pears” existed.
Some 150 to 160 different kinds of insects injurious to the cacti were
found, of which 50 proved to be new to science. Twelve of the most
promising ones were introduced, and of these one, Cactoblastis cac-
torum, described in 1885 from South America, proved so successful
that further introductions were unnecessary. From an original ship-
ment of about 2,800 Cactoblastis eggs in 1927, 10 million were reared
in the next 2 years. In the course of 6 years 3 billion eggs were
released. The cactuses literally disintegrated before the onslaughts
of the Cactoblastis grubs feeding within their tissues. Within 15
months after the first trial liberation, huge stands of cactus lay rotting
on the ground and in the next 7 years the last large area occupied by
the pears collapsed. By 1940 less than 100,000 acres were believed
to be infested with patches of dense or moderately heavy cactus
growth, whether of regrowth or seeding origin, as compared with the
hundreds of square miles of a few years before.
In Queensland, the worst-affected state, it would have cost from
four to five hundred million dollars to have cleared the infested areas
of prickly pears by poison and mechanical means. Following a care-
ful study of the problem, and, I would emphasize again, especially
the taxonomic literature bearing on it, by introducing and distributing
eggs of Cactoblastis, the Commonwealth Prickly Pear Board accom-
plished the task at a cost of less than a million dollars. Thus, the
formerly useless acreage regained for settlement because of its suit-
ability for grazing, dairying, and agricultural purposes became an
asset valued at 40 to 50 million dollars, to say nothing of the worth of
new improvements and the future yield of the land, which, in time,
will amount to many times its present value. Moreover, the benefits
of the Australian experiences extended to South Africa and India,
where prickly pears had also been giving considerable trouble.
The Australian entomologists give due credit to the work of the tax-
onomists who preceded them in the study of cactuses and cactus insects
for their share in the accomplishment of this latter-day miracle, but
who could have foreseen 65 years ago that the then published descrip-
tion of an insect found to be new by an Argentine zoologist making
known to science the animal life of his part of the world would, half a
century later, be instrumental in saving a continent from a pest run
wild?
INSECT QUARANTINE
To prevent such unwitting introductions as this cane borer, the
prickly pear, and other pests, our Department of Agriculture has a
APPLIED SYSTEMATICS—SCHMITT 331
farflung inspection service at all ports of entry and at border stations.
Indicative of the importance that the Department attaches to the
necessity of having all “immigrants” of agricultural import promptly
identified is the fact that it maintains insect, plant, and phytopatho-
logical identification services. The division of insect identification,
located in part in the National Museum in Washington, comprises a
staff of about 40 entomologists and technical assistants, and elsewhere
in the Department an equally alert staff of taxonomic botanists and
plant pathologists. They handle many thousands of identifications
each year and in the course of making them have detected many
harmful insects and other forms of life which might otherwise have
become serious agricultural pests.
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
Malaria ranks as one of the great scourges of mankind. We hear a
great deal of the wonder drugs developed to overcome it, but very little
of the role that taxonomy played in furthering its control. From the
time that Ross first discovered that the causative parasites were
transmitted by anopheline mosquitoes, it was thought that the problem
could be solved quite simply by a reduction of the mosquito popula-
tion—by treating their breeding places with larvacides, by introduc-
ing the little mosquito-eating fish Gambusia, by clearing out aquatic
vegetation, and by drainage. The results in the States, and in Panama
in the course of the construction of the Canal where expense was
no object, were most gratifying, but when the Rockefeller Foundation
tried to apply these methods in southern Europe, the same successes
were not achieved. The carrier abroad was a different species, to
be sure, with different habits and capable of breeding at the edges
of running water, where its North American congener was a pool
breeder. Nevertheless, it was impossible to establish any correlation
between the incidence of intense malaria and the relatively few
anophelines found in houses. On the other hand, there were localities
with incredible numbers of the anophelines, tens of thousands in a
single stable, and no malaria whatever; there were swamps without
malaria, and a great deal of malaria without swamps.
It was not until two important and, at the time, unrelated discov-
eries were brought to bear on the problem that the apparent anomalous
behavior of the common malaria mosquito abroad was cleared up.
The first was the precipitin test, permitting the exact identification of
blood, both human and animal, a serological and purely toxonomic
procedure by means of which, no matter where a mosquito was lurking
at the time of its capture, its host or hosts could be determined. The
other discovery, which to my mind is one of the most important dis-
coveries in the history of malariology, and certainly in its European
332 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
aspects, was the discovery by Falleroni that females of the apparent
European carrier, which he carefully raised, deposited five different
types of beautifully ornamented but consistently different eggs, and
that a given female always laid the same type of egg. Today it seems
incredible that 7 long years elapsed before this significant discovery
was properly appraised and applied to the taxonomy of mosquitoes.
By means of these discoveries, what had been formerly considered a
single but unpredictable and widely distributed form, was found to
be in reality several distinct species and distinguishable races. Thus,
the hitherto inexplicable behavior of the European malaria mosqui-
toes was resolved with the aid of taxonomy, and the way cleared for
effective control.
SPECIES SANITATION
The exact knowledge of the species of mosquitoes found in any given
area is of greatest importance in preventing the waste of effort and
funds on unnecessary contro] measures and permitting full attention
to be paid to the dangerous species. Species identification insures a
maximum of effective control at minimum cost; we have, therefore,
today “species sanitation,” as it is called, as the accepted practice in
mosquito control.
A notable instance where species sanitation was most successfully
carried out was in the Natal, Brazil, area from 1938 to 1940. It was’
here that the late Raymond Shannon, formerly with the U. S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture, and, at the time, with the Rockefeller Founda-
tion, made the startling discovery in 1930 that the dread African
carrier of malaria, Anopheles gambiae, was on the loose in the New
World. Probably shipborne, it brought about, in all, what is said
to have been the worst malaria epidemic in history—some 300,000
cases, with enormous mortality, in a comparatively limited area.
At once steps were taken to eliminate this exceedingly efficient
carrier from the immediate vicinity of Natal. This was accomplished
in the next 12 months, but, rather strange to say, no efforts were made
to look farther afield for this highly dangerous insect. It apparently
made the most of the opportunity so afforded. Nothing is known of
its ravages in the interim. In 1938, however, it caused a serious
epidemic of malaria some hundreds of miles inland. This time
there was no hesitation. All possible means of control were directed
against this much to be feared species. Nothing was left undone to
completely eradicate it. In 2 years of intensive effort complete suc-
cess was apparently achieved. No trace of Anopheles gambiae seems
since to have been found in Brazil. A few airborne individuals,
however, have been detected in planes from Africa and promptly
destroyed. Here again, species identification proved to be the impor-
APPLIED SYSTEMATICS—SCHMITT 333
tant thing. It made species sanitation possible, and definitely effective,
in a comparatively short space of time, and today enables the Brazilian
Government to keep this dangerous enemy out of the country.
THE BLACK DEATH
The story of the plague—bubonic plague, the highly fatal Black
Death of the Middle Ages—and of its spread and control in India,
Ceylon, and elsewhere parallels that of malaria, and, like it, turns
upon the critical recognition of species of insects—in this case, fleas.
Much of our knowledge of the dissemination of plague by fleas
we owe to two men, L. Fabian Hirst, health officer at Colombo, Ceylon,
and Nathan Charles Rothschild, an authority on the kinds of fleas,
who discovered that the prevalent rat fleas of India and the Orient
did not constitute a single species, as previously believed, but were
three very closely allied species. It was Hirst who first suggested
and then demonstrated that these fleas had quite different biting
habits and different appetites for human blood, and thus varied in
their effectiveness in transmitting plague from rat to rat, and rat to
man. Their discoveries established the geographic distribution of
the different species of rat fleas as one of the most important factors
governing the spread of plague, and for the first time furnished a
logical explanation for the relative immunity of certain parts of
India and Ceylon to both epidemic and epizootic bubonic plague.
This discovery was the natural outcome of the purely zoological
researches of Rothschild and others on the systematics of fleas.
IN TIME OF WAR AND IN NATIONAL DEFENSE
Though not accorded recognition in the headlines of the daily press
or rewarded with oak-leaf clusters, the taxonomists made many note-
worthy but unheralded contributions to the waging and winning of
the late great war with their prompt identification of the many things
about which vitally important information was urgently needed.
In war we have much the same problems in medicine, epidemics,
disease, and health as in times of peace, only more intensified and more
urgently calling for solution or alleviation. The immobilization of
armies by attacks of malaria in the European theater and the casual-
ties, if we may call them that, from the same cause and insect-borne
diseases in the Pacific became so serious that it was of utmost im-
portance that the mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, and other pests or vermin
be identified without delay. Those that could not be named by the
sanitary and medical units in the field were given the very highest
priority to Washington for immediate determination.
304 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
During World War IL a well-known news commentator, for want of
a more timely subject perhaps, took it upon himself to ridicule a sys-
tematic treatise of the fleas of North America. It is the type of
technical work that is of utmost value to the specialist desiring to
make prompt and accurate determinations. He described this Gov-
ernment publication as a waste of paper, containing no useful infor-
mation because it did not tell how to free your dog of fleas. But it
was just the sort of book that would have enabled Rothschild to dis-
tinguish the species of flea that was the chief carrier of bubonic
plague in India from the less harmful kinds. Moreover, this publica-
tion has in it the very information which enables one to identify
this particular oriental plague carrier, which, by the way, has become
established in this country, but happily, so far as we know, is not
here infected with that most serious of diseases.
A Museum friend of mine, though not a scientist, was utterly
shocked by the low regard that the commentator had for work so
important. He wrote the commentator a letter which I believe is still
pertinent, and I quote part of it:
Having for many years been connected with a scientific establishment, and
not being a scientist myself, I have come to realize the real value of such
scientific works as you disparaged, and for the first time in my life I am moved
“to write to the editor.”
This impulse was perhaps strengthened by the fact that the very next morn-
ing [after your broadcast] I was pointedly reminded of it by the receipt from
the medical officer at one of our outlying bases of a single specimen of flea which
he particularly desired to have identified with reference to its function as a
possible carrier of disease. Only by knowing the exact identity of an insect
can information of this character be given promptly, and the scientific entomolo-
gist turns instantly to such works as you ridiculed just as you would seize
“Who’s Who” or the Encyclopedia Britannica, or some report of the Department
of Commerce for data you might need.
A steady stream of mosquitoes, ticks, and the like is pouring into Washington
each day by airplane under highest priorities from our farflung battle fronts, in
order that the local specialists may make prompt identifications, thereby furnish-
ing the medical officers in the field the guidance necessary for applying the most
effective control measures.
The mere knowledge of the precise name of “resident” fleas and other insects
will enable the medical and sanitary services of our Armed Forces to quickly
ascertain which of several towns in plague-infested areas are the safest for
quartering men.
Such works as the one under discussion are a distinct contribution by the home
front to our forces on the battle front. In this connection I am moved to quote a
line from one of Kipling’s ‘““Barrack Room Ballads” :
“Making fun of uniforms
That guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms
And they’re starvation cheap.”
APPLIED SYSTEMATICS—SCHMITT 335
Men, expendable I assume, were landed from submarines on more
than one occasion to reconnoiter the places and the islands to be at-
tacked. They were also instructed to bring back what they could of
the animal life encountered. As important as was the knowledge of
the numbers and disposal of the enemy was the identity of the insect
vectors in calculating the risks of attack and casualties from disease,
which, more times than we care to admit, laid out more men than the’
enemy. The identification of dangerous insects in the war areas can
be speedily accomplished only because of the stores of knowledge that’
the taxonomists have accumulated over the years. They supplied
much exceedingly valuable information in other directions also.
Something had to be done about floating mines drifting into our
coastal waters to menace shipping. Our patrol fleet needed to know
the paths they traversed through the sea, so that they might be inter-
cepted before their hostile mission could be accomplished. It was
also imperative to determine where the far more dangerous German
submarines sinking tons of shipping in the western Atlantic and Carib-
bean areas had their bases for overhaul, refueling, and the replenish-
ment of stores. From the surfaces of the mines and submarines were
scraped marine growths and from the ballast and trimming tanks of
the few submarines that were captured intact were recovered traces
of bottom mud and sediments pumped into the tanks as the submarines
were anchored near, or rested on, the bottom of the shoal bays of their
rendezvous. These growths and the sediments, their mineral con-
stituents and contained organisms, were carefully examined and named
by appropriate specialists. When the identifications were checked
against the known distribution of the various materials it became pos-
sible to plot the probable paths of the mines and also to trace the sub-
marines to their bases where they could be destroyed.
You may well remember the paper balloons with which the Japanese
so ingeniously took advantage of the currents of the upper atmosphere
for dropping bombs on the States during the war with a minimum of
effort and cost to themselves. Until recently it was not known that
during the 6 months that the Japanese continued this unique barrage
over 9,000 such balloons had been launched and evidence had been
found that 300, perhaps many more, had reached this country, some
traveling as far east as Michigan. These balloons and the bombs
they carried might have been frightfully dangerous. They could
kill and maim, start devastating forest fires, and, had they been so
employed, would have been capable of spreading disease and noxious
insect pests. How were we to stop them? The balloons were so con-
structed that after the last of their bomb load was dropped an ex-
plosive charge destroyed the balloon. To keep the Japanese from
336 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
learning of the success of their efforts, the strictest censorship was
imposed, but word was also quietly sent out to appropriate State
officials that an intact balloon must be recovered at all costs, so that it
could be carefully examined. One was fortunately secured by an
Oregon sheriff. The resulting identification of the sand ballast that
the balloon carried, along with some of the remains of microscopic
plants that were found in the sand, pointed to five possible launching
sites. Armed with this information, our Air Force promptly bombed
all five sites and, in so doing, must have hit the right one or ones, for
soon thereafter this menacing offensive ceased.
FISHERIES BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
I do not have space to tell of many examples in other fields of study
in which the name of a species or organism solved a biologic problem.
But because of their special pertinence I should like to cite three little
instances that bear on the economics of fisheries.
Some months ago an American specialist on sipunculid worms was
asked for copies of his technical publications by an Alaskan cod
fisherman who had found that where these worms occurred he always
made good hauls of fish. He wanted to plot the distribution of the
worms in order to do better and to extend his operations.
A matter of weeks ago an ardent sport fisherman brought in a
mantis shrimp about which he wanted to know its mode of life, its
distribution, and where it could be obtained in quantity. Of course,
to make a search for information, the species had to be identified.
In turn, we learned something also—that this stomatopod was the
favorite food of certain desirable panfish much sought after by fish-
ermen in the Chesapeake Bay area.
In the Carolinas, where shad enjoy a certain amount of legal pro-
tection, the State conservation agent must be able to distinguish be-
tween four or five species of fish, all superficially more or less alike,
if he is to catch the violators of the law and avoid congesting the
courts with the innocent. So, even in the enforcement of conserva-
tion laws, a knowledge of the species involved must be had.
SOME BOTANICAL APPLICATIONS
Recently I was discussing some of these things with a friend of
mine who is a systematic botanist. He spoke of cortisone and yams,
and mentioned how much and how often the plant taxonomists are
being called upon these days for information regarding not only the
names of plants, but also their phylogeny and systematic relation-
ships. If a plant contains a rare alkaloid or drug, what about its
relatives? Knowledge of kinship has facilitated many such
investigations.
APPLIED SYSTEMATICS—SCHMITT oon
The lore of ancient, primitive, and often unlettered peoples contains
much of interest and value to us if only we can find the scientific
names for the animals and plants of which they had learned the
properties, good or bad, useful or harmful, by long and often sad
experience. Curaré is one of these.
Botanists these days work with maintenance crews in keeping clear
fire lanes and electric-power and telegraph rights-of-way for the
purpose of identifying the plants, so that the appropriate herbicides
may be used to kill off unwanted vegetation. The result desired and
achieved is a dense growth of low shrubbery that will so occupy and
shade the ground that all other growth will be inhibited, yet itself
will not hinder or impede the passage of inspection, maintenance,
and repair crews. Manual as well as mechanical clearing of ways,
uphill and downdale, in these days of high labor and operating costs,
is aN expensive proposition, which, at best, only temporarily controls
the situation. Spraying, too, can be a costly affair, as well as inef-
fective, if indiscriminate, without regard to the kinds of plants
involved.
Again we are moved to remark that wherever one turns, a thorough
knowledge of the kinds of organisms, whether of plant or animal
origin, sooner or later proves of real value and often of considerable
economic importance in the most unexpected ways and places. And
finally, may we repeat what George Gaylord Simpson once so well
stated: “It is impossible to speak of the objects of any study, or to
think lucidly about them, unless they are named. It is impossible to
examine their relationships to each other and their places among the
vast, incredibly complex phenomena of the universe, in short to treat
them scientifically, without putting them into some sort of formal
arrangement. . . . Taxonomy is at the same time the most elementary
and the most inclusive part of zoology, most elementary because ani-
mals cannot be discussed or treated in a scientific way until some
taxonomy has been achieved, and most inclusive because taxonomy in
its various guises and branches eventually gathers together, utilizes,
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7 a
The Geological History and Evolution
of Insects’
By F. M. CARPENTER
Harvard University
[With 38 plates]
THE puRPOSE of this paper is to present briefly that conception of
insect evolution which appears to be indicated by our present knowl-
edge of the geological history of the group. Though some of my
colleagues may not agree with my position on certain details, I believe
the concept I offer will be acceptable, at least in its general aspects,
to those who have given serious thought to the fossil record.
My index to the publications on fossil insects includes some 3,000
papers, contributed by 700 authors. Only two general, compilative
treatises have appeared; one by Samuel Scudder in 1886 [1],? and
the other by Anton Handlirsch in 1906-1908 [2]. Both of these
authors had unique ideas on insect evolution, especially Handlirsch,
whose views unfortunately are the ones usually found in textbooks
of zoology, paleontology, and evolution. The material that forms
the basis for the extensive literature in this field comprises the count-
less thousands of specimens, perhaps 500,000, contained in the
museums and university collections in Europe and North America.
Up to the present time about 13,000 species of fossil insects have been
formally described. The geological formations that have produced
these specimens range from the Upper Carboniferous through to the
present.
The first aspect of the evolution of insects that I shall consider is a
general one. We can recognize four important stages in their history,
our present insect fauna consisting of some representatives of all
* Based on the Sigma Xi address given at the meeting of the American Institute of
Biological Sciences, Cornell University, September 1952. Reprinted by permission from
American Scientist, vol. 41, No. 2, April 1953, copyrighted 1953 by the Society of the
Sigma Xi.
2 Figures in square brackets are references at end of text.
8 This figure includes the 100,000 or more amber insects originally at the Albertus
University of Konigsberg, but apparently entirely destroyed by bombing during World
War Il.
339
340 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
stages. The first of these stages was a wingless insect, exemplified in
our existing fauna by two orders, the Thysanura (silverfish) and the
Entotrophi. The existence of such a phylogenetic group of wingless
insects, termed the Apterygota, is based on the premise that wings
evolved after the origin of insects and not with their origin—a concep-
tion that has been almost universally accepted by zoologists for fully
60 years. The opposite view, based on the belief that the first true
insects were winged and that all wingless species are secondarily so,
was advocated by Handlirsch [2, 3]; it was a corollary to his convic-
tion that insects arose directly from trilobites, the lateral lobes of
which became functional wings. So far as I am aware no one who
has given serious thought to the subject, with the exception of Hand-
lirsch, has accepted this idea. It is true that the wingless Apterygota
are known only as far back as the Triassic period and that the winged
insects, or Pterygota, extend to the Upper Carboniferous. However,
apart from a few Baltic amber inclusions, only two specimens of
Apterygota have been found in all geological strata. Their fragility
and the very absence of wings, of which most fossil insects consist,
make their chances of preservation as fossils very slight indeed. This
is an instance in which the structure of living material furnishes more
evidence than the geological record.
DEVELOPMENT OF WINGS
The second stage in the evolution of the insects began with the de-
velopment of wings. The time when these appendages started to
appear is not established, but three specimens of insects with fully
developed wings have been found in the lowest of the Upper Carbon-
iferous strata. Since these specimens belong to different orders, we
can only conclude that wings began to evolve in the Lower Carbon-
iferous period. However, even if the Upper Carboniferous record
is accepted as the time of wing development, it is clear that the insects
attained flight fully 50 million years before the reptiles and birds
did—a period of time during which the insects, so far as is known,
were the sole inhabitants of the air as aerial creatures. By the time
flying reptiles and birds had evolved, the insects were well established
in their new environment. It is intriguing, though futile, to reflect
on the possibility that if the insects had not taken to the air before
the vertebrates, they might never have successfully attained flight.
The significance of flight for insects was undoubtedly great during
the late Paleozoic. This was the age of amphibians and small rep-
tiles. Scorpions, spiders, and spiderlike arachnids, belonging to ex-
tinct orders, were abundant. All these predators unquestionably
subsisted to some extent, and probably to a great extent, on the wing-
EVOLUTION OF INSECTS—CARPENTER 341
less insects, which had no means of escape. It is not surprising,
therefore, that the ability to fly changed the direction of insect evolu-
tion and that in our present insect world only one-tenth of 1 percent
of the species are Apterygota.
The process by which wings were acquired by insects * has been a
question of much speculation, for they are not modifications of pre-
viously existing appendages. However, significant evidence has been
provided by the study of fossils. All the more generalized Pterygota
of the Carboniferous period, and even some species of the Permian,
possessed a pair of membranous flaps, arising from the dorsum of the
first thoracic segment. These flaps contained veins and were covered
with minute hairs like those of the true functional wings borne on the
second and third thoracic segments. There is every indication that
the true wings began, like membranous prothoracic flaps, as lateral
tergal expansions. However, so far as we know, the prothoracic
flaps never developed into functional wings. In most insects the
flaps have completely disappeared and in others they have been
absorbed into a pronotal disc.
The first winged insects, or Paleoptera, which we have been con-
sidering, had a simple wing articulation and were incapable of flexing
their wings back over the body at rest; hence, they were preserved as
fossils with their wings outstretched. Dragonflies and mayflies—
the sole living representatives of the Paleoptera—exhibit the same
limitations in wing structure. The third stage in insect evolution
began with the modification of certain plates of the wing articulation
so as to permit wing flexing; these insects are known as the Neoptera.°
The survival value of wing flexing was great, for it enabled the insects,
between flights, to hide among foliage or under objects on the ground.
The fossil record shows that this stage was reached by early Upper
Carboniferous time, when many of the paleopterous insects were
predaceous and of great size, though no flying vertebrates had yet
appeared. Later, when the flying reptiles, or pterosaurs, and birds
appeared in the Mesozoic, the neopterous insects had all the advan-
tage. The paleopterous insects, which had been dominant during the
Carboniferous and Permian, began to wane and the Neoptera to flour-
ish. This trend in insect evolution has continued up to the present
time to such an extent that 90 percent of the existing orders, includ-
ing 97 percent of the species, are now neopterous.
4 That the Pterygota are of monophyletic origin seems almost certain. Lemche, however,
has advoeated [4, 5] a polyphyletic origin, even claiming that such insects as the
Grylloblattidae and the females of Zoraptera and of certain lampyrid beetles are primitively
wingless (nonalate). The evidence for his conclusion seems insufficient (see, for example,
Carpenter, 1948 [6]).
5 The phylogenetic groups which are here termed the “Paleoptera” and “Neoptera’”’ were
recognized independently by Martynov [7, 8] and Crampton [9].
342 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
METAMORPHOSIS
The first of the neopterous insects were closely related to stoneflies
and locusts and possessed incomplete metamorphosis, that is, they
passed through a series of nymphal stages which gradually approached
the adult form. These are designated as the hemimetabolous Neop-
tera. ‘The fourth step in insect evolution was the development of a
more complex type of metamorphosis, in which the insects pass
through a series of larval stages bearing little resemblance to the adult.
Eventually, they enter into one or two quiescent stages, during which
extensive morphological and physiological changes take place. These,
the holometabolous Neoptera, presumably had several advantages over
the hemimetabolous types. The immature forms, being very differ-
ent from the adults, could occupy different environments and feed on
different types of foods. The tissues of other organisms, both animal
and plant, were thus invaded by larval forms as internal parasites,
the adult insects remaining free-living and capable of flight. The
holometabolous insects make their first appearance in the Lower Per-
mian strata. The existence of two orders, the scorpionflies or Mecop-
tera and the Neuroptera in the Lower Permian, shows that complete
metamorphosis must have begun before the end of the Upper Car-
boniferous period. Starting from the beginning of the Permian,
when only about 5 percent of the known species of insects had complete
metamorphosis, the percentage of species has progressively increased
to the present maximum of 88 percent.
A simple phylogenetic diagram, shown in figure 1, superimposed on
the geological time scale, serves to summarize this general aspect of
insect evolution. The three modifications—origin of wings, wing
flexing, and complete metamorphosis—mark the points of separation
of the phylogenetic lines. Since holometabolous insects are known to
have existed from the Lower Permian strata, the upper phylogenetic
division must have taken place before the end of the Upper Carbonif-
erous; and since neopterous insects are known from the lowest of the
Upper Carboniferous strata, the middle division, or wing flexing, must
have taken place in the Lower Carboniferous, which is beyond the
present record of the insects. The first phylogenetic division must
have occurred even earlier.
FOSSIL RECORD
Turning from this phylogenetic treatment of the insects, I shall next
consider their history as it is now actually known from the fossil reec-
ord. This discussion will involve some mention of extinct orders and
an explanation of my point of view on this controversial subject.
The artificial and arbitrary nature of higher taxonomic categories is
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Carpenter PLATE 1
1. MISCHOPTERA NIGRA BRONGNIART.
A megasecopteron from the Carboniferous of France. X .7.
2. PROTOLINDENIA WITTE! (GIEBEL).
An odonatan from the Jurassic of Bavaria. > 1.2.
PLATE 2
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Carpenter
1. CLATROTITAN ANDERSONI MCKEOWN.
An orthopteron with a large stridulatory organ, from the Triassic of New South Wales. > 7.
2. LITHOSMYLUS COLUMBIANUS (COCKERELL).
An osmylid fly (Neuroptera) from the Miocene shales of Colorado. The family Osmylidae
does not now occur in North America. XX 3.3.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Carpenter PEAT ELS
1. RAPHIDIA MORTUA (ROHWER).
A snakefly from the Miocene shales of Colorado. ‘The genus Raphidia does not now occur
in North America 5.
2. HOLCORPA MACULOSA SCUDDER.
A scorpionfly from the Miocene shales of Colorado. 2.5.
74
EVOLUTION OF INSECTS—-CARPENTER
343
GEOLOGIC
AGE IN
PERIODS
MILLIONS
TERTIARY
NEOPTERA
THEMIMETABOLA
UPPER
CARBON.
LOWER
CARBON.
DEVONIAN
SILURIAN
ORDOVICIAN
Ficure 1.—Main lines of insect evolution, as described in the text
284725—54-——_23
344 | ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
well known to systematists. Such categories are established for deal-
ing with organisms in a very limited period of geological time, not
with the whole geological record of a group, with annectent forms
appearing at intervals. This is an elementary concept for vertebrate
paleontologists, most invertebrate paleontologists, and paleobotanists.
In other words, most paleontologists have come to identify these
higher categories by trends or tendencies in a group, recognizing that
some of its members might even lack the specific structures indicated
in most of them. Unfortunately, many students of fossil insects have
not followed such a concept and have erected taxonomic categories,
such as families and orders, on single fragmentary specimens. Ac-
cordingly, some extinct orders of insects have been established on
either very vague features or peculiar structures that might not oc-
cur in another species. Altogether, as a result of such practices, 44
extinct orders of insects have been established—almost twice as many
orders as are usually recognized as now existing. From an extended
study of most of the material on which these extinct orders have been
based, I am convinced that only 10 of them deserve ordinal status;
the other orders can be combined or merged in one way or another.
In the following discussion, I shall refer only to these 10 orders.
The insect fauna of the Upper Carboniferous period was basically
primitive, for although some neopterous orders were present, they were
in the minority. This was the only period in the history of the insects,
so far as is known, when this was the case. The paleopterous orders, of
which there were five, included three main types. One of these types,
comprising mayfly-like insects, was a complex of three extinct orders—
the Palaeodictyoptera, Protephemerida, and Megasecoptera. Of these
the Palaeodictyoptera were the most generalized ; they had prothoracic
wing flaps and in general the Carboniferous species showed a lack of
specializations. Unfortunately, nothing at all is known of the im-
mature stages of this order.
TABLE 1.—Geological ranges of existing orders
EARLIEST
NAME OF ORDER GEOLOGICAL RECORD
1. Collembola (springtails) Devonian [?]
2. Hntotrophi (bristletails) Late Tertiary
3. Thysanura (silverfish) Triassic
4. Odonata (dragonflies) Barly Permian
5. Ephemerida (mayflies) Early Permian
6. Perlaria (stoneflies) Late Permian
7. Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets) Triassic
8. Blattaria (roaches) Late Carboniferous
9. Isoptera (termites) Harly Tertiary
10. Dermaptera (earwigs) Jurassic
11. Embiaria (embiids) Early Tertiary
12. Corrodentia (book lice) Early Permian
EVOLUTION OF INSECTS—CARPENTER 345
TABLE 1.—Geological ranges of existing orders—Continued
EARLIEST
NAME OF ORDER GEOLOGICAL RECORD
18. Mallophaga (bird lice) [No fossils known }
14. Hemiptera (bugs) Early Permian
15. Anoplura (sucking lice) Pleistocene
16. Thysanoptera (thrips) Late Permian
17. Mecoptera (scorpionflies) Harly Permian
18. Neuroptera (ant lions, dobsonflies) Barly Permian
19. Trichoptera (caddis-flies) Jurassic
20. Diptera (flies, mosquitoes) Jurassic
21. Siphonaptera (fleas) Barly Tertiary
22. Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths) Early Tertiary
23. Coleoptera (beetles) Late Permian
24. Strepsiptera (stylops) Barly Tertiary
25. Hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps) Jurassic
The little-known Protephemerida require no comment here, but the
Megasecoptera show several unusual features. They had very long ab-
dominal cerci, lacked prothoracic flaps, and had more highly modified
wings and body structures than the Palaeodictyoptera. In some
species the wings were falcate (pl. 1, fig. 1), in others petiolate ; in still
others the prothorax was armed with spines. Noteworthy, also, was
the presence of wing markings, which are evident even in specimens
preserved in black shale. What eolors were originally in the wings is
not known, but a definite color pattern is indicated in the fossils.
As paleopterous insects, the Megasecoptera presumably developed
by incomplete metamorphosis; the presence of true nymphal forms
definitely associated with adults, in the British coal measures, substan-
tiates this conclusion. It should be noted, on the contrary, that Forbes
[10], has expressed the belief that the Megasecoptera were actually
holometabolous. It is true that, although most species of Megasecop-
tera are found preserved in paleopterous fashion with wings outspread,
a. few families included species that unquestionably held their resting
wings over the abdomen. That these latter species represent the
beginnings of the true neopterous line of evolution seems very doubtful
to me in view of their several specializations; also, that they represent
a distinct order, quite removed from the rest of the Megasecoptera,
seems equally unlikely. I am led to believe, therefore, that the species
of this order which were able to hold the wings over the abdomen
developed this ability independently of the true neopterous types.
Another order of paleopterous insects, very different from the three
just mentioned, was the Protodonata, which closely resembled dragon-
flies. Like the latter, they were predaceous, and had spiny legs and
large mandibles. All the Protodonata were large and some members
of one family, with a wing expanse of 214 feet, were the largest insects
346 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
known.* Nymphs of the Protodonata are entirely unknown, but in
view of the similarity of the adults to true Odonata, we infer that the
immature stages could not have been very different.
The third type of paleopterous insect in the Carboniferous fauna has
no counterpart in an existing order. Although named the Proto-
hemiptera, they were closely allied to the Palaeodictyoptera, since they
possessed prothoracic wing flaps and other characteristics of the latter.
But the mouth parts of the Protohemiptera were modified to form a
long suctorial beak, resembling that of certain Diptera, or flies, though
differently formed. The Carboniferous members of this order were so
much like the Palaeodictyoptera that some of the insects whose head
structure is unknown and which have been considered Palaeodicty-
optera, were, I believe, Protohemiptera. The members of this order
presumably fed either on plant juices from the large club mosses and
tree ferns, or on the blood of amphibians and reptiles.
The neopterous insects of the Carboniferous include a vast and con-
fusing assemblage related to the locusts and stone flies. Most of the
species belong in the extinct order Protorthoptera, with a few aberrant
ones in the Caloneurodea, and still others, obviously true roaches, in
the Blattaria. The Protorthoptera show great diversity of structure.
The more generalized species had membranous forewings and cursorial
legs; others had leathery wings and either saltatorial or prehensile
legs. Essentially, the Protorthoptera possessed the same amount and
the kind of diversity that exists among the true Orthoptera, yet it is
highly doubtful that any of these Carboniferous forms gave rise
directly to the living groups they resemble.
The roaches were another interesting order in the Carboniferous.
Although in numbers of individuals and described species they ex-
ceeded all other Carboniferous insect orders, I am convinced that their
abundance is very misleading. The swampy areas inhabited by the
roaches supplied the best of conditions for their preservation as fos-
sils, whereas other insects might encounter such optimum conditions
only rarely. This condition would account for a disproportionately
large number of roaches preserved as fossils. The extensive series
of described species of roaches is due to the fact that Handlirsch and
others have ignored the extreme instability of wing venation in both
living and extinct types. Apart from their numbers, the most notable
feature of the Carboniferous roaches was their close resemblance to
species now living. Recently, however, an unexpected structure has
been discovered in some Carboniferous roaches from Belgium: a long,
projecting ovipositor, fully as long as the abdomen [11]. In all liv-
ing roaches the ovipositor is vestigial or rudimentary, and the eggs
6 These particular insects are the only extinct insects, so far as is known, that were
larger than existing species. The inference has been drawn from the Protodonata that
all Paleozoic insects were very large, but this is not the case.
EVOLUTION OF INSECTS—CARPENTER 347
are either laid in large capsules or else they hatch and form nymphs
in the body of the female parent. The ovipositor in some of the
Carboniferous species indicates a very different method of egg laying.
From this survey of the Carboniferous fauna it is apparent that
the insects had acquired surprising diversity and specializations by
the Upper Carboniferous period, though some really generalized
species were also included. Nevertheless, I am convinced that we
have not yet begun to appreciate the extent of the Upper Carbonifer-
ous insect fauna. This conviction is based in part on the nature of
the fauna in the lowest Permian strata and in part on the known
diversity of the Carboniferous insects, even though represented by
relatively few species. If the same number of living species were
collected at a few isolated localities over the world, we could not
expect to obtain from them a good idea of the complexity of the
world fauna as it exists today. It is not beyond the limits of pos-
sibility, therefore, that the extinct orders of Carboniferous insects
were in their time comparable in extent to the major orders now
living.
The insect fauna of the early Permian period was distinctive, for
it was a combination of nine extinct orders and seven living ones.
None of the extinct orders, except the Protodonata, are known to
have lived beyond the Permian. The Palaeodictyoptera and Pro-
tohemiptera had apparently reached their maximum development in
the Upper Carboniferous, only a very few having been found in
Permian strata. The Megasecoptera, on the contrary, flourished all
through the period. The Protodonata, also, were more numerous
than in the preceding period, and very large species, like those pre-
viously noted, have been found in Permian beds in Kansas, Okla-
homa, and several parts of Europe. Since no flying vertebrates were
yet in existence, these large predatory insects must have ruled the
air for many millions of years, for they persisted well into the Meso-
zoic. They may have been an important factor in the extermination
of soft-bodied and weak-flying insects, such as the Palaeodictyoptera
and Megasecoptera. The Permian Protorthoptera continued to show
diversity of form. Among them, for example, are some whose cerci
or posterior appendages in the male were modified to form pincers,
or claws, resembling those in some of the living Orthoptera.
Three additional extinct insect orders make their first appearance in
the early Permian. One of these, the Protelytroptera, which were
related to the earwigs, were the first insects known to develop true pro-
tective forewings, or elytra; also the hind wings were greatly ex-
panded and contained hinges which enabled the wings to fold up be-
neath the overlying elytera. Another extinct order of the early
Permian, the Protoperlaria, was related to the stoneflies; the adults
were generalized with prothoracic wing flaps, but the nymphs were
348 | ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
adapted for an aquatic life. The final extinct order, the Gloss-
elytrodea, appeared in the late Permian; they were characterized by
highly modified elytra with unique venation.
The living insect orders of the early Permian, in addition to the
roaches, comprised the mayflies, dragonflies, bark lice, true bugs,
flies, and Neuroptera. With the exception of the Neuroptera, these
Permian representatives were more generalized in most respects than
any existing members of their orders. The Permian mayflies, for
example, had homonomous wings, whereas in all living species the
posterior pair of wings are much reduced, both in size and venation.
The Lower Permian was apparently close to the time of origin of
most of these orders, for basic characteristics of related orders are
combined in some species. A surprising feature is that these first
insect representatives of existing orders are smaller in size than most
present species of their orders, and some of the fossil species are as
small as the smallest now living.
Before the end of the Permian, three more living orders of insects
appeared. One of these, the stoneflies, included a species which can
be assigned with confidence to a living family. The other two orders
comprise the thrips and the beetles. The dominant insects of the late
Permian were true bugs, or Homoptera, which were clearly adapted
for feeding on plant juices.
As is evident from this survey, the Permian insects were a remark-
able assemblage. During no other geological period has such a diverse
insect fauna existed. A striking contrast is found in the Triassic,
at the beginning of the Mesozoic, in which the disappearance of all
extinct orders, except the Protodonata, transformed the facies of the
Triassic fauna to a semblance of that at present. True orthopteran
insects first appear in Triassic beds. Among them were several
species having well-developed stridulatory structures on the fore-
wings of the males. The insects had a wing expanse of about 9 inches,
and stridulatory area of the wing was fully as large as that in any
living insect, as shown in plate 1, figure 2.
By the beginning of the Jurassic the Protodonata became extinct,
possibly because of the flying reptiles, or pterosaurs, which appeared
early in the period. Earwigs, caddis-flies, true flies, and the Hymen-
optera are found in middle Jurassic strata. The flies or Diptera were
almost exclusively midges or cranefly-like, there being none of the
higher Diptera, many of which are now conspicuously associated
with flowering plants. Similarly, the Hymenoptera were either rel-
atives of sawflies or parasitic types; the aculeates, such as bees and
wasps, were absent. Many of the Jurassic insects belonged to families
now living (see pl. 2, fig. 1). Looking at such specimens one finds it
difficult to realize that they were contemporary with the pterosaurs,
dinosaurs, and Archaeopterya.
EVOLUTION OF INSECTS—CARPENTER 349
The Cretaceous insect fauna is virtually unknown, since very few
specimens have been found. The gap is an unfortunate one, for a
rapid development of the flowering plants and of the vertebrates
took place during this long period. It is not surprising that insects
of the early Tertiary period consist almost exclusively of families
now living and to a large extent of living genera. The Lepidoptera
and Isoptera first appear in early Tertiary rocks, but the nature of the
earliest representatives shows that these groups arose in the Mesozoic.
The insects of the Tertiary are better known than those of any equiv-
alent interval of geologic time, largely because of the Baltic amber,
which was formed from the resin of pine trees about 50 million years
ago and which has preserved types of insects that would almost cer-
tainly not occur in rock formations. For example, two specimens
of fleas, presumably from a rodent inhabiting the amber forest, have
been found in the amber. The amber inclusions have also enabled
more exact comparisons with living insects than ordinary preservation
would permit. There are several instances of genera being recognized
and established for amber species and subsequently being found in
existence. More remarkable still is the occurrence in the amber of
certain species of insects, mostly ants, which are apparently identical
with some species now living. The Baltic amber has also furnished
proof of the existence of social habits among the insects of that time,
for the ants that occur there include, in addition to males and females,
major and minor workers. The extent to which the complex habits
of living ants had already been acquired in the early Tertiary is shown
by the presence of plant lice attended by ants in search for honey dew,
and by the presence of mites attached to the ants in the same manner
as is characteristic today. It is worth noting, however, that by no
means all of the families of insects had acquired such evolutionary
stability by the early Tertiary period. The bees preserved in the
amber, for example, belong to extinct genera.
A study of Tertiary insects also contributes to our understanding
of the geographical distribution of living families and genera, many
of which occupied very different regions from those now inhabited
(see pl. 2, fig. 2; pl. 3, fig. 1). An example of this is shown in plate 3,
figure 2, which depicts a peculiar scorpionfly from mid-Tertiary
shales in Colorado; it belongs to a group now restricted to parts of
Asia. Hundreds of examples of such changes could be given [12].
The best known of these is the occurrence in the Colorado Tertiary
of tsetse flies (Glossinidae), now confined to Africa. Incidently, the
suggestion has been made by several mammalogists that trypan-
osomiasis, a protozoan disease now transmitted by the tsetse flies in
Africa, might have been a factor in the extermination of some of the
Tertiary mammals in North America.
350 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
A number of inferences might be drawn from the geological his-
tory of the insects as we now know it, only a few of which have been
indicated above. Certainly there is one justifiable conclusion, namely,
that our existing insect fauna is but a small fragment of the total
insect aggregation that has occupied the earth during the past 250
million years. Understanding of insect evolution depends to a large
extent on a knowledge of the extinct insect population. The investi-
gation of the fossil record has only begun, and progress is slow, but
the significance of the record increases with each discovery.
REFERENCES
1. Scupper, 8. H.
1886. Systematic review of our present knowledge of fossil insects.
U. S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 31, pp. 1-128.
2. HANDLIRSCH, A.
1906-8. Die fossilen Insekten und die Phylogenie der rezenten Foramen.
Leipzig.
1937. Neue Untersuchungen tiber die fossilen Insekten. Ann. Naturhist.
Mus. Wien, Teil 1, vol. 1, No. 48, pp. 1-140.
4. LEMCHE, H.
1950. The origin of winged insects. Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturh.
Foren., vol. 104, pp. 127-168.
1942. The wings of cockroaches and the phylogeny of insects. Vidensk.
Medd. Dansk. Naturh. Foren., vol. 106, pp. 288-318.
6. CARPENTER, F’. M.
1948. The supposed nymphs of the Palaeodictyoptera. Psyche, vol. 55,
pp. 41-50.
7. Martynov, A. B.
1923. The interpretation of the wing venation and tracheation of the
Odonata and Agnatha. (In Russian.) Rey. Russe Ent., vol.
18, pp. 145-174. English translation in Psyche, vol. 37, pp. 245-
280, 1930.
1925. Uber zwei Grundtypen der Fliigel bei den Insekten und ihre Eyolu-
tion. Zeitschr. Morph. Okol. Tiere, vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 465-501.
9. CRAMPTON, G. C.
1924. The phylogeny and classification of insects. Pomona Journ. Ent.
Zool., vol. 16, pp. 33-47.
10. Forses, W. T. M.
1943. The origin of wings and venational types in insects. Amer. Midl.
Nat., vol. 29, pp. 381-405.
