34 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



The collections of geology and mineralogy received important 

 additions, including types and recently described materials and many 

 fine examples of building and ornamental stones. The permanent 

 acquisitions in paleontology, amounting to over 6jO,000 specimens, 

 were mainly of Cambrian fossils from British Columbia and Alberta, 

 and from China ; Ordovician fossils from the western United States, 

 New York, and Canada; Ordovician and Mississippian fossils from 

 the Mississippi Valley; and Tertiary fossils from the Isthmus of 

 Panama. It is gratifying to note the deposit in the Museum by Mr. 

 Frank Springer of his unrivaled collection of fossil echinoderms, 

 numbering some 75,000 specimens, which he has been many years in 

 assembling and on which no expense has been spared. The material 

 has been installed and made accessible in one of the larger labora- 

 tory rooms, and it is the purpose of Mr. Springer to devote much of 

 his time to further research work in connection with it. 



NATIONAL, GALLERY OF ART. 



A memorable event in the brief history of the Gallery was the 

 exhibition in one of the great halls of the new building of a selection 

 of objects from the collection of American and oriental art presented 

 to the Nation in 1006 by Mr. Charles L. Freer, of Detroit, Michigan, 

 but which is to remain in the possession of the donor during his life. 

 This special exhibition, which continued during two months, from 

 April 15 to June 15, and opened with an evening reception, was 

 made possible through the courtesy and generosity of Mr. Freer, by 

 whom the expenses of transportation were defrayed. 



The selection, which numbered 175 pieces out of the more than 

 4j000 composing the Freer collection, was representative of its charac- 

 teristic features, and in variety, richness, and rarity of material con- 

 stituted in itself a remarkable exhibit for any place or time. The 

 American art side of the collection was illustrated by 38 paintings, 

 of which 24 were by James McNeill Whistler and the others by 

 Thomas W. Dewing, Dwight W. Tryon, Abbott H. Thayer, and 

 Winslow Homer. Of oriental productions there were 13 Japanese 

 paintings of the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries; 36 Chinese 

 paintings, the earliest belonging to the Liang dynasty, and also 4 

 albums of Chinese paintings; 17 Chinese bronzes, one dating back 

 to the Shang dynasty, many centuries before the Christian era; 4 

 Chinese sculptures of the Wei and T'ang dynasties; 52 examples of 

 old Chinese, Corean, Japanese, Persian, and Mesopotamian pottery ; 

 7 specimens of ancient Egj^^ptian glass; and 4 Persian and Indo- 

 Persian illuminations. 



Mr. William T. Evans, of New York, whose generous benefactions 

 have extended through more than five years, made 10 important addi- 

 tions to his collection of the works of contemporary American 



