EEPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. 175 



Number of visitors. — By means of the tally machine, it has been as- 

 certained .that the total number of visitors to the Museum during the 

 year was 202,112, making a daily average of 074. The number of visit- 

 ors to the Smithsonian building for the year was 104,093, or a daily 

 average of 349. 



The above figures show an increase during 1883 of 34,057 visitors to 

 the Museum building over the number registered in 1882, and a decrease 

 of 48,051 visitors to the Smithsonian Institution. 



DIVISION OF ANTHROPOLOGY. 



1. Department of Art and Industry. 



In the Department of Art and Industry is included for the present all 

 ethnological material except that belonging to prehistoric archaeology. 

 Under the head of "art and industry" are included the products 

 of the arts and industries of civilized as well as of semi-civilized and 

 barbarous races. These collections are being arranged in accordance 

 with a teleological rather than geographical plan of classification, ob- 

 jects of a similar nature being placed side by side, musical instruments 

 together, weapons together, &c, and arranged in such a manner as to 

 show the progress of each idea from the most primitive type. In dis- 

 carding the ethnographic method of arrangement, almost universal 

 among museums, special care has been taken not to sacrifice the possi- 

 bility of bringing together the objects belonging to any particular local- 

 ity or race, if this shall at any time be required for purposes of study. 



In our method of installation, objects are mounted in glass-covered 

 trays or deep frames, 24 by 30 inches in dimension, which are arranged 

 for study or exhibition in cases of various forms. The articles belong- 

 ing to two different tribes are never mounted together in the same tray ; 

 and if at any time it should be found desirable to bring together the 

 collections from any given race, for instance, from the Eskimos, the Sia- 

 mese, or the Japanese, this might be accomplished in a few hours; in 

 fact, when once the present system of mounting has been completed, the 

 rearrangement of the Museum upon the ordinary ethnographic plan 

 would be the work of only a few hours, and may be effected by a small 

 force of mechanics and laborers under the direction of a single curator. 



The system of classification just described has been criticised in cer- 

 tain particulars by administrators, and from their standpoint the criti- 

 cism is a just one. I therefore take this opportunity to explain that 

 the policy of the department has been misunderstood by them. It is 

 no part of the plan, nor has it ever been, to separate articles which be- 

 long together. The parts of any collection or group of objects which 

 may justly be considered a unit of administration are always kept to- 

 gether ; for instance, if a costume is complete it is not intended to dis- 

 sect it and distribute its parts. Hats, gloves, boots, and coats are only 

 placed by themselves when they have no related objects associated with 