11. LAURENTIAUX, D.
1951. Le probleme des blattes paléozoiques 4 l’ovipositeur externe.
Ann. Paléontol., vol. 37, pp. 187-195.
12. ANDER, K.
1942. Die Insektenfauna des Baltischen Bernsteins nebst damit
verkniipft zoogeographischen Problemen. Kung. Fysiograf,
Sdllsk. Handl., n. f., vol. 58, pp. 1-82.
The Coelacanth Fishes’
By Errou Waite, D.Sc., F.G.S.
Department of Geology
British Museum (Natural History)
[With 1 plate]
Now rHar most of the excitement over the discovery of a second
specimen of a living coelacanth fish has died down for the time
being and Prof. J. L. B. Smith’s preliminary account of the creature
has been published in Nature (January 17, 1953, pp. 99-101), we
may make an assessment of its importance.
The landing of the first coelacanth late in 1938, it will be recalled,
created one of the biggest sensations for many years among zoologists,
and rightly so, for it showed the continued existence of an archaic
type of animal that scientists thought had disappeared some 70 mil-
lion years ago, at the end of the age of the great reptiles: the dino-
saurs, the marine ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, and the flying
pterodactyls. So far as we then knew, the last coelacanths swam in
the shallow seas which at that remote period covered what is now the
south of England, when the white chalk, the characteristic feature of
the cliffs of our southeast coastline, was being formed as ooze on the
sea floor.
The impact of this discovery on the mind of the general public was
extraordinary, for fishes do not often make news items in daily
papers, and probably it can be justifiably claimed that no fish was
ever considered more newsworthy.
The circumstances of the discovery of the second coelacanth just
before Christmas of 1952 were equally dramatic, but in a different
way and one more likely to appeal to popular imagination—it will
be remembered how Professor Smith, who had for 14 years sought for
it up and down the coast of East Africa, flew some 2,000 miles to the
remote Comoro Islands in a successful attempt to beat the weather
and the forces of decomposition. His haste to reach the second coela-
canth was dictated by the need to ensure that this specimen should
not suffer the fate of the first—that specimen was little more than
1 Reprinted by permission from Discovery, April 1953, Norwich, England.
i 351
352 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
a stuffed skin by the time it came into his hands—for he wanted to be
able to preserve the whole fish so that its internal organs should be
available for scientific investigation.
If anything, this event aroused even more interest than the first,
although the experts had been waiting for it to happen, for it was
considered most unlikely that the first specimen (which Professor
Smith called Latimeria chalumnae) was the very last of its kind.
Sooner or later another specimen of Latimeria seemed certain to be
caught as a result of the intensive search that its appearance had
provoked. But what we had not expected was that the next speci-
men should belong to an altogether different kind, now named Malania
anjouanae, and the existence of a third and smaller species is hinted
at. For a single isolated animal to have been overlooked is under-
standable enough, but when it comes to two or three, constituting a
small fauna, it is quite another matter and suggests further inquiry
into the reasons for their separation.
{
Sagoo
r
——J
Re
WAX See
ANS
\ SS
.
Ficure 1.—The last known fossil coelacanth, Macropoma lewesiensis, from the Chalk of
southeast England. In this restored figure the scales have been omitted to show the bony
air sac lying under the backbone. (After Smith Woodward, “Fossil Fishes of the English
Chalk,” courtesy of Palaeontographical Society, London.)
The name Coelacanthus was first given by the great Swiss
naturalist, Louis Agassiz, in 1839, to a fossil found during work on
one of the early railway cuttings at Ferryhill, about 7 miles south of
Durham. It came from the Marl Slate, which is of Permian age
and therefore 200 million years old, and the name is derived from
the Greek, «ot\os hollow, and 4«av#a a spine, because the fin rays
(i. e., the slender bones supporting the fins) were ossified only super-
ficially, leaving large internal cavities in the fossils. Since the time
of Agassiz many different genera of coelacanths have been described
from various formations and areas, starting from the Upper Devon-
ian and ending, as we once thought, in the Upper Cretaceous, a span
of some 230 million years.
During this vast period of time the coelacanths changed very little
in general appearance (fig. 1 and pl. 1, fig. 1). Many of the fossil
COELACANTH FISHES—WHITE 353
forms were quite small fishes, some only a few inches in length like the
Carboniferous Rhabdoderma and the Triassic Whzteta, but one,
Mawsonia from the Cretaceous rocks of Brazil, probably exceeded
in size the living specimens, the larger of which was 5 feet long.
Their most striking feature is provided by the paired fins (the
first two lower fins seen in fig. 1 and pl. 1, figs. 1 and 2), which
correspond to our arms and legs and which are borne on muscular
scaly lobes instead of being fanlike and coming straight from the
body, as in more familiar fishes. A similar single fin is to be seen just
behind the vent about midway between the hinder pair and the tail,
and another lies opposite it on the back. This last fin is the posterior
dorsal fin; there is another one in front of it and placed halfway
toward the back of the head, the anterior dorsal fin, but this always
lacks the scaly lobe.
The form of the tail is also peculiar. There is no marked constric-
tion in front of the fin; the scaly body just narrows rapidly and
evenly, dividing the fin rays into two equal parts above and below
it, and in many coelacanths it continues beyond them to form a small
supplementary tail (pl. 1, fig. 1). There was one other extraor-
dinary feature. In fossil fishes as a rule little or nothing is found
of their “insides” since the contents of the body cavity—heart, liver,
intestines, and so on—were soft and decayed rapidly, but in the
coelacanths the air sac was sheathed in bony scales and therefore
largely rigid. In all probability this organ was a functional lung
in the ancestors of the coelacanths, and is so in their living nearest
relations, the lungfishes (Dipnoi). In most modern fishes it persists
as a long membranous bag which acts as a hydrostatic organ, the
gaseous content being adjusted to keep the fish buoyant at any par-
ticular depth. Its remains are sometimes seen as a silver streak in the
breakfast herring.
Latimeria, the specimen caught in 1938, shows all the external fea-
tures characteristic of the coelacanth group, some in an exaggerated
form. The small supplementary tail is well developed, and the lobes
of the scaly-based fins are much lengthened, in fact considerably more
so than in the fossils, so that they stand well away from the body,
looking very much as if they really were on the way to becoming walk-
ing limbs. This fish was 5 feet long, weighed 127 pounds, and was
steel-blue in color.
The new fish, which is a male, is some 6 inches shorter. It looks
similar except that it lacks the supplementary tail fin and the anterior
fanlike fin on the back (pl. 1, figs. 2 and 3). It was the absence of
these two typical coelacanth features that was apparently the chief
reason why Professor Smith referred it to a different genus, Malania;
-but if one looks carefully at the published photograph of it (pl. 1,
fig. 2) one sees an unnatural-looking dip in the back where the front
304 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
fin should have been, and as Professor Smith says, the scales there are
irregularly arranged so that the absence of the fin may be due to an
injury when young. Moreover, the tail is very blunt, and not only
is there no supplementary fin projecting beyond it (cf. pl. 1, fig. 1)
but the fish lacks that scaly extension of the body, which in all other
coelacanths separated the upper and lower halves of the tail fin. In-
stead there appears to be an obvious irregularity in the tail where
this extension could have been (pl. 1, fig. 3). This suggests that the
absence of the extension is also due to damage. It is true that other
differences between the two fishes are said to exist. For instance,
the scales are described as being smaller in A/alania, and Professor
Smith states that the suspension of the lower jaws is different; but the
first point is not clear in the photograph and the second seems rather
unlikely: the head has evidently been badly knocked about, and the
lower jaws seem to be thrust forward unnaturally. Anyway, until
full details are forthcoming, we must reserve judgment as to whether
the two fishes really are so different or whether Malania is not just an
unfortunately mutilated edition of Latimeria.
There is one special character of these two fishes that has attracted
much attention, and that is their extreme oiliness, which has been
linked by some people with the theory that the mineral oils, such as
petroleum, were derived from the decay of vast numbers of fishes and
other creatures that have lived and died throughout the ages. AJI-
though this explanation of petroleum formation is favored by many
geologists, it must be emphasized that the composition and qualities of
animal oils and mineral oils are very different and, so far as I know,
there is as yet no process known by which the one can be converted
into the other.
The two most popular ideas about the coelacanths are that they
are either “living fossils” millions of years old, or else “missing links”
that will somehow throw light on man’s remote ancestry.
THE DATE OF THE FIRST COELACANTHS
First of all let us get it quite clear that the individual fishes are
uot abnormally old, probably no older than any other fishes of similar
size, and are 5, 10, or perhaps 20 years at the most. Nevertheless the
term “living fossil” does serve one useful purpose, as it emphasizes
the fact that these coelacanth specimens belong to a type of animal
that has survived long beyond its appropriate era. According to our
ideas they ought to be extinct but are not. Perhaps a few remarks
about geological time and evolution will make this point clearer.
Life as we know it on this planet is at least 600 million years old.
It started first with the smallest and simplest types, and as the eras
passed, higher and more complex animals and plants developed in a
COLLACANTH FISHES-—WHITE B50
more or less orderly sequence. The coelacanths are first found near
the middle of the sequence, some 300 million years ago, and it may
help us to appreciate the vastness of this ancestral record when we
recall that man did not appear for another 299 million years, for the
earliest known remains accredited to the genus Homo are rather less
than one million years old.
From the discovery of their fossil remains we know approximately
when each type appeared and how long it persisted. The fossils do
not give us the time in years; that is done by physical methods, such
as the lead ratio in radioactive minerals whose rate of disintegration
is known; but once that has been fixed for a particular series of rock,
then the fossils allow us to correlate it with other series with similar
faunas or floras elsewhere. Thus fossils do allow us to identify and
date the rocks in which they are found.
But our knowledge of the succession of life as applied to each indi-
vidual type of animal or plant is empirical, the result of experience
and something that cannot be calculated. We cannot foretell, for
instance, how long any newly discovered form will continue, and we
do not know why some creatures have persisted through countless
ages, sometimes with little change, while others have made a brief
and widespread appearance in the geological record, only to disappear
as suddenly as they came. It is this last type that is most useful to
the geologist, for they can be used to identify a particular stratum
and so enable him to make precise correlations of strata over large
areas.
The causes of extinction in nature are not well understood. Many
animals and plants, of course, did not actually die out, but instead
changed into more advanced forms by the process of evolution. Others
undoubtedly did become extinct, and sometimes whole groups like
the great reptiles, the dinosaurs, faded out.
A common explanation of extinction in animals is that with limited
food supplies the more primitive types were unable to compete with
the more highly developed; in some cases the latter may have actually
preyed upon them, especially their young, as the early mammals are
said to have preyed on the untended eggs of the great herbivorous
dinosaurs—and of course when they became extinct, then their flesh-
eating relatives that fed on them had to disappear also. But earth
movements, resulting in the gradual rising or sinking of the land,
must have been a prime factor; for the changes in the level of the land
surface may well have affected the climate adversely, and that in
turn would affect the animals (especially cold-blooded animals like
reptiles) or their food supplies. The possibility of epizootic diseases
must also be considered. On more than one occasion the big game
of Africa has been decimated over wide areas by rinderpest, and such
356 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
an occurrence could well put “paid” to a weakling species. Anyway,
it was thought until 1938 that this group of fishes had gone with the
dinosaurs, and their sudden reappearance after an interval of 70 mil-
lion years gave the scientific world—and other people too—something
to talk about.
It is this long absence from the geological record that makes the
reappearance of the coelacanths so interesting, for in the animal
kingdom as a whole so-called “living fossils” are not uncommon.
Indeed the coelacanth’s own, if distant and rather degenerate, cous-
ins—the lungfishes— still exist on three continents. The whole native
fauna of Australia is an archaic survival that has been saved from
extinction by that continent’s isolation. We also have the textbook
case of the tuatara, the sole survivor of a group of lizardlike reptiles,
the Rhynchocephalia, that flourished in Triassic times, more than 150
million years ago.
However, not all living fossils are by any means the struggling sur-
vivors of once important groups—the all too successful cockroaches
represent a type of insect that goes back to the time of the great coal
forests, while some of the living sharks and skates have a respectable
ancestry of more than 100 million years.
There is, however, one important difference between the history of
most of the animals that have been mentioned and that of the coela-
canths. Whereas most of the former became adapted to a certain type
of environment and stuck to it, the coelacanths have continually
changed their habitat. The first primitive types of the Devonian
rocks (the diplocercids) were marine, but the succeeding forms of the
Carboniferous period were mostly inhabitants of the fresh waters.
Later, in Triassic times, they went into the shallow seas, venturing
into rather deeper waters as time went on. So one of their claims to
zoological fame is adaptability without obvious structural change.
How common coelacanths were in the past it is not easy to say, for
fossil numbers do not always by any means reflect the rarity or other-
wise of the living animal owing to the varying chances of preservation
and discovery.
On the whole, coelacanths are rather rare as fossils, although occa-
sionally in a particular locality they have proved to be not uncommon;
in one instance, many hundreds of fossil coelacanths were found in
Triassic rock that was being excavated for the foundations of a new
building at Princeton University.
The accompanying diagram, which also gives a useful time scale,
shows the relative numbers of known different kinds at various peri-
ods, and the rise and decline in actual numbers of individuals probably
follows the same pattern. The absence of the coelacanths from the
geological record for the last 70 million years is most intriguing, and
COELACANTH FISHES—WHITE 357
suggests that during this time they lived in the somewhat deeper parts
of the seas, to which they had retreated in the face of competition, and
where sedimentation would have been slight and the chances of their
remains being preserved would therefore have been slim. A similar
suggestion was made regarding the living forms when the Latimeria
specimen was caught 14 years ago, for it is clear that they inhabit
regions not commonly fished. However, this suggestion has been
questioned since we now have reason to believe that a few are caught
every year in the shallow, rocky waters around the Comoro Islands.
Yet the landing of two or three specimens a year in a particular area
which is regularly fished does not necessarily mean that the focal
point is in that area. Fish do wander, and they also make seasonal
migrations—both specimens, we may note, were caught in December.
Diplocercididae
xz
300 250 200 150 100 Jo) co)
million years
DEV. CARBON. PERM. TRIAS. JURASS.CRET. CAINOZOIC
Ficure 2.—Diagram showing the relative number of species of coelacanths recorded from
the different periods in the geological succession, The small number shown in the Permian
is probably unreal, owing to poor conditions for preservation during that period. (After
Prof. F. E. Zeuner, courtesy of Discovery.)
It is difficult to understand how any creatures so unchanging as the
coelacanths could be considered as “missing links,” since it is the es-
sence of a biological link that it should connect two different types,
and that is just what coelacanths did not do. But they do belong to a
curious archaic type of fish—the fringe-finned fishes (Crossop-
terygii)—that differ in many ways from those with which most people
are familiar.
The average person knows perhaps a score or two of fishes, and
these are all very uniform in structure, in spite of great variation in
shape and color: they are nearly all of the type known as teleosts.
More interesting to the scientist are the lungfishes, bowfins, and gar-
pikes, but these are rarely kept except in the larger aquaria in Zoos.
Not all fishlike creatures are really fishes. Apart from the whales,
dolphins, and porpoises, which are mammals, and the extinct ich-
’ thyosaurs, which were reptiles, there are the eel-like lampreys and
their kin, which belong to a much more primitive group.
358 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
True fishes belong to three very distinct types whose common
ancestors have never been found. One type—the elasmobranchs—
is represented by the sharks and skates, with their skeleton of gristle
instead of bone, five or more open gill slits, and skin of shagreen.
The second type—the Actinopterygii—includes the teleosts which
form the great majority of living fishes, with a bony skeleton, the
fanlike fins, gill slits hidden by the large gill cover or operculum, and
the body covered with usually small, thin scales. The third type—
the Crossopterygii—comprises the coelacanths and their relatives;
these are thick-scaled and lobe-finned, with the skeleton part gristle,
part bone.
When we found the first traces of the Crossopterygii, in Devonian
strata some 300 million years ago, they were already divided into three
different groups. It is the very different subsequent fate of each
of those three groups that is the crux of the coelacanth story. They
all had rather long, heavy bodies with thick, bony scales and lobed fins
common to their kind, and to that extent were somewhat alike. How-
ever, two of these groups had other very important characters: in
addition to gills, which all fishes possess, they had lungs by which
they could breathe air directly, and internal openings to their nostrils
so that they could breathe air regularly while keeping their mouths
shut and exposing no more than the tip of their snouts above water.
The first of the two lung-breathing groups was the Rhipidistia, for
which there is no popular name as all of its fishy representatives
disappeared long ago. However, among the Rhipidistia was a small
progressive element which used their limblike fins and their ability
to breathe air to scramble ashore when the pools in which they lived
started to dry up in the hot seasons and to move overland to fresh
waters. In the course of time they became more and more adapted
to spending part of their life on land, their paired fins actually de-
veloping into true legs. When this stage was reached they were no
longer fish, but primitive Amphibia. From some of these early Am-
phibia evolved the scaly reptiles, which are entirely independent of
water except for drinking, although some, like the crocodiles and
the turtles, have returned to an aquatic mode of life. Still later, a
branch of the reptiles gave rise to the mammals. Thus it will be
realized that it was the Rhipidistia which were our remote ancestors
(fig. 3).
The second air-breathing group of fish apparently lacked the ability
to evolve further and became somewhat degenerate. They stayed in
their drying-up pools and just used their lungs to tide themselves over
until the next wet season. Nevertheless, by their ability to endure
unpleasant conditions they have so far avoided extinction. Lung-
fishes (Dipnoi) are still to be found in pools, swamps, and intermit-
tent rivers in parts of Australia, Africa, and South America.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—White PLATE 1
spamupenrsomvermns
te |
2. Malania anjouanae, the second specimen of a living coelacanth, caught December 1952.
About 434 feet long. (Courtesy of Prof. J. L. B. Smith and Nature.)
3. The tail and hinder fins of Malania in greater detail. (Courtesy of Prof. J. L. B. Smith
and Nature.)
COELACANTH FISHES—-WHITE 359
AGE |
MILL iONS GEOLOGICAL
OF YEARS SYSTEMS
Sg
15 }
35
Feucoene | |_|
EOCENE
CRETACEOUS
Lampreys
COELACANTHS |
Sharks and Skates?
| All other fishes
mmo [||
170
ce A
CARBONI -
FEROUS
275
Ny y
bs ‘ ,
DEVONIAN Me ., Se:
s. S SS
~. '~ os
320 ~ =
= «, Crossoptery gi ————_____—___-
} SILURIAN e ee “ng
350 my mt ba Pog SEA As ee
I a
ORDOVICIAN
420 ;
CAMBRIAN
VA
,
ss
a
*
)
‘
Figure 3.—Diagram showing the relationships of the coelacanths to other backboned
animals and their distribution in the geological succession. ime in millions of years.
(Courtesy of Discovery.)
The third group of fringe-finned fishes were the coelacanths, and
their story is the least eventful of them all: it shows remarkably
little in the way of evolutionary change. ‘The coelacanths had two
great disadvantages compared with their relations. They had no
through passage from their nostrils into their mouths—whether they
once had one but lost it early, or whether they never had such a
passage the records do not show—and, as we have already noted, their
lung or air sac was sheathed in bony scales. What purpose this
served, scientists would like to know. It must have had a function
of some importance, for it was a conspicuous feature in the fossils
for about 200 million years: it may have acted as a resonator, increas-
ing their perception of sound waves, as the air sac does in some modern
fishes. We do know, however, that the coelacanths neither went
up the scale of life nor down—they just remained coelacanths, They
2847255424
360 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
were related to our far-off ancestors, the Rhipidistia, but they were
never in the direct line of evolution and represent a sort of biological
backwater.
As to the claim that they may throw light on our remote ancestry,
this can be said: since the first coelacanths were related to the an-
cestral line, and since they have changed so little in outward form,
they may have preserved some of the primitive features common to
them both. But whether they will in fact tell us so very much more
than we have already learned from the other surviving group of
fringe-finned fishes, the lungfishes, remains to be seen. In any case,
whether it proves to be primitive or otherwise the internal anatomy
of these curious fishes is certain to be of great interest to the specialist.
The matter of the ossified air sac has already been noted, although
disappointingly there is no mention of such an organ in the prelimi-
nary accounts, which lay emphasis on the possession of a spiral valve
in the intestine. The latter character is less remarkable than the
absence of the spiral valve would have been, as it commonly occurs
in the more primitive living fishes. But there are plenty of other
details we should like to know about them, and Professor Smith’s
detailed report will be awaited with the keenest interest by zoologists
throughout the world.
Reprints of the various articles in this Report may be obtained, as long as
the supply lasts, on request to the Editorial and Publications Division,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D. C.
Barro Colorado—Tropical Island
Laboratory *
By Lioyp GLENN INGLES
Department of Biology
Fresno State College, Fresno, Calif.
[With 6 plates]
Near the forest edge two rufous motmots, their voices an octave
apart, greet the dawn with short bursts of hollow hoots. High over-
head a pair of red-lored parrots squawk raucously, making a noise out
of all proportion to their numbers, as they plunge swiftly down to
become silent in the verdure of the forest. Then, far up the ridge from
the giant branches of a towering Bombacopsis tree, comes the first deep-
throated roar of a howling monkey and another sultry tropical Feb-
ruary day begins. This day finds us on Barro Colorado Island in the
middle of Gatun Lake beside the world’s greatest highway, the Pan-
ama Canal. Many years ago, as the Chagres River was dammed to
form the lake, 6 square miles of fine tropical forest on higher ground
became Barro Colorado Island. How the persistent efforts of James
Zetek, its resident director, William Morton Wheeler, Thomas Bar-
bour, Frank Chapman, and other fine scientists finally culminated in
getting the island set aside under the auspices of the Smithsonian In-
stitution as a tropical wildlife reserve, with a laboratory for many
kinds of tropical research, in a story allitsown. Here a scientist, or
any person interested in nature, may come, live under comfortable con-
ditions, walk over machete-cut trails through the forest, and study any-
thing he wishes. Nearly 700 publications based on research done on
the island speak well for its importance as a scientific institution.
It was here my wife Elizabeth, our 5-year-old son John, and I set-
tled down for an entire winter after an arduous trip by car as far as
Nicaragua over the Pan American Highway. Barro Colorado is not a
jungle or a tropical rain forest in the technical sense because it does
have a dry season during the winter months when only 10 to 15 inches
of rain falls. The rest of the year, however, there are over 100 inches
of rain, but the decrease during winter months gives this forest a dif-
1 Reprinted by permission from Pacific Discovery, vol. 6, No. 4, July-August 1953,
361
362 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
ferent character from those tropical forests that experience no dry
season; hence it has been classified as a tropical seasonal evergreen
forest. In these beautiful primeval woods as many as 60 to 80 species
of trees and shrubs may grow on an acre.
All these forest elements are bound and laced together by hundreds
of large woody lianas and smaller herbaceous vines, making a canopy
so tight that only scattered small spots of sunlight reach the ground
at any one time. Under this protective canopy one may stand for sev-
eral minutes after the start of a heavy shower before he feels a single
drop that finally gets through the mass of leaves above him. In the
deepest parts of these woods there is twilight at noonday and light-
ning bugs or fireflies may be seen emitting their tiny lights. Here a
photoelectric light meter will measure less than 0.2 foot-candle at
noon even on a cloudless day. It is a forest where the biologist sees
organic pressures for survival at their highest. It is a forest where
nearly every plant form, where nearly all animal behavior traits are
used by some other species with its own special adaptations to attain
its own survival. Thus the interrelationships and dependencies of this
biotic community are infinitely more intricate and more complex than
those of temperate regions. One has to walk only a few yards over
any trail to see these interrelationships. Here, for example, is a
strangler fig (pl. 1, fig. 1) over 50 feet above the ground with its root
system running down into the earth by going along and around the
trunks of three other trees. One of these supporting trees is entirely
gone, leaving a hollow tube formed by the anastomosing roots of the
fig. Another of the fig’s victims is dead and rotting away as it is held
upright by the entwining roots of its murderer. The third tree is still
living but is doomed to die by strangulation just like its neighbors.
On the place once occupied by these three trees, one over 3 feet in
diameter, there will eventually stand one giant fig tree on its three
sets of strong tubes of roots which give the trunk of the fig a big advan-
tage over other trees by holding it up 50 feet or more above the forest
floor. From its elevated position it grows on up into the bright sun-
light above the upper canopy of the woods. The strong fig will also
be used by other lesser kinds of plants to get their food-making fronds
and leaves into more and more sunlight. Already there are long lianas
swinging down from its leafy crown and on its larger branches grow
ferns, orchids, and bromeliads. Some of these epiphytes have leafy
cups that catch and hold rain water in which a peculiar fauna lives.
Certain species of mosquitoes and amphibians, for example, live and
reproduce only in these tree gardens high above the ground.
The fig itself started from a tiny seed that perhaps was left on a limb
of one of these trees by a bird or a monkey many years ago. After
germinating it grew as an epiphyte until its long roots followed down
the three trunks to the ground. Once in the moist earth the tree grew
BARRO COLORADO—INGLES 363
rapidly and its entwining roots sent out many laterals to embrace
its hosts and eventually to choke them to death.
Only a few feet from the strangler fig stands a stilt palm. ‘This
remarkable tree may be less than 6 inches in diameter and yet it
extends its leafy crown 60 to 70 feet out into the upper canopy. But
what enables a stilt palm to stand up? From the lower part of its
slender trunk many bracing roots grow out several feet above the
ground. Thus the strangler fig and the stilt palm solve in different
ways their problems of getting up into the light.
Under the stilt palm across the dark forest floor a column of army
ants moves along swiftly. These ants represent one of over a dozen
species found on the island and have been studied for many years
by Dr. T. C. Schneirla, of the American Museum of Natural His-
tory. The raiding columns of these ants catch, kill, and carry back
to their bivouac all kinds of arthropod animals, especially their larvae
and pupae, to feed the busy colony. Accompanying each army ant
raid are five or six species of antbirds which do not eat the ants but
catch the insects that are flushed by their advancing columns. Dr.
Alexander Wetmore, noted ornithologist and former Secretary of
the Smithsonian Institution, told me that when he wanted to find
certain species of birds he simply followed a column of army ants
to its advancing front and almost certainly the birds would be there.
In the forest practically all the mammals are adapted by structure
and behavior to living in the trees or on the ground, with a number
that spend considerable time in both. Of the tree-dwelling mammals
certainly none is more spectacular than the capuchin monkey (pl. 1,
fig. 2) which is found all over the island in troops of 15 to 25 indi-
viduals. These troops may be strung out a hundred yards or more
through the treetops. It is not unusual to see one of these active
little monkeys jump and fall 20 to 40 feet into a lower tree. Never
did we see one miss its landing. One evening we watched at close
range a troop advancing along the margin of the lake. One old
male interested himself in making the large iguanas that rest on
branches over the water jump down into the lake. This monkey
broke off every dead branch that it could find and threw it into the
water. Whether the capuchin was clearing a new monkey trail of
reptiles and dangerous limbs or whether it just liked to see and hear
things splash in the water is hard to say, but I am inclined to believe
the latter.
Another curious creature that is almost entirely arboreal is the
three-toed sloth (pl. 2, fig. 1). This sloth appears to eat only the
leaves of the Cecropia tree and is therefore practically never seen
in temperate-zone zoos. One day in the deepest forest I heard a loud
squealing and growling in the canopy almost overhead. While I
was trying’to locate the cause of the disturbance two male sloths came
364 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
tumbling out of a palm tree fully 30 feet above the ground. Each
sloth had a firm grip on the other with its hind feet and it was quite
apparent they had been fighting and had become so occupied that
they had forgotten gravity was still an active factor of their environ-
ment. A few seconds later they began to recover from their fall.
They let go their holds and wobbled and rolled awkwardly over the
ground to the nearest lianas which they slowly began to climb. We
needed pictures of a sloth so one was captured with a loop on a pole
and was carried out to a clearing a half mile away where there was
sufficient light for photography. The grayish green of their coarse
hair and their slow method of locomotion on the under side of limbs
make them difficult to find even where they are plentiful. The green-
ish color is the result of an alga growing on the hairs. There are
also three species of moths and one beetle that are almost always
found darting in and out of the coarse pelage. Whether the larvae
of these insects eat the alga, the hairs, or the tiny sloughed-off bits
of epidermis appears to be another problem of interrelationships in
the intricate web of this tropical forest community that needs to be
investigated much more thoroughly.
A mammal that seems to be equally at home in either arboreal or
terrestrial environments is the three-toed anteater or tamandua
(pl. 2, fig. 2). Its long prehensile tail enables it to use tree routes
of travel and to work on insect nests far above the ground. With
the powerful claws on its front feet it can open the hard, tough ant
and termite nests without difficulty. Its most striking adaptation,
however, is its long wormlike tongue that can be extended from the
mouth 5 inches or more to extract insects out of the intricate and
interlacing system of tubes found in termite and ant nests. While
raiding a nest of termites or ants a tamandua would soon become
covered with biting or stinging insects were it not for the way it
uses the claws on its hind feet. These claws are arranged along the
foot in the form of a comb with which the anteater keeps its pelage
relatively free of insects by combing almost constantly with its hind
feet as it continues to feed.
There are many strictly terrestrial mammals but none is more fre-
quently seen in the forest than the agouti (pl. 3, fig. 1) or Regue as it
is called by the Panamanians who prize its flesh as a table delicacy.
The agouti belongs to a group of South American-type rodents that
have moved up through Central America since the Ice Age. It is
commonly seen in daytime eating the fallen fruits of various forest
trees and when surprised squeals loudly and dashes off to its burrow.
No doubt the agouti provides much food for jaguars, pumas, and
ocelots.
Near the laboratory at the edge of the forest is a breadfruit tree
which was introduced long ago, One evening we watched a pack
BARRO COLORADO—INGLES 365
of coatis (pl. 4, fig. 1) climb the tree to search for ripe fruit. Al-
though a carnivore, the coati, which is related to the raccoon, has
similar omnivorous habits. It includes considerable fruit in its diet.
When one of the coatis found a ripe breadfruit it was dropped to the
ground with a loud plop. At that instant all the other coatis imme-
diately began descending the tree to partake of the meal, and to our
surprise, three agoutis came out of the burrows and sat within three or
four feet of the feasting coatis waiting to clean up any leavings.
Thereafter we noticed that the agoutis nearly always appeared when
one of the 3-pound breadfruits fell.
The largest mammal on the island is Baird’s tapir (pl. 4, fig. 2)
which lives in the deep forest and is seldom seen. Three years ago two
young tapirs still wearing their longitudinal stripes were brought
in to the laboratory from the mainland. They were fed and cared
for until they were old enough to take care of themselves in their native
habitat to which they gradually returned. Occasionally even now
one or both of these tapirs will wander out of the woods into
the laboratory clearing where they still look for “handouts” of potatoes
and bananas. I shall never forget the beautiful sight they presented
one morning as they walked slowly out of the forest into full sun-
light not 25 feet away from the bird blind where I had my camera
all set for a chestnut-mandibled toucan. It was a rare opportunity
to photograph, in its native habitat, this large mammal which belongs
to the same zoological order as the horse and the rhinoceros. An
entomologist once came to visit the island and no one told him about
the young tapirs. One day while he was busily collecting insects
in a dark ravine he heard a high-pitched whistle and looked up to
see two large mammals slowly approaching only a few feet away with
their long snouts extended toward him. He quickly abandoned his
work and climbed a small tree. The tapirs walked around the tree
still whistling and finally one of them lay down at its base! He
hardly expected anyone of us to believe his story when he returned
to the laboratory that afternoon. He never told us how long he
remained up the tree to avoid the big animals that only wanted him
to give them a banana or a potato!
There are at least 15 species of bats known to occur on Barro Colo-
rado and on the nearby mainland. So far as known each species is
adapted to roosting and feeding in its own particular way. For
example the Watson’s bat makes its own roosting place by cutting
the veins in the leaves of two species of small palms in such a way
as to cause the leaf to droop, forming a “tent.” The bats hang head
down inside this little green tent and no doubt are somewhat protected
from the bat falcon and other predators as well as from heavy rains in
the wet season. The tent also serves to darken still more their roost in
‘the deep woods where the palms grow.
366 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Only a few examples of the interesting adaptation found in this
tropical forest can be given here. Barro Colorado is a place that
must be experienced to be fully appreciated. Pictures even in natural
color can only give a poor notion of the curiously adapted forms that
live in a tropical forest. They are but poor sketches and representa-
tions of the great number of interdependencies that make up biotic
communities.
There are, of course, some annoyances and real dangers as one walks
over the trails. Personally, I regard the constantly high humidity as
the greatest annoyance. After only moderate exercise one becomes
entirely wet with perspiration even in the dry season. It causes one’s
glasses to fog over at most inopportune moments. It causes fungus
to grow on clothes, shoes, camera cases, and in camera lenses. It causes
films to stick in even the best cameras. Some people, until they learn
to deal with them, find the great number of chiggers and ticks a never
ending source of trouble. Proper dress for the trails and proper bath-
ing can, however, usually reduce these to an insignificant minimum.
The dangerous bushmaster has never been seen on the island, although
it is occasionally found on the mainland. The poisonous reptiles
which may be seen along the trails are very few although I photo-
graphed a fer-de-lance and a coral snake on a trail on the same day.
A bite from either would be grave disaster indeed. There are very
few mosquitoes, no malaria, no houseflies.
The forest closes in on both sides and behind the laboratory. One
does not see far into or through these woods; they are too dense. Only
in front can a person look away across Gatun Lake, and there within a
mile of the laboratory see the great ships of the world move silently
along the Panama Canal. They are the only reminders of an outside
civilization for on the island there are no television sets, no radios, no
telephones, no cars, no newspapers, no dogs to bark, no cats to meow.
There are only the native wild sounds of the forest, which, taken alone,
may seem loud and raucous but which somehow blend with the whole
to make something pleasing and soothing to the nervous system of
civilized man.
Each evening about sundown the big chestnut-mandibled toucans
mount the top branches of the tallest trees and with much bowing and
waving of their enormous beaks break the solitude with their loud
squawks and yippings. One does not mind this, however, because he
has learned that the next number on the program will be the long,
wailing, flutelike notes of the great tinamou which serve as vespers
every evening on Barro Colorado. When the tinamou has sung his
song the nocturnal chorus of the insects and amphibians has already
begun. Many bats are darting about, and then the mellow hoots of a
spectacled owl greet the night from the dark forest. There should be
more Barro Colorados.
PEATE: 1
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Ingles
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Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Ingles PLATE 2
1. Three-toed sloths (Bradypus griseus) are almost entirely arboreal.
Mas.
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2. ‘The three-toed anteater (Tamandua tetradactyla) is both terrestrial and arboreal. It eats
ants and termites which it extracts from deep burrows with its very long round tongue.
PLATE 3
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Ingles
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Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Ingles PLATE 4
1. The coati (Nasu sp.), like its relative the raccoon, is an omnivorous feeder and frequents
the forests in small bands.
2. The largest mammal on Barro Colorado Island is Baird’s tapir (Tapirella bairdi) ‘These
two were photographed early one evening on a forest trail near the laboratory clearing.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Ingles PLATE 5
1. Few birds of the tropical forest show more color than the black-throated trogon (Trogon
rufus). The iridescent blue-green head and bright yellow belly are bright flashes even
in the deep shade of the forest.
2. Iguanas (/guana sp.) are often seen climbing in the highest trees around the shore.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Ingles PLATE 6
1. The Central American armadillo (Cabassos centralis) is rare in Middle America. ‘This :
one, discovered by the author’s wife, was the first ever seen on Barro Colorado.
2. The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) ranges all the way from South America
into Texas. It is very common on the island.
Norsemen in North America Before
Columbus?
By JOHANNES BRONDSTED
Director, The Danish National Museum
Copenhagen, Denmark
[With 10 plates]
Tuts much-debated problem has two main aspects, one turning to old
literature—the narratives of the Icelandic sagas about Leif and Vin-
land; another concerning archeological monuments and objects in
North America and their probable contribution to the question: Were
there Norsemen in North America, not only during the late Viking
age, about the year 1000, when Leif founded his Vinland site, but also
later on, through the centuries of the Middle Ages in the time before
Columbus? Let us consider these two aspects closely.
WHAT DO THE SAGAS TELL, AND HOW SHALL WE INTERPRET THEM?
The saga stories about Leif Ericsson’s and Thorfinn Karlsefni’s
discoveries of territories in North America in the years round about
1000—“Helluland,” “Markland,” “Vinland,” “Straumfjord,” and
“H6p”—have reached us in two parallel versions of rather late date
(fourteenth century) ; one is to be found in Eric the Red’s Saga (the
so-called “Hawks Book”), the other in Olav Trygvason’s Saga and the
Greenland Saga (in the famous so-called “Flatey Book”). The main
outlines and most important details of these old Vinland tales are
given below in concentrated form. There are six of them (actually
only four, as two are concerned solely with abortive voyages).
1. Bjarni Herjulfson’s voyage.—Bjarni, son of a friend of Eric the
Red, the Greenland colonizer, and his men in 986 aim to sail from
Iceland to Greenland, but northerly winds and fog drive them off their
course. After several days they sight a well-wooded land, which they
1 Translation of the article (expanded) entitled ‘“Problemet om Nordboer i Nordamerika fgr
Columbus,” which appeared in Aarbgrger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1950.
Here printed by permission of the publishers.
367
368 | ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
approach and then sail out again. Two days later they see more tim-
bered land; they sail close in and then out again. After 8 days’
sailing on a northeast course they sight land for the third time, on
this occasion a mountain island with glaciers. Once again they refrain
from landing. Four days afterward they reach Greenland.
2. Leif Evricsson’s expedition—Leif, son of Eric the Red, buys
Bjarni’s ship and sets out from Greenland (apparently in the spring
of 992) with 35 men with the intention of finding and exploring the
Jands seen by Bjarni. [Note that in contrast to the voyages of Bjarni
and Thorstein (see below) this is a veritable voyage of discovery. ]
First he finds Bjarni’s glacier island and goes ashore. There is noth-
ing but stone between shore and glacier, a land “without good things”;
he calls it “Helluland” (Stone Land). Thereafter they come to a
flat woodland which Leif names “Markland.” 'Two days later they
reach an island with grass and much sweet dew. Between the island
and a promontory on the mainland is a strait; they sail into it, and
during ebb tide the ship goes aground in the sand. They go ashore
at a river, get the ship off at high water, and decide to settle there
for the winter and build houses of good timber from the large syca-
mores of the forest. In both river and sea there were bigger salmon
than they had ever seen anywhere. There was no winter frost and
the grass withered but little. Day and night there were of more
equal length than in Greenland and Iceland. In the time of the short
days the sun set in “Eyktarstad” and rose in “Dagmalastad.”
Then Leif divides his men, some of them staying where they are,
while others go scouting. One evening they miss the man Tyrk, a
southerner (German), an old friend of Eric the Red’s, Leif’s adoptive
father. They make a search and meet him a short distance away. Leif
can see that Tyrk is out of his mind; he speaks in his native tongue,
German, rolls his eyes, pulls faces, and then at length tells them he has
found vines and grapes. It’s true enough, he says, for he was born
where there were vines in abundance. In the time that follows they
gather grapes, cut vines, and fell timber, all to fill the hold of the ship.
In spring they break camp and, on leaving, Leif calls the land “Vin-
land.” On the way home they rescue a number of shipwrecked men
from a rock and in due time arrive safely at Brattahlid, Eric the Red’s
farm in Ericsfjord, Greenland.
3. Thorvald Ericsson’s expedition—Leif lends his ship to his
brother Thorvald, who sets sail with 30 men and reaches Leif’s camp
in Vinland. There they winter. The following summer they spend
exploring the west coast of the land, which is fair and thick-wooded,
with white sands, many islands, and shallow water. On an island
they find a wooden granary, but otherwise no trace of human beings.
That autumn they return to Leif’s camp and then the following
:
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BR#NDSTED 369
summer examine the east and north coasts of the land. During a gale,
while rounding a point, the ship breaks her keel; after a long time
spent on repairs they set the broken keel up on the point and call the
place “Keel Ness” (Kglnes). They proceed eastward, into wooded
fiords. They lie to alongside a headland, and Thorvald exclaims:
“This is a fair land, here I will build my farm.” Meantime, on the
beach they discover three skin boats with nine men; they fight and
kill eight of them. Later they are attacked by a large number of
natives in skin boats, and these Scraelings shoot at them, but flee in
the end. Thorvald, they realize, has been hit by an arrow and he
dies of the wound. They bury him, at his desire on the headland, and
put up a cross at either end of the grave. They call the spur “Cross
Ness” (Korsnes), and then return to Leif’s camp for the winter.
They gather grapes and timber for cargo, and in the following spring
set sail for Ericsfjord in Greenland “with great tidings for Leif.”
4. Thorstein Ericsson’s voyage—Thorstein, another brother of
Leif, goes out with the same ship to bring Thorvald’s body home.
He fails, seeing no land at all throughout a whole summer’s cruise.
5. Thorfinn Karlsefni’s expedition —The Icelander Thorfinn Karls-
efni sets out for Vinland with three ships and 160 men. First they
find “Helluland,” then “Markland,” and next, after sailing along
strange, long, sandy beaches, the cape with the ship’s keel, “Keel Ness.”
They anchor up in a fiord and from there send out as scouts two
Scottish runners, man and wife, who return three days later with
grapes and self-sown wheat. They go on, into another fiord with an
island before it and so many sea birds that a man can scarcely set his
foot between the eggs. Around the island runs a strong current, so
they call the fiord and the island “Stream Fjord” (Strgmfjord) and
“Stream Island” (Strém¢g). Here they spend the winter with their
cattle. There is grazing enough, but little human food. They are in
need and pray to God. Thorhall the Hunter, however, appeals to
Thor. A whale drifts in, an unknown kind even to Karlsefni, who is
familiar with whales otherwise. It proves to be uneatable; they become
ill and throw the whale meat into the sea. When spring comes they
manage on birds’ eggs, hunting, and fishing.
Thorhall the Hunter now begins to grumble and wants to go home
to Greenland. He and nine men set out by themselves in a ship. On
the voyage an easterly gale blows them to Ireland, where Thorhall
loses his life.
The others proceed south and voyage far till they reach a river
running into the sea through a lake; they can only get into the river
at floodtide. This place they call “Hép.” Here in the depressions
grows self-sown wheat, on the hillsides, vines. Every brook teems
with fish. There where they find the highest tidewater they dig pits
370 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
and at ebb tide find halibut in them. The forest abounds with animals
of many kinds. There they spend the winter. No snow falls; the
cattle need not be brought indoors.
Here they encounter the inhabitants of the country, the Scraelings,
at first in peaceable barter: red cloth and milk (which the natives had
never before seen) for furs. But they quarrel (after a bellowing ox
had chanced to scare the Scraelings). Then the natives come in large
numbers in skin boats to make war on the Norsemen, and they terrify
them by throwing large stones, sewn into painted skins, from tall poles.
Men fall on both sides. The Scraelings fight with slings and stone
axes; they are astonished at the Norsemen’s iron axes.
