44 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



may be proper here to repeat the statement which has previously 

 been made as to the policy adopted in regard to examinations of this 

 kind, namely : to furnish an account of the character of the mineral 

 free of cost to the parties asking the information, provided it is of 

 general interest, or immediately connected with the advance of 

 science, and can be afforded at little expense to the Institution. If, 

 however, the information required is for private interests, a charge is 

 made sufficient to cover the expense of the investigation. By the 

 adoption of this policy, the laboratory has been kept in operation by 

 means of a small annual appropriation for chemicals and apparatus. 



Collections of Natural History, &c. — The Smithsonian Institution, 

 during the twelve years of its active existence, has expended a large 

 amount of labor and money in collecting and preserving specimens of 

 geology, natural history, and ethnology, and has also received the 

 entire charge of all the specimens collected by the various expeditions 

 of the general Government. The scientific material thus collected is 

 very valuable, and, in number and variety of specimens and duplicates 

 to illustrate the natural productions of the North American continent, 

 far excels any other collection ever made. It is not the policy of 

 the Institution to hoard up specimens for the exclusive study of 

 those immediately connected with the establishment, or to consider 

 the duplicates merely as articles of commercial value, only to be ex- 

 changed for marketable equivalents,, but to render them available as 

 widely as possible for the advance of knowledge. In accordance with 

 this policy, arrangements have been commenced for a more general 

 distribution of the type and duplicates, and for the description of new 

 species, than has heretofore been practicable. 



The specimens may be divided into two classes: first, those which 

 have been described in the reports of the G-overnment expeditions, or 

 in the transactions of the Smithsonian and other institutions ; and 

 second, those which have not yet been described, and which conse- 

 quently are considered of much value to the naturalists who desire to 

 gratify the laudable ambition of connecting their names with original 

 accounts of new species, or who are engaged in preparing monographs 

 of particular families. Of both classes the Institution possesses an 

 immense number of duplicates, in the disposition of which, some gen- 

 eral principles should be kept constantly in view. After due consulta- 

 tion and deliberation the following rules for the first class, and con- 

 siderations for the second, are proposed. 



First. To advance original science, the duplicate type specimens 



