62 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



building, and so arranged that while persons occupying a room, or suite 

 of rooms, are provided with keys that will open them only, a single 

 pass-key opens every door in the building ; this, of course, being held 

 only by the proper authority. 



Other alterations have been made in the building for the purpose of 

 increasing to the utmost its efficiency and reducing the expense of super- 

 intendence and maintenance. The document room has been enlarged, 

 by the removal of numerous obstructions, and refitted. The eastern 

 wing of the building, formerly occupied by Professor Henry as a dwell- 

 ing-house, has been converted into a series of offices, and a door cut from 

 the old document room to an adjacent apartment, which is now used for 

 the reception and classification of a portion of the exchanges. 



Eleven large fire-proof doors have been placed in the building to iso- 

 late the different wings and floors. 



The laboratory has been rearranged and many other improvements 

 have been made. These were commenced late in the autumn of 1878 

 and finished in the spring of 1879. It is believed that the building is 

 now in a condition of thorough efficiency and adaptation to its scientific 

 purposes. 



Art building and laboratory. — The provision by Congress for an exhibi- 

 tion by the United States Government at the Centennial Exposition, at 

 Philadelphia, in 1870, made it necessary for the Smithsonian Institution 

 to construct a special building for the purpose of preparing its share of 

 the display, and a small edifice was accordingly erected on the grounds 

 for the purpose of giving increased accommodation to the modelers, 

 artists, and photographer. This building has been in use for nearly five 

 years, and has rendered excellent service by the facilities it has afforded. 

 It is, however, now inadequate to its object, and in the new museum 

 building, provision has been made for the various departments referred 

 to. Some suitable occupation will be found for the old building. 



Armory building. — Another building in charge of the Smithsonian 

 Institution is that formerly occupied as an armory by the militia of the 

 District of Columbia, but which, ceasing to discharge that function, was 

 placed by Congress in the care of the Institution for the storage of its 

 material which could not be received in the present edifice. This armory 

 building, the dimensions of which are one hundred feet by fifty, is very 

 massive in construction and contains four floors, at present entirely filled 

 with boxes containing the Centennial collections which arc to constitute 

 the material for exhibition in the new National Museum building. 



The surveys of Professors Hayden and Powell having been discon- 

 tinued by order of Congress, a portion of the public property belonging 

 to them has been stored in the Armory building and Smithsonian 

 Institution during the past year, Mr. King, the director of the new 

 geological survey, making use of such of these materials as he requires. 