After that Karlsefni judges it too dangerous to remain in the land
of “Hop”; he abandons the thought of making his home there and
instead goes back to “Stream Fjord” (which is stated to be midway
between “H6ép” and “Keel Ness”). There he leaves most of his people,
takes one ship northward to look for Thorhall, returns after a vain
search, and winters in “Stream Fjord.” There his wife bears him a
son, Snorri. Next spring they all go home via Markland, where they
capture two Scraeling boys, whom they take with them. One of the
ships, which turns out to be worm-eaten, founders, but Karlsefni’s
own ship returns at last to Ericsfjord in Greenland.
6. Freydis’s expedition—Some years later Freydis, a natural
daughter of Eric the Red, makes an expedition to Vinland with two
ships, accompanied by the two Icelandic brothers, Helge and Finnboge.
They reach Leif’s camp in Vinland and winter there. They quarrel;
Freydis conceives a plan to murder both brothers and carries it out,
and moreover kills all the women with an ax. Early next summer
she returns to Greenland.
This is the essence of what the sagas have to tell about Norsemen
from Greenland and Iceland discovering North America in the years
about 1000. There was a time when some scholars were rather
skeptical as to the details and the narrative descriptions contained
in these old Nordic sources—they were stamped as unreal, literary-
colored fairytale stuff; see, for instance, the famous Fridtjof Nansen
in his book “Nord i Takeheimen,” published in 1911. Nowadays,
however, most historians are (rightly, I think) inclined to take many
points, if not all, in the saga traditions about “Vinland the Good” as
true facts. There the question arises: Is it possible from this literary
material to indicate precisely where on the Atlantic seaboard this
“Vinland” of Leif’s, this “Hop” of Karlsefni’s lay? Many attempts
have been made, all different in their results. And so, in the following
pages when I, too, try to find a solution to the problem, my purpose
inter alia is this: to show how difficult the task is, how defective the
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BRYNDSTED 371
material, how uncertain its statements and, consequently, how approxi-
mate the final conclusion must be.
Any attempt at localization should start from, and base itself upon,
two different categories of statements in the old sagas: on the one
hand their astronomical and nautical information, on the other their
culture-geographical content (i. e., what they have to tell us about
Vinland’s scenery, climate, vegetation, fauna, and inhabitants). Are
we in a position to let all these different dicta convincingly indicate
just one incontestable part of the Atlantic coast of America? That is
the point.
Within the astronomical sphere one oft-commented-upon remark
seems to be of special importance, namely the above-cited passage
in the Greenland saga about sunrise and sunset in Vinland. In this
land, so the saga says, the sun in the short days went down in “Eyktar-
stad” and rose in “Dagmalastad.” Only a few scholars doubt the
trustworthiness of this statement; the majority regard it—no doubt
rightly—as a genuine reiteration of an actual observation made on the
spot. Subject to the condition that it is genuine, we now have a pos-
sibility of calculating the geographical latitude of the observation
place, Vinland, provided, be it noted, we know what is meant by
“Kyktarstad” and “Dagmalastad.”
For “Eyktarstad” two sources are available to us (apart from an-
cient usage among Norwegian peasants of our time: a passage in
Snorri’s Prose Edda (“autumn lasts from the equinox till the sun sets
in Eyktarstad”), and a place in the Icelandic ecclesiastical law “Grey
Goose,” where we read that it is “eykt” when “Utsudrs Ait” is divided
into three parts and the sun has passed through two of them. But
what is “Utsusrs Ait”? If we take this Old Norse term to be the
name for the octant of the compass card between 2214° and 6714°,
the situation of Leif’s Vinland may be reckoned as being not more
northerly than latitude 50° N. (i. e., the Gulf of St. Lawrence and
Newfoundland). But if “Utsudrs Ait” is taken to mean the entire
quadrant between south and west, we get Vinland’s northernmost
limit shifted more to the south, to latitude 38° N. (Chesapeake Bay,
Va.). The St. Lawrence position was postulated in the 1880’s by the
astronomer Geelmuyden in Copenhagen and the historian Gustav
Storm in Christiania (Oslo); the Virginia identification is upheld
by the Norwegians Mjelde and Brégger, among others. In neither
of these is any southern limit given for Leif’s Vinland.
“Dagmalastad” in the ecclesiastical sources is determined as “tertia
hora,” the third hour when the sun is in the southeast (9 a. m.).
Reuter, however, as a result of his researches, claims that the pagan
“Dagmalastad” is not southeast but east-southeast, and that “Eyktar-
stad” is simply the west-southwest point of the horizon. Thus, ac-
cording to Reuter, the passage in the Greenland saga about Leif’s
372 | ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Vinland means that here, on the shortest day of the year, the sun
rose in the east-southeast and set in the west-southwest. Accuracy on
the point, however, is impossible owing to the obliquity of the earth’s
axis; even at the Equator there will be a slant of 1°. Accordingly
we must reckon with an error of observation which is less the more
to the south we imagine the situation of Leif’s observation spot to be.
If we place his Vinland in Florida (26° N.), the error is only 3°, in
south Georgia (81° N.) it is 5°, and so forth.
In other words, the results of the astronomical interpretations and
calculations are not strictly encouraging: Leif’s Vinland cannot be
more northerly than Newfoundland and more southerly than Florida.
Wide limits, most certainly! One might almost have set them up
oneself in advance.
But then, the nautical reports? Well, these are quickly disposed
of. The incredibly short times given for the expeditions of Bjarni
and Leif in the sagas (“two days,” “three days,” etc.) are impossible
to accept for voyages in waters with such enormous distances as
those between Greenland and America. There is much in the saga
descriptions to suggest that seafarers then had to adjust their speed
and course to currents and ice conditions such as those we know today.
From Ericsfjord in Greenland’s East Settlement Leif and the other
Vinland travelers proceeded north, to the West Settlement, westward
from there out to the open sea, and then southward, with the cold
north-south offshore current which runs between the east coast of
America and the Gulf Stream. These were voyages that took time.
The fact that the Vikings always wintered in Vinland also indicates
that the trip could not be done in 10 days or so. Reuter has calculated
that the Vinland-farers had about 7,000 kilometers to sail and that
they were 5 or 6 weeks doing the distance. This is quite credible,
but the calculation is so rough and approximate that it cannot be
applied in working out just where Vinland may have been. And let
the same be said of other authors’ interpretations of the saga voyage
records.
Then let us have recourse to the culture-geographical clues in the
saga accounts. What are we told about Vinland’s scenery and climate,
its vegetation and animals, its inhabitants, that may help toward
localization? First of all we must remember that from north to south
we are concerned with various “lands”: “Helluland,” “Markland,”
and “Vinland,” named by Leif, then what Thorfinn Karlsefni found on
his further voyage, i. e. “Stream Fjord,” and farthest south, the land
of “Hép.” For we must not overlook the fact that whereas the expe-
ditions of both Thorvald and Freydis came to Leif’s camp in the Vin-
land he had discovered and named, the position is different as regards
Karlsefni. It is true that he visited the more northerly of the coastal
tracts where Leif went ashore: “Helluland” (which most likely is
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BR@YNDSTED 3/3
Baffin Island) and “Markland” (which may be the Labrador coast, or
Newfoundland, or Nova Scotia) ; he saw Thorvald’s “Keel Ness” too.
But after that he came to two new localities: “Stream Fjord” (in-
cluding “Stream Island”) and, after having “traveled long,” the land
of “H6p,” southernmost of all. It is possible that Stream Fjord was
in the vicinity of Leif’s camp in Vinland, but scarcely Hop, which
must have been more to the south. First, then, let us examine what
is written about Leif’s Vinland.
It was a well-timbered land with large sycamores good for house
building. There was no winter frost: the grass withered but little.
There were vines and grapes. They cut the vines down (why, I
wonder?). They caught big salmon in both river and sea. Thorvald
explored the west coast of the land, which was wooded and had white
sandy beaches, many islands, and shallow waters; there he found a
native’s granary of wood. In the following summer he discovered
to the east wooded fiords and fair land, where he decided to settle,
but was slain while fighting Scraelings in skin boats. About Freydis’s
sojourn in Vinland we are told that one winter’s night, when the
grass was wet with much dew, she sat on a tree trunk outside the
house, talking to Finnboge.
So Vinland was timbered and had a mild climate. Otherwise, the
land is characterized too little to permit of identification; and this
also applies to its inhabitants. But it is important, as A. W. Brdégger
points out, that it has both salmon and vines. On the North American
east coast the southern range of the salmon is Connecticut, approxi-
mately latitude 41° N., and the most northerly area on the same coast
where the vine grows passably well is Massachusetts, in latitude 42°.
Following this line we obtain at length an approximate location on
Vinland in the region around New York, and rather south than north
of that place, if we are to satisfy more or less the condition of absence
of winter frost. From this angle perhaps Chesapeake Bay in north-
ern Virginia is preferable; for in localizing we must allow a certain
elasticity, in view of the fact that there may have been slight climatic
fluctuations in the thousand years that have elapsed since our events.
But in this case, where were “Stream Fjord” and “Hop”? The
saga relates that Karlsefni first found Thorvald’s “Keel Ness” and
near it a fiord, where his Scottish runners discovered vines and self-
sown wheat, the latter undoubtedly being maize. Then they turned
into another fiord, “Stream Fjord,” with an island, “Stream Island,”
off its mouth, and there an unknown species of whale drifts in to the
starving explorers, probably a southern kind, possibly a cachalot.
Where these coast lands may have been we cannot say; possibly not
so very far from Vinland. The vines and the maize, the unfamiliar
whale, and the circumstance that seals apparently are lacking (they
374 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
would have been welcome to the hungry men), all warn us against
a northern localization. Reuter suggests, and it may be likely
enough, that “Keel Ness” was at Cape Hatteras (between Virginia
and North Carolina), and “Stream Fjord” at Cape Fear, some dis-
tance farther to the south.
But then, it is from this “Stream Fjord” that Karlsefni “fares long”
to the south, till he reaches the land of “Hép.” Here we are given
various informative indications—in the depressions self-sown wheat
(maize), on the hills vines, in the sea halibut; no winter snow, the
cattle are left out; trading and fighting with natives who are ignorant
of milk and who battle with large slingstones dispatched from tall
poles (and on the whole armed with stone weapons).
The saga describes these natives in “H6ép” as small and hideous,
with ugly hair styles, large eyes, and wide jawbones. The big eyes
show that they must have been Indians, not Eskimos. The term
“Seraeling” given by the Norsemen to the natives both there and
farther north, according to Finnur Jonsson was usually derogatory,
meaning something wretched; William Thalbitzer believes it to be
of Eskimo origin. I think it necessary to assume that the Scraelings
whom Karlsefni encountered in “Hép” (as well as those who killed
Thorvald east of Vinland) were Indians, whereas the two boys picked
up by Karlsefni’s men as far north as in “Markland” were Eskimos.
Trying to identify the “Hép” Indians with any present-day tribe
(for example, the skin-wrapped slingstones have been traced to the
Algonquin Indians in New England) is futile, I think, when we con-
sider the long wanderings of the North American Indians during the
past thousand years. The “Hép” natives had never seen milk, which
suggests that their territory was south of the range of the reindeer.
And it may be remarked that in the days of the Spanish conquests
the buffalo was unknown in Florida and, on the whole, east of the
Mississippi. The fact that one of Karlsefni’s ships becomes so worm-
eaten that it founders is a feature pointing southward.
Judging from all the evidence, we must look for “H6p” a good way
south of Vinland. I imagine we shall reach Georgia (about 32° N.)
or possibly, as Reuter thinks, right down to Florida.
I do not think it possible to indicate with any precision from the
saga sources the whereabouts of “Vinland,” “Stream Fjord,” “Hop,”
and the other localities. A study of the modern literature rising
around the topic will show that various scholars have reached results,
but no two of these results coincide fully. As a matter of fact, almost
all possible North American coastal regions have been suggested, the
localizations oscillating between Labrador in the north and Florida
in the south, between Newfoundland in the east and the Hudson Bay
coast in the west (Chesterfield Inlet and the mouth of Nelson River).
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BRYNDSTED 375
This great uncertainty is the natural outcome of the incredibly elastic
possibilities of interpretation contained in the texts of the sagas in
the matter of the correct understanding of their various data: nauti-
cal, spatial and day-and-night dividing, as well as climatical, botani-
cal, and geographical. Whereas there is tolerable agreement on where
the Helluland and Markland of the sagas are roughly to be placed,
i. e., Baffinland and Laborador-Newfoundland, it is quite another
matter when we are to fix the spot where Leif Ericsson landed and
where Karlsefni’s colony was. We may safely say that on these points
the discussion will go on ad infinitum, unless the basis is widened and
new knowledge is added.
There is one thing, however, on which modern Vinland research
seems to be unanimous: that there was actually a“Vinland.” Accord-
ing to Sophus Bugge, the word “Vinland” appeared in the now missing
runic inscription from Hgnen in Norway, which he dated to the middle
of the eleventh century. This is the first time Vinland is mentioned in
our sources, half a century after it was discovered by Leif. Adam of
Bremen’s mention of it follows shortly afterward. Occasionally,
Vinland is still referred to in the written sources of medieval Europe
apart from the sagas. This being so, the assumption is most reason-
able that the Norsemen in Greenland had intercourse with and tried to
exploit this American land, “Vinland the Good,” wherever its situation
may have been. It is often pointed out that voyaging from Greenland
to America was shorter and less hazardous than from Norway to
Iceland. The prospect of obtaining timber and other good things
must have induced the Greenland Norsemen to maintain communica-
tion with America. I am wholeheartedly in accord with the view
which a priori considers it extremely likely that the Greenland Norse-
men kept up a certain intercourse with Vinland.
But how regular was this intercourse? Did it have the character
of actual colonization, or did it consist merely of sporadic and casual
visits? Iscarcely think we should imagine it as being highly frequent.
Greenland, the motherland, was a small and weak (and successively
weakening) community. The “home bases,” to adopt modern terms,
even if we include in them Iceland and, indirectly, Norway, in the long
run were unable to cope with the task of sustaining a viable colony in
a region so remote and so large as the American Continent, a region
which, be it remembered, was not uninhabited like Iceland and Green-
Jand when the Norsemen first arrived, but was populated with many
and, no doubt, mostly hostile tribes (see the sagas). What is more, it
has not been possible to find any trace of intrusions of European mate-
rial culture among the Indians of North America, such as the introduc-
tion of grain or cattle; nor do we find any influence in clothing (weav-
ing) or ironextraction. If there was any colonization by Scandinay-
"9847255425
376 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
ians it was not intense enough to leave any such traces among the
native population.
The Norsemen in North America in the Middle Ages did not make
the imprint on the history of world culture that Columbus and his
successors did. All the same, it is of great interest to endeavor to
establish where and when they had their American bases.
Leaving now the literary sources we turn to archeology.
WHAT DO AMERICAN MONUMENTS AND OBJECTS SHOW, AND
HOW SHALL WE INTERPRET THEM?
At the suggestion of Lithgow Osborne, president of the American-
Scandinavian Foundation, New York, I was requested in the summer
of 1948 to travel to the United States for the purpose of making a
systematic study, based upon journeys and personal examinations, of
as much as possible of the archeological material in the States and
Canada likely to throw light on the question of whether Scandinavian
Norsemen lived in North America in pre-Columbian days. The work
was to be done under the auspices of the Foundation and with a grant
from the Viking Fund, New York. I accepted the offer and spent
about three months in the United States and Canada in the autumn of
1948. There I had the opportunity of making myself acquainted with
material that was both voluminous and varied. My studies and
judgment of this American material are crystallized in the following
report. I thank the American-Scandinavian Foundation for most
active support and the Viking Fund for its generous financial aid. My
thanks are also due to President Lithgow Osborne for his effective help
and cooperation; to Dr. Henry Goddard Leach, former president of
the Foundation, for much guidance and good advice; and to my
friend Dr. Hugh Hencken, of Cambridge, Mass., then president of
the Archeological Institute of America, for great hospitality and
helpfulness.
It seems natural to begin the report with an examination of three
monuments, arranged chronologically according to their alleged age:
the Beardmore find at Toronto, Canada, claimed to date from the close
of the Viking age; the Vewport Tower, held by somebody to have
a medieval origin; the Kensington runic stone, now at Alexandria,
Minn. (a replica in the U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C.),
giving itself in its inscription to the year 13862. The rest of the Ameri-
can epigraphic material forms a natural association with the latter
monument. I have, then, discussed briefly under Sites some occur-
rences in situ in New England, with a separate exposé on the mooring
stone phenomenon. ‘This is followed by a reference to the various
North American objects supposed to date from pre-Columbian times.
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BR@YNDSTED 377
THE BEARDMORE FIND
Preserved in the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology at Toronto,
Canada, is a find from a spot near the village of Beardmore, Ontario,
about 7 miles from Lake Nipigon. It consists of three east-Norwegian
Viking-age iron objects (pl. 1). With the kind permission of Prof.
T. F. MclIiwraith, keeper of the Royal Ontario Museum’s department
of ethnology, I have made an examination of this find.
1. A fragmentary iron sword, broken above the middle of the blade.
Both the pommel and the point of the blade are missing. The total
length of the original blade may be estimated at about 0.70 m. and the
whole length of the sword at about 0.85 m. The sword had been
covered with rust which had been removed in the museum by electric
means, for which reason only parts of the original surface of the blade
and of the edges remain. 'This sword may be placed to type M in Jan
Petersen’s “De Norske Vikingesverd,” 1919, page 117 et seq., figures
98 and 99 (from about A. D. 850-950).
2. A flat band of iron, 19 cm. long, 2.7 cm. wide. One end is rolled
up; at this end the band is rectangular in cross section and narrow,
very thin at the extreme end and pierced with a round hole. At the
other end, too, the band narrows into a rectangular rod which, how-
ever, is bent over in a swan’s-neck curve. There is a fracture at this
end, whereas the other is intact. The latter end seems to have been
forced out to the side. On this object again the original surface has
disappeared as a consequence of the electric treatment.
This object is generally considered to be a shield handle—which it
certainly is not. There are no holes for rivets, and Norwegian Viking
shields never have handles of iron. It is more likely that the band was
once the upper part (the hoop) of the object which Norwegian arche-
ologists call a “rangel” (rattle) and which is often found in east Nor-
wegian (less often in west Norwegian) men’s graves of Viking times.
(See O. Rygh, Norske Oldsager, 1885, Nos. 460-464; Jan Petersen,
Vikingetidens Redskaper, 1951, p. 42 et seq.; here fig. 1.) These rat-
tles consist of a bent-over round or flat iron bar (the hoop, fig. 1) on
which are hung several rings and sometimes small bells, i. e., objects
that rattle or tinkle when shaken. The object may have been placed
on the end of a stick or furnished with a suspension hook. If we can
imagine that the now-broken end of the iron band originally was long
enough to reach the coil at the other end and was secured in the hole
there, we have the upper part (the hoop) of a rattle.
William Feltham, one of the persons alleged to have seen the Beard-
more find shortly after its discovery, describes our object thus: “. . .
what looked like the handle of a shield with three prongs.” ‘The
378 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
“rattle” at that time may have had the corroded fragments of the
rattle rings hanging on it, and these bits may have resembled prongs.
Nothing certain is known of the use of these rattles. They seem to
have had some connection with riding and traction harness and are
sometimes explained as the sleigh-driver’s or the horseman’s magic
rattle for keeping evil spirits at a distance.
3. Ax blade, iron, 17.5 cm. long. This was covered completely with
rust, the removal of which by electricity has deprived the ax of the
whole of its original surface. The type is Jan Petersen’s L (see his
fig. 43); period: second half of the tenth century and beginning of
the eleventh.
4, Three small flat fragments of iron, more or less indeterminable.
Possibly, but not certainly, remnants of the edge of a shield boss.
I must say, however, that as it now appears in the museum at Toronto
the find does not seem to comprise indubitable shield-boss fragments.
TINKLE - RINGS
Ficure 1.—“Rangel” (rattle) from a Norwegian Vikingtime man’s grave. About two-fifths
aatural size. (After O. Rygh, Norske Oldsager, No. 461, Christiania, 1885.)
As the whole of this find now appears it may very well stand for
a Viking-age grave find from east Norway (more precisely Mstfold)
or possibly from the Trondheim region, but hardly from the west coun-
try (where “rattles” are seldom found). In 1939 Prof. A. W. Brggger,
of Oslo, after seeing a photograph, remarked that the objects of the find
“correspond extremely well with the common custom of the Mstfold
in the 10th century.” If we take the Beardmore find to be the
equipment of a Viking of the beginning of the 11th century, it must
be said that this sword was not of the latest fashion, but rather out
of date. Chronologically the sword and the ax do not harmonize
very well, but it is quite possible, nevertheless, that they were used
by the same man in the period round about A. D. 1000.
Three questions now present themselves: Are these objects genuine
Norwegian Viking-age relics? Are they contemporary in the sense
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BRONDSTED 379
that they were presumably used by the same man? Were they found
in Canada’s soil? The first two questions may be answered in the
affirmative. What about the last one?
In the Canadian Historical Review for September 1941 (p. 254
et seq.) there is a survey of evidence drawn up by O. C. Elliott, of
Kingston, Ontario, coupled with statements of views by C. T. Currelly,
former director of the Royal Ontario Museum, and Mr. Elliott.
Whereas Currelly accepts the authenticity of the find report, Elliott
is more skeptical and is inclined to the belief that the objects came
from Norway and were brought to Canada in recent time. The
reports of the find are briefly as follows.
James Edward Dodd, of Port Arthur, a railroad man and pros-
pector, tells that he was sampling a vertical quartz vein near Beard-
more on May 24, 1930. A large birch stub was in his way and he
blasted it out with dynamite. This revealed the iron objects. Six —
and a half years later (December 3, 1936) Mr. Dodd sold his dis-
covery to the Royal Ontario Museum, on which occasion he gave the
following details: “314 feet down... Under big birch stub, 244
feet in diameter . . . Dome of rust, slightly flat, about the size of
a goose egg, over ‘handle-bar’ . . . Thrown out and left on surface
of ground till 1933.”
A good two years later (February 3, 1939) Mr. Dodd says, in an
affidavit made before a solicitor of Port Arthur:
While shovelling out this loosened earth to lengthen the trench, my shovel
struck some pieces of old iron, which were thrown out on top of the dump.
I paid no attention to these scraps at the time, merely wondering if they were
Indian relics . . . The relics lay on the dump for a day or two and were car-
ried to the cabin on the claim where they lay on the banking of the cabin
till I left for Port Arthur in a few days . ..a sword which I broke in two as
I was taking it out of the ground... I had seen in the trench also what
looked like a shallow bowl but this shattered when my spade touched it...
I took the relics to my home at 296 Wilson Street, Port Arthur, in May or June
1930, and they were never out of my possession till I sold them to Dr. Currelly.
John Drew Jacobs relates three times (December 9, 1936, June
1937, and undated) that he saw in the rock a very distinct imprint of
the sword: “The stain of the complete shape of the sword as it had
lain was very plainly marked on the rock and this stain could not
have been made unless the metal had lain on the rock for a long
period of years.” But he was unable to find any impression of the
ax on the rock.
According to Currelly, Dodd told him that “lying over the bar of
metal was something like a bowl that was rusted into little fragments.
He [Dodd] had just shovelled them out.” In 1937 and 1938 Profes-
sor McIlwraith and Mr. Curran, respectively, together with Dodd,
. discovered at the find spot small iron fragments “which might be
part of the ‘boss’.”
380 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
On August 16, 1936, Dodd had said to Elliott :
After the shot of dynamite had gone off I saw something sticking out of the
schist . . . I pulled at it but the other end was embedded in the rock. In try-
ing to get it out I broke it. I pried the piece that was in the rock and it
finally came loose. I was surprised to find that it was a sword handle with
part of the blade attached. The piece I had broken off was the rest of the
blade. I thought maybe it was an Indian’s sword and threw the two pieces up
on the dump where it lay almost three months. Later on I found an ax near
where the sword was found ... Looking over the ground carefully I came
across an oval-shaped brownish depression in the rock about 10 inches long
and 5 inches wide, and right across the middle was a strap of metal like a handle.
I tried to remove this carefully but it was so badly decomposed that it fell
apart, leaving only the handle.
Generally speaking, these find reports sound trustworthy, even if
one can pick out some less important discrepancies between the various
statements. Then something happens. Eli Ragotte, in 1938, main-
tained that he saw the iron objects at Mr. Dodd’s house as long ago
as 1928, although, confronted with the relics at Toronto, he had to
admit that they were not the same as those he saw at Port Arthur
in 1928.
A more serious attack comes after that. J. M. Hansen, a contractor
at Port Arthur, declared in 1938 that the Dodd iron relics, that is
to say the Beardmore find, appear from the photographs he has seen
“to be pictures of objects very similar to objects” which he received
in 1928 from a Norwegian lieutenant, John Bloch, as security for a
loan. Bloch had brought the objects with him from Norway. Han-
sen had placed the objects in the basement of his house which he had
rented to Dodd at Port Arthur. Thus Dodd’s allegation that he found
them at Beardmore might merely be pretense. He may have taken
them from the basement of the house, for they were missing from
there when Hansen looked for them in 1931; since then they have been
lost.
This is the crucial point. Did Dodd commit a fraud? Bloch died
at Vancouver in 1936. His friends say that he never made any men-
tion of being possessed of Norwegian iron weapons of the Viking age,
but this Hansen explains by suggesting that Bloch, who wished to see
his native land again, was anxious not to disclose that he had illegally
taken antiques from Norway to Canada.
Mr. Hansen has not seen the Beardmore find in the museum at
Toronto; he knows of it only from photographs and on that basis
he declines to say categorically that its iron objects are the same as
those that he received from Bloch; but he believes they are. It would
be helpful if Mr. Hansen could have an opportunity of seeing the
Beardmore find, either at Toronto or at Port Arthur.
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BRYNDSTED 381
Mr. Elliott formulates the problem as follows (Canadian Historical
Review, September 1941, pp. 270-271) :
Did Mr. Dodd discover a Norse grave containing a set of Viking weapons on
May 24th, 1930? Or did John Bloch bring a part of his father’s collection with
him when he emigrated from Norway to Canada in 1923? Is it possible that the
issue is being confused by two sets of similar weapons?
Dr. Currelly (ibid.) sums up his opinion in the following manner:
As I see the situation, the objects were seen beside the place where they were
found; they were also seen in Mr. Dodd’s house by a number of people before
he moved to Mr. Hansen’s house. John Jacob saw the imprint in rust on the
rock. The statements of all the people who saw them are met with only Mr.
Hansen’s statement that he left them lying in his house, and that he set a value
of $150.00 on them; this statement was made only after Mr. Dodd had been
trying to sell the things for some years, and was not backed by a single state-
ment that anybody had ever seen them in Mr. Hansen’s possession.
Dr. Currelly concludes by reasserting his belief that the objects
actually were found near Beardmore and that Dodd is speaking the
truth.
Against this Mr. Elliott argues (ibid.) by referring to the many
contradictions which certainly do exist in the various statements on
the matter.
It is of no significance that the objects are east Norwegian, a point
to which Professor Brégger seems to attach importance. Weapons
move about widely, and there is nothing strange or inacceptable in
a Viking in Greenland or America having weapons even of Danish or
Swedish origin. Nor is there, I suppose, any reason for doubting
that iron objects could last for a thousand years in Canadian soil,
as they can in Scandinavian.
There is reason for drawing attention to the very far-advanced
corrosion of these iron objects at the time when they were sold to
the museum at Toronto (1936). If Lieutenant Bloch brought them
with him from Norway, the assumption would surely be that they
were in fairly decent condition; otherwise he would not have chosen
these particular things from his father’s collection. But it is rather
improbable that in the time between 1923 (Bloch’s arrival in Canada)
and 1936 (the sale to the Toronto museum) they took on such a thick
coat of rust, inasmuch as they were preserved indoors during these
13 years. But if we assume that they were found at Beardmore by
Dodd, the thick rust seems feasible.
My opinion is that the Dodd report of the find, trustworthy as it
sounds, is true. What the truth is regarding the Bloch weapons I
shall not attempt to say. Theoretically there may have been “two
sets of similar weapons,” but it is hardly likely. As Mr. Elliott
correctly remarks, the Beardmore case will probably never be cleared
up completely.
382 | ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
And here is the all-important point. Although some investigators—
including myself—accept the probability that a grave (or a deposit)
containing Norwegian Viking weapons was found at Beardmore in
1930, and even if from this the conclusion may be drawn that in the
beginning of the eleventh century Norwegian Vikings penetrated
North America deep enough to reach the area east of Lake Nipigon
(perhaps via Hudson Bay and James Bay), this does not conceal the
fact that it has been impossible to produce clear evidence in support of
it; we have merely a certain degree of probability. And in that case
we lack justification for employing the Beardmore find as a reliable
archeological document for the present.
THE NEWPORT TOWER
Newport Tower is a picturesque ruin of a small cylindrical stone
tower built upon round-arched arcades, situated in Touro Park, New-
port, R. I. (pl. 2). Its historical data were discussed at length by
Philip A. Means (1942). The town of Newport was founded by
Gov. William Coddington in 1639. The tower is first mentioned in
documents dating from 1677.
No fully modern, scientific survey has ever been made of Newport
Tower by a professional architect. John Howland Rowe’s unpub-
lished work of 1938 (“The Rowe report,” as it is called in Means’s
book, whose plans and elevation, figs. 5-8 and 16—figs. 2-6 in this
paper—are taken from it) will scarcely satisfy the requirements
of modern archeology. It would be very desirable if a trained archi-
tect, preferably in company with an archeologist, could undertake
this survey. Until this is done I do not consider we can accept the
recent calculations of the unit of measurement of this building.
Newport Tower, about 25 feet high, is both primitively and skil-
fully built. The material is field stone—some natural and some
slightly dressed granite, sandstone, and slate. The stones are laid in a
grayish-white, coarse lime mortar mixed with rubble; the mortar
is of shelly lime, gravel, and sand. Thin, sometimes split flags of
sandstone or slate are employed in the flat arches that connect the
pillars (as well as in the relieving arch over the fireplace and the
arch over one of the windows) ; they are laid radially but without
the use of a keystone at the middle. The plaster, which presumably
once coated the entire tower inside and out, is of the same lime mor-
tar but with a smoothed surface.
The tower is oriented according to the cardinal points of the
compass. Each of the eight pillars has a big base stone of dark
rough-hewn sandstone (see pl. 3, left). It rests not directly upon
the foundation stones but on a low cylindrical drum placed on a
thick layer of plaster, which in turn rests on the foundation stones
(see theoretical sketch, fig. 7). The heaps of rocks forming the pillar
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BRONDSTED 383
Ficure 4.—Windows, niches, etc., in first- Ficure 5.—Windows, niches, etc. in
floor chamber. second-floor chamber.
0 5 10 feet
oe |
Jett ee
OD Ww ee i EF oN GR LTTE:
Ficures 2-5.—Newport Tower plans designed in 1938 by John Howland Rowe. (After
Means, 1942.)
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SD A A PO
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1953
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INSTITUTION
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ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN
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384
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BROYNDSTED 385
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a m2 bee = <—____— Pillar
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Ao eens ee Se Base Stone
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Co esa I oo Pillar drum
Layer of plaster
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Ficure 7.—Theoretical sketch of Newport Tower pillar foot.
foundations were arranged in an annular trench, which thus must
have been the first element in the building of the tower.
There are no capitals, in the proper sense, on the pillars—nothing
but a rather thin impost block or capstone for the arches to rest upon.
These are placed eccentrically inward so that part of the capstone
juts out like an “offset” for as much as about 0.30 m. (see pl. 4, upper,
extreme left). Some of the pillar heads may be studied on plate 4,
upper, and lower, extreme right, and on plate 3, center and right,
from the inside. The arches are low and somewhat flat.
Inside the tower we see that above each pillar is a trapeziform beam
hole (pl. 8, center and right). These holes must be regarded as
having been part of the original design and construction. They
once enclosed the ends of long beams, for they correspond pairwise:
1-6, 2-5, 8-8, 4-7. This is shown by the theoretical sketch (fig. 8).
Ficure 8.—Theoretical sketch of lower beams of Newport Tower.
386 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
An examination of the beam holes by John H. Benson, of Newport, and
myself revealed considerable remains of two kinds of mortar inside,
an early type of the same kind as the lime mortar common to the
whole building, and a later type, differing slightly in appearance,
lying over the early mortar here and there. It seemed possible—
especially in beam hole 2—to distinguish impressions of beams in
both mortars, early and late, which suggests two sets of beams at
different periods, 1. e., possible evidence of a restoration of the build-
ing at some time. The floor must have been horizontal, of a thick
layer of concrete resting upon boards laid over the beams, and made
fireproof below.
The first-floor chamber in the tower had a height of about 2.25 m.
Its ceiling was borne by four heavy beams, of which the ends rested
in beam holes (9-12). The level of the ceiling is clearly indicated
by a fairly wide ledge running round the inside wall at about
the height of the upper edge of the beam holes (see pl. 7, upper).
The fireplace (see pl. 5, upper) is an open recess in the wall
above pillar 3, that is, in the east side. Running upward from the
two rear corners of the fireplace are two flues which, describing a
slight bend, pass up inside the wall and emerge just under the upper
edge of the tower (see fig. 6) where a projecting stone is placed
over each of the two holes.
Near the fireplace, going clockwise, we find the niches 1-2. About
0.50 m. from niche 2 is window 2, double splayed and surmounted by a
lintel. About 1.50 m. from this window is niche 8 and above it a hori-
zontal, fairly deep slot about 2 m. long, which Rowe already considered
to have been intended to take a table top. This slot and niche 3 are
shown in plate 5, lower. Mr. Holand considers that the table, if it
was one, must have been an altar table, and niche 3 below it “a cavity
for the reception of sacred relics.” (See his “America: 1355-1364,”
p. 79 et seq., 1946.)
Then follows the largest window in the tower, No. 3 (see pl. 4, lower,
and pl. 6). It is doubly splayed and surmounted by a flat relieving
arch of the same kind as that over the fireplace, with no keystone. It
has a lintel over part of it. This window 3 is regarded by Holand
(op. cit., p. 47) as the main entrance to the tower, accessible from the
outside only by ladder or wooden stairway. It is probable that this
was SO.
About 0.75 m. from the upper north corner of window 3 is a rectan-
gular cavity with traces of plaster, niche 4. About 1 m. above the
same corner of window 3 is beam hole 11 (seen on the right in pl. 7,
upper), and about 1.40 m. from it beam hole 12. Directly north,
exactly above pillar 1, there are neither niches nor windows, but a
little distance from there is a small rectangular opening, window 4,
shown in plate 7, lower. The jambs of this opening are straight, not
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BRYNDSTED 387
splayed. This small window 4 must have been the only means of
watching the region north of the tower for the inhabitants of the first-
floor chamber.
Next we find traces on the wall of an inner stairway running from
the first to the second story: six rather small, rectangular step sockets
in an oblique line (see fig. 6 and pl. 7, lower). Then follows window
No. 1, not doubly splayed, just left of the fireplace (see pl. 5, upper).
The second-floor chamber had three small windows (5-7), only
slightly splayed inward. Between windows 6-7 are niches 5 and 6.
None of the essential architectural details—floors, windows, fire-
place or stairs—can reasonably be regarded as later additions to the
first building. To me the tower seems to be an original whole.
Now where shall we look for a similar primitive building fashion?
Not in Iceland, where the people built with earth and wood. Nor
in Greenland, where stone was used, it is true, but generally without
mortar. But we do find a similar technique in medieval buildings in
the Scottish isles. And yet, a comparison with Newport Tower shows
that its masonry is a trifle more irregular and primitive.
However, this kind of masonry cannot be used as any chronological
criterion, or the consistency and appearance of the mortar either.
Both phenomena are, so to say, timeless; we see how the same technical
mode of building held out among the poor populations of the Scottish
isles right up to the present day. Thus neither the masonry nor the
mortar of Newport Tower lend themselves for use as chronological
evidence.
In its style Newport Tower undoubtedly contains medieval features.
The pillars themselves and the flat arches of the arcades and over
the fireplace are typically Romanesque elements. The double splay
in some of the windows is also a common Romanesque feature.
Concerning the fireplace, the question has been asked whether the
lack of a chimney is not an antique element. Perhaps it is, but this
chimneyless vent, conditioned primarily as it is by the cylindrical
form of the tower, subsidiarily by the secondary use of the tower as a
windmill, cannot be taken as a chronological foothold. For even if
the builders were ever so familiar with chimneys, practical con-
siderations may have prevented the inclusion of one here.
Thus there remain, as typically Romanesque architectural details,
the pillars, the arches, and the double splay. These medievalisms are
so conspicuous that, if the tower were in Europe, dating it to the
Middle Ages would probably meet with no protest.
For what purpose was Newport Tower built? Three answers to
this question have been to the fore: Windmill, watchtower, and church.
_ First let us take the windmill theory.
388 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
The following arguments have been advanced in support of the
idea that Governor Arnold built the tower in 1677 or shortly before
as a windmill: (1) Peter Easton’s mill at Newport, built in 1663,
collapsed during a hurricane on August 28, 1675; therefore it is reason-
able that Newport Tower was put up in replacement. This, of course,
is a possibility. (2) Governor Arnold is assumed to have known the
famous architect Inigo Jones’s round stone mill on pillars at Chester-
ton, Warwickshire, England, and to have built Newport Tower from
it. But now Philip A. Means has shown that Inigo Jones’s tower at
Chesterton, built in 1632, was originally intended for an astronomical
observatory and was only later converted into a windmill; with this
the argument is deprived of its weight.
That the tower is known to have been used as a mill tells us nothing
of its original purpose.
As a counterargument to the mill theory, reference has been made
to the dangerous open fireplace in the first-floor chamber. But if we
think of Newport Tower not as a mill alone but as a combination of
mill and watchtower, this objection may be rejected, the fireplace
in that case being used only when the building was used as a watch-
tower, not as a mill. The deciding argument against the windmill
theory, however, is the fact that the tower rests on pillars and arcades.
This would be an anomaly in the case of a windmill.
Can the tower originally have been a watchtower, maybe a fortified
one? The argument against this last, as against the mill, is the pillars
and arcades; in a fortification they would be not only unnecessary
but a direct weakness. In a common nonfortified tower, however,
arcades would seem very natural. So that, disregarding the question
of defense, the watchtower theory is not unreasonable.
May the tower originally have been a round church—or rather, the
central part of one? This would provide a natural explanation of
pillars and arcades. The eight pillars, placed in a circle and connected
by arches, form a design exactly like that of central ecclesiastical
buildings; moreover, the exact orientation according to the cardinal
points is of religious significance; again, the outward projecting
capstones of the pillars, the so-called “offsets,” although credited with
static significance, may also have served as bases for a light, sloping
roof over an ambulatory. We do not know whether or not there was
such a structure (possibly with an apse), the archeological excavations
having been insufficient on this point. The possibility has also been
suggested that an ambulatory was planned but never executed, that
the building was an unfinished emergency church.
Is the character of the tower as a fortified building particularly
obvious? No, this cannot be said about it, although it would certainly
be useful as a place of refuge in times of disturbance. Curiously
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BROYNDSTED 389
enough, the tower is almost blind on the north (inland) side, whereas
there is a good view in the other directions, out over the sea, As it
stands, the tower seems to presuppose a pacified hinterland on the
north.
In recent times a fourth theory has been advanced: Newport Tower
was a sort of mercantile office building, a medieval storehouse whose
arcaded ground floor is nothing but a symbol of trade from Hanseatic
days (see Th. Fliflet, in Nordisk Tidende, April 1949).
When was Newport Tower built? Archival documents take us
back to 1677, and, in addition, Frederick Pohl and Hjalmar Holand
have submitted two literary evidences—the Wood map (1634) and
the Plowden petition (shortly before 1632; see Holand, “America:
1355-1364,” p. 31 et seq., 1946)—which make it probable that the
tower was in existence prior to 1639, the foundation year of the town
of Newport.
This is all that literary sources can tell us, so let us return to the
archeological, i. e., William S. Godfrey’s excavations in 1948-49. What
did they reveal? In 1948 nothing decisive, but in 1949 the following
(see Godfrey, Archaeology, Summer 1950, Spring 1951; and American
Antiquity, October 1951).
A culture deposit which, by the small objects it contained, was
datable to colonial times, extended in wnder the foot of one pillar (but
over the foundation stones), and there, under a pillar, was found a
piece of gunflint and a fragment of a clay pipe. From this Godfrey
concludes that “this layer was partly deposited before the first stones
of the tower columns were put in place.” Furthermore, in the earth
filling the annular trench in which the pillar foundations are laid,
and which Godfrey assumes was dug before the building of the tower,
a glazed sherd (perhaps seventeenth century), and, on the bottom of
the trench, the imprint of a square boot or shoe heel, and under it,
in a depressed concavity, two small clay pipe fragments were found.
Godfrey concludes: “Either Governor Arnold built the tower, or one
of his contemporaries did.”
These conclusions are somewhat controversial, however. Frederick
Pohl and Hjalmar Holand point out that the former owner of Newport
Tower, Gov. Will C. Gibbs, had an excavation made right to the
bottom of one of the pillars; might the shoe imprint not originate
from that excavation? And, in point of fact, neither glazed sherds
nor square shoe heels are necessarily post-Columbian proofs. But 7
Godfrey succeeds, first, in dismissing the possibility of recent inter-
mixture, and, second, in dating the named small finds to colonial days,
then I consider that the proof against the medieval origin of Newport
Tower will have been secured.
390 |§ ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Who built Newport Tower? Here we have four hypotheses: The
Norsemen, the English, the Dutch, and the Portuguese.
The Norse thesis—The idea of ascribing the tower to ante-Colum-
bian Norsemen is closely associated with the endeavors to place
“Vinland” in New England. In 1839 C. C. Rafn suggested that the
builder of the tower was Erik Gnupson Upsi, an Icelander and bishop
of Greenland, of whom it is written in 1121 that he set out to find
Vinland; F. J. Allen agreed in 1921. Vilhelm Marstrand (in an
unpublished work) has a preference for the thirteenth century and
names the Norwegian Olaf, also a Greenland bishop, as the presump-
tive builder. Hjalmar Holand chooses the fourteenth century and
credits the building of the tower to the Norwegian Povl Knutsson,
who, according to a Bergen document of 1354, was to sail to Greenland
to rechristen the apostates there.
The English thesis—Like the two that follow, this hypothesis is
post-Columbian. Ifthe English built the tower, they must have done
so between 1639 (the foundation of Newport) and 1677 (when the
tower is mentioned in the will of Governor Arnold). In that case it
may have been built by Arnold, who came to Newport in 1651.
The Dutch thesis.—If the Dutch built Newport Tower, this must
have taken place before the English founded Newport in 1639; in
this connection reference may be made to William Wood’s map and
the Plowden petition, which have created some probability that the
tower was there before the town was founded.
