114 Field Museum oi- Xatural Historn— Reports. Vol. III. 



years, a slight increase is discoxered in the compensation of the staff 

 and assistants, ami in amounts expended for material for maintenance 

 and repairs to the building. The matter of repairing and calcimining 

 the exterior walls of the Museum has received considerable attention, 

 and a contri\ance introduced by Mr. Akcley. Chief Taxidermist, 

 seems to have solved the problem, and the entire Xorth front of the 

 Museum and most of the two Annexes have received an outward 

 application of stucco, greatly improving the appearance of the build- 

 ing. It is the intention to complete the work as soon as weather 

 conditions allow. 



Staff of the Museum. - One addition was made during the year to 

 the Staff", that being the appointment of Dr. Berthold Laufer as 

 Assistant Curator of Asiatic Ethnology. Dr. Laufer is a graduate 

 of the University of Berlin and has for over ten years been a student 

 of Chinese and Tibetan culture. He has been associated with the 

 Museum fiir Volkerkunde, of Berlin; conducted two expeditions into 

 Asia for the American Museum of Natural History; one into Siberia 

 and the other into China, both in the interest of the Jesup North 

 Pacific Expedition. More recently Dr. Laufer has been associated 

 with the Department of Chinese, Columbia University. 



Lecture Courses. — Two series of Lectures have been given since 

 the date of the last Annual Report, which were illustrated, and covered 

 an unusually wide range of research and travel. The lectures are given 

 at Fullerton Hall, in the Art Institute, and the attendance of the public 

 indicates a continued interest in this means of public instruction. 



Following is the Twenty-sixth Lecture Course, with the subjects 

 and lecturers delivered during the months of March and April, 1907: 



March 2. — "The Iron Ores of the Minnesota Ranges." 



Prof. C. W. Hall, University of Minneso'ta. 



March 9. — "Scientific Notes on the Russian Convict Island of 



Sakhalin." 

 Mr. Charles H. Hawes, University of Cambridge, 

 England. 



March 16. — "Bird Husbandry." 



Dr. N. Dearborn, Assistant Curator, Division of 

 Ornithology, Field Museum of Natural History. 



March 23. — "Tlie Blackfoot Indians." 



Dr. Clark Wissler, Curator of Anthropology, American 

 Museum of Natural Historv. 



