REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 45 



As lias already been explained, the new museum is not intended 

 simply for the exhibition of objects of natural history, the controlling- 

 idea being rather that of an ethnological exhibit, especially to include 

 illustrations of the applications of objects belonging to the animal, veg- 

 etable, and mineral kingdoms, and the requirements or luxuries of man. 

 To this end the collections made by the Smithsonian Institution aud the 

 United States Fish Commission, for exhibition at the Centennial Expo- 

 sition of 1S7G, and the Berlin International Fishery Exposition of ISSO, 

 come admirabl}^ into play, aud constitute the basis of the material, which, 

 however, has been largely increased from other sources. 



It is proposed to devote one-fourth of the space, about 25,000 square 

 feet, to an illustration of the miueral resources, in the form of building 

 stones, ores, combustibles, clays, pigments, &g. 



Another fourth of the building will be taken uj) by illustrations of 

 the animal industries, with representatives of the originals, or i>laster 

 or papier-mache casts, of the principal animals used for food or other 

 purposes by man, together with all the various apparatus by which 

 they are pursued, captured, and utilized ; then the results of the manip- 

 ulation, and also illustrations of the methods by which animals ai'e pro- 

 tected or multiplied; this confining itself principally to an exhibition in 

 connection with the artificial i)roi)agation of fishes and other aquatic 

 animals. 



A portion of the building will be filled by the display of othef special 

 objects, including the materia medica, foods, paints, and dyes of all 

 nations. 



In the purely ethnological collections, or such as relate to the savage 

 or semi-civilized races of modern times, space will be provided for in 

 this building, and a small area assigned to the exhibition of mounted 

 mammals aud osteological specimens. Fuller details of arrangement 

 will be reserved for the next report. 



The exi^ansion of the scope of the iSTational Museum of course in- 

 volves an enlarged force, and the engagement of several specialists to 

 take charge of their respective dcpartinents. This has been deferred 

 until 1881. 



In view of the large number of cases required in this building — not 

 less than one thousand in all — the selectiou of suitable jilaus and modes 

 of construction has been a matter of great importance, and we have 

 accordingly endeavored to obtain all possible information as to methods 

 of arrangement in foreign aud home museums. Proi^ssor Agassiz has 

 kindly supplied working drawings of the newer cases of the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology ; and the authorities of South Kensington and 

 the new British Museum, as well as those of the Eoyal Museum of 

 Dresden, and other establishments, have rendered similar facilities. 

 Mr. G. Brown Goode, the curator of the museum, during the period of 

 his action as commissioner to the Berlin International Fishery Exposi- 

 tion, took occasion to visit all the i)rincipal museums in Germany, Italy, 



