16 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1910. 



as much for the hardening of the plaster as for the apphcation of color 

 to relieve the extensive white surfaces. 



Other huildings. — The repairs put upon the older buildings were of a 

 varied character, being such as are constantly necessitated bj dete- 

 rioration through wear and tear and through the effects of the 

 weather. The outside stone steps at the main entrance of the Smith- 

 sonian building were redressed and reset; the old doors were replaced 

 by revolving doors, which will greatly improve the conditions as to 

 heating and the inroads of dust from the adjoining pavements; while 

 the worn floor of the vestibule was relaid with new stone, and the 

 walls and ceiling were painted. The large second story of this build- 

 ing having been allotted to the division of plants, it became necessary 

 to plan the changes and improvements required to meet the needs 

 of the extensive herbarium, which is already in excellent condition 

 for the transfer. This work, which includes the division of a part 

 of the hall into separate apartments, will be taken up at the begin- 

 ning of the new year. 



In the interior of the older Museum building the principal repairs 

 and adaptations consisted of the painting of walls and ceilings, the 

 construction of macite partitions in furtherance of fire protection, 

 and the fitting up of a part of the southeast range for taxidermal 

 work, the older quarters in the south shed being inadequate for 

 present purposes. The painting and repair of portions of the roofs 

 and woodwork on the exterior of the same building constituted an 

 item of considerable importance. The transfer of the roughing-out 

 laboratory of physical anthropology to the stable building necessi- 

 tated the overhauling of a part of that building and the addition of a 

 ventilating stack and fans. The rooms in the south shed formerly 

 occupied as tin and electrical shops, which are now provided for in 

 the new building, were fitted up for certain kinds of preparators' 

 work in biology. 



During the summer and autumn of 1909 the boilers and machinery 

 in the old Museum building were thoroughly overhauled, but in view 

 of the extension to this and the Smithsonian building of the heating 

 system from the new plant, as elsewhere described, the old boilers 

 will not be used, but kept in reserve. 



The furniture and fixtures constructed or purchased during the 

 year were almost entirely for the new building. An enumeration 

 shows that there were on hand at the close of the year 2,406 exhibition 

 cases, 5,882 storage cases, and 2,649 pieces of laboratory and office 

 furniture. 