The Portuguese thesis —The Portuguese, too, frequented the waters
around Newport in post-Columbian days. Herbert Pell (Rhode
Island History, October 1948) believes the tower was built by Portu-
guese under the direction of Miguel Cortereal as a watchtower and
beacon for the purpose of keeping a lookout and sending light signals
over the sea to aid in Miguel’s search for his missing brother. The
tower, Pell says, was hastily built by shipwrecked mariners; pillars
and arcades were the outcome of considerations of speed and economy.
According to Delabarre’s interpretation of the Dighton rock inscrip-
tion (see his “Dighton Rock,” 1928) , Miguel was chief of the Indians,
for which reason the tower needed no lookout window onto the land
behind on the north.
To conclude, we may summarize as follows:
The Norse thesis is upset if Godfrey succeeds in proving his asser-
tion that the tower is post-Columbian in time. If not, the old thought
is revived that Newport Tower is a remnant of a Nordic medieval round
church. To me, however, it seems that the Godfrey excavations in
1949 have made a post-Columbian dating extremely plausible. The
English thesis is weak if the tower is regarded as a round church (an
English Puritan community in the seventeenth century would scarcely
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Br¢gndsted PLATE
ae
THE BEARDMORE FIND, IN THE ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM, TORONTO.
i 1, Sword. 2, Flat band (hoop of rattle). 3, Ax blade. About one-fifth natural size.
PLATE 2
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Brdndsted
(‘8F6T peydessoroy q)
“HLNOS AHL WOU NASS YSAMOL LYOdMAN °2
(SSSI peydessojoyg)
“1SV4 HLNOS-LSVA AHL WON NESS YSMOL LYOdMSAN *
PLATE 3
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Brgndsted
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Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Brgndsted PLATE 4
1. NEWPORT TOWER.
Pillars 1 and 2 seen from the outside. Window 2 in middle background. (Photographed
1948.)
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> Ste i
Ly” = ~_ i) SF
Pillars 7 and 8 seen from the outside. Window 3 in right foreground. (Photographed
1948.)
2. NEWPORT TOWER.
ee ao
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Brgndsted PLATE 5
1. NEWPORT TOWER, INSIDE.
The fireplace, window 1, beam holes 9 and 10, and niches 1 and 2. (Photographed 1948.)
2. NEWPORT TOWER, INSIDE.
Niche 3 and, above it, the horizontal slot possibly intended to take a table top. (Photo-
graphed 1948.)
PLATE 6
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Brgndsted
» re pacers t
NEWPORT TOWER.
(Photographed 1948.)
en from the inside.
se
Window 3,
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Br¢gndsted
1. NEWPORT TOWER, INSIDE.
At the top, niche 6 (left) and window 7; center, horizontal ledge indicating ceiling level of
first-floor chamber; right, beam hole 11; bottom, top of window 3. (Photographed 1948.)
2. NEWPORT TOWER, INSIDE.
Window 4. Over it, three step sockets (Nos. 3-5) of an inner stairway. ‘To the right, below,
step socket No. 2, with a pigeon in it. (Photographed 1948.)
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Brgndsted
THE KENSINGTON STONE WITH RUNIC INSCRIPTION ON FRONT (LEFT) AND EDGE.
About one-seventh natural size. (Photographed 1948. From the Smithsonian Institution.)
Lage &)
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Br¢ndsted
“se
is
OF:
f
at
4. od
pak
THE KENSINGTON STONE.
notographed
I
lz
(
About one-seventh natural size.
hsonian Institution.)
1948. From the Smit
runic inscription.
Part of the front bearing
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Brgndsted PLATE 10
THE KENSINGTON STONE.
Parts of the edge bearing runic inscription: Left, the top of the inscription; right, the bottom.
About one-fifth natural size. (Photographed 1948. From the Smithsonian Institution.)
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BRYNDSTED 391
build its church to a Catholic round church pattern, or permit it to be
used as a mill when it was only 40 years old). On the other hand, it is
a reasonable assumption that Newport Tower was an English watch-
tower from about 1640. The Dutch thesis: It must be recognized as
a possibility that the tower was a Dutch watchtower built about 1625.
The Portuguese thesis: Herbert Pell’s assumption is slender, based
as it is upon a single special, acute situation. In theory, however,
neither a Portuguese nor a Spanish origin can be rejected.
Everything taken into consideration, I am most inclined to regard
Newport Tower as an H/nglish watchtower (or beacon) dating from
about 1640.
THE KENSINGTON STONE
In November 1948 I made a close study of the Kensington stone in
the division of archeology of the Smithsonian Institution in Wash-
ington, D.C. John Howard Benson, the Newport sculptor, gave me
his valuable assistance. The photographs reproduced in plates 8-10
were kindly presented to me in 1948 by the Smithsonian Institution.
The stone is 0.75 m. high and 0.88 m. wide. In thickness it measures
0.14 m. at the top and 0.02-0.07 m. at the bottom. The material is a
blackish graywacke with a grayish surface. The runes are carved
on one side of the stone and on one edge. The rune-carved side, the
“front,” is naturally smooth, whereas the edge with the runes has been
evened off with the point of a pick hammer. On the back there are
longitudinal glacial striae. Below, the stone is hewn obliquely up
from the back to the plane of the front and smoothed off, with the
result that the bottom of the stone (the “foot”) is rather thin. To
all appearances the stone was shaped to stand upright.
The runes, about 2.5 cm. high, are cut with a chisel (width of edge
44.5 mm.) from two sides, generally down to an acute-angled bot-
tom. Benson says: “In general it is a chisel-cut inscription, not a
point-.”
A large number of the runes have been worked over in recent times
with an iron, thus causing the old surface of the character (the “skin”)
to disappear and making the rune deeper. Nevertheless, more than
half of the runes are still intact and reveal a constant weathering
(patina), often differing very little in appearance from the untouched
surface of the stone. This weathering has a grayish tinge, quite
different from the pale, almost white tone in the overworked runes.
I shall here mention two particular observations:
1. The second line on the front inscription begins (before the two
dots) with the remnant of a rune, the vertical stem; the rune seems
to have been either | or 4.
2. At the foot of the stone is the letter H (see pl. 8, right), cut
by Mr. Holand in 1908. On examining this 40-year-old H closely
284725—54—__26
392 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
we find that both its vertical stems are overworked, whereas the cross
stroke is intact ; and this cross stroke shows incipient weathering.
As will be known, the inscription on the Kensington stone, trans-
lated into modern English, reads:
Front:
Line 1 8 Goths and 22 Norwegians on
¢ exploration-journey from
Vinland across West. We
had camp by 2 skerries one
day’s journey north from this stone.
We were and fished one day. After
we came home found 10 men red
with blood and dead. A V M
save from evil.
Oo oON OD OH WD eH
Line 1 Have 10men by the sea to look
2 after our ships 14 days’ journey
3 from this island. Year 1362.
For the transliteration and transcription of this text see figure 9.
This then is an account, without mentioning names, of an expedition
of 30 men who, away in the wilderness, far from their ships at the sea
coast, have suffered a bloody attack. Ten of the thirty were killed
(scalped ?), while the others were out fishing. They send a prayer to
the Virgin Mary (A V M is deciphered as Ave Virgo Maria), and in
conclusion the runes say that 10 men are by the sea keeping guard on
the expedition ships. Moreover, that this happened in 1362.
The authenticity of this inscription has many assailants and perhaps
still more defenders. There is no denying that the great majority of
philologically erudite scholars are on the side of the aggressors. It
must be understood that this is a specimen of linguistic text of which
the genuineness or falsity can only be decided—if it can be decided at
all—by people familiar with the Nordic language of the fourteenth
century.
Before the philologists have their say, I shall briefly present and
comment upon certain archeological considerations. They may be
summarized into four points.
1. On the finding of the stone.—It is stated that the stone was un-
earthed by the farmer Olof Ohman while working to remove a tree
stump. The stone was lying among the roots of the tree and they had
grown at an angle to the shape of the stone; this can be explained only
by assuming that the stone was already there when the tree above it
was young and that in order to get down deeper the roots must have
encompassed the stone and following its outline. Estimating the age of
FIGURE 9.—Transliteration and transcription of the ensington stone inscripti
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BRYNDSTED
PN OTH Raa: FEB RAYA Ba.
8:g8 ters ok 22sno rrment%po
[ABEXY th Gt PXRP: PN:
-. opdagelsef ard:fro
YUEPAPPA YT |:
vyinlandsofs vestsvi
APE PXVER-Y TP: ra PX.
ha desl # gersv eds
BXY ERT SEA RRS PRA: ri bas
dags:ris esnorr:frozdeno: 8
PLY XRAY PEA PEPRY EX ETI Re
visv ar sok: fi skesensd ag h:& ptir :
V1 HYHYPX ETRE ROPE
vizkomzshem:f anslQ@&Om ansr
XB be: ptprPAVM:
afsblod:og:deds (ave Maria):
V RXTE RYT,
frswelsezsaf :il1t:
PERT AREAS EAR YATX Tet
har:l0:m ans: v esha v ets a tise
XBT! RNA pec ba IBSTE:PXYE RU tt:
VR: Hy OEXER: TERE
froms:denos Ghsa hr:1362:3
d os K
Moltke and Anderson, 1949-50.)
tion.
393
(After
394 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
the tree at about 60 years when the stone was found in 1898, simple
subtraction takes us back to a time in the latter part of the 1830s, i. e.,
to a time several years before the white colonization of Minnesota
began. This being so, we are told, the stone with its inscription must
be genuine.
Against this the critics argue, and justly, that the details of the story
of the find were formulated so long after the event that one can hardly
be sure of their correctness. Next, and likewise justly, that the esti-
mation of the age of the tree, long since disappeared, depends upon
arbitrary judgment. For example, if the tree was only 30 or 40 years
old, that would bring us well within the first colonization period.
Thus there is no proof to be had here.
2. The inscription expression: “this island.” —The finding place is a
bank situated in a depression that dried up long ago. There is a
possibility that 500 years ago this depression was a lake, over which
the bank rose as an island. If this can be substantiated geologically,
and if simultaneously it can be shown that there was no lake in the
nineteenth century, this would be evidence in favor of the stone’s
genuineness. The question cannot be said to have been clarified so
far, however.
3. Inscription technique.—It signifies nothing that the chiseling of
the runes is quite different from the picking technique of the Nordic
Viking-age runic stones (whose characters are cut with the point down
to a rounded base). But one thing is of interest: the patina of the
letter H, dating from 1908, on the foot of the stone. If it takes 40 years
to produce a slight patina, it is permissible to conclude that full patina
can be produced in the course of about 70 or 80 years. Therefore, if
the runes are genuine, i. e., about 500 years old, the patina of course is
easily explained; if they are false, say 80 or 70 years old, the patina
may nevertheless have been laid in that period. In other words, the
proof which the defenders of the inscription would derive from the
patina of the runes is no proof.
4. Other finds —On Mr. Holand’s finds of iron weapons and fire
steels in northern Minnesota, and of “mooring holes,” see below. These
finds are well worth considering, but to a critical judgment can scarcely
provide more than some slight support for the authenticity of the
Kensington inscription, but no proof.
T now call upon the Scandinavian philologists. At my request three
Danish scholars have given opinions: the runologist Erik Moltke, the
linguist Harry Andersen, and the linguist Karl Martin Nielsen. The
contributions of the first two are published in Danske Studier, 1949-50.
(For further contributions, see list of references at end of text.) Niel-
sen’s opinion follows here in summarized form:
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BROYNDSTED 395
The Kensington stone inscription dates itself to 1862, but is consid-
ered by many investigators to be a falsification, made toward the close
of the nineteenth century.
Orthography and phonetics —The terminal vowels are weakened to
e except in @ptir, beno, and perhaps lu, this does not agree with
either Old Swedish or modern Swedish. rr in norr, norrmen, is mod-
ern Swedish orthography; the medieval usage was 7. west is a bor-
rowed form which makes its first appearance in early modern Swedish.
from is unknown in Old Swedish. The spelling forms vise and pep
are unknown in Swedish. The last three forms can scarcely be ex-
plained otherwise than as intrusions of English (American). In the
orthography, however, the most decisive criterion is the use of 7 in
skjar; in the Middle Ages z and 7 (the long 7) are paleographic var-
iants; no distinction according to sound values—é as a vowel, j as a
consonant—appears until the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries.
Inflection—The substantives lack case inflection and the verbs
plural inflection. Sporadic examples may occur in Old Swedish, but
consistent use 1s unknown. In particular, the use of the singular for
the plural in the verbs is remarkable; according to Wessén this has its
place in recent Swedish—including the spoken language, beginning
with the seventeenth century. wore before the neuter plural skip is a
modern Swedish form (Old Swedish war). illu (if this is the correct
interpretation) is the only regular Old Swedish case form. eno
occurs only once in Old Swedish, as a dative neuter singular.
Syntax.—10 mans, genitive singular after a numeral is unknown in
Swedish and is more probably an English plural form. 10 man, sin-
gular after a numeral does not occur until modern Swedish (possibly
through German influence).
Vocabulary.—The most discussed word in the inscription is
op pagelsefar (expedition, journey), because opdagelse, opdage (dis-
covery, discover) have no place in the Middle Ages. Supporters of
the genuineness of the inscription assert that the medieval Swedish
sources are of such a nature that the concept of discovery of new land
does not occur in them; and S. N. Hagen, the latest to discuss the
word, also attaches much importance to the fact that it was con-
tained in East Frisian, a neighbor language to the Scandinavian,
with transitive application in the sense of “bringing to light.” None
of these arguments are relevant, however. The East Frisian opdagen,
which Hagen cites after Falk and Torp, is taken from a modern
dialect dictionary; East Frisian is 2 Low German dialect and the
occurrence of the word in Middle Low German (and Middle
Dutch) is just as hypothetical as in medieval Scandinavian. If it
were lacking only in medieval texts, this might be attributed to the
character of the sources; but it also applies to the subsequent period—
396 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
in Sweden right up to the nineteenth century. In that period the
literature of course makes mention of the discovery of new land, but
the concept is covered by other words: upptdcka (or uppfinna) with
the substantives upptackt, upptickning, upptdckelse (the subs.
opdagelse is Danish, not Swedish). Uppdaga (-as) is also employed
in the same period, but with other meanings: dawn, become light,
come in sight. The position is the same in Denmark, except that the
present meaning occurs somewhat earlier, in the eighteenth century.
Seeing that the word is unknown in the Middle Ages in both Scandi-
navian and Germanic, and that it has other meanings in Early Modern
Swedish and Early Modern Danish, whereas the concept of “discover”
has other words, it is quite improbable that the Danish word opdagelse
should appear in a medieval Swedish inscription.
Another deviation from Old Swedish is Jags rise (Old Swedish
dagsledh or dagsferdh) and of in of west, which must be assumed
to be the English preposition.
Linguistically, then, the inscription reveals a number of uncon-
formities with Old Swedish and they cannot be explained, as Holand
avers, as a contrast between the inscription’s character of the spoken
language and the written language of the documents. Moreover, it
includes words and forms which seemingly are due to English influ-
ence: of west, pep, from, mans. Of old forms there are but few:
eptir, pagh, peno, ok (and perhaps #llu, unless this is a Swedish
dialectal form or should be read 2//y).
Rune forms.—The following are normal: 8, p, e, f, 2, 2, 1, m, n,
0, p, r, 8 t; while the following are unusual: a, g, j,k, w, y, @, @.
Some of the latter forms are explained by Holand as being due to
influence from, or borrowed from, book minuscules—an influence that
was more likely to be from majuscules than minuscules. The deciding
point in the rune forms is the g-rune with two dots as there is no
precondition for such a form in medieval book writing; the Swedish
9 does not come into use until after 1500.
As regards both linguistic and runic forms the inscription on the
Kensington stone is thus a direct contradiction to a dating to the
year 1362; and, besides the debatable points, there are three which
must be taken as decisive: the use of a special j7-rune, the g-rune with
two dots, and the word oppagelsefar p.
The correctness of this conclusion now seems to be confirmed by a
drawing of the inscription which Professor Holvik has recently
brought to light and which he considers is a draft, not a transcript.
[K. M. N.]
To my inquiry as to whether the Kensington inscription might not
just as well be Old Norwegian as Old Swedish, Mr. Nielsen replied
(letter of January 8, 1950) that although one or two phenomena in
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BROYNDSTED 397
the inscription may agree with West Scandinavian, there are definite
traits which show that it must be East Scandinavian.
Both Erik Moltke and Harry Andersen in their opinions (Danske
Studier, 1949-50) deny that the Kensington inscription is genuine,
Moltke with runological, Andersen with philological arguments.
Moltke points out that it makes use of characters (d, 6, and especially
j) which did not make their appearance until after the year 1500,
and in his “Efterskrift” (loc. cit., p. 51 et seq.) mentions the runic doc-
ument, referred to by J. A. Holvik (Concordian, No. 10, 1949), which
is held to be nothing less than a draft of the inscription.
Whereas archeology to my mind fails to tell us anything positive
for or against, some of the philological arguments against the genuine-
ness of the inscription—especially the word opdagelseferd and the
use of the 7-rune—must weigh heavily in the balance. Though I hesi-
tate to say this is evidence of the modern origin of the inscription, the
doubts of its genuineness expressed by most expert philologists are so
strong that for the present we must reject the Kensington stone from
the source material of research. As matters stand, one cannot recon-
struct American pre-Columbian history on the evidence of this stone.”
OTHER INSCRIPTIONS
I have submitted to Erik Moltke photographs or drawings of some
other inscriptions or inscriptionlike phenomena from North America,
namely the following (see list in Aarbgger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed
og Historie, 1950, p. 92 et seq.) :
Bourne, Mass., stone. Marthas Vineyard, Mass., stone.
Byfield, Mass., rock. Merrimac River, Mass., fragment of
Clay Ferry, Mass., stone. stone pipe.
Deer Lake, western Ontario, stone. New Jersey, N. J., stone hammer.
Dighton Rock, R. I., rock (see above, Newport Tower, R. I., small stone.
p. 390). No Man’s Land, Mass., rock, modern.
Elsworth, Maine, slate knife. Northmen’s Rock, R. I., stone.
Grave Creek and Braxton, W. Va., two Sebec, Maine, stone.
small stone tablets. Tiverton, R. I., rock.
Hampton Beach, N. H., stone. Topham Beach, Maine, stone.
Horsford, Mass., stone. Tool Whittier Rock, Mass., stone.
Manana Rock, Maine, rock. Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, stone.
Mr. Moltke’s opinion of them is as follows (extract from letter of
August 15, 1949) :
An examination of the inscriptions handed to me gives the result that the only
ones in which there is any question of runes are the Kensington stone and the
?In the Washington Post, January 28, 1954, I find the following statement: “Proof that
the Kensington Rune Stone is a hoax was claimed today by Dr. Erik Wahlgren, associate
professor of Scandinavian and German at the University of California at Los Angeles. ...
Dr. Wahlgren said he recently traced errors in the inscription directly to an old encyclo-
pedia found on the Ohman farm. He added that he had established that all materials,
-Including the stone, necessary to the inscription were obtainable at the Ohman home.”
398 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
inscription from No Man’s Land which, judging from its whole character, is of
recent time. All the others are natural grooves or inscriptions which without
doubt can be described only as character inscriptions (yaoaxthoes) and pre-
sumably a couple of Indian pictographs, to which perhaps Tiverton and the
now missing Tool-Whittier belong. Unfortunately, the material handed to me
gives me no opportunity of judging of the genuineness of these inscriptions,
for instance the interesting ones on the small amulets (?) from Grave Creek
and Braxton. Without personal examination and knowledge of the localities
it is difficult for me to say whether or not some may be signatures, as for in-
stance Byfield 1.
After examining the various inscriptions I should say it is extremely doubtful
if they can be connected in any way with the Scandinavian (or Greenlandic)
runic inscriptions.
To this I would add that while the inscriptions seem to have nothing
whatever to do with Scandinavian runes and thus from this angle
must be considered worthless, these American phenomena may yet
be of certain interest, regarded as Indian pictographs. Indeed, one
or two (Byfield) may perhaps be explained as European signatures
of Colonialtimes. It may be worth while starting a systematic modern
photographic recording of this material by the methods created by
Moltke himself.
SITES AND MOORING STONES
I had the opportunity of seeing the following sites:
North Salem, N. H.—Some partly underground stone structures.
They have nothing whatever to do with the Scandinavian Viking age
or medieval times. (See H. Hencken in the New England Quarterly,
September 1939, and Will B. Goodwin, The Ruins of Great Ireland
in New England, Boston, 1946.)
Marthas Vineyard, Mass.—A dolmenlike stone chamber. Doubt-
ful as a grave. It might merely be some sort of play building of
post-Colonial times.
Stony Creek, near Guilford, Conn.—Two sculptured stones (orna-
ments: scales, indentations, quadrifoil) ; a rock with sculpture (like
a profiled base) and drilled holes; some house ruins, ete. These
objects cannot now with any certainty be dated to pre-Columbian times.
An excavation may possibly give some information. (Refer to Dr.
Bert G. Anderson, assistant professor of surgery, Yale University, the
discoverer of the site.)
Mooring stones.—A mooring stone is a boulder on the shore of a
fiord or lake into which is drilled a hole for a bolt holding a ring to
tie a boat. This mooring method is an ancient one in Scandinavia
and Hjalmar Holand regards some of these mooring holes, namely,
such as those discovered in Minnesota, as having been made by Norse-
men in pre-Columbian days. (See his books, Westward from Vinland,
p- 198 et seq., 1942, and America: 1355-1364, p. 135 et seq., 1946, and
his article in Aarbgger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1951, p.
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—-BROYNDSTED 399
297 et seq.’). Now, as Mr. Holand knows and admits, mooring holes
are made to this day by fishermen on the North American Atlantic
coast. But the presence of mooring stones in Minnesota is, says
Holand, quite another thing: in this part of the continent the boats of
the first white men in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were
small, flat-bottomed lighters, easy to pull on shore and needing no
mooring stones. This is not a bad argument, and maybe these Min-
nesota mooring stones should be taken into consideration as indi-
cating the presence of pre-Columbian Nordic people. When, however,
Holand goes further, when he sees in these stones traces—indeed, the
very route—of the men who cut the Kensington inscription, I must
confess I cannot follow such an arbitrary view.
OBJECTS
While in the States in the autumn of 1948, I was shown some isolated
objects, mostly of iron, which with more or less certainty were declared
to be of medieval European origin. They were: A sword and hilt
(Nos. 1-2) ; halberds (Nos. 3-5) ; spear heads (Nos. 6-7) ; axes (Nos. 8-
17; fire steels (Nos. 18-20) ; tools (Nos. 21-22) ; twisted ring (No. 23) ;
stone ax (No. 24); slate knife (No. 25). (See list in Aarbgger for
Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1950, p. 106 et seq., Nos. 1-25, and
my comments, ibid., p. 111 et seq.)
There is reason for pausing at Nos. 1, 2, 3-5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 18, 21, and
94. These are the 12 specimens which, in my opinion, may possibly be
of medieval Scandinavian origin. But in regard to none of them
would I go so far as I have in the Beardmore case and accept their
great age unconditionally. On the other hand, there are possibilities.
This, however, says nothing of the eventuality that these 12 possibly
genuinely medieval objects may have been brought to America in
recent times—the same calamity that befell the Beardmore find. Only
5 of the 12 were found under circumstances that rule out such a possi-
bility: Nos. 3, 4, 10, 18, and 21.
Accordingly, if I must characterize this material with reference to its
weight as evidence of the white man’s colonization of North America
before Columbus, I am bound to say that it is weak on the whole.
Strictly speaking, not even the five most likely finds provide any proof,
3In this paper Mr. Holand disputes the arguments presented in my report in the same
periodical for 1950. Apart from his remarks on the Minnesota mooring stones referred to
above, nothing in his article has changed my opinion. I bear tribute to Mr. Holand’s
ardor and acuteness, but sometimes his heavy conclusions do not harmonize well with the
somewhat light premises. Let me quote from the paper cited above (p. 237), this sentence
(translated from the Norwegian—the italics are mine): ‘Since in Minnesota there really
are found five old weapons from Scandinavian medieval times that cannot have been
brought in during recent times, so we have in them jive proofs of the genuineness of the
Kensington stone or, at all events, of the presence of Nordic people in Minnesota in
. medieval times.”
400 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
because they can hardly be proclaimed as indubitably medieval Scan-
dinavian objects. One can—and I for my part will do so—describe
the material as “sympathetic” toward the idea that white men roamed
in the places in question in pre-Columbian days, but it embodies no real
proof capable, once and for all, of silencing all carping and scepticism.
To each of the 12 points (not to mention the other 13) there is attached
a certain measure of doubt.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Looking over the foregoing pages, we must admit that our results
are rather negative. First, the literary sources: All attempts at loca-
tion of Leif’s Vinland and Karlsefni’s lands from the sagas have
shown themselves unsuccessful. Second, as to the monuments and
objects, let us sum up as follows:
The Beardmore find.—Owing to doubts as to the reliability of the
report of the find, this must for the present remain as an uncertain, so
far useless, document.
Newport Tower——In all probability a post-Columbian building.
Kensington inscription —The philological opposition to its authen-
ticity too strong. Useless.
Other inscriptions.—So far useless.
Sites and mooring stones.—So far useless. The Minnesota mooring
holes, however, seem to indicate the presence of pre-Columbian Nordic
people.
Objects——Some have had to be labeled as probably genuine Euro-
pean and medieval. But in our context such scattered objects form too
slender a basis. No full evidence has been adduced that they were not
brought to America in recent time; and even if such evidence were
procurable in a few cases, one or two isolated relics of this kind do
not weigh very much in the balance.
Now, what is required as adequately weighty evidence of the life and
existence of Norsemen in North America in pre-Columbian times?
The answer must be: above all a knowledge of their dwellings (or
graves) on that continent. The moment we can find settlements with
house ruins which in layout and construction and by the artifacts
found in them can without a shadow of doubt be documented as being
of Scandinavian origin, dating from the Late Viking age or the Middle
Ages—or the moment we can find corresponding graves—the goal will
have been reached. Then why not look for Norse sites of this kind?
It has been done, the answer may be. Possibly; but not systematically
and never by expert archeologists. I therefore propose that a search
should be made.
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BRYNDSTED 401
A SUGGESTION
I suggest for consideration that money be found in America or
Scandinavia to equip an archeological expedition with the object of
exploring systematically certain previously selected tracts of land
along the Atlantic coasts of New England and Canada for Norse ruins
of the same character as those known and excavated in Greenland.
The expedition would have to be directed by Scandinavian arche-
ologists with a practical knowledge of excavating Norse ruins in
Greenland. Naturally, such archeologists are to be found first and
foremost in Denmark, but also in Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
Having regard to the immense stretches of country to be examined,
the expedition must have an airplane at its disposal. Danish arche-
ologists have previously had occasion to locate and map Greenland
Norse ruins from the air.
It would be necessary to establish a collaboration between American
and Scandinavian archeologists. Those taking part would have to
select the most suitable regions and the points likely to be of particular
interest.
REFERENCES
The literature about the topic being immense, this list of references
is not, of course, to be regarded as complete. What it gives is such
books and articles as are, to my mind, of more than fugitive or mere
transitory value.
The main literature published in modern time on Vinland should
begin with Sven Séderberg’s paper of 1910 (Lund, Sweden) wherein
he presented his interpretation of the syllable “vin” in Vinland as
meaning meadow, or grassland, not wine, or grapes, an interpretation
which was adopted by Fridtjof Nansen and later by V. Tanner, and
which very considerably expanded the chances of locating Vinland
more to the north.
ALLEN, F.. J.
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Bascock, W. H.
1921. Recent history and present status of the Vinland problem. Geogr.
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402 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
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1948. Newport Tower or Mill. Rhode Island Hist., vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 2-7.
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CURRAN, JAMES W.
1940. Here was Vinland. A 1,000-year-old mystery solved. Sault Ste Marie,
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1939. Viking weapons found near Beardmore, Ontario. Canadian Hist. Rev.,
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CURRELLY, C. T., and EXLL1ort, O. C.
1941. The case of the Beardmore relics. Canadian Hist. Rev., vol. 22, No. 3,
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DowNING, ANTOINETTE F'ORRESTER.
1937. Early homes of Rhode Island. Richmond, Va.
E}NLART, CAMILLE.
1910. Le probléme de la vieille tour de Newport (Rhode Island). Rev. Art
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1949, A layman looks at Newport Tower. Nordisk Tidende, Apr. 7, pp. 9-10,
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1918. The Norse discovery of America. Minneapolis, Minn.
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1937. The Norsemen in Canada. Dalhousie Rev., July. Halifax, Nova
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GATHoRNE-HaArpy, G. M.
1921. The Norse discoveries of America. Oxford.
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1950. Newport Tower. II. Archaeology, vol. 3, No. 2 (summer), pp. 82-86.
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1951b. The archaeology of the Old Stone Mill in Newport, Rhode Island.
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1941. The truth about Leif Ericsson and the Greenland voyages. Boston,
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1930. Leif Eriksson, discoverer of America A. D. 1003. New York.
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1950. The Kensington runic inscription. Speculum, vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 321-
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HATFIELD, R. G.
1879. The “Old Mill” at Newport: A new study of an old puzzle. Scribner’s
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1939. Zur Frage der Echtheit des Runensteins vn Kensington. Peter-
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1936. The problem of Wineland. Islandica, vol. 25, pp. 1-84.
NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BR@YNDSTED 403
Honanp, HJaAtMar R.
1932. The Kensington Stone: A study in pre-Columbian American History.
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1942. Westward from Vinland. 2ded. New York.
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1925. Small additions to the Vinland problem. Medd. om Grguland, vol. 59,
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1949. In The Concordian, No. 10, Nov. 18 (“Holvik Finds New Hvidence
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1938. Et botanisk vidne om Nordboernes Vinlandsrejser. Naturhistorisk
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1949, “Runstenen” fran Kensington. Nordisk Tidskrift, vol. 25, pp. 377-405.
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1930. Uddrag af Professor, Dr. phil. H. P. Steensby’s dagbog om rejsen til
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1915. Opdagelsen af og Rejserne til Vinland. Aarb. Nord. Oldkynd. og Hist.,
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1949. Nicht Columbus entdeckte Amerika. Umschau in Wiss. und Technik,
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1939. The Viking finds from Beardmore, Ontario. Art. Quart., vol. 2, No. 2
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1939. See Hennig, 1939, pp. 89-90.
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1942. Newport Tower. New York.
404. ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
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NORSEMEN IN NORTH AMERICA—BR@YNDSTED 405
TANNER, V.
1941. De gamla nordbornas Helluland, Markland och Vinland. Budkavlen,
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1940. Var lig Vinland det goda? Ymer, vol. 60, pp. 106-117. Stockholm.
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1946-47. To fjaerne runestene fra Grgnland og Amerika. Danske Studier,
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1949. Runeindskrifter i Grgnland. Grgnlandske Selskabs Arskrift, vol. 43,
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Reprints of the various articles in this Report may be obtained, as long as
. the supply lasts, on request to the Editorial and Publications Division,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D. C.
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The Mountain Village of Dahr, Lebanon *
By Raymonp E. Crist
Department of Geography
University of Florida
[With 8 plates]
As onr travels in the Near East through the mountains or plains
that are under cultivation he is struck by the fact that isolated farm
dwellings are hardly ever seen. The great majority of the population
lives in the country, but they live clustered in villages and not in
single farmhouses dispersed about the countryside. Those of us
with a North American background tend to think of human
agglomerations in terms of their economic bases. <A city, a town,
or a hamlet is situated where it is because the site was favorable
and economic factors were propitious. A ribbon settlement is
pressed against the highway in a fertile farming area, or a village
has come into being at a crossroads, or a town has risen where there
is an easy river crossing. But there are many villages in the world
that have as bases factors that are, to us, noneconomic or even anti-
economic, villages that have been founded in response to a desire
on the part of their founders to be cut off from the world rather than
in easy contact with it.
One such village is Dahr, which clings tightly to the limestone
crags of the lower range of the mountains of Lebanon, 20 miles north-
east of Tripoli. The site of the hamlet was originally forested with
evergreen oak trees and used as a common grazing land for goats.
From here came the logs used to hold up the heavy beaten-earth and
straw roofs of the houses built in the valley, and from this woods
came also the firewood and charcoal used in cooking and baking. A
few hundred yards below was a never-failing spring. The actual
founding of the village is shrouded in the mist of history. The old-
est inhabitant said that it was hoary with age even in the time of
his grandfather. Those who originally settled in Dahr were cer-
17The field investigations on which this paper is based were made possible by a Rocke-
feller Foundation grant to the University of Florida. The generous assistance of Dr. Neil
Alter is gratefully acknowledged.
284725—54——_27 407
408 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
tainly less affected by pressure of population than they were by the
appearance of the tax collector. A long and difficult trail leading
to an inconspicuous agglomeration of houses meant that it was not
easily accessible to the tax collector and that consequently the in-
habitants could enjoy a modicum of prosperity and peace of mind.
The defense factor was also important. From a vantage point such
as Dahr enjoys, it is easy to espy visitors from afar, both those who
are welcome and those who are not. And like thousands of other
villages, Dahr has, with the years, achieved a kind of protective
coloring, forming an appropriate little piece in the mosaic of cul-
tural and natural landscapes. Each house in the village seems to
have been built where the fancy of the owner dictated. Villages in
general seem to the western eye to be a confused, incoherent mass of
mud or stone houses, huddled together without plan or order, in a
maze of crooked, blind alleys, narrow, winding footpaths, and dark,
forbidding passageways.
LAND
The possession of land, even in small, fragmented tracts, has lit-
erally and from time immemorial meant life to the Near Eastern
peasant, because land has meant wheat, and wheat means bread—
“the bread of life.” “AIl else will pass away, the land remains,” is
an Arab proverb. The Arab peasant will go to almost any lengths
to get land, and once he has it he will make terrible sacrifices in order
to keep it, for land means bread, and bread is life; it is the life of the
peasant today, and it has been for countless generations before him.
His attachment to the land is a mixture of profound love and
reverential awe; he is aware of its frailties, he knows just how far he
can depend on it, and how it will react to his loving care through the
beating rain, or the searing drought, or the battering hail; he reveres
it because it has supported the long line of his ancestors before him,
and it will in turn be a big factor, no matter how fragmented, in the
support of his children after his death. For many centuries a man
without land was a prey to the cruelty of the tyrant, just as last year’s
leaves are blown about at the vagaries of the wind. But a man with
land was like a great oak tree, with roots deep in the ground; he could
weather the storms, the acts of God, as well as the irrational acts of
his fellowman, for roots in the land gave strength to him and to his
family—they gave him “his daily bread.”
The wealth of Dahr is land. The villagers own and farm some
200 unirrigated acres, but this is land that makes many of the aban-
doned fields of New England look rich and inviting by comparison.
Here it is planted in wheat, barley, lentils, or millets, but the land is
not in broad fields. A field is a tiny strip a yard or so wide, or a
DAHR, LEBANON—CRIST 409
hillside so steep and narrow in many places that the oxen used to pull
the primitive wooden plows through the soil are with difficulty kept
from falling onto the next terrace. But it is from these terraced
strips that the villagers live. Four men in the village have between
them in the valley 37 acres of irrigated land which is intensively
worked and annually produces olives, figs, and grapes, and a winter
cereal crop of wheat or barley, which, harvested in June, is usually
followed by a crop of Indian corn or fast growing vegetables. Thus
the entire base of arable land of the village consists of approximately
200 acres of unirrigated land, of which the greater part is left fallow
every other year in order to enrich the soil and permit the accumula-
tion of moisture in it, and some 37 acres of intensively cultivated
irrigated land, on which heavy yields are obtained by the use of much
animal fertilizer. There is also common land, which is estimated
to be between 250 and 300 acres in extent, on which goats graze and
from which thorny scrub is cut for fuel. Only one man from outside
the village rents a few strips of village land, on halves. Two Dahr men
rent some 15 acres of irrigated land in neighboring valleys. All the
unirrigated land is in narrow strips and so full of stones that one
wonders how the grain has a chance to grow at all. Terracing is
extensively practiced ; and one cannot but marvel at the human indus-
try and patience necessary to construct the massive stone walls that
separate and in reality support the long narrow strips, many of
them less than a yard wide. Trying to determine how many people
this unirrigated land would support in the United States is a waste
of time, for there it would not be used at all.
THE VILLAGE
The village of Dahr itself is an agglomeration of 27 occupied stone
houses, with a population in winter which numbers 187 persons. To
be sure, many young men leave to work during the harvest season
on the large estates along the coast, and whole families move for the
summer months to houses near the irrigated lands below. The houses
of limestone, with roofs of rolled earth or cement, are separated from
each other by thick stone walls. There are no streets, just narrow
and tortuous footpaths where both human beings and pack animals
stumble over the loose stones. A house frequently shelters, besides
the owner and his wife and younger children, a young married son
who cannot yet afford to build a house of his own. Representatives
of five generations in a single family will frequently be living in the
same house, or agglomeration of rooms, for early marriages and many
children are the rule. The lives of these villagers may seem to the
foreigner to be colorless and dull, yet the people at the various stages
_ in the life cycle, whether children, young adults, middle-aged, or old,
410 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
seem to be getting a lot out of life, in spite of the grim struggle to
wrest their daily bread from the obdurate soil. If land is the wealth
of Dahr, the stoicism and hard work of its inhabitants are its lifeblood.
THE STAFF OF LIFE
The dominant note in the simple pattern of village life is wheat,
which is planted in the fall and forms green strips over the mountain-
side in winter. AlJl winter long the grain fields are carefully gleaned
of their green and edible plants by the women of the village. The
wheat crop, upon which the people are dependent for their very life,
is at all times very much in their minds. A Jate rain that falls at
the time the grains are forming is always a welcome blessing, for it
means an increase in yield. Any strong winds make the farmers’
hearts heavy, and the scorching wind from the desert, the khamsin,
is greatly feared, for if it blows for a few days when the wheat is
green the grain will wither rapidly, and if the wheat is already ripe
the hot wind will dry it out so much that it will shatter out of the
head when it is cut. Even when the weather has been propitious, the
grasshoppers may come in sufficient numbers to cut the yield by one-
third or one-half, if not to destroy the crop entirely. The plague of
grasshoppers 2 years ago did so much damage as seriously to dis-
courage several of the villagers. And ants are an ever-present menace.
They even rob the threshing floor, an endless belt of busy ants, each
carrying a grain of wheat, making their way to the underground nest,
while those that have deposited their burden are hastening back for
another load, and in spite of strenous efforts to check their ravages
a substantial loss from the meager harvest is sustained. But all in
all such “acts of God” are fatalistically accepted. Even when the
harvest is good the yield is ridiculously low. If the farmer gets
10 units in return for every 1 planted it is considered an extremely
good yield, but it is usually much less. A six- or eight-fold return,
about the same as reported a century ago,? is still considered average
or good. If, when harvest time rolls around, there is anything at all
to reap, the season is a glorious one for all.
The grain is, of course, harvested by hand, an old-fashioned sickle
being wielded in the right hand to cut the stalks, which are gathered
together in the left hand, the fingers of which are protected against
thistles and any careless blow of the sickle by ingeniously made indi-
vidual fingerstalls. These protectors are similar to those of clay that
have been used for thousands of years, excellent examples of which
are to be seen in the museum in Baghdad. The cut stalks are piled
up in tiny sheaves which are bound by the womenfolk. Children and
old women usually act as gleaners, for every head, every grain of
? Churchill, Colonel, Mount Lebanon, p. 38, London, 1853.
DAHR, LEBANON—CRIST 411
wheat is precious. After the gleaning, goats are driven in to eat the
stubble and to leave their manure as fertilizer. The sheaves are
made into big bundles, which are then carried to the threshing fioor
on the backs of donkeys or camels or, if one is too poor to have a pack
animal, on the backs of men. The sheaves are laid in piles around
the threshing floor, a flat surface of tamped earth in the form of a
rough circle 25 or 30 feet in diameter. The actual threshing-out of the
erain is effected by having a team of donkeys or a yoke of oxen pull
a threshing board (mauwraj) round and round over the sheaves. The
underside of the board is studded with irregular chunks of black
voleanic rock.
When the question was asked how many times they had to go around
with the threshing board before the grain was threshed out, the reply
was that it was a question of days rather than the number of times—
that they used a calendar, not a stopwatch. Various members of the
family take turns in bringing the sheaves to the threshing floor and in
riding around on the threshing sled. By the time the wheat is sepa-
rated out the straw is ground up as fine as if it had gone through a
modern hammer mill; this is piled up on one side of the thresh-
ing floor with a locally made fork costing about a dollar, which has
both handle and tines made of wood, bound together with heavy raw-
hide thongs. The wheat is winnowed from the chaff by tossing it in
the air when the wind comes up in the late afternoon. The chaff is
blown several feet away from the pile of wheat upon which a few large
straws fall, to be brushed away with a homemade brush broom. The
pile of wheat is winnowed again after being poured into a sieve, locally
made of wood and rawhide thongs and costing the same as the fork.
The straw is brought to the house on donkey back in huge bags and
poured down through a hole in the roof into the storeroom below. The
chaff is frequently used to mix with fresh dung in making the cakes
that are dried and used for fuel.
The wheat is brought from the threshing floor to the house, where it
is placed on a low table around which members of the family squat
as they carefully pick out the small pebbles that got mixed with the
grain during the threshing process. The wheat that is destined to be
kept is made into bourghol. It is placed in a giant kettle, boiled till
thoroughly cooked, and dried on mats in the sun, making what looks
like a kind of coarse cracked wheat. This process has killed all weevils
and their eggs, and the resultant bourghol will keep for years and is
a staple food; pounded into ground meat it makes kibbeh, a sort of
national dish in this part of the world. The wheat for immediate
consumption is carried to the nearest mill, usually on the back of the
patient donkey. The huge millstones are driven by water, and the
building in which the mill is housed has built-in mangers where the
donkeys can be fed while their masters wait for the grain to be ground.
412 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Going to the mill is a social occasion, eagerly looked forward to, and
the more people waiting to grind their wheat the better, for then there
is an opportunity to exchange gossip for hours, perhaps all night.
When the grain is ground the miller takes a small fraction of the flour
for his fee and the farmer returns home. This whole-wheat stone-
ground flour is made into thin, unleavened loaves of bread, in the
form of huge pancakes. The baking is done by the womenfolk who
use a community oven. Baking day is anticipated as a kind of social
meeting, in spite of the fact that every phase of the process of living
is attended by a lavish expenditure of time and labor.
A certain amount of wheat brought in by the gleaners in small
sheaves is beaten out by hand on the doorstep at home. A pleasant
afternoon was passed in the company of a man and his wife so en-
gaged. It was a period of interesting gossip for the onlookers, but
Mrs. N. was working all the time as she talked. Besides doing chores
of this kind, this well-preserved woman cares for her family of eight
children, works in the field, helps thresh and winnow wheat, carries
water from the spring and gathers firewood in the rocky hills, makes
dung cakes for fuel, and soon. She does not belong to a bridge club,
nor does she attend cocktail parties.
