REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 21 



biaii Historical P^xpositioii held iu Madrid in the fall aud winter of 

 1892. This Exposition was a part of the very exteusive celebration of 

 the four hundredth anniversary of the sailing- of Columbus, heUl iu the 

 various cities of Spain under the direction of the Spanish Government. 

 A commission was appointed by the President to represent the United 

 States, consisting of Eear Admiral Luce, IT. S. N., Dr. J. C. Welling, 

 one of the regents of this Institution,* and Mr. Goode, its Assistant 

 Secretary, and a liberal appropriation made for the expenses of trans- 

 portation and maintenance of the exhibits. Extensive collections were 

 sent by the Smithsonian Institution, taken from its own collections 

 and borrowed from its collaborators and correspondents. They were, 

 ethnological, archeological, and historical, and were supplemented by 

 other collections sent by the University of Pennsylvania, the Bureau 

 of American Eepublics, and the Hemenway Expedition. The exhibi- 

 tion in Madrid was as a successful one, and the exhibit of the United 

 States was highly appreciated by the Spanish Government, and led to 

 its extraordinarily generous participation in the subsequent celebra- 

 tion iu Chicago. Gold medals were awarded to the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, to the Museum, and the Bureau of Ethnology. 



The Museum building has been visited by a larger number of persons 

 during thepast year than ever before, the total number exceeding 300,000. 

 This growing interest iu the collections on the part of the public, is a 

 gratifying circumstance, and leads to the belief that the care bestowed 

 upon the exhibition series is not unappreciated. 



On account of the crowded condition of the exhibition halls, the 

 eftective display of many of the collections of the Museum is prevented. 

 The proper lighting of the cases is interfered with and the arrange- 

 ment of the specimens is necessarily less systematic than is desirable. 



The Museum has continued to distribute to educational establish- 

 ments throughout the country such collections of duplicate natural- 

 history specimens as it has been found practicable to prepare. Some- 

 what more than 13,000 specimens have been sent out during the year. 

 These, however, have been far from sufficient to meet the demands of 

 applicants and numerous requests remain unacted upon. I regard 

 this distribution of specimens as one of the most imj)ortant operations 

 of the Museum, and one on which much more time and money could be 

 profitably spent. Witli the resources available it has been impossible 

 to prepare collections in more than a few lines, and these have all been 

 more or less imperfect. The high schools of the country, to which such 

 collections would be of much value, can not at i^resent be supplied. 



My attention has been called by the Assistant Secretary to the inade- 

 quate size of the editions of the publications of the Museum. It is not 

 at present possible to supply all the larger libraries of the world, and 

 the majority of the smaller ones, in many of which they would be of 



* Dr. Welling was recalled by official business after reaching London, and was 

 replaced by Dr. Daniel G. Briuton, of tbc University of Pennsylvania. 



