220 REPORT OB^ NATIONAL MUSEUM, 190:^. 



the income of the Smithsonian fund, |25>,00() in all, were expended for 

 that purpose in the latter year. 



A readjustment of quarters in the Smithsonian buildinjj- was 

 announced by Secretary Heniy in his report for 1871, as follows: 



Arrangements have been made for appropriating the east wing and range to the 

 business which may be considered as belonging exclusively to the essential objects 

 of tlie Institution, and devoting the main building, west wing, and towers to the 

 Museum. For this purpose the large room on the first floor of the east wing, which 

 was formerly used as a museum laboratory and storeroom, has been fitted up with 

 bins and conveniences for assorting and packing the literary and scientific exchanges 

 to be sent to foreign countries. Preparation has also been made for removing the 

 chemical laboratory from the first floor of the east range to the space immediately 

 below it in the basement, and for applying the whole of the first floor of this part 

 of the building to the business offices of the Secretary and his assistants in the line 

 of what are called the "active operations." 



For the special accommodation of the Museum the large room in the west wing, 

 formerly occupied by the library, has been prepared for the reception of cases for 

 mineralogical and geological specimens, while the great hall, 200 feet by 50, in the 

 second story of the main building, has been completed and is now ready to receive 

 the cases for the anthropological and other specimens. 



Estimates are now before Congress for fitting up these rooms with cases for the 

 reception and display of the Government collections, and it is hoped that in the 

 next report we shall be able to chronicle the commencement, if not the completion, 

 of the work. 



The changes consequent upon the extension of the Museum mentioned made a 

 rearrangement necessary of the greater part of the basement, so as to obtain addi- 

 tional security against fire and greater convenience for the storage of fuel, packing 

 boxes, and specimens. A floor was laid through the basement, and new passage- 

 ways opened, furnishing better access from one extreme of the building to the other. 

 In introducing the fireproof floor into the west wing, advantage was taken of the 

 opportunity to increase the height of the room below it, and to convert it and the 

 adjoining rooms in the west range into laboratories and storerooms for natural 

 history. 



Furthermore, for better security, the fireproofing of the floors of the four towers 

 on the corners of the main building has been commenced. The rooms in the towers 

 furnish studies and dormitories for the investigators in the line of natural history 

 who resort to the Institution, especially during the winter, to enjoy the use of the 

 library and the collections for special researches. 



******* 



For defraying the exi)enses of the care and exhibition of the National Museum, 

 Congress has annually, for the last two years, appropriated $10,000. Although this 

 appropriation was more than double that of previous years, still it fell short of the 

 actual expenditure. The amount of items chargeable to the Museum during the past 

 year, independent of the rent which might have been charged for the rooms occu- 

 pied, or for repairs of the building, was a little more than $13,000. Deducting from 

 this sum the $10,000 appropriated by Congress, there remains $3,000, which was paid 

 from the income of the Smithson fund. 



A statement of this deficiency has been presented to Congress, and we trust that 

 the sum of $15,000 will be appropriated for the same purpose for the ensuing fiscal 

 year. 



By the completion of the large room in the second story and the appropriation of 

 the west wing and connecting range to the same purpose, the space allotted to the 