TREE CROPS
The annual crops are by no means sufficient to support the people of
Dahr, who engage in a number of other activities to supplement their
income. Perennial crops—figs, olives, and grapes—are produced, too,
but not enough of them to make the village self-sufficient. One good
sign is that the Government (in 1952) inaugurated the policy of dis-
tributing fig trees and grapevines to those farmers who would plant
them. The quality of the olives could be improved if, instead of being
beaten off the trees by sticks, they were picked by hand; but this “is not
the custom.” Mr. M., former moukhtar (mayor), of the village, when
asked what would be the best thing for the village, replied that more
terraces should be built and more tree crops planted, thus increasing
the capital as well as the income of everyone. This suggestion was
countered by Mr. N.: “It takes lots of capital to establish vineyards
and orchards of olive and fig trees, and one must have enough to live
on while waiting for the trees to mature. It’s all very well to talk of
long-term investments, but what do we eat meanwhile?” This is the
problem that confronts most villages, for the demands of the popula-
tion on resources is too great and too continuously applied to allow of
capital accumulation. This pressure is so great, and so immediate,
that in certain years fields are not planted, for the simple reason that
all the grain has been eaten and at the time of planting the people are
unable to buy seed. The question at once arises: Why does the Gov-
DAHR, LEBANON—CRIST 413
ernment not lend money to the small farmer for his seasonal needs?
This it would seem is within the scope of an agricultural bank, and
such a bank exists in the Lebanon. But there have been instances in
which an individual with “background,” as the local idiom has it, has
borrowed a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars with which to improve
a specified piece of rocky land, on which the bank takes a mortgage, but
has squandered the money on something else or invested elsewhere, and
when the bank has pressed for payment, the land, of no intrinsic worth
and still unimproved, is turned over for the mortgage—a manipula-
tion more profitable to the entrepreneur than to the taxpayer. At the
same time a man who is “land poor” and who needs a little money to
hire seasonal help, or repair terrace walls, or buy seed, or to tide him
over a period of poor harvests, meets with endless red tape and
ultimate refusal.
The farmer has not only poor soil to contend with, but he can never
count on the weather. There is generally a cold, rainy season in
winter followed by a hot, dry season in summer—a typically Medi-
terranean climate. But the rainfall will vary from a scant 27.18
inches one year (1950-51), to almost double that, 45.70 inches, the next
(1951-52). The hot, dry wind from the desert will scorch a crop of
wheat or lentils in a few days. Too much rain will tumble a substan-
tially built retaining wall.
Another brake on agricultural activities—permanent, and man-
made—is the immemorial tax collector. It seems incredible, but even
farmland so poor as this pays taxes—ranging from 50 cents to a
dollar an acre, depending on the appraised value. The value can be
“lowered” if one knows the right people and procedure, but this pro-
viso excludes the landowners of Dahr. ‘Taxes are still farmed out as
they were in Roman, Byzantine, and Turkish days. That is, the tax
collector pays a large sum to the Government for the privilege of col-
lecting taxes in a certain area, and then he collects whatever the traffic
will bear, everything above what he has paid to the treasury repre-
senting his profit in the transaction. The people of Dahr are lucky
that they do not have to pay a landlord into the bargain. The recently
enacted tax on incomes of over a thousand dollars a year will not
affect anyone at Dahr.
INDUSTRY
When the Dahr people were asked why they did not engage in
spinning and weaving, they replied that theirs was a poor village.
When they were told that people in the small village of Beino did
engage in those household industries, the reply was, “O, but that is
a rich village.” Thus cause and effect are confused. Instead of
realizing that industry brings wealth, they feel that the community
must be wealthy in order to have industry. Of course, to establish
414 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
an industry a certain amount of capital and skill must be available,
but the capital necessary to acquire a loom is very small. The skill,
however, must be acquired. Two Dahr families do engage in silk-
worm culture, which is farmed out to them on halves by relatives in
the neighboring village of Jibrail, whence come the worms and the
mulberry leaves. The work of feeding and tending them is done in
Dahr, and each family produces about 100 kilos of cocoons, which are
sold for about 60 cents a kilo. Thus from this source each family nets
$30 a year. The droppings of the worms are dried in the sun to be
used later as cowfeed. It contains highly nutritious elements and is
greatly relished by the cattle.
The big cash industry in the vicinity of Dahr is the burning of lime.
Fifteen kilns, on the average, are burned each year. The industry is
based on purely local material. The limestone exists in unlimited
quantities, and the fuel consists of the thorny scrub bush that grows
wild in the areas that have no soil. Each burning requires the brush
from 25 to 30 acres of this wasteland. The privilege of gathering the
brush costs the entrepreneur from 25 cents to a dollar an acre, depend-
ing on the thickness of the growth. The kiln site rents for $2.50 a
burning. The chief lime burner is an old man whose father and grand-
father before him were lime burners. His son is learning the business
from him and will carry on after his death. He and his son do prac-
tically all the work themselves. They quarry the limestone, arrange
it in the kiln, cut the fuel, fire the kiln, and market the product. Each
burning means approximately $175 to $250 net, which, multiplied by
15, makes an income that is most welcome in this capital-starved
community. In addition, they farm 5 acres of unirrigated land on
which they grow wheat, barley, and lentils. They buy goat manure
from their neighbors for fertilizer.
LIFE OF THE VILLAGERS
The village reaches out with long bony fingers, as it were, to exploit
the area which is too rocky and infertile to be cultivated. Several
families keep goats, which are grazed on the steep mountainsides in
the spaces between the narrow strips under cultivation and even on
the rocky knolls. The several flocks, which number about 200 in all,
are each in the care of a goatherd, either a local Dahr boy or one
from a neighboring village. These boys often break the monotony
of their calling by playing on their bamboo pipes of Pan, which in the
distance sound somewhat like Scottish bagpipes. They also occa-
sionally have a little picnic by roasting a few heads of wheat, not yet
quite ripe, over a small fire of thorny brush, and the grains thus
roasted are very tasty. At night the goats are kept in pens in the
village, and their manure finds a ready sale. They are clipped in
June, and their hair is sold to city weavers who make the black goat-
DAHR, LEBANON—CRIST 415
hair cloth used by the Bedouins for their famous black tents. The
horned cattle kept by the villagers are used primarily as draft animals,
but the cows, when they have calved, are milked. From cow’s milk,
as well as from goat’s milk, which is rarely drunk fresh, is made
leban, the cream-cheeselike preparation made from fermented milk,
known to the West by the Turkish name yogurt. This is a dish that
is made practically every day and is relished by everyone. In the
making of Zeban most of the pathogenic germs are destroyed by the
heating process, a kind of mild pasteurization, while the harmless
bacteria and those which might be beneficial when taken into the
system are not destroyed. The bacteria that turn milk sour by form-
ing lactic acid are preserved practically intact, so that they can mul-
tiply rapidly in the intestinal tract, put to rout undesirable and
possibly deleterious organisms, and produce what the physician calls
a “desirable bacterial flora.”
A white cream cheese (arish) is made by putting the /eban in a
cloth bag and allowing the whey to drip out. Some of the residue is
eaten when fresh, but the rest is rolled into balls about 2 inches in
diameter, thoroughly dried in the sun, and then aged for 3 or 4 weeks
in sealed containers. Afterward the mold is washed off, the balls
are rolled in the dried leaves of a pungent herb, and the result is a
delicious cheese (shanklish) , somewhat similar in flavor to Roquefort.
The diet of the villagers is monotonous, especially in winter, but
when ample it is fairly well balanced. One of the main dishes, along
with bread and bourghol, is mujaddara, a mixture of lentils, onions,
and olive oil. All winter long the women may be seen in the fields
and on the grazing lands gathering various “greens.” These are
brought back to the house and carefully sorted. The edible ones—
there are 23 varieties—are cooked up for family consumption, with
lentils, or Bourghol, and oil, and the others are fed to the cow or to the
goats. Meat is expensive and therefore is eaten only occasionally.
One villager complained that they do not eat meat day in and day out
as foreigners do, but on occasions when meat is at hand they overeat.
All meat is eaten the day it is killed, or the following day. Refrigera-
tion is unknown except in the large cities, for the means are lacking.
The preserving of meat for future use, by drying, salting, smoking, or
canning, is likewise not practiced. Most of the villagers keep a few
chickens, but both the eggs and the meat are delicacies. Unfortu-
nately, many of the chickens died last year of Newcastle disease.
Bourghol is a staple dish, either as a hot cereal, or pounded into meat
to make the famous kibbeh, which could almost be considered the na-
tional dish. Good sets of teeth among the people of the village are
the rule, which indicates that the diet in general is wholesome, nu-
_ tritious, and well balanced.
416 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
The villagers are extremely hospitable. Even one so poor that, as
the interpreter points out, “he has only two chairs” (and these were
stools), will proffer you whatever he happens to have in the house,
which is what is in season at the time—cucumbers, or apricots, or
raw green broad beans, or grapes, or figs, and so on. The relatively
well-to-do villager will probably serve the visitor a sample of most of
the dishes eaten: first some fresh white cheese with unleavened bread
and a nip of arak, the licorice-flavored “firewater” to wash it down,
followed by cold soft-boiled eggs in a saucer, into which one is to dip
his bread; then some ripe shanklish rolled in herbs, and a bowl of
freshly cooked wheat or bourghol with a great deal of sugar in it.
These snacks are topped off with Turkish coffee.
The Sunday morning on which I went to the village for the last
time, to say my goodbys, everyone was as generous and as hospitable
as ever and seemed genuinely sorry to bid me farewell. The old
moukhtar seemed especially sad to say goodby, insisting that he would
never see me again and that he wanted to wish me well on my journey.
Once I entered his home, he quickly unlocked the chest in which the
huge glass jar of arak was kept and filled two large glass tumblers.
My host picked up his glass and drank hearty draughts while I sipped
the fiery liquid slowly, cautiously. After half an hour or so, however,
I began to realize that the arak was taking effect in no uncertain terms,
and I intimated to my host that I had better ask some more questions
before it was too late. His eyes danced as he replied, “Let’s keep right
on drinking. That way I'll find it easier to think up the answers.”
Meals are not eaten regularly, and cases of undernourishment and
malnutrition are not unknown, with the result that resistance to dis-
ease is low. Malaria is prevalent and the incidence was reported as
being highest in October and November, when the rains begin. These
are also the months when the young men who have been working in the
malaria-infested coastal plain return to the village, and it could be
that in some cases they return infected and the fever “comes out” at
elevation. Influenza and colds are the bane of existence during the
long winter months, with their short days and heavy rains, when peo-
ple are closely confined to their poorly lighted and poorly ventilated
houses, which are cold and damp. Cases of a persistent cough, or
“asthma,” are by no means rare, which lower the resistance of the
victims to such lung afflictions as pneumonia and tuberculosis. The
round of daily living becomes somewhat monotonous and the villagers
eagerly await the more clement weather of spring, and particularly
of summer when it is possible to sleep on the flat roofs of the houses
or on the new straw on the threshing floor. The unfavorable features
of the location of Dahr are somewhat compensated for by its elevation
of 2,500 feet above the humid akkar coastal plain, and the presence
nearby of a never-failing spring with excellent water.
DAHR, LEBANON—CRIST 417
On one occasion a villager, instead of answering a question that had
been put to him, replied, “Just see all the questions a foreigner can
ask! We are so busy trying to make a living that we don’t have time
to think up questions.” The struggle for a living is keen indeed, and
it is to be expected that one of the safety valves to population pressure
would be leaving the village in search of work. Six young men from
Dahr work during the summer months as day laborers on the large
estates along the coast. They earn about a dollar a day, and save
roughly two-thirds of this amount. With their savings they set up
housekeeping in Dahr, improving their holdings, and perhaps buy
some chickens or goats. The land base of the village is so poor that the
mere fact that it is used at all is an index of the low level of living.
It can be used only because it is worked by families, whose members
do not receive wages; even without the necessity of paying wages the
village achieves only a kind of precarious self-sufficiency. The mem-
bers of families of Dahr scatter early in search of a livelihood. Of a
representative family of eight children, between the ages of 3 and 22,
two are in Tripoli—one in school, and the other serving as a car-
penter’s apprentice—two smaller boys are in school at a nearby village,
and the two smallest children live at home, together with the two who
work the family land.
How can people, using such primitive techniques on poor soil and
on rugged terrain, compete with those who farm with the most modern
machinery the broad fertile acres of the wheat belts of Argentina,
Australia, or North America? The answer is that they are protected
by a high tariff. It is difficult for the uninitiated to thread his way
through the Lebanese labyrinth of tariff controls and Government de-
crees, but the result is seen in the market places. First-quality flour,
made from wheat imported from Canada, Australia, or the United
States, retails at about one-third more (65 piasters the kilo against 45)
than flour made from wheat grown locally or in Syria. The removal
of the high tariff on imported grains would make it no longer profit-
able to grow wheat on the narrow, rocky fields in the mountains, and
many thousands of people, thus bereft of the possibility of making a
living, would migrate from their villages.
The Lebanon has supplied a current of migrants to overseas coun-
tries. Thousands of Lebanese have emigrated to Africa and to the
Americas during the past 60 or 70 years, and many of them have done
well. Even a tiny village of the size of Dahr feels the influence of
overseas migration and of returned emigrants. The present moukhtar
(mayor), was in Africa for many years and the former moukhtar spent
12 years in Brazil. They both returned to their village with enough
capital to buy small pieces of land and improve it by terracing and
. the planting of trees, and they were financially able to wait until an
income would be realized on the investment. Of course, for every one
418 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
who comes back “rich” from America or Africa there are many who
have not prospered markedly, but the villagers see and envy the one
successful returned emigrant, not the ninety-and-nine who do not get
rich enough to return or to send money home. The returned emigrant
helps to inflate land values by buying and developing lands near his
village which are for sale, not necessarily the most productive lands
available in the country. But the returned emigrant usually does
more for the country than those who merely send remittances home,
which in many instances merely serve to support in relative idleness a
number of able-bodied people at the bare subsistence level. It was a
common experience during World War II, when remittances were cut
off, to find that many families whose members had done no work for a
long time, were forced to get out their tools and start working the
land again.
Some of the villagers, as is to be expected, strike notes of pessimism.
One of them said cynically, “Living is merely absence of death.” But
when asked why he did not live in Jibrail or even in Tripoli, he replied
that there were a lot of places other than Dahr in which he might like
to live, but where he would lack certain perquisites—a house on which
he paid no rent, a living, such as it was, sympathetic friends and mem-
bers of his family, and soon. When it was pointed out that he had a
lovely view from his house over the valley and mountains beyond, he
suggested that I try living there for 2 months without an income and
see how beautiful I found it then. His final comment was, “The Devil
must be very busy. He hasn’t had time yet to come for us at Dahr.”
On the other hand, the former moukhtar, twice a widower, and 85
years of age, is vigorous, cheerful, and hardworking, as are the other
members of his family. His industry and sense of humor are conta-
gious. The children by his second marriage, a girl of 7 and a boy of
10, are already performing their share of family duties; the little girl
does chores around the house and brings water from the spring in the
two big earthern jars on the donkey’s back, and her brother makes a
good “hand” at farm tasks. When asked what the striking differences
were between today and yesteryear, the old man replied, “People now
have more money, they travel more, but there is less happiness and sat-
isfaction with one’s lot because of jealousy of those better off. There
is more display of wealth now than there was two generations ago,
when there was less visible difference between the rich and the poor.”
He smiled at his recollections as he continued, “Fifty years ago
rich and poor alike ‘hobbled’ into Tripoli on the old family donkey,
taking a day to go and a day to come, but one went there only when it
was strictly necessary. It was a place to go to on urgent business only,
not a place to stay in long, for it was inhabited by ‘savages’! We did
not then consider it a center of civilization.”
DAHR, LEBANON—CRIST 419
Much of the agricultural activity in the Near East is carried on with-
out the aid of wheeled vehicles. Even the wheelbarrow is almost
unknown. Almost all loads—sheaves of wheat, firewood and water
for the house, manure for fertilizer, rocks for the walls of terraces—
are carried on the backs of animals or of human beings. The donkey
and the mule are used over short distances or in the mountains for loads
up to about 200 pounds, and the camel is used for longer journeys for
loads of 400 to 450 pounds. As long as a society makes little or no use
of wheeled vehicles, roads are a luxury, for donkeys, mules, camels,
oxen, and human beings on foot can negotiate the steep, muddy, and
rocky trails to the tiny houses in the most remote villages. For Dahr
this has all changed. The paved road for automobiles reached the
village last year, and now Tripoli is only a pleasant hour’s drive away.
So the village is not static; it is a going concern that lives on gener-
ation after generation. ‘The meager base of raw materials and what
seems to western eyes to be its precarious economic position would not
seem conducive to the stability and continuity necessary for a going
concern. Perhaps it will continue to have its raison d’etre in non-
material rather than in material factors. Although life is not easy it
is savored as one goes along. All available satisfactions are drawn
from living here and now and day by day. The villagers do not
hustle and bustle through an 8-hour day; they work a much longer day
during the summer, but not by the clock. There seems to be less wear
and tear on the individual whose workday is 14 hours long instead of
8 if he feels the human warmth of working in a cooperative society and
not in a social vacuum, and if he can take time out to gossip with
neighbors and take his afternoon siesta. Stomach ulcers and nervous
breakdowns are not yet known in Dahr.
One of the first things of which a Dahr child becomes aware is
that he belongs to a family unit and to a kinship group which demands
his unswerving loyalty. Members of a family must help each other
at all times. “AII for each and each for all” is the motto. Nepotism
is consequently an established feature of the mores of the community.
The family is the only social security organization that functions.
Family life is closely joined up with the church and its rites, and one
is expected to cling throughout life to the religious community into
which he is born. Family ties are, of course, the most important of
all, but the feeling of community solidarity is also very strong.
Villages tend to act as a unit in times of crisis, and bloody battles
between villages are not uncommon. Even today in modern Lebanon
the gendarmes must frequently be called in to settle disputes, and
the result of an intervillage feud may be several killed and
’Tannous, Afif I., The Arab village community of the Middle East, Ann. Rep. Smith-
- sonian Inst. for 1943, pp. 589-541, 1944.
420 § ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
wounded. One has but to glance at the daily newspapers to see, for
example, the vivid account of an attack by the people living in the
village of Kfarse’louan on those living in Jouar-el-Haouz, the upshot
of which little differences was three killed and two gravely wounded.‘
If such events occur in the relatively highly developed towns border-
ing the shores of the Mediterranean, it can perhaps be imagined what
fierce vendettas can be carried on between tribes of the desert interior.
Tiny mountain villages such as Dahr do more than merely maintain
their numbers; they also create a surplus population for the cities,
which grow by accretion from outside, and they send to distant shores
migrants whose remittances enable the populations of many other
small villages to continue to vegetate and to create a surplus which will
in turn migrate, and so on in a continuous cycle. More people would
leave Dahr if they could afford to do so, but they have neither the
money with which to migrate, nor enough capital to improve their
agriculture. Such a situation, while giving the more energetic and
alert of the villagers a sense of frustration, is not, unfortunately,
reflected in a declining birthrate. The birthrate remains the same
as it was in former times when the infant mortality rate was so high
that, in order to maintain the fighting and working strength of the
family, and hence of the tribe or village, a large number of births was
necessary in each family in order that a few might survive to adult-
hood. Thanks to the efficiency of modern public and household health
measures, even in a community as primitive—by western standards—as
Dahr, a far larger percentage of children than formerly live to grow
up. There has been a huge increase of births over deaths. An ade-
quate rate of population growth can now be assured without a high
birthrate, but changes in folkways do not always keep pace with
progress in techniques. The folkways still favor the old-fashioned
high birthrate of other days, and so it remains.
Although much ink has been spilled in poetizing the joys and beauty
of the farmer’s life, the fact remains that if the returns of his toi]—
psychic and material—are not sufficient for proper living, the farmer
will want to migrate. The people of the Near East have created a
complicated cultural milieu within the framework of which they have
shown a great deal of ingenuity in adjusting to a relatively harsh
physical environment. Their lot can be improved by education—
education, however, of a practical type, which will train farmers to
keep on farming and to do so by improving their traditional prac-
tices. Elementary schools for teaching agricultural techniques as
well as the three R’s, are needed in the villages, to help the people
to help themselves within the framework of their own rural culture.
Since the difference between commercial success and failure depends
*L’Orient, Beirut, July 2, 1952.
DAHR, LEBANON—CRIST 421
upon the market and the prices obtained for crops, the problem of
marketing should receive close attention if farm incomes are to be
increased. In spite of publicity and propaganda the back-to-the-
farm movement has succeeded nowhere, least of all in the United
States, as long as the farm was still uninviting and unrewarding.
What has held young people of the present generation on the farm
in the United States is not publicity campaigns, but an income that
makes it possible for them to afford automobiles, electric lights,
running water, up-to-date plumbing, washing machines, milking ma-
chines, andsoon. The careful selection of seeds, the use of fertilizers,
the application of modern tools and methods, and the control of in-
sects and plant diseases would result in a higher money income,
which would in turn be reflected in a gradual but general rise in the
level of living, and quite possibly in gradual cultural changes. Even
the most apathetic of men want to better their condition. If at the
end of each year of hard work he is as far as ever from being able to at-
tain the most ordinary comforts of life, the farmer would be considered
unnatural who would not want to change his lot. It seems axiomatic
that as long as urban centers—even the slums of urban centers—hold
more attraction for living than rural villages, just so long will the
current of population be away from the country. Therefore it seems
logical that any program, to achieve lasting results, should be built
on the firm foundation of peasants who are reasonably well-fed, well-
housed, well-clothed, and who are in consequence imbued with a cer-
tain amount of optimism as to their continued well-being, both physi-
cal and cultural.
The increased income derived from the improvement in agriculture
should be used in raising the level of living. Its reinvestment in the
agricultural enterprise or in better living is preferable to using it
for the conspicuous consumption of goods. If labor-saving devices
merely make it possible for the men to have more leisure time in
which to squander in the cafes the money saved by the introduction
of the new machines, the gain has been nullified.
CONCLUSION
The village of Dahr—as indeed almost the whole of Lebanon—is
atypical in the Near Eastern panorama, for as one goes inland he sees
that these hardy mountaineers whose strenuous toil is so meagerly
requited are relatively well off. For the most part they own and
farm their own small, fragmented parcels of land. Throughout the
whole of the Near East peasant proprietors are found only under
certain rare conditions and in certain limited areas—in mountainous
regions difficult of access, in villages in which land is held and worked
in common, and near some of the larger cities which are surrounded
422 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
by an effectively policed zone, where the resultant law and order invite
the small peasant to take his chances in defending his rights. Every-
where else in the Near East, from the shores of the Mediterranean to
the Persian Gulf, the land is held in great landed estates, some of
which are very extensive, veritable principalities. Throughout the
length of the Fertile Crescent, the great transition zone between the
desert and the sown which extends from the Gulf of Aqaba northward
to Aleppo and eastward to Basra, the more arid the climate is, the
more extensive is the cultivation—two factors which coincide with the
phenomena of great landed estates and of a miserable peasantry.
These tremendous holdings are an outgrowth of the social climate,
which in turn is conditioned by two principal factors, viz, the pre-
eminent social and political role played in the Near East by the city
vis-a-vis the country, and the economic and social prestige which
accrues to the individual who has his entire fortune in land. The
essential function of capital throughout the centuries has been and
still remains the acquisition of land. We are not concerned here with
the methods whereby the great landed estates have come into being.
Suffice it to say that enormous agglomerations of broad and fertile
acres are owned in fee simple by single families, the eldest member of
which acts in each case as the manager. Thus the people who own
land do not work it and those who work the soil own none of the land,
although they are tied to it by the invisible bonds of immemorial cus-
tom and by the more tangible fetters of debts which they can never
hope to pay.
These holdings comprise not merely tracts of land but entire villages
as well, the sites of which are in reality, together with the inhabitants,
“owned” by the manorial overlords. Only a few miles to the north
of Dahr, in the eastern part of the Akkar Plain, the Dendachlis “own”
more than 60 villages, and the Barazi of the town of Hama own 49
village in the Alawite Mountains.5
Olives, figs, grapes, apricots, and divers other fruits are consumed
where tree crops are grown, but in the vast cereal-producing areas of
the interior, bread, bourghol, and leban are the basis, year in and year
out, of the diet of the inhabitants of the “owned” villages. It is only
in the poorer districts and during periods of famine that actual want
occurs, but the diet is, to say the least, very monotonous, and the peas-
ants could in general consume much more food if it were available.
But the general social insecurity, the extremely primitive housing and
sanitary conditions, the deficient recreational facilities, and the wide-
spread ignorance, make for a hunger which is not so much physical as
cultural and spiritual. The fact that the good earth does not yield
5 Weulersse, Jaques, Paysans de Syrie et du Proche-Orient, p. 119, Paris, 1946.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Crist PLATE 1
1. THE VILLAGE OF DAHR CLINGS TO A LIMESTONE CRAG MIDST NARROW,
TERRACED FIELDS.
2. THE CHIEF MAN OF THE VILLAGE WITH SOME OF HIS RELATIVES.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Crist PLATE 2
4 aa
‘oem hn
1. FETCHING WATER FROM THE SPRING HAS BEEN WOMEN’S WORK FROM TIME
IMMEMORIAL.
2. NEWLY BUILT TERRACES WHICH ACT AS SIEVES FOR WINTER STREAMS AND THUS
COLLECT A THIN LAYER OF SOIL.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Crist PLATE 3
sche Baa eatyy uc Ett
ee
4
1. WOMEN CUTTING WHEAT BY HAND SICKLE.
Note the extremely rocky soil.
2. MEN HARVESTERS WEARING BAMBOO FINGER STALLS AS A PROTECTION
AGAINST THISTLES.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Crist PLATE 4
1. A VIEW OF THE INTENSIVELY CULTIVATED MOUNTAINOUS INTERIOR OF THE
LEBANON FROM ONE OF DAHR’S THRESHING FLOORS
2. GLEANERS BRING THEIR SMALL SHEAVES OF WHEAT HOME WHERE THEY CAN
THRESH THEM BY HAND, ONE HEAD AT A TIME.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Crist PLATE 5
AR
a,
1. THE THRESHING SLED IN OPERATION.
Unthreshed sheaves lie in the center of the threshing floor.
ie as
2. EVEN THE BABES IN ARMS GET A RIDE ON THE THRESHING SLED.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Crist PLATE 6
1. WOMEN MAKING UNLEAVENED BREAD.
They thoroughly knead the dough, pat it into extremely thin cakes from a foot to a foot
and a half in diameter, and bake it on the hot iron disk under which a tiny fire is slowly
fed eaves, grass, and twigs.
2. AMAN AND HIS WIFE WINNOWING THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF INA BRISK WIND.
Note the hand-made forks with wooden tines used by the man.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Crist PLATE 7
1. COOKING WHEAT TO MAKE BOURGHOL, IN THE OPEN AIR IN A FAMILY-SIZED
Keine:
2. CAMELS LADEN WITH SACKS OF WHEAT FOR GRINDING IN THE LOCAL STONE
MILL.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Crist PLATE 8
sani a ae ng) ts
te
1. WEIGHING SACKS OF LIME BROUGHT FROM THE KILN ON DONKEY BACK TO
DAHR, WHERE THEY ARE TRANSFERRED TO A TRUCK.
¢?
Saag
Se
as .
a
“i Ba . fw <r
LAD. ios * ee i
SAWN La Be PICA
2. A SHEPHERD BOY WHILES AWAY THE LONG HOURS PLAYING HIS PIPES OF PAN.
DAHR, LEBANON—CRIST 423
up a more abundant life to the peasant, results rather from the social
organization than from any other cause. A keen and sympathetic
student of the peoples of the Near East concludes: “Old, inefficient
farming practices are pursued in the shadow of the new motor pumps,
and poverty, ill health, and ignorance are still the lot of the majority.
The new agriculture represents the uncoordinated efforts of individ-
uals, when what is really needed is a radical comprehensive scheme of
rehabilitation on a large regional scale, including soil and water con-
servation and major social changes. Unhappily, such a program is
unlikely ever to be realized.” ®
Although the village of Dahr enjoys a climate without too great
fluctuations and has been spared the economic and social burden of
the worst features of landlordism, it is felt that from this short study
it is possible to draw certain conclusions which have more than local
application.
The countries of the Near East will in the foreseeable future inevi-
tably remain primarily agricultural areas whose wealth will continue
to be dependent upon the peasant, the fedlah. Commercial activity
will also depend upon the prosperity of the peasant whose produce
mainly supplies the market and who is the consumer, by and large,
of most of the gocds of the merchant. Industrialization will certainly
continue to be based to a large extent upon the processing of locally
grown agricultural products. Hence the long-term capital accumula-
tion necessary to the development of the Near Eastern countries is
contingent upon increased agricultural production, upon which in
turn wil] depend the more ample and richer diets, the improved con-
ditions of public health, and the better educational facilities, which
will in turn help further to increase agricultural production, and so
on in an upward spiral.
6 Lewis, Norman N., Selemiya, Three Years After, Geographical Review, vol. 40, No. 3,
p. 480, July 1950.
284725—54——28
The Problem of Dating the Dead
Sea Scrolls’
By Joun C. TREVER
A, J. Humphreys Professor of Religion
Morris Harvey College, Charleston, W. Va.
[With 8§ plates}
Tun RECENT articles appearing in popular American magazines,
describing the application of the radioactive carbon-14 process of age
determination to the cloth found in the Dead Sea cave from which the
famed Dead Sea Scrolls came, have once again fanned the flames of
popular interest in these ancient documents. While popular interest
and enthusiasm have waxed and waned, scholarly interest has con-
tinued unabated, as the analytical and critical literature on the subject
has reached almost staggering proportions.
For the sake of those who may not be familiar with the subject, it
would be well to review a little of the background of the discovery of
the Dead Sea Scrolls. High up on the cliffs overlooking the north-
west edge of the Dead Sea near ‘Ain Fashkha, about 714 miles south of
Jericho in Palestine, some Bedouins happened upon a hole on the side
of a rock projection early in the spring of 19472 On entering, they
found a large cave penetrating some 25 feet into the cliff, and about
614 feet wide by 8 to 9 feet high (pl. 1, fig. 1).
On the floor of the cave, the Bedouins found some 40 jars, each with
a specially prepared cover. Apparently they smashed many of those
not already broken. Only two, now in the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem, have been recovered intact. With patient labor some have
been restored (pl. 1, fig. 2), and archeologists are able to determine
2A report based on a period of research in England made possible by grants from the
American Philosophical Society and the American Schools of Oriental Research in 1950-51
and the generous assistance of the National Council of Churches. This paper was first
presented as an illustrated address before the Annual Meeting of the American Philosophi-
cal Society on April 25, 1952. Reprinted, slightly revised to add later evidence as of
August 1953, by permission from the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,
vol. 97, No. 2, 1953. More detailed results of this research will appear in a volume of the
series “The Dead Sea Scrolls of St. Mark’s Monastery,” being edited by Dr. Millar Burrows
for the American Schools of Oriental Research.
2A more detailed account was published by the writer under the title “Scrolls from a
_Dead Sea Cave,” in the Christian Century, July 12, 1950, pp. 840-842.
425
426 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
the approximate date of their manufacture. There seems to be little
question about the fact that the jars were manufactured in the early
first century A. D., during the early Roman period. Here, then, is
one important means of determining the approximate age of the scrolls
found in the cave, since the homogeneity of all the pottery gives a
strong indication that the jars were made for the purpose of storing
manuscripts.
Also in the cave the Bedouins found a great deal of linen cloth, much
of which was recovered by the excavators in February 1949. Anal-
ysis by textile experts revealed it to be native Palestinian cloth.
The radioactive carbon-14 test, developed by Dr. Willard F. Libby
of the University of Chicago, resulted in a mean date of A. D. 33 for
some of this cloth, but a 200-year plus or minus margin of error must
be allowed.®
Hundred of fragments of manuscripts, trampled into the dust of
the cave, were picked up by the archeologists. During a recent
leave of absence for the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls the writer was
able to examine photographs of about half of these fragments and
the originals of the other half in the British Museum in London,
through the courtesy of G. Lankester Harding, Director of An-
tiquities for Hashemite Jordan. Some 45 different hands or varia-
tions of script were counted, indicating that as many manuscripts
were apparently at one time in the cave. Yet there is a definite
homogeneity of script among all the materials from the cave. One
group of unpublished fragments, matted together, was secured in
November 1948 by the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop of Jerusalem
from the vandals who rifled the cave, and these proved to contain
parts of a scroll of Hebrew prayers and of two scrolls of Daniel.
The Bedouins sold the best-preserved of the documents to the St.
Mark’s Syrian Orthodox Monastery in Jerusalem in July 194%,
through the help of some Syrian merchants in Bethlehem who were
friends of the Bedouins. Five scrolls, making four different manu-
scripts, were in this collection. It was with this group of manu-
scripts that the writer first came in contact with the whole discovery,
when on February 18, 1948, the Orthodox Syrians called the Amer-
ican School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem to obtain information
3 Since the original publication of this article the Palestine Exploration Quarterly for
May—October 1952, and the Revue Biblique for January 1953, have arrived, telling of the
excavations at Khirbet Qumran, the ruin of a site occupied in the first century A. D.,
apparently by the sect (Essenes?), who owned the scrolls. Pottery similar to that from
the cave was found with coins dating from A. D. 10-67.
4Report upon a fragment of cloth from the Dead Sea Scroll Cave, Bull. Amer. School
Orient. Res., vol. 119, pp. 9-11, April 1950. Crowfoot, G. M., Linen textiles from the cave
of Ain Feshka in the Jordan Valley, Palestine Expl. Quart., January-April 1951, pp. 5-31.
5 Collier, Donald, New radiocarbon method for dating the past, Chicago Nat. Hist. Mus.
Bull., vol. 22, No. 1, January 1951, and Bibl. Archaeol., vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 25-28, February
1951. Sellers, O. R., Date of cloth from the ‘Ain Fashkha cave, Bibl. Archaeol., vol. 14,
No. 1, p. 29, February 1951.
DEAD SEA SCROLLS—TREVER An
about what they had purchased, having failed to get any information
from others whom they had consulted. The writer invited the Syrians
to the American School to examine their scrolls. Then began a
long series of events which is far too involved to treat here.*
The largest of the scrolls is the Book of Isaiah, consisting of 17
sheets of leather sewn together to make a document 24 feet long by
101% inches wide, with 54 columns of Hebrew writing, including the
entire 66 chapters of the Book of Isaiah.7 There are only a few
breaks, such as those on the first three columns, in the entire manu-
script (pl. 2).
The second scroll was identified by my colleague, Dr. William
Brownlee, as a commentary or Midrash on Habakkuk. It is only
about 6 feet long, composed of two sheets of dark brown leather, badly
disintegrated by time and white ants. Only the first two chapters of
the Book of Habakkuk are found in the scroll interspersed with the
discussion, applying the Biblical prophecy to the period of the Roman
conquest of Palestine.
The third document is called the “Manual of Discipline,” since it
includes rules and ceremonies of the sect which owned these docu-
ments as well as something of their theology. It is composed of a
heavier leather, with five sheets sewn together, making the manu-
script a little over 6 feet long by 94% inches high, with 11 columns of
Hebrew text. Fragments of five or six additional columns of the
beginning of this manuscript have since been secured by the
Palestine Archaeological Museum in Jerusalem.
The fourth document in the possession of the Syrians has not yet
been unrolled, and is in a badly disintegrated condition (pl. 3). The
future of this document seems to hinge on the purchase of the docu-
ments by some museum or library which can carry through on the
work of unrolling the document and publishing its contents. In April
1949 the writer succeeded in removing a fairly large fragment from
the document and found that it is a narrative, purportedly written by
Lamech, the father of Noah, telling, in this part at least, something
of the birth of Noah. Though the name Noah does not actually appear
on the fragment, comparison of the fragment with the Book of Enoch
(ch. 106) makes it quite apparent that this is the general content. The
most important fact about the scroll, however, is that it is written in
Aramaic, a language in which we have almost no literary documents
4 detailed account of the writer’s experiences in Jerusalem has been published under
the title “The Newly Discovered Jerusalem Scrolls,” in Bibl, Archaeol., vol. 11, No. 3,
pp. 45-57, September 1948.
7 Burrows, Millar, ed., The Dead Sea Scrolls of St. Mark’s Monastery, 1, Amer. Schools
Orient. Res., 1950. This volume includes the complete facsimiles of both the Isaiah and
the Habakkuk scrolls.
{ ® Burrows, Millar, ed., The Dead Sea Scrolls of St. Mark’s Monastery, 2, fase. 2, Plates
and transcriptions of the Manual of Discipline, Amer. Schools Orient. Res., 1951.
428 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
from an early period, and the current tongue in Palestine during the
early Roman period.®
In addition to the four documents secured by St. Mark’s Monastery,
the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, through the late Dr. E. L.
Sukenik, secured three additional documents in six separate sections
in November of 1947. Four of these scrolls went together to make
up the “Songs of Thanksgiving,” written with a beautiful script simi-
lar to a number of the fragments found by the excavators. Another
and less beautiful hand prepared part of the scroll.
Also among the Hebrew University documents is a scroll looking
considerably like the Habakkuk commentary in structure, but which
Dr. Sukenik called the “Battle between the Sons of Light and the Sons
of Darkness,” apparently an imaginary battle conceived as a part
of the final days of the end of the age when righteousness will be
victorious.”°
The final scroll proved to be a very fragmentary section of another
scroll of the Book of Isaiah, and to judge from its script, dates among
the latest of the documents found in the cave, at least a hundred years
later than the other Isaiah scroll.
But the question that is occupying the attention of many scholars
is, how is it possible to date these documents? One phase of this ques-
tion has been the area of the special research for which the American
Philosophical Society has provided the writer its generous help. We
have already seen how the pottery from the cave can be dated as a
result of the scientific development in that field during the past 60
years. This method is not entirely satisfactory," however, since it
suggests only an approximate period for the deposit; and besides,
a few scholars refuse to admit that the scrolls were ever in the cave,
since they were discovered by ignorant Bedouins. Such a point of
view is absurd, however, for the writer has found one fragment of the
“Manual of Discipline” among those found by the excavators of the
cave, and the script of all the fragments and the scrolls is amazingly
homogeneous.
The radioactive carbon-14 tests applied to some of the cloth from
the cave added to the archeological evidence for a general date between
the second century B. C. and the second century A. D.
Some scholars believe that the only way the scrolls can be dated is
by their contents—that is, their peculiarities of grammer, spelling,
®*Trever, John C., Identification of the Aramaic fourth scroll from ’Ain Feshkha, Bull.
Amer. Schools Orient. Res., vol. 115, pp. 8-10, October 1949.
30 Cross, Frank M., Jr., The newly discovered scrolls in the Hebrew University Museum
in Jerusalem, Bibl. Archaeol., vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 36-46, May 1949.
11G, L. Harding (Palestine Expl. Quart., January—April 1951, p. 105) tells of the former
uncertainty of dating first-centuries B. C. and A. D. pottery, but the excavations of this
site and those of New Testament Jericho (Tulfl Abfi el-‘Alfyiq) have added significantly to
this field of knowledge.
DEAD SEA SCROLLS—TREVER 429
historical allusions, etc. But this method has led to such a wide
disagreement about dating (from the second century B. C. to the period
of the Crusades) that, without the help of other criteria, it would be
almost impossible to resolve the problem. Furthermore, the contri-
bution of the contents is largely to the date of the composition of the
writings rather than the specific dates of the scrolls in hand. It is
very probable that these scrolls are copies of earlier documents, not
original compositions. Thus we come to the subject of paleography,
or the study of the actual handwriting used on the documents, as a
means of adding at least further evidence for the dating of the
documents.
The paleographer must begin by setting up a general pattern of
writing for a particular language on the basis of known dated mate-
rials, which for early Aramaic and Hebrew are admittedly not
very plentiful. There are, however, the fifth century B. C. Aramaic
papyri, many of which are dated to the year (pl. 4). Fortunately,
many letters of this type have been found in Egypt from approxi-
mately the same time, giving considerable comparative material to
illustrate the pattern of script at that time in Egypt. Knowing that
the Jews adopted the Aramaic language and script sometime after the
fifth century B. C., it is safe to start with these known dated Aramaic
materials.??
Not all these letters were written on papyrus, however, for in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford there is a group of 12 letters written on
leather, which were found in Egypt. These can all be dated to
approximately 408 B. C., with a margin of error of no more than 2
or 8 years. The writer was able to examine some of these documents
at the Bodleian Library, through the courtesy of the librarian and
Dr. G. R. Driver, who is publishing them, and it is helpful to note
that the script on these letters is almost identical with that of the
papyri, indicating that these two media make very little difference
in the process of writing. Furthermore, these letters were written
in Persia, indicating that geographical location made little difference
in script at that time.
On the other end of the scale, we can select a recent manuscript of
approximately known date to see what happens to the script over
a period of more than a thousand years; for example, the British
museum codex of the Pentateuch in Hebrew (Or. 4445), long con-
sidered to be one of the oldest Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible in
122'The story of a new group of these papyri recently discovered has recently appeared :
Kraeling, Emil G., New light on the Elephantine colony, Bibl. Archaeol., vol. 15, No. 3,
pp. 49-67, September 1952; and now The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic papyri, by the same
author, Yale Univ. Press, 1953.
13 Driver, G. R., New Aramaic documents, Zeitschr. Alttestamentliche Wiss., vol. 62, pp.
.220—-224. 1949-50.
430 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
existence. This document dates very probably from the early tenth
century of our era.
The problem now is to fill in the gaps between the two extremes of
dates as far as possible with known dated materials, or materials
that can be dated on other grounds, until a general pattern of the
development of writing can be established. The collection of papyri
in the Bodleian is here again an asset, for there are found the Edfi
papyri, whose contents give a pretty clear dating from the third
century B. C. They illustrate certain types of basic changes in the
letter forms in the direction of the tenth century A. D. manuscripts.
To narrow down the limits at the other end is more difficult for
several reasons, the main one being that the greater amount of literary
activity among the Jews in medieval times led to a much more complex
pattern of writing for different purposes. Principles, therefore,
which apply to the paleographic developments observable in early
Aramaic-Hebrew scripts may not necessarily apply to medieval and
later Hebrew manuscripts, and vice versa.
For this study the University of Cambridge Library is particularly
valuable, since here is housed the tremendous collection of medieval
manuscripts known as the Cairo Genizah. This large collection of
documents was found in an abandoned storage room adjacent to an
old synagogue in Old Cairo and much of it taken to Cambridge by
Dr. Solomon Schechter in 1896.1#
Almost 2,000 of the more important documents from this collection
have been mounted in glass and are stored in a large case where they
are easily accessible for study. The writer examined most of these
to see whether any of them might be from an early date or might
show similarities to the Dead Sea Scrolls. None of them show any
paleographic evidence that would indicate a date as early as the newly
discovered manuscripts.
