REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM, 129 



arranged in accordance with the well-tried methods prevailing in natural- 

 history museums, and which would, of course, occupy a very large por- 

 tion of the space and the attention of a majority of the staff, as at pres- 

 ent constituted, but which, at the same time, should illustrate and 

 supplement the collections in industrial and economic natural history. 



Some experiments have already been made with reference to the feas- 

 ibility of this i)lan of arranging the exhibition series, but I am not yet 

 prepared to recommend its final acceptance. 



The adoption of this plan would necessitate the grouping together, in 

 continuous series, of objects which had never before been placed side by 

 side in any museum. If the evolution of any given industry or class of 

 objects is to be shown, the series should begin with the simplest types 

 and close with the most perfect and elaborate objects of the same class 

 which human effort has produced. 



In the textile industry, for instance, at one extreme is shown the simple 

 whorl of stone or terra cotta, used by savage or t<emi-civilized man, to- 

 gether with the archaic representative of the same, surviving among 

 rural members of the most highly civilized races ; these being supi)le- 

 mented by the threads and the simple woven fabrics produced by them ; 

 on the other hand, the steam spinning' apparatus and the power and 

 Jacquard looms. 



Much attention has been devoted during the year to experiments for 

 determining the manner in which the idea of this classification can best 

 be carried into effect. It is not possible within the limits of this report 

 to describe what has been done. In fact a full account of them at pres- 

 ent would be premature. The practicability of the scheme can best be 

 judged of by an examination of the one or two groups, such as the 

 materia medica collection, the collection of musical instruments, and the 

 portion of the costume collection, which are already partly installed. 



The department of arts and industries with the growth of the Museum 

 will naturally be divided into a number of independent sections, each 

 under the charge of a curator. In its present partially organized condi- 

 tion it is under the special charge of the Assistant Director, The sec- 

 tion of materia medica has, however, been entirely under the control of 

 Dr. James M. Flint, TJ. S. IS"., detailed for this service by the Surgeon- 

 General of the Navy. Mr. J. King Goodrich has since the first of 

 November been acting as assistant, devoting particular attention to the 

 arrangement of the musical instruments and the costumes, while Mr. 

 A. Howard Clark has been engaged in the reorganization of the section 

 of fisheries. The section of building- stones and stone- working has re- 

 cently been assigned to Mr. George P. Merrill. 



This department at present occupies nearly all of the northern half of 



the Museum building. No assignment of space has been made to 



special subjects. The extremely flexible system of cases which has been 



adopted permits us to arrange the collections in very small subdivisions. 



H. Mis. 26 9 



