46 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



to the general public. Among these objects are very many skeletons, 

 beautifully prepared by Professor Ward, some 40,000 jars of alcoholic 

 specimens, together with several hundred large copper tanks, likewise 

 filled ; over 50,000 skins of birds, of which at least 15,000 should be 

 mounted and placed in the general collection ; several thousand skins 

 of mammals j large numbers of fossil vertebrates, minerals, ethnological 

 objects, &c.; these, for the most part, not dujilicates, but simply speci- 

 mens for which there is no room elsewhere. 



An estimate of 25,000 square feet, or a space equal to that of the 

 upper halls, is by no means extravagant for the i^roper display of the 

 specimens thus excluded. Anticipating the necessity of increased ac- 

 commodations for the Centennial collections and accessions, the Smith- 

 ■ sonian Institution, in 1875, made application to Congress for the use of 

 the Armory building in the square between 6th and 7th Streets, an edi- 

 fice 100 feet by 50, having four floors. This it was supposed would be 

 adequate, at the close of the Centennial, for the reception and exhibition 

 of at least the fishery exhibit and that of economical mineralogy. So 

 great, however, was the surplus of Centennial material to be provided 

 for that the building is now filled with boxed specimens, occupying for 

 the most part the entire space from floor to ceiling of each room. The 

 building is not fire-proof, and although the specimens in it represent some 

 of the most valuable and important of the series, there is nothing to pre- 

 vent their destruction by fire, or injury from damp, vermin, or other 

 causes, a result which would constitute an irreparable loss. 



As the four floors of the Armory referred to present 20,000 feet of 

 area, an estimate of 50,000 feet for the proper display of the specimens 

 now stored in them cannot be considered extravagant, thus making the 

 entire additional space required, 75,000 square feet. Only one-fourth of 

 the specimens in charge of the Institution are at present on exhibition, 

 the remainder being entirely withdrawn from public inspection, so that 

 the necessity for prompt effort to secure the proper accommodations will 

 be readily uuderstood. 



There can be no question as to the scientific and industrial value of the 

 specimens thus added to the national collections, as they consist, not of 

 the ordinary objects of natural history alone, but of those which show 

 the natural and industrial resources of the country, and constitute, in 

 very great part, that material which to the American manufacturer and 

 producer is of the utmost value as constituting the objects of their 

 study. Indeed, their acquisition by the United States tends to render 

 the benefits of the international exhibition permanent to a great de- 

 gree ; it is, therefore, of importance that, while the lessons of the ex- 

 hibition are still fresh in mind these objects should be exhibited and at- 

 tention invited to them. Numerous applications have already been made 

 for permission to make a study of the objects, which, on account of the 

 impossibility of furnishing space for unpacking them, for the most part 

 have been refused. The great number of duplicates, too, should be 



