12 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1908, 



of executing the act and trust."" The work was to go forward as 

 the funds permitted, and, as is well known, the maintenance of the 

 Museum and the library was long ago assumed by Congress, the 

 Institution taking upon itself only so much of the necessary respon- 

 sibility for the administration of these and subsequent additions to 

 its activities as would weld them into a compact whole, which to- 

 gether form a unique and notable agency for the increase and diffusion 

 of knowledge, for the direction of research, for cooperation with 

 departments of the Government and with universities and scientific 

 societies in America, and likewise afford a definite correspondent to 

 all scientific institutions and men abroad who seek interchange of 

 views or knowledge Avith men of science in the United States. 



Since that early day no material change has been suggested in the 

 general scope of the Government Museum; it has only remained to 

 elaborate the details, and the opportunity is now close at hand to 

 realize all that the first Board had in view, since ample space will be 

 available within another two years. 



The development of the Museum has naturally been greatest in 

 those subjects which the conditions of the past sixty years have made 

 most fruitful — the natural history, geology, ethnology, and arche- 

 ology of the United States, supplemented by many collections from 

 other countries. The opportunities in these directions have been 

 mainly brought about through the activities of the scientific and 

 economic surveys of the Government, many of which are the direct 

 outgrowths of earlier explorations, stimulated or directed by the 

 Institution. The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 afforded the first 

 opportunity for establishing a department of the industrial arts on 

 a creditable basis, and of this the fullest advantage was taken, though 

 only a part of the collections then obtained could be accommodated 

 in the space available. 



The department or gallery of the fine arts had made little progress, 

 though not from lack of desire or appreciation, until within the past 

 two and one-half years, during which its interests have been markedly 

 advanced, as elsewhere explained. 



Another subject to which much attention has been paid with grati- 

 fying results is American history, illustrated by objects representing 



" Resolved, That it is the intention of the act of Congress establishing the 

 Institution, and in accordance with the design of Mr. Smlthson, as expressed in 

 his will, that one of the principal modes of executing the act and the trust is 

 the accumulation of collections of specimens and objects of natural history 

 and of elegant art, and the gradual formation of a library of valuable works 

 pertaining to all departments of human knowletlge, to the end that a copious 

 storehouse of materials of science, literature, and art may be provided which 

 shall excite and diffuse the love of learning among men, and shall assist the 

 original investigations and efforts of those who may devote themselves to the 

 pursuit of any branch of knowledge. 



