24 REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1909. 



hand. The results have been entirel}^ satisfactoiy, and the leakage 

 during rains, which was always heavy, has been entirely stopped. 



The photographic laboratory, which occupies the upper part of 

 the southeast pavilion, was in course of remodeling at the close of the 

 year, among the changes in progress being the building of an appro- 

 priate skylight, the addition of new windows, the extension of the 

 printing room, and the substitution of an encaustic tile floor for the 

 old wooden one. 



A pair of iron grille gates for the main entrance to the building 

 had been ordered but not received. They are needed to improve the 

 ventilation of the halls. Of miscellaneous repairs and alterations it 

 is difficult to speak in general terms. They were such as are to be 

 expected in connection wdth buildings of the size and character oc- 

 cupied by the Museum, the percentage of expenditure being exceed- 

 ingly low. They related mainly to the roofs and floors, the repair 

 and painting of walls and ceilings, the renewal of woodwork, and 

 the building of fireproof partitions. The outside buildings also 

 required some repairs and painting. 



The boilers and other parts of the steam plant were thoroughly 

 overhauled and renovated in the summer of 1908. Steam was raised 

 on October 2, 1908, and discontinued on May 22, 1909, the boilers 

 having been in actual use for 2,410 hours and having consumed 990 

 tons of hard coal. 



At the close of the year there were on hand 2,407 exhibition cases, 

 3,184 storage cases, and 1,645 pieces of office and other furniture. 

 The additions during the year consisted of 36 storage cases and 17 

 pieces of office furniture made in the Museum workshops, besides 38 

 exhibition cases, 723 storage cases, including 600 of steel, and 54 

 pieces of other furniture purchased in the open market. The 

 Museum force was largely occupied in remodeling and fireproofing 

 storage cases for the new building, the number so transformed hav- 

 ing been 667. The work consisted chiefly in covering them with 

 sheet steel, but other alterations were also made, the herbarium cases, 

 for instance, being changed to an independent unit. Several thou- 

 sand insect drawers were cut down and refinished so as to adapt them 

 to the 160 steel racks provided for the new building. Six wood- 

 working machines with electric motors and one jDiece of metal- 

 working machinery were purchased for the equipment of the new 

 shops. 



COLLECTIONS. 



The total number of accessions during the year was 1,358, compris- 

 ing 254,787 specimens, which w^ere distributed among the three depart- 

 ments as follows: Anthropology, 26,400; biolog}^, 216,324; geology, 

 ] 2,063. A detailed list of the accessions is given in the latter part of 

 the report. 



