rp:pokt of the sp:cretary. 19 



speoiniens attached." l)rino"s forward the difhciilty of the pi-eparation 

 of such a museum, since to compress into a te^Y sentences, in simple 

 3"et accurate lanouage, comprehensive and interestino- information 

 concerning- an}' specimen presupposes a deptli of knowh'dge and a 

 facility in expnvssion possessed hy but few. This task of working 

 upon and improving the educational features of the nuiseum is never 

 ending, and it should be so, for "*a perfect nuiseum is a finished 

 museum, and a finished nuiseum is a dead museum." 



Collections placed upon exhil)ition must be constantly renewed, since 

 they deteriorate by the XQvy exposure to the light. The art of taxi- 

 dermy, methods of installation, the choice of colors for backgrounds, 

 the style and form of lal)els all of these details, unnoticed by the casual 

 visitor; matters of constant study to the expert — together form the 

 whole upon which either the pleasant or unpleasant impressions car- 

 ried away by the visitor depend, but all this is labor lost if they are 

 in situations so crowded as to resem))le storage rather than exhil)ition 

 halls. 



Excepting as to impro^'ement in these details, the National Museum, 

 so far as its exhibition halls is concerned, has reached its maxinnim 

 development in its ))resent (iiuirters. The Secretary has, year after 

 year, continued to call attention to the serious overcrowding of the 

 Museum, and in his report for last year considered the tjuestion fully. 

 He is pleased to ]>e able tcj state that the special appeals made to the 

 last session of Congress ])y the conmiittee of the Regents resulted in 

 the passage of the following item: 



For the preparation, under the direction of the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, of preliminary plans for an additional fire- 

 proof steel-frame ]>rick and terra cotta l)uilding, to cost not exceed- 

 ing one million five hundred thousand dollars, for the United States 

 National Museun), to ])e erected when appropriated for, on the Mall, 

 between Ninth and Twelfth streets west, said plans when completed 

 to be transmitted by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to 

 Congress, five thousand dollars. 



And it is hoped that the erection of a building may be authorized by 

 the next Congress. This is not the place to discuss the recpiirements 

 of such a building. In the course of the next session of Congress a 

 detailed statement will be laid before that body indicating the needs, 

 both for exhibition, storage, laboratory, and the numerous othei' 

 accessories which go to make up a great modern museum. A^ast as 

 have been the improvements in the erection of museums in the past 

 twenty years, the ideal standard of building, in which all the requisite 

 features are adequately provided for, has not yet been created in any 

 country in the world. It can hardly be expected that the sum indi- 

 cated in the above item would Ix; sufficient to supply perfect intei'ior 

 arrangements for exhibition and working purposes, coupled with that 



