280 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, ]903. 



more than has been expended on them, and a fair appraisal of their \ahie wonld 

 amount to several millions of dollars. 



In the direct purchase of specimens but little money has l^een sjjent, less, perhaps, 

 in fifty years than either France, England, (Jermany, or Austria ex])ends in a single 

 year on similar ol)jects. The entire Museum is the outgrowth of ( Jovernment expe- 

 ditions and expositions, and of the gifts prompted by the generosity of the vVmerican 

 people. 



If there were more sjtace it would be possible to devote a special hail to the col- 

 lections illustrating the life of the races of the Far North — the P^skimos and their kin. 

 A large hall might be tilled with the wonderful groups of models of the races of ma'n- 

 kind, and particularly of the different tribes of the North American Indians, clothed 

 in their characteristic costumes and engaged in the arts and occupations i)eculiar to 

 each. These groups are recognized in Europe as having no equal, and are now tem- 

 porarily placed in the lecture room and in various out-of-the-way corners where 

 their effect and usefulness are largely lost. No other museum in the world has such 

 rich material in this field, but at present only a small number of exhibition cases can 

 be devoted to them and the remainder of the material is stowed a^way in drawers 

 and packing boxes. 



The magnificent mounted groups of the larger animals of America, unsurpassed by 

 anything of the kind in the world, are now so crowded together in the midst of other 

 collections that they are scarcely visible, and some of them are packed away. The 

 great fossil vertebrate animals of North America, of which there is a magnificent 

 series. A considerable j^ortion of this collection is now stored in the basement of the 

 museum at Yale College for lack of room to receive it here, although it is much 

 needed by the geologists of the Geological Survey for purposes of study. 



Another hall is needed which might well be devoted to economic geology, illus- 

 trating the wonderful material wealth of our country and its utilization; and still 

 another is needed to illustrate the material resources of the country, classified by 

 States. With the present accommodations the materials and ores of each State are 

 confined to one or two small cases. A hall of proper extent, arranged upon this 

 geographical plan, would he one of the most impressive display's of the kind to be 

 seen anywhere in the world. 



The building devoted especially to the Museum was erected after the Centennial 

 Exhibition in Philadelphia as a temporary accommodation for the collections given 

 to the United States by the foreign governments and private exhibitors represented 

 on that occasion. It is the cheapest public building of a permanent character ever 

 erected, having cost only $2.25 a square foot of floor space available for exhibition. 

 The museum buildings in Central Park, New York, have cost from $80 to $40 a 

 square foot. 



The building in Washington has served a good purpose, but is deficient in one of 

 the most important particulars; it has no cellars whatever, and very little provision 

 for workshops and laboratories. In consequence of this it has been necessary t(.) use 

 all kinds of devices for storing material which can not be exhibited in the exhibition 

 halls in the bases under the exhibition cases, in small recesses, so ingeniously con- 

 trived that their presence is not suspected. It has been necessary to do this, but the 

 result has been to still fm-ther increase the crowded condition. 



Another disagreeal)le result is that much noisy work has to be done in the Museum 

 halls in sjtaces shut off from the public by screens, and that when preparations for 

 exhibitions or unpacking are going on, not only are a portion of the collections 

 closed to tlie public, l)ut there is a constant and unpleasant noise of hammers. 



A temporary relief was secured some years ago by placing the great herbarium, 

 one of the most important collections of American plants in the world, in the cus- 

 tody of the Agricultmal Department; but last year the Secretary of Agriculture 



