8 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



packed under his charge and stored in a building erected by him ad- 

 jacent to the Centennial building. 



An appropriation was made by Congress to meet the cost of packing, 

 shipping to Washington, and storing the collections in question. About 

 twenty cars were required to transport them. They are now contained 

 in a wooden building adjacent to the Armory, there being absolutely 

 no space for them in the National Museum. 



In addition to this a cabinet of at least double the magnitude, made 

 by the Institute of Mining Engineers and deposited with the Pennsyl- 

 vania Art Museum of Philadelphia, has been offered to the Govern- 

 ment simply on the condition of transfer to Washington and proper 

 exhibition. This is an extremely important collection, illustrating the 

 mining resources and metallurgy of the United States and foreign coun- 

 tries, and will constitute a most important addition to the means of in- 

 struction at the command of the Government. An appropriation will 

 be asked, and it is hoped obtained, for the purpose of transferring the 

 collection to Washington; but some measures must be taken for its 

 ultimate display. 



An even greater mass of additional material to be provided for will 

 be found in the industrial collections of the United States census of 

 1880, and in the collections of the United States Geological Survey. 

 The census collections embrace more particularly the building stones 

 of the country, the ores (especially of the precious metals), the com- 

 bustibles, such as coal, petroleum, &c., and the forest timber. 



All these collections are of great magnitude, representing as nearly 

 as possible a full series from all parts of the country. They are care- 

 fully labelled and recorded, and will be accompanied by full descriptions. 



The building-stone collection is especially valuable, consisting, as it 

 does, of many thousands of samples of marble, granite, sandstone, and 

 other substances, for the most part dressed in 4-inch cubes, each of the 

 faces showing a different surface and treatment. 



It is not believed that any established quarry remains unrepresented 

 in this series, while many extremely valuable deposits of ornamental 

 and building stones are presented therein for the first time. Prepar 

 rations are in progress for testing the strength, resistance to torsion 

 and crushing force, and economical properties of all these samples. 

 The collection is now so far advanced that when a public building is to 

 be erected either by the States or the General Government it will be 

 possible to show specimens of all the best building stones in the vicin- 

 ity of the locality involved, and to present all the necessary data as to 

 availability, durability, cost of production, &c. Much use has already 

 been made of the collection by the commissioners of State capitals, 

 county court-houses, &c., as well as by agents of the General Govern- 

 ment. 



The collection of ores made by the census agencies is also very ex- 

 tensive, that of iron being particularly larga Nearly every iron mine 