In the basement of the library thousands of manuscripts from the
same source have been organized in cardboard containers and merely
cataloged according to subject matter. Altogether more than 27,000
Hebrew manuscripts and fragments in this collection have been cata-
loged. A perusal of these fragments is important to illustrate the
problems involved in studying medieval paleography, for many differ-
ent types of script are found among these manuscripts, but apparently
were used for different purposes. In one marriage contract there is
a literary quotation at the top, written in a formal type of script,
while the rest of the document is written in a more cursive style,
common to such documents. This would suggest, therefore, that in
44 Kahle, Paul W., The Cairo Geniza. Schweich Lectures of the British Academy for
1941. Published for the Academy by the Oxford Univ. Press, 1947.
PLATE 1
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Trever
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THE ARAMAIC SCROLL OF LAMECH WITH TWO FRAGMENTS.
This scroll has not yet been unrolled. (Courtesy of Biblical Archaeologist.)
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(Courtesy of the University of Cambridge Library.)
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DEAD SEA SCROLLS—TREVER 431
dealing with the problem of the relation of medieval manuscripts to
the Dead Sea Scrolls, we should limit ourselves to literary documents
and their styles of writing as far as possible.
Scholars have said for many years that the oldest Biblical Hebrew
manuscripts date from the ninth and tenth centuries A. D. Dr. Paul
Kahle, at whose home in Charlbury, near Oxford, the writer spent
several valuable days, some years ago published a statement to the
effect that he had found Biblical manuscripts in the Cambridge col-
lection of the Cairo Genizah which had indications of being as old
as the fifth to seventh centuries A. D. Among these were fragments
of scrolls of Ezekiel and the Psalms. His basis of dating was largely
on the presence of a type of vowel pointing seldom found on Hebrew
manuscripts, but claimed by Kahle to be early Palestinian.*
After checking through the mounted fragments in the Cairo
Genizah, the writer found another fragment of the same scroll of
Psalms which Dr. Kahle had overlooked, the reason being that there
were no vowel points on this part. The script is certainly the same,
and comparing it with the ninth- and tenth-century manuscripts of
the Bible, it would appear to be older (pl. 5). On the back of this
manuscript fragment, however, there is other writing, a most unusual
feature for Hebrew Biblical scrolls, which were considered sacred.
The script is a semicursive form of Hebrew, though the language is
Arabic, and it has been suggested that the contents indicate that it was
probably done in the twelfth or thirteenth centuries A. D.
A closer examination reveals the fact, however, that this fragment
is a palimpsest, for there is writing underneath the top writing that
had been erased, probably at the time that the top writing was to be
done (pl. 6). The fact that this Biblical fragment has been used in
this way at all would probably indicate that the Biblical scroll was
so old and fragmentary that it would be possible to reuse it in this
way, though normally it would be considered a violation of the Jewish
law to do so. It would seem, therefore, that we have here an addi-
tional argument in support of Dr. Kahle’s suggestion that this manu-
script dates from an early time. At least it would seem that we
probably have here a manuscript from several centuries before the
earliest dated Hebrew manuscripts. But the type of script on this
old Biblical manuscript is still far removed from that of the early
papyri and of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
While studying in the Cambridge University Library it was the
writer’s pleasure to participate in the opening of an early papyrus
manuscript which has been for some 50 years in the Cambridge Uni-
versity Library, probably acquired from the Cairo Genizah. It isa
a Kahle, Paul £., Masoreten des Westens, vol. 2, pp. 14*-15*, Stuttgart, 1930.
432 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
small Hebrew codex (originally about 714 inches tall by about 6 inches
wide) containing perhaps more Hebrew papyri than all the existing
Hebrew papyri otherwise known. The original codex consisted of
about 28 folio sheets, making a quire of about 56 leaves. At least
14 leaves were missing, except for their center margin strip. The
extant codex is broken vertically about in half, and therefore the
contents will be very difficult to decipher. Dr. J. L. Teicher, a reader
in Talmudic for the University of Cambridge, is preparing the docu-
ment for publication, and he says that its contents indicate an eighth
century A. D. date, which therefore adds a little more to our knowledge
of the form of literary Hebrew script in the early Middle Ages. The
Bodleian Library at Oxford also possesses a large number of Hebrew
papyri believed to date from the third to the seventh centuries A. D.
They were all carefully studied by the writer, and are obviously later
than the Dead Sea Scrolls.”
The most important piece of literary papyri in relation to the Dead
Sea Scrolls is the little Nash papyrus containing fragments of Deu-
teronomy 6:4 and the Ten Commandments. Its date, to be sure, is
not fixed; but it has a script that is similar to that of the Dead Sea
Scrolls? The writer spent almost 4 full days in the Cambridge Uni-
versity Library, analyzing every detail of the script and the structure
of this document, and a number of points were discovered which
should be published to complete its story.
The problem of publishing the Nash papyrus has been a difficult one,
in view of the dark nature of its material and the very small script.
Real progress in this, however, has been possible recently through
processes of modern photography. After the writer discussed the
problem with the Cambridge Library photographer, through the use
of contrast infrared film, he produced a result which makes it possible
now to publish it clearly and resolve some of the confusion about it.
It is now even possible to include the letter forms from this document
on a photographically produced chart without retouching (see be-
low). Plate 7 is an unretouched direct photograph of the document
in original size.
This leads to the mention of another aspect of the writer’s research
which should be reported here. Many Biblical scholars have been
180. H. Lehmann, of the Bodleian Library staff, has attempted to show (Materials con-
cerning the dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls—1. Habakkuk, Palestine Expl. Quart., January—
April 1951, pp. 41-47), that some of these papyri are earlier than the Dead Sea Scroll of
Habakkuk (DSH), but his chart, plate 10, is misleading, and his evidence by no means
conclusive. The writer will discuss this problem more fully elsewhere.
a7 W. F. Albright’s splendid efforts to date this document are still basic to any analysis
of Hebrew paleography: A Biblical fragment from the Macecabaean Age: The Nash
papyrus, Journ. Bibl. Lit., vol. 56, pp. 145-176, September 1937.
ae SL
ee ee ee
DEAD SEA SCROLLS—TREVER 433
skeptical of the whole matter of Hebrew paleography, and have criti-
cized particularly the method of drawing letter forms in charts for
comparison, on the grounds that the subjective element is too liable
to appear.® It is true that, in drawing a certain form of a letter for
a particular purpose, there is a tendency to exaggerate the feature
which one is pointing out. Many published charts do show that this
criticism is not entirely unfounded. The writer set about, therefore,
to find a method of presenting paleographic charts to remove all
possibility of subjectivity.
The process consists of producing a high-contrast photograph of the
original document through the use of a fine-grain, contrast pan-
chromatic film, or by use of infrared films, in the case of certain
types of manuscripts (pl. 7, fig. 1).
From the high-contrast negative of the original, a print can be
produced which removes the background, leaving the writing very
clear (pl. 7, fig.2). A chart can then be prepared by cutting out the
individual letters and pasting them on a white card containing a scale
showing the original size (pl. 8, fig. 1). This card is then rephoto-
graphed with “contrast-process ortho” film, which allows enlargement
or reduction of the final chart on a photographic print which preserves
the exact forms of the letters, without any possible violation of forms
(pl. 8, fig. 2). Publication of the finished print therefore assures
absolute accuracy.
This method, of course, has certain drawbacks, in view of the fact
that not all types of materials can be treated in this way. Inscrip-
tions on stone or clay must still be reproduced by tracings, and badly
defaced letters, or those on disintegrated leather, cannot be selected
for such a chart. Furthermore, the high contrast tends to obscure
any elements which might show the method by which the form of the
letter was achieved, but hand-drawn charts also have this latter handi-
cap. Furthermore, the process is expensive, unless the paleographer
does his own photographic work.”
To return to the problem of dating the Dead Sea Scrolls by means
of paleography, however, we must admit that narrowing down the
limits of the history of Hebrew writing to the point where the Dead
Sea Scrolls could be fixed with considerable certainty, still leaves
much to be desired, especially in view of the absence of literary mate-
rials of the second century A. D. It is easier to fix the upper limit
of their age, since they could not possibly be as old as the third century
18 Dr, Solomon Birnbaum, without doubt the leading authority in Hebrew paleography,
effectively answers the critics in his The Qumran (Dead Sea) Scrolls and paleography,
Bull. Amer. Schools Orient. Res., Suppl. Stud. Nos. 13-14.
19 Birnbaum, ibid., p. 50, claims such a process is economically impossible.
434 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
B.C. papyri. But the lower limit is not so easy, in view of the paucity
of our materials from the first and second centuries A. D.*°
One of the most important contributions to this problem, it seems
to the writer, comes from the ossuary inscriptions, although the often
freehand scratching of the inscriptions into the limestone or chalk
makes many of them worthless for comparison with the script of
literary documents. These bone chests were a common form of dis-
posal of the bones of deceased relatives in the first century B. C. and
first century A. D., and many have been found with inscriptions in
Aramaic and Hebrew, giving the names of the people whom they
represent. The inability of the writer to secure a sufficient number
of good photographs of this type of inscription is one of the reasons
for the delay in publishing the results of the research, though it seems
apparent that the script found on these ossuaries represents substanti-
ally the period in which the Dead Sea Scrolls must be placed.” Cer-
tain basic changes in the form of script of Hebrew seem to have been
introduced in the late first century A. D. or early second century A. D.,
perhaps contemporaneous with the work of Rabbi Akiba, and if evi-
dence can be established to fix the dates of these changes we may have
the conclusive evidence for the placing of the Dead Sea Scrolls prior
to the end of the first century A. D.
That the Dead Sea Scrolls cover a considerable period of time of
themselves is evidenced by a comparison of the many different hands
represented in the total discovery. Probably the earliest of the docu-
ments found in the cave (with the possible exception of a few frag-
ments of Leviticus in archaic script) is the St. Mark’s Isaiah scroll
(DSIa) which has a script not too far removed from the third century
B. C. Edfi papyri. It still seems certain that DSIa must have been
written near the end of the second century B. C. The dating of the
latest fragments found in the cave will need to await the publication
of the new fragments recently found in the Muraba‘at caves, consider-
ably south and west of ‘Ain Fashkha.”
20 Reports from Palestine received about the time this paper was first presented indicate
that early second century A. D. Hebrew and Aramaie manuscript fragments have been
found in some caves farther south and west of ‘Ain Fashkha at Wadi Muraba‘at and ap-
parently not related to the Dead Sea Scroll deposits. Pére Roland de Vaux, who is pre-
paring them for publication, informs the writer that their script is later than that of the
Dead Sea Scrolls. One of the documents can be accurately dated to A. D. 124. If the
evidence is sufficient, it may supply the missing link that will settle the dating problem
once and for all. See Bull. Amer. Schools Orient. Res., vol. 126, pp. 1-2, April 1952,
™ Since presenting this paper orally, a complete set of photographs of the many ossuary
inseriptions in the Palestine Archeological Museum In Jerusalem has been received by the
writer.
2 Some samples have now been published in the Palestine Hxploration Quarterly for
May--October 1952, plate 28 (including a fragment of another scroll of Isaiah) and in the
Revue Biblique for April 1953, plates 12, 13, and 14 (including a fragment of Exodus and
a phylactery with Deut. 6:4-9). There is no doubt now that the Dead Sea materials from
the Qumran caves are earlier than these newer finds paleographically.
DEAD SEA SCROLLS-—TREVER 435
It is true that the study of Hebrew and Aramaic paleography has
not developed to the point where we can assign such manuscripts with
confidence within narrow limits in early periods of history on the
basis of the form of the writing alone, but it certainly is an important
tool to set beside the other means of dating documents. Certainly
it has had an important bearing on the Dead Sea Scrolls, having led
those who examined the scrolls in the first place to their initial con-
clusion—a conclusion which has not yet been seriously challenged—
that they are about 2,000 years old.” It has also helped narrow down
some of the very wide divergencies of dating derived from the study
of the internal evidence only.
The writer is extremely grateful to the American Philosophical
Society, the American Schools of Oriental Research, and the National
Council of Churches for making a contribution to this research, and he
hopes to publish the final results soon.
23The writer made a preliminary attempt to date the Dead Sea Scrolls by means of
paleography in his A paleographie study of the Jerusalem Scrolls, Bull. Amer. Schools
Orient. Res., vol. 113, pp. 6-23, February 1949.
__ Reprints of the various articles in this Report may be obtained, as long as
the supply lasts, on request to the Editorial and Publications Division,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D. C.
Kinreizuka—The “Golden Bells Tomb”
of Japan’
By Morosasuro Hirano and
Hrrosui TAKICUCHI
{With 4 plates]
THE ANCIENT TOMBS OF JAPAN
Amone the most interesting man-made features found throughout
Japan are the burial-mound tombs. They are found in many places,
and are not only of general interest, but their scientific value to the
archeologist who is reconstructing the past history of the people of
Japan is tremendous. The Kinreizuka (Golden Bells Tomb) is of
unusual significance, for it was erected when the custom of building
elaborate burial tombs was beginning to decline, and it contained a
quantity and quality of grave offerings never before found in a single
tomb. Before going into the details of the excavation of this mound,
the tomb’s construction, and a description of some of the more signifi-
cant objects discovered, a brief account of the burial-mound complex,
its position and meaning in Japanese history, will be worthwhile.
Burial-mound tombs were first constructed in Japan at the end of
the second century A. D. and continued to be a popular means of
disposal of the dead until about the middle of the seventh century
A.D. The introduction of Buddhism, with a shift in religious beliefs,
was the main cause of their decline, and their construction stopped
entirely in the ninth century A. D. Although burial-mound tombs
are found over most of Japan, the main concentration of this burial
custom was in Nara and its environs, in Kisarazu and its neighborhood
in the Chiba Prefecture, in the northern districts of Kanto, and in
the northern and eastern districts of Kyushu.
The tombs were of different shapes, each characteristic of a certain
period, thus helping to establish the historical development of the
1In 1951 a monographie study entitled “Kinreizuka, Old Tomb at Kisarazu in the Province
of Kazusa (Chiba Prefecture)’”’ was published in Japanese with English captions to the
illustrations and a three-page English summary. In order that an English reading public
might appreciate the significance of these finds, this longer summary was prepared, trans-
lated by Kazuo Hirano, and edited by Dr. Clifford Evans, Jr., division of archeology, U. S.
National Museum.—Ep.
437
438 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
burial-mound tomb complex throughout Japan. The three types of
tombs are: 1, the round or spherical tomb (Enfun) ; 2, the square-
front, round-back tomb (Zenpokoenfun); and 3, the square tomb
(Hofun). The round tomb is considered not only the earliest type
constructed but also the simplest. Although it represents the earliest
period, dating to the second century A. D., a few round, simple tombs
were built until the end of the Kofun (Ancient Tomb) period of Japan
in the eighth century A. D. The most complex type is the square-
front, round-back, which represents the climax of perfection during
the peak of this burial complex in the middle of the fourth century
A.D. All the tombs of this type are much larger than the round
variety and were supposed to have been constructed only for men
of high social or political position. As a result the architecture and
construction are not only good, but the grave offerings and objects
inside are usually of greater number and finer quality. Perhaps one
of the largest tombs ever built in this style, and an excellent example
of the typical features of the square-front, round-back tomb is the
famous Nintoku Ryo built for the Emperor Nintoku in the fifth cen-
tury A. D. Kinreizuka (Golden Bells Tomb) belongs to this class.
The last group, square tombs with a flight of stairs in front, is very
rare and was constructed only occasionally during the middle and
late part of the Hofun period of Japan.
Kinreizuka (Golden Bells Tomb), once a beautiful burial-mound
tomb 6 meters high and 110 meters long with a water-filled moat
surrounding it, today stands only as a rounded mound 5 meters high
and 35 meters in diameter (pl. 1). Local people have constantly dug
away the mound, taking the dirt for modern house or road construc-
tion, so that today only a small part of the square front still remains.
The Golden Bells Tomb is on the outskirts of the city of Kisarazu,
Chiba Prefecture, 70 kilometers south of Tokyo. It appears that
thousands of years ago the coastline of this area had been about a
kilometer inside the present line, as evidenced by several ranges of
sand dunes inthe region. Taking advantage of these dunes, the early
inhabitants constructed their burial mounds here. Kinreizuka was
constructed during the middle of the seventh century A. D. on one
of these dunes closest to the coast, at which time the city of Kisarazu
was only 300 meters from the water’s edge. The geographical features
of the coast must be considered in this discussion of the setting of
the burial-mound tombs of the Kisarazu area. The River Obitsu
drains the area, running not over 1 kilometer from the Golden Bells
Tomb, and empties into the Bay of Tokyo at a point about 114 kilome-
ters from the mound. With good drainage, good agricultural lands,
and the availability of a river, this area supported large populations
in the past. Here once occurred one of the main concentrations of
GOLDEN BELLS TOMB—HIRANO AND TAKIGUCHI 439
the people who disposed of their dead with elaborate ceremonies in
burial-mound tombs, for this small region around Kisarazu is dotted
with over a hundred burial mounds of all varieties.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE GOLDEN BELLS TOMB
In 1932, during road building which was cutting off the square
front of the tomb Kinreizuka, some gilded bronze shoes and horse
trappings were found at the entrance of the tomb. Unfortunately,
scientific excavation could not be undertaken at that time. In suc-
ceeding years sand drifted into the area and silted over the tomb.
Finally, in May 1950, archeological excavation was begun by the
Chiba Prefectural Board of Education and the Archeological Insti-
tute of Waseda University. The work continued until the end of
July 1950, when the tomb was completely uncovered.
Careful preparatory work had preceded the construction of the
tomb and the burial mound of earth over it. First the ground had
been leveled and hardened by beating and then covered with a layer
of brown soil, 27 centimeters thick. On top of this material was a
7-centimeter layer of clay paving, with the space for the stone cham-
ber in the middle hardened again by beating. Upon this hardened
foundation a room was built of sandstone blocks, quarried from the
neighborhood. This chamber was 12 meters long and 314 meters
wide. The long side of the structure faces the east. The wall height
at the entranceway measures 1.2 meters and in the interior 2.2 meters.
It is divided into two sections, a front room and an inner room. The
floor of the front room is paved with a large chlorite schist slab 82
centimeters long and 56 centimeters thick, while the inner room has a
floor of clay 10 centimeters thick. These rooms were made by stacking
chlorite schist stone slabs (20-30 centimeters wide, 50-100 centimeters
long, and 50-70 centimeters thick) on top of one another, sloping
inward slightly in what is known architecturally as a “false” or
corbeled arch.
The ceiling to the chamber had been made of nine rock slabs laid
across these rock-slab walls. One of the slabs had slipped off, since
it had not been long enough, and had fallen slantwise into the room.
Others had been taken away by looters, and the entranceway had been
broken, and so the exact structural details of these features could not
be determined. Loose sand filtering through the cracks had filled the
entire room. However, it was evident that in the original construction
everything possible had been done to prevent the infiltration of sand.
The spaces between the rock slabs were chinked with small pebbles.
Upon the ceiling and wall surfaces, both interior and exterior, there
were thick (50 centimeters) layers of clay. Upon the exterior of the
clay-plastered rock structure of inner rooms, the dirt had been packed
2847255429
440 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
until a large earth burial mound had been built up which measured
6 meters high and 110 meters long. As mentioned, the entranceway
to these rooms had been destroyed beyond recognition. However,
based upon a study of other tombs of this type, it is believed that the
entrance had been built originally facing south and was covered with
a heavy pile of stone.
Inside the chamber, slightly to the left of center near the west
wall, was the crude sarcophagus (pl. 2), made of 6 stone slabs, all
erooved on the inside to add stability to the construction. Underneath
the sarcophagus 10 small rock slabs had been wedged to make it sit
level. The interesting thing about this stone coffin and the other
chlorite schist stones in the tomb is that this particular variety of rock
is not found locally but only at a certain quarry in Chichibu District
of Saitama-ken Prefecture about 200 kilometers from Kinreizuka in
Kasarazu District. The preference for this stone must indeed have
been great when the size of some of these slabs and the distance they
had to be transported are considered. The following table gives
weight and dimensions of the chlorite schist slabs used to form the
sarcophagus:
Measurement Cover East side West side South side North side | Bottom
Widthol. tee 232 78-88 em_.._| 72cm-___---- 78 em) sere 6iem_eitl_t 62 em____--- 66 cm
Lengihe=f22F 22. 2 233'CM === == Zi Giom <2 =e 232 cm... .-- 63\em ss es 68iemt ss 216 cm
Thickness. s2=22--=--- LZemee= a 10 }emaa oe ijents = GCM. asosss- (joi = oo 12cm
Welghti2*-2--0- ti WOO bsess4—2 500 Ibs... .-- S20 Ibs. 2-22 100 Ibs_----- 100 Ibs. _.--- 500 Ibs
CONTENTS OF THE STONE CHAMBER
When one of the roof slabs fell into the inner chamber, it would be
supposed that it disturbed the original position of the offerings. The
looting of some of the stone from the entranceway could have further
disarranged the contents of the tomb. But careful examination seems
to indicate that neither of these occurrences disturbed the original
position of any of the materials or bodies placed inside the chamber.
The main destruction had resulted from decay and corrosion.
Although all traces of wood had been destroyed, there had apparently
been several wooden structures inside the chamber; patterns of iron
nails suggested wooden shelves and coffins. From the accumulation
of pottery in the rear of the chamber and the intermixture of nails
and decayed matter it is highly probable that wooden shelves had been
built inside the chamber to hold some of the vessels buried with food
offerings. Further evidence of another wooden structure is connected
with the remains of one body. Decay had destroyed all evidence of the
coffin, but the accumulation of iron nails, seven swords, amber and
erystal beads, a bronze mirror, horse trappings, gold bells, a bronze
GOLDEN BELLS TOMB—HIRANO AND TAKIGUCHI 441
vessel and numerous pottery vessels in direct association with a few
bone fragments and five teeth suggests that this person had at one
time been placed in a wooden coffin.
Near the entranceway another person had been buried on a chlorite
schist slab, perhaps in a wooden coffin which had long since disin-
tegrated. ‘The bones of the body were decomposed, but the skull was
in arather good state of preservation. In association were gilt-bronze
earrings and a crystal, amber, and glass bead necklace. From the
location of this burial, it would appear that the stone chamber had
been reopened, after the sarcophagus had been buried and the entrance-
way closed, and this burial placed just inside the entrance.
Before examining the remains of the sarcophagus itself, the mate-
rials lying around the coffin should be mentioned. In front and by the
side of the sarcophagus lay a necklace consisting of over 500 glass
beads, a bronze mirror, two pairs of earrings, five gold bells, seven
silver tips of a bow, one iron spearhead, numerous iron arrowheads,
four gilt-bronze saddles, three bronze horse bells, three bronze vessels,
two gilt-bronze ornaments, a chatelaine, a wide variety of harness and
trappings for horses, and over 200 pottery vessels (pl.3). Inside some
of the pottery vessels, which had been used for food offerings, were the
remains of several types of shellfish. Sand and silt filtering into the
chamber had packed the pottery and other remains so tightly together
that excavation was extremely difficult. The fact that the hundreds of
pottery vessels were buried in three layers suggests further that some
of them originally had been on wooden shelves and gradually as the
chamber silted up and the shelves rotted, another group of vessels fell
to the chamber floor soon to be covered with more sand as it filtered in
through the cracks in the ceiling and wall.
CONTENTS OF THE SARCOPHAGUS
The large stone coffin had been placed in the chamber parallel to the
long side of the wall with its head toward the south, feet to the north.
When the stone lid was raised, disclosing the golden articles, the iron
swords, bronze bells, knives, and beads, it was evident we had discov-
ered the tomb of a very important high official who had lived over 1,300
years ago. Sand, which had filtered through some of the cracks in the
stone walls of the coffin, and the dust of decomposed bones, garments,
and other perishable objects filled the interior to a depth of 15 centi-
meters. Apparently only one body had been buried inside. The
bones had completely disintegrated; only the teeth remained. From
eruption and wear of the teeth, we can conclude that they were from a
young male, probably in his mid-twenties. In positions in the coffin
which would suggest their original placement on the body of the de-
ceased man, were a pair of earrings, a mirror wrapped in hemp cloth
442 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
on the chest, and a necklace of 24 beads; 8 iron swords with elaborate
handles lined the sides of the body next to the coffin walls. Above the
head on the east side were two large bronze vessels. Near the feet a set
of iron body armor and a helmet had been placed along with 36 iron
arrowheads. In addition, 54 gilt-bronze bells, 3 bronze horse bells,
18 gilt-bronze ornaments, 11 knives, a gilt-bronze shoe, and a large
quantity of gold braid were scattered throughout the coffin. From the
arrangement of the small gilt-bronze bells and gold braid, apparently
the body had been dressed in ornate clothes and a large cloth decorated
with gilt-bronze bells and gilt-bronze ornaments sewed on with gold
thread, had been spread over the entire contents of the coffin. From
the array of objects there is little doubt that this man was an important
ruler who carried to the afterworld all his accoutrements of war and
symbols of office.
DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE GRAVE OBJECTS
Mirrors—The mirrors unearthed in the ancient burial-mound
tombs of Japan are of two kinds: those made in ancient China and
imported to Japan and those made in Japan imitating the imported
product. Although the Chinese mirrors are usually far superior to
any of those imitated in Japan, the style of design is so unique on the
Japanese copies that there is never any doubt of the place of manu-
facture even if the actual mirror is of a good quality resembling the
Chinese variety. The two mirrors found in Kinreizuka, one in the
sarcophagus and one in the chamber, are of Japanese manufacture.
Both are round and made of nickel. The one found in the coffin
is an exceptionally well-made copy of the Chinese-style mirrors with
a diameter of 15.8 centimeters, a thickness of 6 millimeters, and the
face slightly bulged like a convex lens. The design on the back con-
sists of three men and five animals intertwined (pl. 4, A, left). The
other mirror is smaller, only 10.4 centimeters in diameter, and 3 milli-
meters thick, with an arabesque design.
Jewels and beads.—The necklace around the young man’s neck in
the coffin consisted of one pale agate bead 3.3 centimeters long, amber
beads ranging from 2.3 to 3.0 centimeters in diameter, and dark blue,
slightly flat glass beads, 1 centimeter in diameter. Since amber has
been found in the Choshi District of the Chiba Prefecture, it is highly
possible that these beads were manufactured in the area and brought
from that district.
The other glass beads from outside the chamber range in size from
3 to 5 millimeters in diameter and are divided according to their
colors as follows: 420 blue, 112 yellow, 38 green, 8 dark blue, 1 white.
In addition to the complete specimens many broken fragments suggest
that a larger number might have been in the original necklace.
GOLDEN BELLS TOMB—HIRANO AND TAKIGUCHI 443
Earrings.—The earrings are of two types: a large variety of copper
tubing bent into a loop, and a small variety of copper wire. Both
styles are gold plated. The pair of earrings from the coffin, of the
larger variety, measure 3.5 centimeters in outside diameter with the
tubing 8 millimeters in diameter. The smaller pair measured only
2.7 centimeters in outside diameter with the tubing 6 millimeters.
Gilt-bronze shoes.—In the front part of the chamber a pair of gilt-
bronze shoes were found. Although shoes were generally made of
leather or wood, metal ones were used for formal occasions.
Gold bells, threads, and chatelaines.—The tomb was named Kin-
reizuka for the beautiful small gold bells found inside the burial
chamber. These bells are 8 millimeters in diameter and weigh 1.5
grams each, and still ring clearly. Other gold goods included a
variety of gold thread which had been woven into a kind of Gobelin
tapestry in which the warp threads were presumably silk and the weft
made of finely thinned gold coiled around the threads. This gold
tapestry, combined with the gold bells and silver ornaments, probably
constituted some sort of waistband. The gold thread from Kin-
reizuka is thought to have been a trade item introduced from China or
Korea and not developed locally in this part of Japan.
Swords.—Over 20 different sword specimens were found in the
tomb, counting fragments too badly corroded to be restored. They
can be classified as to type according to the shape of the pommel,
for the iron blades of ancient Japanese swords are all straight.
Although swords are found in even the poorest of the burial-mound
tombs, no other single burial-mound tomb in Japan has produced the
quantity of elegant swords found in Kinreizuka. All the sword
blades were so corroded that it was impossible to reconstruct the exact
length, the fragments of the longest specimens measured 133 centi-
meters. Of particular interest are the elaborately modeled birds,
dragons, and lions in the ring of the pommel. The pommels are
covered with a thin gold plate. The sheaths were usually made of
a thin gilt-bronze plate with a design of beads and arabesque with
a metal ornament of open arabesque work affixed to the central por-
tion of the sheath. It should be mentioned that although most of
the metalwork of the swords and sheaths was in gold, some had
silver wire coiled around the hilt or, in a few cases, the pommel might
be made entirely of silver.
Two ornamental swords for formal use came from the tomb. ‘These
are called Kabutsuchi-tachi, meaning “hammer-shaped.” This style
of sword, originating in Japan, has a peculiar type of pommel formed
like a flattened ball into which a cudgel is inserted and fastened by
packing it with hemp cloth and then riveting. The rivet passes
through the cudgel and ring and carries a string or cord. The ball
444. ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
is made of gilt-bronze. The hilt is extremely short and made of
thin gilt-bronze so that it would never have been strong enough for
use as a fighting sword.
Iron helmet and body armor.—The tomb contained many objects
related to warfare, such as silver tips of wooden bows, arrowheads,
swords, knives, and armor. Perhaps the best preserved was the
armor. ‘The iron helmet (pl. 4, A, right) is 19 centimeters high, 26
centimeters in depth, and 20 centimeters from side toside. It is made
of seven iron plates; the saucer-shaped top plate and the long and nar-
row side plates are all held in place with rivets. The neck pieces had
rusted so badly that they had broken and their shape could not be
be reconstructed. The body armor consisted of 1,574 small iron plates
which must have been joined together somehow on a perishable
material to form a covering for the chest and back.
Horse trappings——The harness, saddles, stirrups, and ornaments
worn by horses included over 180 pieces, most of which came from
outside the coffin. Three sets came from the excavations conducted in
1950, but fragments found in the road construction which damaged
the tomb in 1932 suggest that four sets of harness and trappings
existed originally. Three saddles made of iron (pl. 4, B, top) and
covered with gilt-bronze plates came from inside the chamber. All
the wood, leather, and cloth had decayed except for a few pieces of
lacquered cloth. Around the saddles some decorations could be seen
which had been made of bronze plate and with a gold hem design
in cloth in the form of adragon. There is little doubt that when new
these saddles must have been highly ornamented and beautiful objects.
The bridles were decorated with heart-shaped plates of bronze. Two
pieces of iron stirrups covered with bronze plates were found in
association with the harness. Bronze horse bells, such as were tied
around the horse’s neck and hung in front of his chest, came from
both inside the coffin and outside of it in the chamber. The six bells
are of two sizes, 22.5 centimeters long and 19.5 centimeters long.
These specimens are unusually large, for most horse bells average only
15 centimeters long. The larger ones are decorated with a sort of
pendant with raised bumps and diagonal and parallel lines (pl. 4, B,
bottom, right) while the smaller one is decorated with cross stripes
with eight sections demarked by vertical and horizontal lines with
small raised bumps all over the surface (pl. 4, B, bottom, left).
Gilt-bronze bells and ornaments.—Fifty-four gilt-bronze bells and
18 gilt-bronze ornaments were taken out of the coffin. Although the
small bells usually decorate the the trappings of horses, in Kinreizuka
the bells and ornaments were undoubtedly sewn on a large cloth
which was draped over the body and objects inside the coffin. The
bells range in size from 3.5 to 27.0 centimeters; some of them contain
GOLDEN BELLS TOMB—HIRANO AND TAKIGUCHI 445
small pebbles and still tinkle sweetly. The plates of gilt-bronze are
of two types: 1, round plates 6.8 centimeters in diameter with a
hemispheric projection in the center and five arms from the base of
the projection; and 2, small hemispheres 2.5 centimeters in diameter
with six petals attached.
Bronze vessels.—Some of the bronze vessels were so badly corroded
and broken that restoration was impossible; but two specimens (pl.
4, C) were in excellent condition and proved to be unique objects
from Japanese burial tombs. These vessels are sitting on a flat plate-
like stand with a pedestal base. Each vessel is goblet-shaped, with a
stem, flaring base, and round cup, and covered with a hemispherical
lid with a small knob on the top. The total height of the plate,
goblet, and lid is 17 centimeters.
Pottery vessels—The pottery vessels of the burial-mound tomb
periods of Japan can be classified into two distinct types: thin, red-
brown ware without much design (Hajiki), and a hard dark-gray
pottery made in mass production on the potters wheel and fired in
unusually hot furnaces (Sueki). Of the pottery from Kinreizuka
26 vessels are of the first type, Hajiki, and 243 of the second type,
Sueki. These numerous vessels have been further subdivided into
various categories meaningful to the specialist in ancient Japanese
pottery but too technical for a discussion of this nature. The various
pottery vessel shapes from this tomb include stemmed bowls, plates,
bowls of a wide variety with covers, deep round-bodied jars with
long or short necks. Some of the plates had been painted on both
surfaces with cinnabar but one plate had a black interior and a red
painted exterior. Several platterlike vessels showed oil smudges
along the edge suggesting use as oil lamps. Without any doubt all
the vessels at the time of their placement in the tomb were intact
and contained offerings of food and drink to the deceased. When
the wooden shelves fell and the pottery vessels crashed to the floor
of the chamber, many vessels were broken, but the majority were
restorable. The photograph (pl. 3) of some of the vessels in the
chamber before complete excavation will give an idea of the range
of shapes.
CONCLUSIONS
The burial-mound tombs of Japan are indicative of the high rank
and opulence of the families who built them. Only persons of great
wealth and power could amass the material and employ the labor
necessary to construct these tombs and furnish the quantity of lavish
articles buried in them.
From the numerous and elaborate objects found in Kinreizuka,
this was evidently the tomb of a person of exalted station—un-
doubtedly a very important young ruler. The other two bodies in
446 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
the tomb, probably buried at slightly later times, must have been
members of his family. Certain features of the tomb indicate that
it was built near the end of the Hofun (burial-mound tomb) Period,
sometime in the middle of the seventh century A. D., when the burial
customs were being changed by law. (For example, most of the elab-
orate burial-mound tombs have paved floors in the inner chamber,
but this one did not.) This change was brought about by the adop-
tion of Buddhism as the official religion of Japan, and the consequent
passage of laws prohibiting the construction of elaborate tombs with
extravagant furnishings and establishing simple burial ceremonies.
In spite of these laws, burial-mound building continued until the
eighth century A. D. in the Kanto district and until about the be-
ginning of the ninth in the Tohoku district. However, it apparently
came to an end in the Kazusa district in the late seventh century, and
Kinreizuka can be considered to be one of the last large burial mounds
with a moat, a large chamber, and elaborate burial goods.
Since the close of World War II there has been an increased in-
terest in the archeological remains of Japan. The scientific excava-
tion of Kinreizuka is an important contribution to an understanding
of the prehistory of Japan because no previously discovered tomb
has contained so many valuable artifacts.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Hirano and Takiguch PLATE 1
r
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es, he
Fisson ta
Settee LIFT ne aac
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: oF Peer a ee
1. VIEW OF THE KINREIZUKA BURIAL-MOUND TOMB.
2. PRESENT CONDITION OF KINREIZUKA.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Hirano and Takiguchi PLATE 2
CRUDE STONE SARCOPHAGUS (WITH THE LID REMOVED) FROM INSIDE THE CHAM-
BER OF THE TOMB.
PLATE 3
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Hirano and Takiguc
"MSAGWVHD AHL SO HOOT AHL NO GASSVWY ST14ESSSA AYA1LLOd
1G Swes
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Hirano and Takiguchi PLATE 4
B, top, iron and bronze
horse saddle with the leather, cloth, and wood rotted away; bottom, small and large types
of bronze horse bells. C, bronze vessels resting on a platelike stand.
A, left, rear view of the large mirror; right, fragmentary iron helmet.
The Archeology of Colonial Williamsburg *
By THomas J. WERTENBAKER
Edwards Professor Emeritus of American History
Princeton University
[With 4 plates]
In America archeology formerly was employed almost entirely to
throw light upon the life and customs of the Indians. Scholars, dig-
ging into Indian mounds, or at the sites of villages and forts, have
found much of interest—knives, arrowheads, spearheads, scrapers, pot-
tery, skeletons—and they have been able, by examining the earth and
noting where it was discolored, to determine the exact position of
prehistoric palisades. Americans have also taken a leading part in
European, Egyptian, and Asiatic excavations. But until recently it
had not occurred to anyone that beneath the soil at Jamestown, or
Plymouth, or Williamsburg there might be historic treasures whose
discovery would be as important for American history as the opening
of an Egyptian tomb, or the uncovering of the market place of a
Greek city for ancient history.
The pioneers in the field of colonial archeology were the staff of the
National Park Service. At Jamestown they unearthed so many foun-
dations and so many fragments of hardware that this historic village,
where Nathaniel Bacon, that heroic young defender of American
liberty, defied the fury of Gov. William Berkeley, could be restored
with a large degree of accuracy. In fact the first brick church, which
the foundation showed to be in the Gothic style like charming old
St. Luke’s at Smithfield, has been rebuilt. Also the many artifacts
discovered—farm implements, household utensils, china—throw a flood
of light on the habits and everyday lives of those first Americans.
It is unfortunate that we have been so blind to the importance of
archeology and so careless in digging on historic sites. In London
recent work made necessary by the German bombings has disclosed
evidences of walls and pavings dating to the Roman period. But in
New York, when excavations have been made for the skyscrapers, there
has been little, if any, regard for history. For all we know the great
1 Reprinted by permission from Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,
vol. 97, No. 1, February 1953.
447
448 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
steam shovels may have tossed aside fragments of a tumbler from
which Peter Stuyvesant once drank his wine, or a rusty hinge from the
house of John Jay, or a bayonet from old Fort George. Since we
cannot level places like Boston, Plymouth, Charleston, Salem, or
Philadelphia to search for buried historical treasure, would it not be
wise for us to take advantage of the excavations for new buildings to
rescue such artifacts as are dug up ?
At Williamsburg, it was an exciting moment when, on June 30, 1930,
the first shovelful of earth was brought up at the site of the Governor’s
Palace, in what proved to be the most interesting of all the excavations
there. Guided by several old maps, the archeologists began by making
exploratory trenches just north of the public school. Finding that in
some places they were working in undisturbed ground and in others in
brick and mortar debris, they concentrated their attention on the latter.
After two days of work they were rewarded by touching several walls.
They now warned the workmen to proceed with extreme care in under-
cutting the debris, so that it would fall away from the brickwork and
leave it unscarred by the picks.
Elated at their success, the archeologists dug deeper until, when
they had uncovered a small area of floor paved with flagstones, they
realized that they had found a large basement. Their next task was
to remove four large locust trees, which were growing in the debris,
and whose roots reached down to the floor. Then, one after another,
parts of all four exterior walls, several partition walls, several chim-
ney foundations, the brick basement steps, the foundations of the main
entrance steps, the stone steps of the side entrance were laid bare.
It was not only with care, but with reverence, that members of the
restoration staff handled the multitude of objects which were now
unearthed, for they spoke eloquently of men and scenes intimately
connected with the early history of our nation—of Governor Spots-
wood and his Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, of Dinwiddie in
earnest conference with the youthful Washington, of Jefferson, when
a student at the College of William and Mary, joining Governor
Fauquier in a concert in the beautiful ball room, of the flight of Lord
Dunmore to British warships in the York River to escape the wrath
of the American patriots.
Since it was assumed that when the palace burned, heavy objects
such as locks or tiles fell straight downward and so would be directly
beneath their original location, the entire site was divided into small
numbered sections, each having its own box into which all objects
within its bounds were put. Thus a record of the location in which
each article was found was kept for future reference.
How valuable to the architects this proved is shown by the discovery
of fragments of marble beneath the fireplace of the middle room of
COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG—WERTENBAKER 449
the main floor, which made it possible to restore the mantel exactly as
it had been in the days of Governor Botetourt and Lord Dunmore.
Especially interesting was the lovely floreated slab in the center, of
which almost all the pieces were unearthed. Some of the Delft tiles
of the mantels in other rooms were found in such perfect condition
that they could be replaced in their original positions. The architects
were grateful, also, for fragments of water-table bricks, of marble
floor tiles, rubbed corner bricks, stone-step scrolls, lead joints for the
stone steps, bricks from the window arches, keys, hinges, shutter hooks,
and locks.
In like manner as the archeologists who excavated the agora at
Athens or the site of ancient Antioch found evidences of civilizations
earlier than those for which they were searching, so the restoration
staff, in looking for the foundations of colonial Williamsburg occa-
sionally uncovered those of some Middle Plantation house built per-
haps nearly three centuries ago. One of these was discovered not
far from the College of William and Mary. About 48 feet in length
and 19 feet in depth, with chimneys at each end, and a basement partly
paved with brick, the building must have corresponded closely with
those of Jamestown in the days of Sir William Berkeley.
The objects dug up from the debris confirmed the ancient origin
of the house, for the fragments of ale bottles, the bits of broken
rectangular or diamond-shaped panes and the lead cames into which
they had fitted, all were typical of the seventeenth century. In the
paved area of the basement was found, almost complete, the lead frame
of a casement, lying flat just where it seems to have fallen when the
building was demolished.
The objects dug up on the site of an old building proved invaluable
in determining its functions and the period of construction. If the
workmen found numerous fragments of the little earthen bowls used
for mixing drugs in colonial days, one could be sure that formerly an
apothecary shop had stood on the spot; if in another place they found
rusty harness buckles or stirrups or bits, it was certain that a stable
had once been there; if their picks turned up handsaws, gouges,
augurs, chisels, adzes, or axes, it was clear that they were digging on
the site of a carpenter’s shop. And since styles in glassware, pewter,
earthenware, bricks, mortar, ironwork, and stonework changed from
decade to decade, the fragments found in or near the foundations of
old houses were of great assistance in fixing not only the dates of
construction but those in which they were burned or torn down.
The very absence of certain objects among the artifacts proved help-
ful. When no broken roof tiles were found it became clear that tiles
were seldom, if ever, used to cover the houses; the absence of lead
‘casement frames on the sites of eighteenth-century buildings makes
450 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
it almost certain that sashes were in common use almost from the
date of the founding of Williamsburg. Nor does the discovery, on
the site of the William Parks printing office, of innumerable fragments
of lead cames in any way alter this conclusion, for it is probable that
Parks, when the owners of houses dating back to the days of Middle
Plantation substituted sashes for casements, bought up the lead with
the purpose of sending it to England to be converted into type.
Valuable was the light which articles found in or near a foundation
threw on the parts of the structure which were no longer standing.
