NATIONAL MUSEUM BUILDINGS. 235 



Pi'operl}'^ speaking, the third floor, so named on the plans, is, for the 

 main part of the buildino-, onl\' the second floor. It consists of a 

 single large room of the same size as the lower main hall, being thus 

 about 200 feet long by 50 feet wide and 29 feet 3 inches high. For- 

 merly it contained the picture gallery, a lecture hall, and a museum 

 of apparatus, but soon after the restoration succeeding the fire of 

 1865 it was turned over to the department of prehistoric arcliEeolog}^, 

 which has occupied it ever since. It is one of the finest halls in the 

 possession of the Museum, but for a long time it has been in bad 

 condition, owing chiefly to the loosening and fall of plaster. The 

 extensive repairs made necessary on this account have, however, 

 recently been finished. As the ceiling is supported from the roof, 

 the hall contains no pillars, and there are no galleries, so that the 

 space is entirel}- clear; and while the windows bear the same relations 

 to the central space as in the loAver hall, the light is more freely dis- 

 tributed. The cases are of several old patterns, not permitting of a 

 satisfactory installation, especially considering- the height of the room, 

 which, with proper treatment, could be made exceedingly efl'ective. 

 In the north tower on this h^'el are three small rooms used as the 

 laboratories for prehistoric archaeology, and in the south tower is the 

 Regents' room. 



The floor of the north towers and intervening space next above the 

 archieological workrooms comprises a suite of three similar room^, 

 occupied as laboratories for conchology. Three succeeding floors in 

 the same towers, containing- six rooms in all, are utilized as storerooms 

 for mollusks and other marine invertebrates. Above these in the 

 taller tower are still six stories, but their high position renders them 

 practicall}" unserviceable. The three floors which succeed the Regents' 

 room in the south tower are all used for the storage of publications. 



While the basement is of good height, only the eastern part is in 

 proper condition, the central and western parts requiring to be thor- 

 oughly renovated, including the building- of broad areas along the 

 exterior to assist in the lighting and ventilation. The heating plant 

 is near the center of the basement, but now serves only in a supple- 

 mentary capacity. In the north tower are the toilet rooms. To the 

 eastward from there the basement is mainly used b}' the Smithsonian 

 Institution and the International Exchange Service; to the westward 

 all the available space is given over to Museum storage. There are 

 seven small rooms and one large room, one of the former being used 

 for supplies, while all the remainder are overfilled with specimens in 

 the several groups of birds, fishes, mollusks, and marine invertebrates. 

 With the exception of the birds, the specimens are mainl}^ alcoholic. 

 These collections are very large and of great value, but they require 

 at least twice the present amount of .space for their saf^ arrangement, 

 and the darkness and dampness of the rooms unfit them for purposes 

 of study. 