Not only did fragments of mantels, or of stone steps or of windowpanes,
or of flagstones yield welcome evidence, but every bit of rusty hard-
ware was helpful. The architects were left in no doubt that the
builders of two centuries ago made frequent use of H hinges, H L
hinges, and butterfly hinges on the doors of residences, and long strap
hinges on stables, coachhouses, smokehouses, dairies; that the houses
were fitted with large brass or iron locks; they got exact information
as to the form of nails, shutter fasteners, gutter supports, cramps used
for binding stone or brickwork, foot scrapers, latches, iron railings,
metal gates, etc. The fullest use was made of bits of wall copings,
water-table bricks, butter bricks, well bricks, firebacks, hearth stones,
fireplace facings, entrance steps.
The archeologists, with all the persistence and insight of a Sherlock
Holmes, even secured information from wood which had rotted away
perhaps a century ago. They would have liked to find fragments of
wooden cornices, balusters, and pediments, but this was not to be ex-
pected, since earth is very destructive of wood. But they did locate
certain fence lines by identifying the post holes by the discoloration
of the soil, and so determined the boundaries of some of the lots.
In the restoration of Williamsburg the archeologist proved as valu-
able an ally to the landscape gardener as to the architect. In fact,
since histories, letters, and reports gave few details as to the layout
of garden walks, steps, walls, and garden houses, without the data
gleaned with the pick and shovel the landscape gardener would often
have been working in the dark.
We do not know who designed the palace gardens. The work was
done under the supervision of Governor Spotswood, but for the plans
themselves, with the main layout and the details, he must have em-
ployed an expert landscape gardener. Now, little by little, fragments
of the work of this long-forgotten “artist” were unearthed, which,
together with maps, inventories, and descriptions, made is possible to
restore it in all its unity and beauty.
In what had been the North Garden the excavation revealed parts
of the foundation of the west, the north, and the east walls, showing
not only their positions, but the width, the distance between posts,
COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG—WERTENBAKER 451
and the fact that the posts were set diagonally to the wall. The
ornate form of these posts was determined by the finding of frag-
ments of stone caps and balls. The foundations of the garden houses
at the northwest and northeast corners of the garden showed that these
little structures, like the wall posts, were not parallel with the walls,
but diagonal to them. The location and width of the central path were
fixed by the discovery of the remains of its underdrainage bed of
broken bricks, of the foundations of the north gate, and of the wide
central limestone steps. As for the steps themselves, enough was left
to determine their length, rise, tread, nosing, and material. Remains
of the two flanking steps were also found, one near the east wall and
one near the west wall, and the three, in turn, made it possible to
estimate the elevations of the south terrace of the adjoining Ballroom
Garden.
But the architects and landscape gardeners were not alone in profit-
ing from the findings of the archeologists, for the thousands of frag-
ments of china, glassware, household utensils, and tools which were
dug up threw a welcome light upon the tastes, fashions, habits,
domestic life, trades of the people. In fact, what the earth was made
to yield was of vital importance, not only in restoring the buildings
of colonial Williamsburg, but the people who lived in them. As a
piece of broken china was brought to light the archeologist could
reflect that from it Thomas Jefferson may have enjoyed a luncheon
of turnip salad and jowl; a bit of discolored glass might be part of a
bottle from which a waiter at the Raleigh Tavern had filled a glass
with wine for George Washington; on this iron step, now a mass of
rust, Lady Dunmore may have mounted to her seat in the Governor’s
coach; with these tools the cabinetmaker may have fashioned a table
or a desk for Chancellor Wythe.
In a province where a majority of the people, rich and poor alike,
were engaged in cultivating tobacco, it was to be expected that smoking
would be, among the men, almost universal. But were there no other
evidence available, the unearthing at Williamsburg of thousands of
pieces of broken clay pipes would establish the fact. It seems to have
been the custom in every household to place in the hallway near the
front door a rack full of pipes. A guest, as he entered, was expected
to take one, and before filling it with tobacco and lighting up, to break
off an inch or more from the long, slender stem. In this way the
same pipe could be used by different persons, each of whom could be
certain of a clean end to place in his mouth.
In refurnishing the houses, the staff were left in no doubt as to what
varieties and patterns of china had been in use in Williamsburg in
colonial days, for innumerable fragments were dug up in all parts of
‘the city. Here was a bit of a cup from which a blacksmith or a tailor
452 § ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
had drunk his tea, here a piece of creamware from the Raleigh Tavern,
here a fragment of the costly Lowestoft which once had adorned the
palace diningroom. Of especial interest were several pieces of Lowes-
toft bearing Lord Dunmore’s coat-of-arms. The Governor, when he
fled from the wrath of the patriots at the beginning of the Revolution,
had been forced to leave most of his personal belongings behind, and
his china, together with other things, seems to have been destroyed
by the fire of 1781.
Unlike iron and glass, china is not seriously affected by a long stay
under earth, so that it was an easy matter to clean the recovered frag-
ments. When this had been done, the archeologists attempted the
more difficult task of piecing them together as though they had been
bits of a jigsaw puzzle. Often this proved impossible, but in some
cases a vase, or a bowl, or a saucer was almost entirely restored.
The people of Williamsburg were especially fond of a yellow or
cream-colored English earthernware first perfected by Josiah Wedg-
wood and subsequently made by other potters in various colors,
degrees of hardness, and quality. When attempts to find sets of
an especially popular pattern of this ware proved unsuccessful, a
representative of colonial Williamsburg went to the Wedgwood works
to ask whether it would be possible to make an accurate reproduction.
To his surprise, the management, after a brief search, reported that
they still had most of the molds from which the original sets were
made, the patterns for others, and Josiah Wedgwood’s formulae for
the clay mixtures. So today, Anthony Hay, if he could visit the
Raleigh Tavern of which he formerly was proprietor, would be
astonished to find that of his set of creamware, with its 139 plates, 5
sauce boats and dishes, 2 fruit baskets, to all appearances many pieces
had survived the vicissitudes of 175 years.
But had he passed on to the Old Court House to view the archeologi-
cal exhibit, he would not have believed that some of the bits of glass
there had once belonged to wine bottles from his cellar or goblets from
his diningroom, for glass which in his day had been clear had now
become scaly and iridescent under the action of time and earth. Yet
glass, too, yielded evidence that was invaluable to the work of restora-
tion. This bit came from a baglike bottle in common use in the seven-
teenth century, this from a round bottle with fairly straight sides char-
acteristic of the eighteen century, this from a square bottle which had
contained Dutch gin. Especially interesting are the many bottle
buttons, or circular stamps on the glass bearing the owner’s name or
initials. Two buttons marked F. N., one unearthed from an early
foundation near the Capitol and another in the vicinity of the Wren
Building, undoubtedly came from bottles belonging to Sir Francis
Nicholson.
COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG—WERTENBAKER 453
That the people of Williamsburg often quaffed their wine or ale from
glass goblets rather than mugs or tankards may be inferred from
the finding of many fragments of wineglasses. In the eighteenth
century the British glassblowers delighted in ornamenting the stems
of the goblets according to certain well-recognized patterns, so that
when one grasped the stem to lift the glass to his lips he could recog-
nize at a glance that it was a baluster stem, or an opaque-twisted stem,
or a ribbed stem, or a tear and beaded stem, or an air-twisted stem,
or a cut-glass stem. That the Virginians, who depended entirely
upon imports for their glassware, filled their diningroom cupboards
with goblets in all these styles, the discoveries of the archeologists
amply testify.
For the important information yielded by objects made of iron
the archeologists had to pay by the trouble it took to clean and preserve
them. Often, when a hinge, or a shovel, or a knife was discovered,
they found that under the action of the earth, it had almost rusted
away. So in the laboratory every bit of iron was subjected to a thor-
ough process of cleaning. First, as much of the rust as possible was
scraped off with a knife. Then the object was treated with granu-
lated zinc in a caustic bath, after which it went through repeated
washings, followed by drying in an oven to remove every bit of mois-
ture from the pores. The process was completed by giving the iron
a coat of paraffin.
We can follow the colonial carpenters in the work of constructing
the Williamsburg houses by the implements they used and then cast
aside—saws, gouges, augers, chisels, axes, lathing hatchets, wedges,
frows for splitting shingles, compasses, hammers, draw knives.
These implements, though the same as those used by their ancestors
in England, in some cases underwent a development in the hands
of the Virginians. In the axes with which the settlers at Jamestown
had made their first assault upon the great oaks and chestnut trees
of the primeval forests, almost the entire weight was on the cutting
side of the head. But in time, when experience had shown that more
drive was needed behind each stroke, the colonists gradually weighted
the blunt side. Thus the eighteenth-century Virginia axes were
unlike those of seventeenth-century Virginia and unlike those of
England.
If one wishes to accompany the planter in his various tasks in culti-
vating the soil, one has only to examine the farm implements found
at Williamsburg—tobacco knives, hoes, scythes, rakes. A sight of
the cobbler’s knives, pliers, pincers, hammers, rasps, and other tools,
makes it easy to visualize Robert Gilbert in his shop near the Capitol,
his leather apron spread over his knees, busily at work on a pair of
- shoes. The pickup tongs, the grip tongs, the bending forks, the sledge
454 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
hammers, the punches, the drills, enlighten us as to the blacksmith’s
tools used in the Deane Shop and Forge. In like manner an assort-
ment of tools—routers, compass saws, gouges, chisels, ogees—reveal
some of the “mysteries” of the cabinetmaker’s trade.
Although colonial Williamsburg is especially concerned with the
eighteenth century, the discoveries of the archeologists cover the long
period from the first settlement of Middle Plantation to comparatively
recent times. Thus they have made it possible to follow the changes
and developments in a restricted area through three centuries, changes
in architecture, in fashions, in farming, in cooking, in sanitation, in
heating, in transportation, in manufacture. In short, the objects taken
out of the ground, when arranged in chronological order, present a
panorama of life as fascinating as any which comes from the written
word.
At the beginning of the archeological work, as its value became more
and more apparent, the greatest care was taken to see that nothing was
overlooked. All fragments of stone, marble, china, glass, earthenware,
together with locks, nails, keys, tools, everything save brickbats, were
placed in boxes and removed for examination. Then the remaining
debris was taken out in wheelbarrows and later screened. After the
artifacts, large and small, had been cleaned, they were classified, cata-
loged, and stored where they would be accessible to the restoration staff
and the general historian. If certain objects were especially interest-
ing, they might be selected for the museum to give visitors a view of a
cross section of the entire collection and through it a better under-
standing of the methods used in securing the fidelity upon which Mr.
Rockefeller insisted.
There can be no doubt that colonial Williamsburg has emphasized
a field of research which offers great opportunities for American his-
torians. Hitherto they have depended too much upon manuscript
evidences. It would be rash to say that in historical investigation
the pickax and the trowel are as mighty as the pen, yet it has been
demonstrated at Williamsburg that the one can be a most helpful ally
of the other. Perhaps the day is not distant when the social historian,
whether he is writing about the New England Puritans, or the Penn-
sylvania Germans, or the rice planters of Southern Carolina, will look
underground, as well as in the archives, for his evidence.
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COLONIAL IMPLEMENTS EXCAVATED AT WILLIAMSBURG.
PLATE 3
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Wertenbaker
ee
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PLATE 4
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Wertenbaker
SNOLLNG
Aa1LLOG
The Story of the Declaration of Independ-
ence Desk and How It Came to the
National Museum
By Marcaret W. BROWN
Associate Curator, Division of Civil History
U. S. National Museum
[With 5 plates]
In THE HALLS of the United States National Museum, surrounded by
such significant relics of American history as the sword of George
Washington, the original Star-Spangled Banner flag of Fort
McHenry, and the life mask of Abraham Lincoln, is another historical
relic—perhaps the most important of them all. It is the desk on which
Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence. Because
it is the great charter of our freedom, the document itself, the man
who wrote it, and any object associated with its composition have
acquired a historical interest that has increased through the years.
The story of this desk, of its claim to a place in history, and of how
it came to the National Museum is a fascinating sidelight on the history
of the Declaration of Independence and its author.
Thomas Jefferson was identified with the aggressive, anti-British
element in the Virginia Assembly from the beginning of his public
service as a member of the House of Burgesses in 1769. He was a
member of the committee that drew up the resolution creating the
Virginia Committee of Correspondence, and he served also as member
of that committee. In 1774 he was also a champion of the resolution
fo make the day on which the Boston Port Act was to go into effect,
one of fasting and mourning. Jefferson was unable to attend the
Virginia Convention of 1774, but he sent a paper, later published as
“A Summary View of the Rights of British America,” which outlined
his point of view of the coming struggle, presenting the right of the
Colonies as being derived from the laws of nature; it asserted that
such allegiance as the colonists showed to the King was a matter of
natural right of choice, and denied the British Government any parlia-
mentary authority over the Colonies. The views embodied in the
284725—54——_30 455
456 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
paper were not adopted by the Convention, as its sentiments were
regarded as too radical by many of the delegates.
Jefferson was next selected as an alternate delegate to the Conti-
nental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, and when a vacancy occurred
in the Virginia delegation he took his seat in that body for the first
time in June 1775. He quickly became a prominent member of the
Convention by reason of his earnestness, his capacity for hard work,
and his facility for expressing in writing his own ideas and the ideas
of others. Here, too, Jefferson became identified with the more radical
element of the Congress, and during that first year, some of the papers
he submitted were rejected by the Congress as being too anti-British
in tone to be acceptable while there was still a chance of reconciliation
with Great Britain.
Following the resolution for independence, which was introduced in
Congress in June 1776 by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, Thomas
Jefferson was appointed one of the committee of five to draw up a
declaration of independence. It was felt by the Congress that the bare
resolution of independence was not sufficient. The reasons for the
resolution must be set forth explicitly and must be presented in a
manner that would not only convince Americans but also would inspire
them to fight for that independence and maintain it. Moreover, the
facts must be explained to the other nations of the world, as the good
opinion of other countries might prove essential to the success of the
cause of American independence.
Thomas Jefferson, already well known for the forcefulness of his
pen, was selected by the committee of five to draft the declaration. The
document that he wrote, though changed and corrected first by mem-
bers of the committee and later by the Congress as a whole, remains
essentially Jefferson’s own. It eloquently expresses his ideas of the
rights and grievances of the American Colonies, and his passionate
sincerity rings convincingly today.
In 1775, when Thomas Jefferson first went to Philadelphia to attend
the Continental Congress, he lived for a short time at the home of
Benjamin Randolph, one of the most famous of the Philadelphia
cabinetmakers.
Mr. Randolph had been an active supporter of the patriots in Phila-
delphia for several years; and undoubtedly his interest in the cause
of independence and in the Congress then meeting in Philadelphia
persuaded him to open his home to Thomas Jefferson for temporary
lodging. Also, he might have been influenced by a possible relation-
ship between himself and Jefferson, whose mother was Jane Randolph.
Again, in May 1776, when Jefferson arrived for the Second Con-
tinental Congress, he stayed at Randolph’s home for several weeks.
The account book of Thomas Jefferson for the year 1776 shows a pay-
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE DESK—BROWN 457
ment of 40/ to Benjamin Randolph on May 27 for 8 days’ lodging.*
Sometime during this period of association between Randolph and
Jefferson, either in 1775 or 1776, Benjamin Randolph made for
Thomas Jefferson a small, portable writing desk of mahogany inlaid
with a narrow band of satinwood around the drawer and the keyhole.
It was on this writing desk that Thomas Jefferson, according to
his own statement, wrote the draft of the Declaration of Independence,
working in his second-floor parlor room in the boardinghouse in Phila-
delphia in which he was living at that time.
Convenient in size and weight for carrying, the desk was made
according to Jefferson’s own design. It is approximately 934 inches
long by 1434 inches wide by 314 inches deep, with a folding writing
board hinged to the top which opens to give a surface 1934 inches
long. This writing board is lined with green baize. The desk con-
tains a drawer 134 inches deep, which is divided into sections for
holding paper and pens, and a compartment containing a small hand-
blown glass inkwell.
From 1776 on, the desk must have been an indispensable part of
Thomas Jefferson’s writing equipment. Its convenient size would
have made it an ideal traveling companion while he was abroad
in the service of his country and also during his terms of public office
with the Federal Government in New York, Philadelphia, and Wash-
ington. It is probably true that much of the extensive correspondence
that Jefferson carried on during his long and active life was written
on this desk.
In 1825, when Ellen Randolph, oldest child of Jefferson’s beloved
daughter and companion, Martha Jefferson Randolph, and a grand-
child to whom Jefferson was most devoted, married Joseph Coolidge,
Jr., of Boston, she was given for her new home in Boston a handsome
inlaid desk made by John Hemmings, skillful Negro carpenter at
Monticello. The desk was shipped to Boston in a packet sailing from
Richmond and was lost at sea. As a consolation Thomas Jefferson
determined to send for a substitute the writing desk on which he had
drafted the Declaration of Independence. He wrote to Ellen Coolidge
from Monticello on November 14, 1825:
We condole with you on the loss of your baggage, (especially) that beautiful
writing desk . . . it has occurred to me, however, that I can replace it, not
indeed to you, but to Mr. Coolidge, by a substitute not claiming the same value
from its decorations, but from the part it has borne in our history and the
events with which it is associated.
I received a letter from a friend in Philadelphia lately, asking for information
of the house, and room of the house there, in which the Declaration of Inde-
pendence was written, with a view to future celebrations of the 4th of July
1In the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress.
2 Kimball, Marie, The furnishings of Monticello, pt. I. Antiques Mag., November 1927.
3 Massachusetts Hist. Soc., Proc., vol. 12, ser. 2, pp. 271, 272, 1899, Boston.
458 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
in it; another enquiring whether a paper given to the Philosophical Society
there, as a rough draught of that Declaration was genuinely so. A society
is formed there lately for an annual celebration of the advent of Penn to that
place. It was held in his ancient mansion, and the chair in which he actually
sate when at his writing table was presented by the lady owning it, and it was
occupied by the president of the celebration. Two other chairs were given them
made of the elm under the shade of which Penn had made his first treaty with
the Indians. If these things acquire a superstitious value because of their
connection with particular persons, surely a connection with the greater Charter
of our Independence may give a value to what has been associated with that;
and such was the idea of the enquirers after the room in which it was written.
Now I happen still to possess the writing box on which it was written. It
was made from a drawing of my own by Ben Randall, a cabinet-maker in whose
house I took my first lodgings on my arrival in Philadelphia in May, 1777,‘ and I
have used it ever since. It claims no merit of particular beauty. It is plain,
neat, convenient, and, asking no more room on the writing table than a moderate
4to volume, it yet displays itself sufficiently for any writing. Mr. Coolidge
must do me the favor of accepting this. Its imaginary value will increase with
years, and if he lives to my age, or another half-century, he may see it carried
in the procession of our nation’s birthday, as the relics of the Saints are in
those of the Church. I will send it thro’ Col. Peyton, and hope with better
fortune than that for which it is to be the substitute. ...
And on the desk itself, under the writing board, Jefferson affixed
the following affidavit in his own handwriting:
Th. Jefferson gives this Writing Desk to Joseph Coolidge, junr. as a memorial
of affection. It was made from a drawing of his own, by Ben Randall, cabinet
maker of Philadelphia, with whom he first lodged on his arrival in that city in
May, 1776 and is the identical one on which he wrote the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. Politics as well as Religion has its superstitions, these, gaining
strength with time, may, one day, give imaginary value to this relic, for its asso-
ciation with the birth of the Great Charter of our Independence, Monticello.
Nov. 18, 1825.
The desk arrived in Boston safely, and Joseph Coolidge, Jr., ac-
knowledged its receipt as follows on February 27, 1826:
I have deferred too long to mention the valued Memorial which you sent me:
several times, however, have I written to thank you for “the Desk,” and as often
destroyed my letter least that, which was but the sincere expression of gratified
feeling, should seem to you like exaggeration: but I was truly sensible of the
kindness of the gift, and the compliment it conveyed: the desk arrived safely,
furnished with a precious document which adds very greatly to its value; for
the same hand which, half a century ago, traced upon it the words which have
gone abroad upon the earth, now attests its authenticity, and consignes it to
myself. When I think of this desk, “in connection with the great charter of our
independence,” I feel a sentiment almost of awe, and approach it with respect;
but when I remember that it has served you fifty years, been the faithful deposi-
tory of your cherished thoughts; that upon it have been written your letters
to illustrious and excellent men, your plans for the advancement of civil and
religious liberty, and of Art and Science; that it has, in fact, been the companion,
4Note the mistake Jefferson made in the date here. He gives the correct date in the
manuscript note attached to the desk. Also, after a lapse of some years, Jefferson here
refers to the cabinetmaker as Randall instead of Randolph.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE DESK—BROWN 459
of your studies, and the instrument of diffusing their results; that it has been
the witness of a philosophy which calumny could not subdue, and of an enthu-
siasm which eighty winters have not chilled, I would fain consider it as no
longer inanimate, and mute, but as something to be interrogated, and caressed.”
The desk remained in the Coolidge family for the next 50 years, and,
true to Jefferson’s prophecy that the relic would become valuable for
its association, it was held in veneration not only by the Coolidge
family but by the whole city of Boston. The desk was exhibited at
a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1857. It received
even greater honor and veneration in 1876 when it was exhibited at
the Centennial Exhibition being held in Boston in that year.
The Coolidge family realized that an object of such historical im-
portance should not remain in private hands, and on April 14, 1880,
Robert C. Winthrop of Boston, prominent statesman and orator and
president of the Massachusetts Historical Society, wrote to President
Rutherford B. Hayes about the desk: ©
I have been privileged to bring with me from Boston, as a present to the
United States, a very pretty historical relic. It is the little desk on which
Mr. Jefferson wrote the original draught of the Declaration of Independence.
This desk was given by Mr. Jefferson himself to my friend, the late Joseph
Coolidge, of Boston, at the time of his marriage to Jefferson’s granddaughter,
Miss Randolph; and it bears an autograph inscription of singular interest, writ-
ten by the illustrious author of the Declaration in the very last year of his life.
On the recent death of Mr. Coolidge, whose wife had died a year or two pre-
viously, the desk became the property of their children, Mr. J. Randolph Coolidge,
Dr. Algernon Coolidge, Mr. Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, and Mrs. Ellen Dwight—
who now desire to offer it to the United States. ...
They have done me the honor to make me the medium of this distinguished gift,
and I ask permission to place it in the hands of the Chief Magistrate of the
nation in their name and at their request.
President Hayes informed Congress of this gift to the Nation in
a letter written on April 22, 1880, giving the history of the desk and
advising them of the offer made by the Coolidge heirs.
The desk was thereupon accepted by joint resolution of both Houses
of Congress,’ approved on April 28, 1880, and by order of the Congress
a copy of the Resolution of Thanks signed by the President of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives was trans-
mitted to the donors.®
The desk was first placed in the custody of the Department of State,
and for a number of years it was exhibited there with the original
document of the Declaration of Independence.
In the meantime the United States National Museum, under the
administration of the Smithsonian Institution, had grown from a
5 Hxtract from letter in Massachusetts Historical Society.
6 Journal of the House of Representatives, 46th Cong., 2d sess., vol, 1879-90, p. 1086.
TIbid., p. 1085.
5 Ibid., p. 1088,
460 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
“cabinet of curiosities” to become the storehouse of the Nation’s treas-
ures. Cognizant of the fact that the National Museum had been offi-
cially designated as the Government repository for objects of histori-
cal importance, many Government agencies deposited in the Museum
specimens which they did not have the facilities to preserve or exhibit.
In 1921 the Department of State, on Executive order, turned the
original document of the Declaration of Independence over to the
Library of Congress, and a few months later the Declaration of
Independence Desk was sent to the National Museum.
During the years in which this desk has been on display at the
National Museum, a number of replicas have come to light. All these
reproductions seem to date from the centennial year, and it is assumed
that they were made at that time with the consent of the owners of the
desk. In construction they are exact copies of the original desk. Each
replica also bears under the writing surface a facsimile of Jefferson’s
note to Joseph Coolidge, Jr., so perfectly done that it seems identical
with the note attached to the original desk. Endless confusion has
resulted from these replicas as they are inherited by descendants of
the persons who first acquired the desks, or as they pass into the hands
of others who have no knowledge of the fact that such reproductions
had been made.
The most famous of these replicas received a great deal of publicity
in 1925 when newspapers in America carried a front-page story stating
that the desk on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of
Independence was then in the Bismarck Museum in Berlin, Germany.
The story continued that the desk had been given to Prince Otto von
Bismarck, on the occasion of his eighty-first birthday, by Thomas
Jefferson Coolidge, great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson and son of
Joseph Coolidge, Jr., who was the United States Minister to France
from 1892 to 1896. Public sentiment demanded the return of the desk
to the United States, and it was reported that the Bismarck family
could at last be persuaded to part with the desk for a price. Fortu-
nately, when this stage of the transaction was reached, a Jefferson
expert advised the authorities that the original desk had been given to
the United States Government by the Coolidge heirs in 1880.9
It is interesting to note, in view of this newspaper story, that in 1899,
when Thomas Jefferson Coolidge presented the Jefferson papers to the
Massachusetts Historical Society, he stated : *
Several copies were made of it [the desk], and I was amused in reading an
essay by Smalley, that on visiting Bismarck he found a desk there which the
statesman thought was the original. Undoubtedly one of the copies had been
presented or sold to the great German.
® Kimball, Marie, op. cit.
1° Massachusetts Historical Society, op. cit.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE DESK—BROWN 461
It does not seem from this statement that Thomas Jefferson Coolidge
could possibly have given Bismarck the desk in 1896, only 3 years
before, and not have remembered it at this time.
The publicity accorded the Bisrnarck desk brought to light another
replica owned by a doctor in Berryville, Va., who had also assumed
that he had the original desk. He said it had been presented to him
by a patient in Alexandria, Va., and that the desk had been in the
possession of the patient’s family for a great many years. Comparison
of this desk with the desk in the National Museum revealed that the
drawer of the Berryville desk opened on the opposite side from the
drawer in the original desk. The writing surface of the replica was
covered with red felt rather than green baize.
A third replica is today at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home at
Charlottesville, Va. Fiske Kimball, chairman of the Restoration
Committee of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, says that
the desk at Monticello came many years ago, at the time Stuart
Gibboney was president of the foundation. They do not have any
record today of the source of the replica.
The Smithsonian Institution recently had an opportunity to exam-
ine one of these replicas closely when it was brought to the National
Museum for comparison with the original desk. At first glance the
replica seemed to be identical with the Museum desk. Closer inspec-
tion revealed that the wood of the original was slightly darker in
appearance. ‘The metal fittings of the replica, such as the hinges, the
screws in the hinges, and the lock did not match exactly the handmade
fittings of the Museum desk. ‘To all appearances the manuscript notes
on the two desks were identical. The Library of Congress Division of
Manuscripts was not able to explain the process by which these notes
had been made without removing the note from one of the replicas.
This last desk had been obtained from an old New England family,
and, again, it had been assumed by the family that the desk was the
original Declaration of Independence desk.
Making souvenir relics of the founders of our country was a well-
established practice throughout the nineteenth century. It was
especially popular about the time of the centennial celebration of
the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1876, when millions
of souvenirs were copied from all types of articles that had historical
associations. In view of the accuracy with which the original desk is
copied, it is reasonable to believe that the Coolidge family had repro-
ductions of the desk made before it was turned over to the President
of the United States in 1880. It is even possible that each of the four
donors had copies of the desk made and that more of these replicas
are in existence than we suppose. It is hoped that the continuing
-research by the staff of the National Museum will eventually uncover
462 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
the exact facts of the circumstances under which the replicas were
made.
The original desk was part of a special exhibition set up at the Jef-
ferson Memorial in Washington, D. C., in 1943, in honor of the bicen-
tennial anniversary of Jefferson’s birth. It was exhibited with Jef-
ferson’s own draft of the Declaration of Independence at the foot of
the heroic Statue of Jefferson which stands in the rotunda of the
Memorial.
During World War IT the desk was evacuated from Washington to
protected storage with other irreplaceable specimens from the collec-
tions of the Smithsonian Institution.
On its return to the Museum, the desk was given a place of honor
in the North Hall of the Arts and Industries Building of the United
States National Museum. There it is exhibited in a special case in
the main aisle of the hall where it serves as an inspiration to the many
thousands of persons who visit the Smithsonian Institution annually.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The writings of Thomas Jefferson (H. A. Washington, ed.), vols. 1 and 7, 1853.
Washington, D. C.
The domestic life of Thomas Jefferson, by S. N. Randolph. 1871. New York.
Journal of the House of Representatives, 46th Congr., 2d Sess., vol. 1879-80.
United States Statutes at Large, 46th Congr., vol 21. 1879-81.
Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, ser. 2, vol. 12, 1899. Boston.
The furniture of our forefathers, Pt. 7. Domestic and imported furniture from
1776 to 1886. 1901. New York.
The furnishings of Monticello, Pt. 1, by Marie Kimball. Antiques Mag., Novem-
ber 1927.
Jefferson’s furniture at Monticello, by Helen A. Storey. Antiquarian Mag.,
July 1930.
The Continental Congress, by Edmund Cody Burnett. 1941. New York.
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Brown
PLATE 1
JEFFERSON'S PORTABLE WRITING DESK FOLDED FOR CARRYING.
PLATE 2
—Brown
Smithsonian Report, 1953.
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Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Brown
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Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Brown
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Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Brown
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AHL DNIMOHS dM dOL HLIM GNV Na3dO YAaAMVYHC HLIM HSAG
Charles Bird King, Painter of Indian
Visitors to the Nation’s Capital
By Joun C. EwWers
Associate Curator, Division of Ethnology
U. S. National Museum
[With 8 plates]
Amonc the many artists who depicted the North American Indians
in the days before the development of photography, Charles Bird
King enjoyed a unique and rather paradoxical distinction. King
never set foot on American soil west of the Mississippi River. Never-
theless, he was the first white man known to record in oils the physi-
cal appearances and picturesque dress costumes of many Indian
leaders of the Great Plains tribes. It is doubtful if King ever saw
an Indian village. Yet he painted from life portraits of Indian
leaders from more than a score of tribes. Except for those intrepid
paintbrush pioneers, George Catlin and John Mix Stanley, who
traveled extensively amid the dangers and inconveniences of the
Indian country, no other artist of the precamera period painted a
larger or more varied series of Indian portraits.
Charles Bird King was born in Newport, R. I.,in 1785. He showed
an early interest in painting that was encouraged by some of the best
artists of his day. Samuel King of Newport, instructor of Allston
and Malbone, was his first teacher. Later (probably from 1800 to
1805) he studied under Edward Savage in New York. Thereafter,
he spent 7 years in London, where he roomed with Thomas Sully and
had the advantage of Benjamin West’s instruction. In 1812 he re-
turned to this country. For 4 years he worked at his easel in Phila-
delphia with little success. In 1816 he moved to Washington, D. C.
Here he remained until his death on March 18, 1862.
Here, at the seat of government, King achieved a reputation as a
painter of portraits of socially and politically prominent persons
of his time. Among his sitters were John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay,
and John Howard Payne, famed writer of “Home Sweet Home.” King
built a studio and gallery on the east side of Twelfth Street between
463
464 | ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
E and F Streets NW. Probably, many, if not all, of his Indian por-
traits were executed there.
The first Indians known to have been painted by King were mem-
bers of a delegation of 16 leaders from the Pawnee, Omaha, Kansa,
Oto, and Missouri Tribes of the Great Plains who arrived in Wash-
ington on November 29, 1821, in care of Maj. Benjamin O’Fallon,
United States Indian agent. Zhe National Intelligencer of November
30, 1821, heralded their arrival: “Their object is to visit their Great
Father, and learn something of that civilization of which they have
hitherto remained in total ignorance. They are from the most remote
tribes with which we have intercourse, and they are believed to be the
first of those tribes that have ever been in the midst of the settle-
ments . . . These red men of the forest who now visit us are completely
in a state of nature.” President Monroe entertained these red-skinned
visitors at the White House. Everywhere they went in the Nation’s
Capital they aroused the curiosity and interest of onlookers. It was
probably Thomas L. McKenney, United States Superintendent of In-
dian Trade, who encouraged King to paint portraits of several members
of this delegation. He is known to have made individual portraits
of at least six of them: the Oto chiefs Choncape and Shaumonekusse;
the latter’s pretty 18-year-old wife, the Eagle of Delight; and three
Pawnee leaders, Sharitarish (Wicked Chief), Peskelechaco (pl. 2,
left), and Petalesharro (Generous Chief). King’s portrait of Petale-
sharro is the earliest known representation of a Plains Indian wearing
the picturesque feathered bonnet (pl. 2, right). His painting of The
Eagle of Delight may be the earliest oil portrait of a Plains Indian
woman (pl. 3). Probably these were among the Indian portraits
that hung on the walls of McKenney’s office in Georgetown.
King also undertook a group portrait of five unnamed members of
this delegation simply titled “Young Omawhaw, War Eagle, Little
Missouri, and Pawnees,” reproduced as plate 4. This original oil
painting was presented to the Smithsonian Institution in 1946 by Miss
Helen Barlow of London, England. It is noteworthy that these paint-
ings were executed a full decade before George Catlin traveled west
to paint these and other “wild tribes” in their home territories.
When Thomas L. McKenney was placed in charge of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs under the War Department in March 1824, he took
vigorous steps to enlarge the Government collection of Indian por-
traits. Secretary of War James Barbour in 1832 credited McKenney
with conceiving “the expediency of preserving the likenesses of some
of the most distinguished among this most extraordinary race of
people. Believing, as I did, that this race was about to become extinct,
and that a faithful resemblance of the most remarkable among them
would be full of interest in aftertimes, I cordially approved of the
CHARLES BIRD KING—EWERS 465
measure. This duty was assigned to Mr. King, of Washington, an
artist of acknowledged reputation; he executed it with fidelity and
success, by producing the most exact resemblances, including the
costume of each.” Thomas L. McKenney stated (1828) that King
was paid for his Indian portraits at the rate of $20 for “each head and
about half the body.” (Hodge, 1916, pp. 190-191.)
There was no dearth of Indian delegations trekking to Washington
during the decades of the 1820’s and 1830’s. Some groups of Indians
from beyond the Mississippi were brought to Washington primarily
to impress tribal leaders with the numbers of Whites, with the power
and good intentions of the United States Government and to encourage
Indian loyalty and good behavior. Others came to do business with
the Government in matters involving cessions of Indian lands. In
1825, President Monroe recommended to the Congress a plan for the
resettlement of Indian tribes then living east of the Mississippi on
lands west of that great river, in order to permit the expansion of
white settlement in the South and Midwest. In those days the United
States recognized the Indian tribes as independent nations. To effect
their removal from their traditional agricultural lands and hunting
grounds, legal treaties had to be negotiated. Other treaties had to
be made with tribes of Plains Indians to secure portions of their
hunting grounds upon which the eastern Indians could be resettled.
These treaties required prolonged and complicated negotiations
between representatives of the Government and leaders of the Indian
tribes involved. During the years 1824-38 no fewer than 18 Indian
treaties were signed in the city of Washington. Each ceremony was
attended by a delegation of chiefs and headmen of the tribe or tribes
concerned. Other tribes sent delegations to Washington to discuss
land cessions which were later formally negotiated by treaties signed
in the field.
King painted portraits of many members of these delegations when
they came to Washington during the periods 1821-22 and 1824-37.
During the years 1826-27, when Indian visitors to the capital were
few, King copied for the Government collection at least 26 portraits of
Indians of the western Great Lakes (most of them Ojibwa), executed
in the field by the less able artist, James Otto Lewis. In 1837, when
the number of Indian visitors to Washington was unusually large,
George Cooke, friend and pupil of King, was called in to paint some
of their portraits. In the 16-year period 1821-37 King painted from
life Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Uchi Indian leaders
from the South; Ojibwa, Potawatomi, Menomini, Sac, Fox, and
Seneca from the Great Lakes region; Iowa, Kansa, Omaha, Oto, and
Pawnee from the central Great Plains; Eastern, Yankton, and Yank-
- tonai Dakota, and a lone Assiniboin from the far Northwest.
466 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Many of those Indians were chiefs of prominence in the regional
history of our country. Others, such as Keokuk, Black-Hawk, and
Red Jacket, gained national prominence and were painted by white
artists other than King during their lives. Of outstanding historical
significance is King’s portrait of Pushmatha, the great Choctaw leader
and consistent friend of the Whites. (See pl. 5, left.) Pushmataha
sat for King on his visit to Washington in 1824. He died in Washing-
ton on December 24 in that year, and was buried in the Congressional
Cemetery.
Nor were King’s Indian paintings limited to likenesses of official
delegations. He also portrayed lone Indians who appeared in Wash-
ington for other and varied reasons. There was Tshusick, clever and
beautiful Ojibwa adventuress, who reached Washington (1826) in
rags with a sad story on her lips, remained to capture the sympathies
and admiration of official and social Washington through her wit and
charm, and left town loaded with presents before stories of her
previous successes in other white communities reached the capital.
There was also Mohongo, attractive widow of an Osage chief. She
had been a member of a party of Osage Indians taken to Europe by
an enterprising white man in 1827 to be exhibited as representatives of
the wild tribes of America. Mohongo’s husband died at sea on the
return journey in 1830. Disillusioned and without funds she appealed
te the Government to return her to her own people.
The great majority of King’s original Indian portraits were exe-
cuted for the Government collection. Frances Trollope, that inde-
fatigable recorder of American customs, saw this collection in
Washington in 1832, and wrote: “The bureau for Indian affairs
contains a room of great interest; the walls are entirely covered with
original portraits of all the chiefs who from time to time, have come
to negotiate with the great father, as they call the President. These
portraits are by Mr. King, and it cannot be doubted, are excellent
likenesses, as are all the portraits I have ever seen from the hands
of that gentleman.” (Trollope, 1832, vol. 1, pp. 814-315.)
This collection was transferred to the National Institute in 1841
and exhibited in the old Patent Office building. Curator John Varden
counted “One Hundred and Thirty Indian Portraits Taken by
Charles King and Others” in this collection September 1, 1852. In
1858 the collection was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution.
A Catalogue of Indian Paintings belonging to the Government Oollec-
tion in 1859 lists 147 items. Of this number 82 are attributed to
Charles Bird King, 15 are attributed to other artists, while the names
of the painters of the remaining portraits are not given. Some, pos-
sibly many, of the paintings in the last group should be attributed
to King. (Rhees, 1859, pp. 55-58.) The collection remained on
CHARLES BIRD KING—EWERS 467
exhibition in the art gallery of the Smithsonian building until most of
the art collection was destroyed by fire, January 15, 1865.
It is fortunate that Charles Bird King painted replicas of a num-
ber of the Indian portraits he had created for the Government collec-
tion. Some subjects he copied more than once. Two replicas of
The Eagle of Delight, for example, have been preserved. Careful
study of these portraits (pl. 8) indicates that the two paintings
differ somewhat in detail. This suggests that King’s replicas may not
be meticulous duplicates of the originals.
King’s originals also were copied by other artists. In the early
1830’s Henry Inman copied in oil a majority of the Indian paintings
in the Government collection. These copies are now preserved in the
Peabody Museum of Harvard University. From Inman’s copies col-
ored lithographs were prepared for McKenney and Hall’s “History of
the Indian Tribes of North America,” published by Key and Biddle
of Philadelphia, 1836-44. These large, handsome, 1914- by 1814-inch
plates are now collector’s items. In the form of these lithographic
reproductions many of King’s Indian portraits have survived.
Contemporaries of Charles Bird King made no rash claims for his
artistic genius. Nevertheless, they had respect for his technical skill.
Thomas Sully, who roomed with King in London, termed him “the
most industrious person I ever met” and the possessor of “much me-
chanical skill.” Dunlap decried King’s use of a mechanical gadget to
measure the proportions of his sitter’s features and appendages.
Tuckerman thought King’s paintings were “not remarkable for artistic
superiority, but often curious and valuable likenesses, especially the
Indian portraits.” (Dunlap, 1834, vol. 2, pp. 261-262; ‘Tuckerman,
1867, p. 68.)
Since many of Charles Bird King’s portraits of prominent Indians
are the only known representations of the physical appearance of
those individuals, it is important that we try to appraise his ability to
execute true likenesses of his Indian sitters. Perhaps we should not
give too much weight to the opinions of his contemporaries regarding
this matter, for it is unlikely that the most competent critics of his
time had opportunities to compare King’s portraits with the features
of the living Indians who posed for him. Certainly some of King’s
Indians appear to display rather marked Caucasian features. In
some cases this characteristic may properly be attributed to the fact
that the Indians themselves were mixed-bloods. In other cases that
possibility appears remote. For example, King’s portrait titled “As-
siniboin Indian, from the Most Remote Tribe That Had ever Visited
Washington previous to 1938,” is almost certainly intended to be a
likeness of The Light, the Assiniboin who came to Washington in
* 1831-32, whose tragic experiences resulting from that visit were enter-
tainingly described by George Catlin and other contemporaries.
468 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
(Catlin, 1841, vol. 2, pp. 194-200.) Catlin executed a portrait of this
man in St. Louis in the fall of 1831 that bears little resemblance to
King’s portrait of the same man painted only a few months later. In
King’s front view (pl. 7, left) this putative full-blood Indian looks
like a white man, while in Catlin’s three-quarter view The Light’s
Mongoloid characters are pronounced (pl. 7, right).
On the other hand, King’s three-quarter-view portrait of the Iowa
Chief, No Heart, painted in 1837 when the subject was about 40 years
of age, compares very favorably with the photographic likeness of
that Indian taken some years later, and probably not long before
No Heart’s death in 1862. When we make allowances for changes in
No Heart’s features due to aging, we certainly can observe a strong
resemblance between the Indian in King’s portrait and the one in
the photograph. (See pl. 8.)
These comparisons suggest that King achieved varying degrees of
success in portraying the likenesses of his sitters. Perhaps he was
most successful in profile and three-quarter-view portraits. He was
not uniformly successful in the more difficult front-view poses.
A single extant example of King’s attempt at an Indian subject
other than a portrait is his “Indian Girl at Her Toilet” in the collection
of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum, Newport, R. I. (pl. 5,
right). In this sentimental, imaginary canvas is exhibited the work
of an artist who had seen and painted many individual Indians in
his Washington studio, but who remained ignorant of the cultural
background of these people.
A CHECKLIST OF INDIAN PORTRAITS ATTRIBUTED TO CHARLES BIRD KING
Listed below are 105 Indian portraits and 1 romantic Indian
scene attributed to Charles Bird King. The originals of 89 portraits
were in the National Collection in 1859. (Rhees, 1859.) With the
possible exception of three portraits now in the U. S. National Museum,
these originals were destroyed in the Smithsonian Institution fire of
1865. We may assume that other extant versions of subjects in the
old National Collection are replicas.
Of the extant collections, the largest is the series of 21 paintings
given or bequeathed by King to the Redwood Library and Athenaeum
in his home town of Newport, R. I. Nine oil portraits (seven of them
replicas) now in the Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen, Denmark, are
illustrated (three in color) in Birket-Smith (1942). These paintings
were presented to Maj. Gen. Peter von Scholten, Governor General
of the Danish West Indies, probably by President Jackson in 1831.
Six King portraits belonging to the Thomas Gilcrease Foundation of
Tulsa, Okla., were exhibited there in 1949. In addition, there are 4
portraits in the United States National Museum, 2 in the University
CHARLES BIRD KING—EWERS
469
of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia, and 2 (1 a miniature) in the
Fine Arts Gallery of Yale University, New Haven, Conn. It is very
possible that there are other Indian portraits by Charles Bird King
in public or private collections not known to the writer.
Tribe Name
IAssinipoiniens-as=2o=— MNGi AGH Gs sae eae ee oe eee ee
@herokee.. == 2==2--t=5 Jonni Ridges -pces eee eee eae
i Ds ee es See Tugoniscoteyeh (Black Fox) ----
Choctawencn ss ---- = Rashmatangsessense ease eee
@reeKiceo222-=2 aac Apauly Tustennuggee-_-._-------
DOl.ceee ee sassaees Coosa Tustennuggee_-----------
DO:s2. =e eee Gye betes [ee es ae ee a
pO: ee Menawa-s--5:o-<.5s---s-csese ==
D0-225-55- 525 ee Mistippee, son of Yoholo Micco-
D022. eee Nahetluchopie (Little Doctor) --
D0. 325-5 Oche Finceco (Charles Connelo).
DO 2e520L 52 Opothlesyoholo!==-==--=--------
DO2c.52 3 eeeeeee Selocteerns see tate eae ee
DO-252h sos Seeoeee Tuskiehu Tustennuggee (Little
Prince).
DoS eae ivioholovMilecos-3 --2--22e-=---- =
14; ee eS ee Mahaskah (White Cloud)--.----
DOi0c2- 55-3252 Mauchcoomaim..-__-----.-------
DO ane eee Moanabonga (Great Walker) _---
aD eee ees Nacheninga or Notchimine (No
Heart).
10) es tee eae Neomonni (Walking Rain)------
Do Rantchewaime (Female Flying
Pigeon).
DOs coseses Tahrohon (Plenty of Meat) -----
(DOes ese en ee Watchemonne (The Orator)-----
DOecse.-S==sase2 Young Mahaskah--_-------------
Kansas. 22s2css-2se 5 Monchousia (White Plume)-_----
Moenomini=-- === Amisquew (The Spoon)------. --
1D See - Seer @hanannoquot=-- == ===
%McKenney and Hall.
Date
1832
1826?
1828
1824
1825
1825
1835
1826
1826
1825
1825
1825
1825
1825
1826
1824
1826
1824
1837
1837
1824
1837
1837
1837
1821?
1831
1835
Reference
Oil: Redwood Library.
Oil: No. 69 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H.,! vol. 2, p. 181.
Oil: No. 9 in S. L., 1859.
Oils: No. 42 in 8. I., 1859. Redwood
Library.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 31.
Oil: No. 80 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 184,
Oil: No. 51 in 8. I., 1859.
Oil: No. 138 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 72.
Oil: No. 23 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 97.
Oils: No. 24 in S. I., 1859. Redwood
Library.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 19.
Oil: No. 50 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H,, vol. 3, p. 88.
Oil: No. 124 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 56.
Oil: No. 53 in 8. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 7.
Oil: No. 70 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 193.
Oil: No. 71 in S. I., 1859.
Oil: No, 27 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 17.
Oil: Gilcrease Foundation.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 141.
Oil: King after Lewis—No. 136 in S. L.,
1859.
Oils: No. 88 in S. I., 1859. Redwood
Library.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 157,
Oils: No. 103 in S. I., 1859. U. 8.
National Museum.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 59.
Oil: No. 101 in 8S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 81.
Oils: No. 97 in S. I., 1859. Redwood
Library. Gilcrease Foundation.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 147.
Oil: No. 38 in 8. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 85.
Oil: No. 46 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 89.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 153.
Oils: No. 91 in 8S. I., 1859. National-
museet, Copenhagen.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 24.
Oils: No. 82in S. I., in 1859. Redwood
Library.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 96.
Oil: Redwood Library.
470 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Tribe Name Date Reference
Missouri. 222.-< 32st Hawehekeongga (Kills the| 1837 | Oil: No. 15in S.I., 1859.
Osages).
Olibwass---2-0-5-=-— Ahacamegisheal<-----.-------=25 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 56 in 8. I.,
1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 169.
DO eee Attecure (Young Reindeer) ----- 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 54 in S. L.,
1859.
Do.._-_-___-------| Caatousee (Creeping Out of the | 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 115 in S.I., |
Water). 1859. {
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 97.
1D (Rae @hippewa Ghiek =... - 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 18 in S. L., |
1859.
Does 23 oe | dp 8 ee. 2 See en eee 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 29 in S.L.,
1859.
DOS ns ae eee G0. sess Ae Oe Re 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 83 in S.L.,
1859.
Do...-_.__..-.-.--| Chippewa Squaw and Child____| 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 146 in S.I.,
1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 99.
DD O-2 ec eee Corbamappa (Wet Mouth) ---_- 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 109 in S.I.,
1859.
SDL Ae eeeeeenv a wea Esmeboin or Cosniboin-.- ------- 1827 | Oils: King after Lewis—No. 112in S.L.,
1859. U.S. National Museum.
Dest tases 2 Gadegewe (Spotted) -__--------- 1835 | Oil: No. 19 in S. L., 1859.
DO seer ee Sc Tan bean -- 952 28 FPS 1826 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 30 in S. L.,
1859.
DO eee eee Jackopa (The Six)_..-..-----_--- 1827 | Oils: King after Lewis— No. 72in S.L.,
1859. U.S. National Museum.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 128.
IDO es! See Kewadin (The North Wind)____| 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 45 in S. I.,
1859.
DD sos Ae eas = ar Keemenne, (Rain) ._--=--6- =.---= 1827 | Oil: No. 52 in S. I., 1859.
DOe Sata sees Kitcheewabeshas (Good Mar-| 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—U. of Penna.
tin). Museum.
55 (vue Gee et oes Mishshaquat (Clear Sky) ------- 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 3 in S. I.,
1859.
Doe Fe ae a Naagarnep (Sits at the Head)_--| 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 21 in S. L., |
1859. .
O02 ee ta Notin: (ind) ee ee Oil: No. 129 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 16.
1DY ee ae ET EET es Qtangeswacks>: 2. io) 1 33223 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 122in S.I.,
1859.
1 ee i ll Ohyawamincekee (Yellow | 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 55 in S. I., |
Thunder). 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 166.
1 a See ie a a Pashening ssa cseee = ae meres 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 60 in S. L.,
1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 48.
WO2 eacanw sae a PORT ere cena ene eee 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 4 in S. L.,
1859.
0 Yr aera te ee ey STIS een ee eee 1827 | Oil: No. 147 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 173.
Doers Fee Weshcubb (The Sweet) --------- 1827 | Oil: King after Lewis—No. 47 in §. I.,
1859,
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 59.
Omaha=4* 522.42 53 Kihegamawsheshe (Brave]| 1837 | Oil: No. 187in S. L., 1859.
Chief).
Osage. 2 # Ves vee, WrOROULO ee eee 1830 | Oil: No. 110 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 21.
EO sae on at hovicangss 2 _esen-- eee 1821? | Oils: No. 94 in S. I., 1859.
Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 107.
Smithsonian Report, 1953, —Ewers PLATE 1
CHARLES BIRD KING, PAINTER OF INDIAN VISITORS TO THE NATION’S CAPITAL.
(Courtesy of Mrs. Walter Harvey.)
PLATE 2
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Ewers
(‘uedeyusdos ‘JaasnwyeuoneNy Jo Asa1.1n02))
“AANMYd dNO7T ‘SASIHD SNOYANAD ‘OYMNVHSAIVLAd “2
(‘AreiqryT poompoayy fo Asoi1n0Z)
‘SENMVd NVOIMENdaY ‘OOVWHOAIEMSAd *1
‘uoseyusdos, ‘joasnwyeuoTeNy Ul voyday ‘7 “AIBIQUT pooMpey, oy} ul vordayy oT
“"NVWOM O1LO ‘LHSINWEG AO 31SV¥ AHL SAO LIVYULYOd S.DNIM AO SNOISHSA OML
PLATE 3
n”
-
ve
=
fl
Cal
wm
ron
a
~
a)
a.
o
[24
cS
as
=
i}
n
=
=
E
PLATE 4
Ewers
Smithsonian Report, 1953.--
(uinosnyy [PuOneN "S$ ‘*) “LZ8[ ‘Bury pig sopreysd Aq poluleg
. SHANMVd GNV ‘IYNOSSIW S1LLIT ‘A19Va YVM ‘MVHMVYNWO ONNO,,,
PLATE 5
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Ewers
cc PYLOL, OH 3 [uD uerpuy,, °Z
*folyd MPDOYD c
“AYVYSIT GOOMGSEHY AHL NI SONILNIYVd ONIN OML
eyeleurysnd *[
PLATE 6
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Ewers
‘eaqulg ‘xig ay, ‘edoysel *7
“SIM3]1 OLLO SAWVEL A
(‘uinasnyy [euOTeN *S “)
‘emqilgQ ‘uloqiusosd Jo ‘uloqauIsy *T
SIVNIDINO WOU ONIM AS GAIdOD SLIVYLYOd OML
PLATE 7
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Ewers
wunosnyy JBUOTIE NY ‘
SQ eu ul uIpesg as10a5) Aq WeIIOg “7 C
Alviqivy poompay ul sury Aq jei10g
‘ZE8L NI NOLONIHSVM GALISIA OHM NVIGNI NIOSINISSY NV ‘LHSIT 3HL AO SLIVHLYOd
I
PLATE 8
Smithsonian Report, 1953.—Ewers
(Asojouyiy uroliawy jo nesing)
‘C98
] ©} Joud uayei ydeisojoyg °*7 (‘tunasnyy [euONeN “Ss “f)
“VMO] “LYWAH ON ‘VONINSAHOVN AO SLIVYLYOd
“LEQT ‘Bury Aq uemi0g "|
Tribe
Oto... ae
Dols
Do:2-=—
Pawnee (Republican).
Pawnee (Loup).
Pawnee (Grand)
Pawnee (Loup).
Penobscot------
Potawatomi (Prairie) -
Sac and Fox (Sac). ---
Sac and Fox (Fox).--.
Sac and Fox (Sac) - ---
Sac and Fox (Fox) ----
Sac and Fox (Sac) -_---
Sac and Fox (Sac) __-_-
Dos. 22. ee ee 338 Pashepahaw (The Stabber)
Sae and Fox (Fox)___-
IDOE ee
CHARLES BIRD KING—EWERS
Name
—oe\| Haber Gye qe Gree 2. ts
Hayne Hudjihini (The Eagle of
Delight).
.| Nowaykesugga (Strikes Two at
Once).
Wabhronesah (Surrounder)-_--_--
Wekrootaw (He Who Ex-
changes).
Peskelechacos.co220--casse sa2=ne
Petalesharro (Generous Chief) _.-
mawaas Sharitarish (Wicked Chief) _...__
Lakeetoomerasha (Little Chief) -
Leshawloolalehoo (Big Chief) ---
VOSODNSROLUS ssc sss wae ece tes ee
Wabaunsee (Causer of Paleness) -
Asheaukou (Sunfish) ._-----__---
PASH OXp@ iehssssa tee nee eee
Kaikeekaimaih (All Fish)_______
Keesheswa (The Sun)-__.__-__-__-
Keokuk (Watchful Fox)
Reeokuinan dis onee esses ee
ee Makataimeshekiakiah (Black
Hawk).
Naasheoshuck (Son of Black
Hawk).
Nesouaquoit (Bear in the Forks
of a Tree).
Peamuska (Fox Winding in his
Course).
Panansee (Shedding Elk) -_-__-_-
Powasheek (To Dash the Water
off).
Waatopenot (Eagle’s Bill)_..___-
Wakechai (Crouching Eagle) -_-_-
1821
1837
1826
1824
1837
471
Reference
Oils: No. 130 in S. I., 1859. Redwood
Library. Nationalmuseet, Copen-
hagen.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 75.
Oils: No. 131 in 8. I., 1859. Redwood
Library. Nationalmuseet, Copen-
hagen.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 8.
Oil: No. 64 in S. I., 1859,
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 8.
Oil: No. 13 in S. I., 1859.
Oil: No. 139 in 8. I., 1859.
Oils: No. 89 in 8. I., 1859. Redwood
Library. Nationalmuseet, Copen-
hagen.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 169.
Oil: Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 101.
Oil: Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 163.
Oil: No. 12 in 8. I., 1859.
Oil: No. 74 in 8. I., 1859.
Oil: Gilcrease Foundation.
Oils: No. 105 in S. I., 1859. Redwood
Library.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 107.
Oil: No. 95 in 8. I., 1859.
Oil: King after Lewis—No. 121 in S. I.,
1859.
Oil: No. 123 in S. I., 1859.
Oil: No. 37 in 8. 1., 1859.
Lith: McK, and H.., vol. 2, p. 83.
Oils: No. 77 in S. I., 1859. Redwood
Library. Nationalmuseet, Copen-
hagen. Gilcrease Foundation.
Oil: No. 144 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 63.
Oil: No. 133 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: Redwood Library.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 29.
Oil: No. 25 in S. I., 1859.
Oil: Redwood Library.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 155.
Oil: Redwood Library.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 113.
Oil: No. 114 in S. I., 1859.
Oil: No. 41 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 95.
Oils: No. 34 in 8S. I., 1859 (credited to
George Cooke), Redwood Library.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 161.
Oil: King after Lewis—No. 49 in S. I.,
1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 150.
Oils: No. 65 in S. I., 1859. Redwood
Library.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 229.
Oil: No. 106 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 51.
472
ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION » 1953
Tribe Name Date
Seminole....---------- Foke Luste Hajo (Craggy Black | 1826
Clay).
DOs 22s a2 eee Heho Tustennuggee (Deer War- | 1826
rior).
PD OLse See eee Governor Hicks (Head Chief)._.| 1826
W0:2202 ae eee Holato Micco (Blue King) _--__- 1826
Dosis Ske =o Pulcese Mathias 22202 eee eee 1826
Dole IMMGANODV s22 53 9) 552s oe es. (eas ee eee
Dos ae Neamathlano2 |= 5-2. Secca 1826
Doe eee Yaha Hajo (Mad Wolf) -_-..---_- 1825
BSenéea=:. 2-05 222-2 Redvacket-..2-.25-24---a eee 1828
Doe =) er oune: Com planter: s= ans os 1827
Sioux (Yankton)--.._.| Ammoi (Comes for Something)-} 1837
Sioux (Mdwekanton)-_| Little Crow_...----------------- 1824
DD fe ote pee et ey Wahkeontawkah (Big Thunder)| 1837
Sioux (Yanktonai).._.| Wanata (The Charger)-...--.---] 1826
Stockbridge..._______- TONG QUINN Ya seeeece ee aaa 1842
Winnebago. ---------_- Arnisquam (Wooden Ladle)_..-_| 1826
Do...-------------| Wakaun Haka (Snake Skin).-_._} 1826
Wuehis 22.22.25. Timpoochee Barnard_...-----.-- 1825
“Young Omahaw, War Eagle, | 1821
Little Missouriand Pawnees’’.
0) SES ee ee SEN Makwehawmak (Great Walker) |_.__----
(Gy) |p ee eee 5 ee Col. John Stedman (or Stidham) | 1825
(Rize oe ee Ohief NoiOnsh? 2. 2-2. see ea eee
(2) bs ae eee “Indian Girl at Her Toilet” |___..._.
(Not a portrait).
Since this list was compiled five additional Indian portraits by
Charles Bird King, formerly owned by a private collector in England,
have been offered for sale by James Graham & Sons, Inc., of New York.
These paintings were illustrated in an advertisement in Antiques
magazine for June 19538, p. 487. Four of the paintings appear to be
replicas of his portraits of the Pawnee, Petalesharro; the Oto chief,
Shaumonekusse and his wife, The Eagle of Delight; and the Sac chief,
The fifth painting, a portrait of The Prophet, brother
of the famous Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, does not appear in my check
Wakechai.
list.
Reference
Oil: No. 68 in 8. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 179.
Oil: No. 111 in S. L., 1859.
Oil: No. 107 in 8. I., 1859.
Oil: No. 107 in S. I., 1859.
Oil: U. of Penna. Museum.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 3, p. 120.
Oil: No. 63 in S. L., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 187.
Oil: No. 36 in 8S. I., 1859,
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 143.
Oil: No. 67 in S. I., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 217.
Oils: No. 98 in 8S. I., 1859. Redwood
Library. Yale University.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 1.
Oil: Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen.
Oil: No. 87 in S. I., 1859.
Oil: No. 125 in 8. 1., 1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 61.
Oil: No. 14 in S. I., 1859.
Oils: King after Lewis—No. 119 in 8. I.,
1859. Redwood Library.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 1, p. 109.
Oil: Gilcrease Foundation.
Oil: King after Lewis—No. 6 in S. I.,
1859.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 151.
Oil: King after Lewis—No. 61 in 8. I.,
1859,
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 165.
Oils: No. 135 in S. I., 1859. Redwood
Library.
Lith: McK. and H., vol. 2, p. 25.
Oil: U. 8S. National Museum,
Oil: Gilcrease Foundation.
Oil: No. 35 in S. L., 1859.
Miniature: Yale University.
Oil: Redwood Library.
CHARLES BIRD KING—EWERS 473
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANONYMOUS.
1862. Charles Bird King (obituary). Newport (R. I.) Advertiser, Mar. 26,
1862.
Brrket-Smira, Kas.
1942 Charles B. King’s Indianerportraiter i Nationalmuseet. Copenhagen,
Denmark.
CaTLIN, GEORGE.
1841. Letters and notes on the manners, customs and condition of the North
American Indians. 2 vols. London.
Dunuap, WILLIAM.
1834. History of the rise and progress of the arts of design in the United
States. 2 vols. New York.
GILCREASE, THOMAS, FOUNDATION.
1949. Opening exhibition of pictures. Tulsa, Okla.
Hopas, FREDERICK WEBB.
1916. The origin and destruction of the National Indian Portrait Gallery.
Holmes Anniv. Vol. Washington, D. C.
1950. Pitalesharu and his medal. Masterkey, vol. 24, No. 4. Southwest
Museum, Los Angeles, Calif.
McKenney, THomas L., and Haun, JAMEs.
1836-44. History of the Indian tribes of North America. 3 vols. Philadelphia.
RueErs, WILLIAM J.
1859. An account of the Smithsonian Institution, its founder, building, op-
erations, etc. Washington, D. C.
TROLLOPE, FRANCES.
1832. Domestic manners of the Americans. 2 vols. London.
TuUCKERMAN, Henry T.
1867. Book of the artists. New York.
Turner, KaTHERINE C,
1951. Red men calling on the Great White Father. Norman, Okla.
Reprints of the various articles in this Report may be obtained, as long as
the supply lasts, on request to the Editorial and Publications Division,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington 25, D. C.
INDEX
A
Abbot, Charles G., ix, 122
Abbott, R. Tucker, vi
ecesines 14, 27, 39, 48, 92, 103, 138,
149
Bureau of American Ethnology, 92
Freer Gallery of Art, 48
Library, 149
National Air Museum, 138
National Collection of Fine Arts,
39, 40
National Gallery of Art, 27
National Museum, 14
National Zoological Park, 103
Aebersold, Paul C. (Radioisotopes—
New keys to knowledge), 219
Air Museum (See National Air Mu-
seum)
Aldrich, Loyal B., Director,
physical Observatory, ix, 125
Allen, W. T., vii, 22
American Ethnology (See Bureau of)
Anderson, Clinton P., regent of the
Institution, v, 6
Andrews, A. J., vi
Anglim, J. E., vi
mpprapriatlons, 7, 26, 64, 88, 146, 153,
164
Astro-
Astrophysical Observatory, 7
Bureau of American Ethnology, 7
Canal Zone Biological Area, 7, 146
Institute of Social Anthropology,
International Exchange Service, 7
National Air Museum, 7
National Collection of Fine Arts, 7
National Gallery of Art, 7, 26
National Museum, 7
National Zoological Park, 7
Printing and binding, 153
River Basin Surveys, 7, 64
Arms, John Taylor, 38
Arny, Samuel A., vi
Arthur lecture, 8
Aschemeier, C. H., vi
Astronomical photography, Recent
progress in (C. E. Kenneth Mees), 205
Astrophysical Observatory, ix, 7, 12, 121
Appropriation, 7
Astrophysical Research, Division
of, 121
Radiation and Organisms, Division
of, 123
Report, 121
Staff, ix
Avery, Edward A., vii
Awl, Mrs. Aime M., vi
B
Baker, Howard W., 72
Baldwin, Gordon C., 60, 72
Bales, Richard, 36
Barkley, Alben W., 5
Barro Colorado—Tropical island labora-
tory (Lloyd Glenn Ingles), 361
Bartsch, Paul, vi
Bassler, R. 8., vii
Bayer, Frederick M., vi
Beach, Jessie G., vii
Beggs, Thomas M., Director, National
Collection of Fine Arts, viii, 10, 38,
39, 47
Belin, Ferdinand Lammot, viii, 25, 26
Benn, J. H., vii
Benson, Ezra Taft, Secretary of Agri-
culture, member of the Institution, v
Bent, Arthur C., vi
Biebighauser, Ernest E., 155
Biggs, J. D., vi
Blackwelder, R. E., vi
Blaker, Mrs. Margaret C., 92
Bliss, Robert Woods, 38
Bonner, W. D., 124
Béving, A. G., vi
Bowsher, Arthur L., vii, 22
Boyd, Mark F., 70
Bridges, William E., vii
Brgndsted, Johannes (Norsemen in North
America before Columbus), 367
Brown, Margaret W.., vili
(The story of the Declaration of
Independence desk and howit came
to the National Museum), 455
Brown, Ralph D., 60, 62, 71
Brown, Roland W.,, vii
Brown, W. L., vi
Brownell, Herbert, Jr., Attorney Gen-
eral, member of the Institution, v
Brownson, Charles B., 128
Bruns, Franklin R., Jr., viii
Buchanan, L. L., vi
Bullen, Ripley P., 70
Bureau of American Ethnology,
ds 1160
Appropriation, 7
Archives, 89
Collections, 92
Editorial work and publications, 90
Gifts, 90
Illustrations, 90
Institute of Social Anthropology, 88
Miscellaneous, 92
Report, 60
River Basin Surveys, 64
Staff, ix
Systematic researches, 60
475
ix,
476
Bush, Vannevar, regent of the Institu-
tion, v, 6, 165
Byas, W. J., vi
C
Cairns, Huntington, viii, 25, 33, 37
Caldwell, Joseph R., 69, 70
Campbell, William P., 33, 34
Canal Zone Biological Area, ix, 7, 13, 141
Appropriation, 7
Buildings and equipment, 141
Donations, 145
Fiscal report, 146
Needs, 142
Rainfall, 145
Report, 141
Scientists and their studies, 142
Visitors, 145
Cannon, Clarence, regent of the Institu-
tion, v, 6, 165
Carmichael, Leonard, Secretary of the
Institution, v, viii, ix, 1, 6, 9, 25,
38, 128; pl. 1
Carpenter, F. M. (The geological history
and evolution of insects), 339
Carriker, M. A., vi
Cartwright, O. L.,
Chace, F. A., Jr., vi
Champe, John L., 60, 72
Chancellor of the Institution (Fred M.
Vinson, Chief Justice of the United
States), v, 6
Chapin, Edward A., vi
Chase, Mrs. Agnes, vii
Chief Justice of the United States (Fred
M. Vinson, Chancellor of the Institu-
tion), v, 25
Christensen, Erwin O., 32, 33
Clark, Austin H., vi
Clark, Sir Kenneth, 34
Clark, Mrs. Leila F., librarian, v, 151
Clark, R. S., vi
Clark, Thomas F., chief, accounting di-
vision, v
Clarke, Gilmore D., 38
Climate and race (Carleton Coon), 277
Cloud, Preston, vii
Cochran, Doris M., vi
Cockcroft, Sir John, 9; pl. 1
eeeceae fishes, The (Errol White),
1
Collins, Henry B., Jr., ix, 62, 63
Combs, Rear Adm. T. §S., ix
Commerford, L. E., chief, publications
division, v
Compton, Arthur H., regent of the In-
stitution, v, 6
Conger, Paul §., vii
Coon, Carleton (Climate and race), 277
Cooper, Gustav A., vii, 22, 82
Cott, Perry B., 32, 33
Cotter, John L., 61
Cox, Eugene E., 5
Craig, George N., 128
Craigie, Lt. Gen. Laurence C.., ix
ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Crist, Raymond E. (The mountain vil- °
age of Dahr, Lebanon), 407
Cumming, Robert B., Jr., 82, 83
Cushman, Robert A., vi
D
Dahr, Lebanon, The mountain village of
(Raymond E. Crist), 407
Dale, Chester, viii, 25, 26
Davis, E. Mott, 61
Davis, Harvey N., 5
Dead Sea Scrolls, The problem of dating
the (John C. Trever), 425
Declaration of Independence desk and
how it came to the National Museum,
The story of the (Margaret W.
Brown), 455
Deignan, Herbert G., vi, 21
Densmore, Frances, ix, 92
Drucker, Philip, ix, 64
Dulles, John Foster, Secretary of State,
member of the Institution, v, viii
Dunkle, David H., vii, 22
Dunn, Dr. and Mrs. R. E., 141
Durkin, Martin P., Secretary of Labor,
member of the Institution, v
E
Fast, C. S8., vi
Edelen, Mrs. Eloise B., 89
Kgler, Frank E. (Vegetation manage-
ment for rights-of-way and roadsides),
299
Eisenhower, Dwight D., President of
the United States, Presiding Officer
ex officio, v
Elbel, Robert E., 21
Elder, R. A., Jr., vi
Ellis, Max M., vi
Elstad, V. B., ix, 124
Erasmus, Charles J., 89
Establishment, The, v, 5
Ettinghausen, Richard, viii, 56, 57, 58,
59
Evans, Clifford, Jr., vi, 20
Ewers, Jobn C., vi, 20
(Charles Bird King, painter of In-
dian visitors to the Nation’s
Capital), 463
Executive Committee of the Board of
Regents, v, 165
Members, v, 165
Report, 159
Appropriations, 164
Assets, 163
Audit, 164
Cash balances, receipts, and
disbursements, 162
Classification of investments,
101
Freer Gallery of Art Fund, 161
Gifts, 164
Smithsonian endowment funds,
9
Summary of endowments, 161
INDEX
Exhibitions, 30, 45, 47, 128
National Air Museum, 128
National Collection of Fine Arts,
47
National Gallery of Art, 30
Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition | Glance, Grace
Service, 45
Eyestone, Willard H., 116
F
Fairchild, David G., vii
Fenenga, Franklin, 83
Field, W. D., vi
Finances, 6, 159
Appropriations, 7
Executive Committee Report, 159
Finlayson, John and Richard, 53
Finley, David E., viii, 25, 26, 38
Fisher, W. K., vi
Fishes, The coelacanth (Errol White),
351
Fleming, Robert V., regent of the Insti-
tution, v, 6, 165
Foshag, W. F., vii
Foster, George M., 9, 88, 89
Freer Gallery of Art, vii, 11, 48
Attendance, 54
Auditorium, 55
Building, 54
Collections, additions to, 48
Repairs to, 52
Exhibitions, changes in, 52
Herzfeld Archive, 54
Library, 53
Publications, 53
Report, 48
Reproductions, 54
Staff, viii
Activities, 55
Friedmann, Herbert, vi
Froiland, A. G., 123
Fyfe, Howard, 117
G
Gaertner, E. C., 128
Garber, Paul, ix, 130, 140
Gardner, Paul V., viii, 38, 39
Gazin, C. L., vii, 23
Genetics and the world today (Curt
Stern), 263
George, Walter F., 5
Gettens, Rutherford J., viii, 57, 59
Gibson, R. E. (Science, art, and educa-
tion), 169
477
Gifts—Continued
National Gallery of Art, 27, 35, 37
National Museum (see under Col-
lections)
National Zoological Park, 103
E., vi
Goins, Alvin E., vii
Goins, Craddock R., Jr., viii
“Golden Bells Tomb” of Japan
reizuka—The (Motosaburo
and Hiroshi Takiguchi), 437
Goodrich, Lloyd, 38
Graf, John E., Assistant Secretary of the
Institution, v
Graham, D. C., vi
Greene, Charles T., vi
Griffenhagen, George B., vii
Guest, Grace Dunham, viii
Ei
Halleck, Charles A., 128
Hancock, Walker, 38
Handley, Charles O., Jr., vi, 20
Harrington, John P., ix, 63
Harrison, J. H., ix, 122
Hartle, Donald D., 83, 84
Henderson, E. P., vii
Hess, Frank L., vii
Hirano, Motosaburo (Kinreizuka—The
“Golden Bells Tomb” of Japan), 437
Hobby, Mrs. Oveta Culp, Secretary of
Health, Education, and Welfare,
member of the Institution, v
Holden, F. E., vii
Hoover, William H., ix, 122
Howard, J. D., Treasurer of the Insti-
tution, v
Howell, A. Brazier, vi
Humphrey, George M., Secretary of the
Treasury, member of the Institution,
Vv, viii, 25
Hunsaker, Jerome C., regent of the
Institution, v, 6
Hurt, Wesley R., Jr., 76
I
Ingles, Lloyd Glenn (Barro Colorado—
Tropical island laboratory), 361
Insects, The geological history and
evolution of (F. M. Carpenter), 339
Institute of Social Anthropology, 7, 9,
88, 92
Appropriation, 7, 88
Publications, 89
Report, 88
Kin-
irano
Gifts, 27, 35, 37, 39, 44, 53, 90, 103, 130, | International Exchange Service, ix, 7,
137, 188, 145, 147, 148, 164
Bureau of American Ethnology, 90
Canal Zone Biological Area, 145,
147
Freer Gallery of Art, 53
Library, 148
National Air Museum, 130, i137, 138
National Collection of Fine Arts,
39, 44
12, 93
Appropriation, 7
Foreign depositories of govern-
mental documents, 94
Foreign exchange services, 100
Interparliamentary exchange of the
official journal, 97
Publications received and sent, 93
Report, 93
478
J
James, Macgill, viii, 25
Jellison, W. L., vi
Jepsen, Glenn L., 61
Johnson, D. H., vi
Johnson, Frederick H., 72
Johnson, Leroy, regent of the Institu-
tion, v, 5, 6
Johnson, William W., 9
Jonas, Charles R., 3
Judd, Neil M., vi
K
Kainen, Jacob, vii
Kanazawa, Robert H., vi
Keddy, J. L., Assistant Secretary of the
Institution, v
Kellogg, A. Remington, Director, Na-
tional Museum, vi, 24
Kelly, Arthur, 70
Kelly, Isabel T., 89
Kendall, Edward C., vii
Kestner, F. B., photographer, v
Killip, E. P., vii, 23
King, Charles Bird, painter of Indian
visitors to the Nation’s Capital (John
C. Ewers), 463
Kinreizuka—The “Golden Bells Tomb”
of Japan (Motosaburo Hirano and
Hiroshi Takiguchi), 437
Klein, William H., ix, 124
Knight, J. Brookes, vii
Kramer, Andrew, ix, 122
Kress, Samuel H., President, National
Gallery of Art, viii, 25
Krieger, H. W., vi
L
Lachner, E. A., vi
Laybourne, E. G., vi
Lea, John §., editor, National Museum,
vi, 155
Leapley, W. T., vi
Leonard, E. C., vii
Lewton, F. L., vii
Library, 13, 35, 53, 148
Freer Gallery of Art, 53
National Gallery of Art, 35
Report, 148
Link, E. A., 23
Loeblich, A. R., Jr., vii, 22
Loehr, Max, viii
Loening, Grover, ix
Lowe, Frank O., ix
Lyon, Rowland, viii
M
Makins, Sir Roger, 9; pl. 1
Male, Walter M., ix, 134
Mann, William M., Director, National
Zoological Park, vi, ix, 120
Manship, Paul, 38
Marble, J. P., vii
Marinetti, Walter T., vii
ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Marshall, L. K., 20
Marshall, W. B., vi
Matthews, W. Bruce, 116
McBride, Harry A., viii, 25
McClure, F. A., vii
McKay, Douglas, Secretary of the
Interior, member of the Institution, v
Mees, C, E. Kenneth, 8
(Recent progress in astronomical
photography), 205
Meggers, Betty J., 20
Mellon, Paul, viii, 25, 26
Metcalf, George, 84
Miller, Carl F., 67, 68, 69, 70
Miller, Gerrit S., vi
Mills, John E., 84, 85
Mongan, Elizabeth, 32
Moore, J. Perey, vi
Morris, Robert Leroy, viii
Morrison, Joseph P. E., vi, 22
Morton, C. V., vii
Mosher, S. M., viii
Mulloy, William, 61
Murray, A. C., vii
Musical instruments, The science of (EF.
G. Richardson), 253
Myers, George Hewitt, 38
N
National Air Museum, ix, 7, 12, 126
Accessions, 138
Additions to the collection and
improvement of exhibits, 130
Advisory Board, ix, 127
Appropriation, 7
Assistance to other agencies, 135
on oaens General statement of,
al
Reference material, improvements
in, 136
Report, 126
Research, 137
Special events and displays, 128
Staff, ix
Stephenson bequest, 128
Storage, 134
Survey, 129
National Collection of Fine Arts, viii,
7, 10, 11, 38
Appropriation, 7
Barney, Alice Pike, memorial fund,
44
Gifts, 39, 44
Information service, 46
Loans: Accepted, 40
Returned, 42
To other museums amd organi-
zations, 40
Ranger, Henry Ward, fund, 44
Renovation, 10
Report, 38
Smithsonian Art Commission, 38
Smithsonian lending coilection, 42
Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition
Service, 45
INDEX
National Collection of Fine Arts—Con.
Special exhibitions, 47
Staff, viii
Study collection, 40
Transfers accepted, 40
National Gallery of Art, viii, 7, 11, 25
Accessions, 27
Activities, curatorial, 32
Other, 36
Appropriations, 7, 36
Attendance, 27
Audit of private funds, 37
Educational program, 34
Exhibitions, 30
pecdal, 30
raveling, 30
Gifts, 27, 35, 37
Index of American Design, 35
Library, 35
Maintenance building
grounds, 36
Officials, viii
Organization, 25
Personnel, 26
Publications, 33
Report, 25
Works of art, exchange of, 28
Lent, 29
On loan, 28
Restoration and repair of, 33
Returned, 28
National Museum, vi, 7, 10, 14
Appropriation, 7
Buildings and equipment, 24
Cheners in organization and staff,
of and
Collections, 14
Exploration and fieldwork, 20
Report, 14
Staff, vi
Visitors, 23
National Zoological Park, ix, 7, 12, 102
Accessions, 103
Appropriation, 7
Births and hatchings, 112
Cooperation, 116
Depositors and donors and their
gifts, 104
Exhibits, 102
Gifts, 103, 104
Maintenance and improvements,
114
Needs of the Zoo, 117
Report, 102
Staff, ix
Status of the collection, 120
Visitors, 119
Newman, Jack B.,
division, v
Newman, M. T., vi
Nicol, David, vii
Nixon, Richard M., Vice President of
the United States, member of the
Institution, v, 5, 6,
Norsemen in North America before
Columbus (Johannes Brgndsted), 367
chief, personnel
479
O
Oberg, Kalervo, 89
Oehser, Paul H., chief, editorial division,
v, 158
Oliver, L. L., superintendent of buildings
and labor, v
Oliver, S. H., vii
Pp
Palmer, T. S., vi
Parfin, Sophy, vi
Pearce, F. L., vii, 23
Pearson, Mrs. Louise M., administrative
assistant to the Secretary, v
Perry, K. M., vii
Perry, S. H., vii
Perrygo, W. M., vi, 21
Peterson, Mrs. L. W., vi
Peterson, Mendel L., viii, 23
Phillips, Duncan, viii, 25, 26
Phillips, J. Harry, Jr., vii
Photography, astronomical, Recent prog-
ress in (C. E. Kenneth Mees), 205
Pierson, Donald, 89
Pope, Annemarie H. (Mrs. John A,),
Chief, Smithsonian Traveling Exhi-
bition Service, viii, 46
Pope, John A., viii, 55, 56, 57, 58
Potter, Stanley, ix, 130
President of the United States (Dwight
D. Eisenhower, Presiding Officer
ex officio), v
Presiding Officer ex officio (Dwight D.
Hisenhower, President of the United
States), v
Price, Leonard, ix, 124
Price, Waterhouse and Co., 37
Publications, 13, 33, 53, 89, 90, 152
Allotment for printing and binding,
153
American Historical Association,
Report, 158
Bureau of American Ethnology,
90, 156
Annual Report, 156
Bulletins, 156
Publications of the Institute
of Social Anthropology, 157
Daughters of the American Revolu-
tion, Report of the National So-
elety, 158
Distribution, 152
Freer Gallery of Art, Occasional
Papers, 53, 157
Institute of Social Anthropology,
89, 157
National Collection of Find Arts,
157
National Gallery of Art, 33
National Museum, 155
Annual Report, 155
Bulletins, 156
Contributions from the United
States National Herbarium,
156
Proceedings, 155
480
Publications—Continued
Report, 152
Smithsonian, 153
Annual Reports, 154
Miscellaneous Collections, 153
Special, 155
Traveling Exhibition Service, 157
Push-button factory, The (Frank K.
Shallenberger), 241
R
Race, Climate and (Carleton Coon), 277
Radioisotopes—New keys to knowledge
(Paul C. Aebersold), 219
Reeside, J. B., Jr., vii
Regents, Board of, v, 5,
Annual meeting, 6
Executive Committee, v, 165
Members, v, 165
Report, 159
Members, v, 5
Rehder, Harald A., vi
Richards, Charles M., 32
Richardson, E. G. (The science of
musical instruments), 253
River Basin Surveys, 7, 64
Appropriation, 7, 64, 164
Cooperating institutions, 87
Field work, 68
Report, 64
Washington office, 67
Roberts, Frank H. H., Jr., Associate
Director, Bureau of American Eth-
nology; Director, River Basin Sur-
veys, ix, 60, 61, 62, 64, 67, 71, 72
Rogers, Grace L., vii
Rudd, Velva E., vii
S
Saltonstall, Leverett,
Institution, v, 6
Schaller, W. T., vii
Schmitt, Waldo L., vi
(Applied systematics: The useful-
ness of scientific names of animals
and plants), 323
Schultz, C. Bertrand, 72
Schultz, Leonard P., vi
Schumacher, E. G., ix
Schwartz, Benjamin, vi
Science, art, and education (R. E.
Gibson), 169
Scientific names of animals and plants,
The usefulness of, Applied system-
atics: (Waldo L. Schmitt), 323
Searle, Mrs. Harriet Richardson, vi
Secretary of the Institution (Leonard
Carmichael), v, 1, 6, 9, 25, 38, 128;
pl. 1
Setzer, Henry W., vi, 21
Setzler, Frank M., vi
regent of the
ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953
Shallenberger, Frank K.
button factory), 241
Shaw, Winthrop S., ix
Shepard, Donald D., 25
Shepard, Katharine, 32
Shippee, J. M., 85
Shoemaker, C. R., vi
Simmons, Ozzie, 89
Sinclair, Charles C., assistant superin-
tendent of buildings and labor, v
Sirlouis, J. R., viii
Smith, A. C., vii, 23
Smith, Carlyle S., 78
Smith, G. M., 85
Smith, Lyman B., vii
Smithsonian Art Commission, 38
Smithson’s tomb, 9; pl. 1
Sohns, Ernest R., vii, 23
Solecki, Ralph S., ix, 67, 85, 86
Speicher, Eugene E., 38
Stack, John, 129
Staff, v-ix
Stanton, T. W., vii
Stephens, Harold M., 6
Stephenson, George H., 128
Stephenson, Robert L., 71, 72, 86
Stern, Curt (Genetics and the world
today), 263
Stern, Harold P., viii, 56, 57, 59
Stevenson, John A., vii
Steward, Julian H., 9
Stewart, T. Dale, vi
Stirling, Matthew W., Director, Bureau
of American Ethnology, ix, 60, 92
Stout, William B., ix
Strobell, Robert C., ix, 130
Stubbs, Burns A., viii
Sullivan, Francis, 33
Summerfield, Arthur E., Postmaster
General, member of the Institution, v
Swallen, Jason R., vii
Swanton, John R., ix, 92
Switzer, G. §., vii
Systematics, Applied: The usefulness
of scientific names of animals and
plants (Waldo L. Schmitt), 323
(The push-
4h
Taft, Robert A., regent of the Institu-
tion, v, 5, 6
Takiguchi, Hiroshi (Kinreizuka—The
“Golden Bells Tomb” of Japan), 437
Talbert, D. G., ix, 122
Taylor, Frank A., vii
Taylor, Walter W., Jr., vi, 20
Taylor, William E., 63
Traveling Exhibition Service, viii, 45
Trever, John C. (The problem of dating
the Dead Sea Scrolls), 425
Turner, Roscoe, 129
U
Usilton, Mrs. Bertha, 57
INDEX
Vv
Vegetation management for rights-of-
wey and roadsides (Frank E. Egler),
99
Vinson, Fred M., Chief Justice of the
United States, Chancellor of the In-
stitution, v, viii, 1, 6, 25
Visitors, 7, i 93, 27, ”54, 119, 145
Canal Zone Biological Area, 145
Freer Gatlery of Art, 54
National Gallery of Art, 7, 27
National Museum, 23
National Zoological Park, 7, 119
Vorys, John M., regent of the Institu-
tion, v, 6
Ww
Walker, E. H., vii
Walker, Ernest P.,
Walker, John, viii, 25, 32, 33
Waring, Antonio J., Jr., ix, 92
Watkins, C. M., v
Watkins, W. ‘lige N.,
Wedderburn, A. J., aii.
Wedel, Waldo R. oui 20, 61
Weeks, Sinclair, Secretary of Commerce,
member of the Institution, v
Weiss, Helena M., chief, office of cor-
respondence and records,
Museum, vi
481
Wenley, Archibald G., Director, Freer
Gallery of Art, viii, 38, 56, 58, 59
Wertenbaker, Thomas i. (The arche-
ology of colonial Williamsburg), 447
Wetmore, Alexander, vi, 1, 6, 21, 38, 128
Wheeler, Richard Page, 86
ee Errol (The coelacanth fishes),
351
White, Lawrence Grant, 38
White, Theodore E., 68, 87
Wilding, Anthony 'W.. chief, supply
division, v
Williams, D. G., chief, International
Exchange Service, ix, 101
Williamsburg, The archeology of co-
lonial (Thomas J. Wertenbaker), 447
Wilson, Charles E., Secretary of De-
fense, member of the Institution, v
Wilson, Mrs. Mildred S., vi
Withrow, Mrs. see ae 4 ‘ix, 125
Withrow, R. B. 7 ix; 2
Wyeth, Andrew, 38
Y
Young, Mahonri, 38
Zz
Zetek, James, Resident Manager, Canal
Zone Biological Area, ix, 147
National | Zoological Park (See National Zoological
Park)
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