266 REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Much work yet remains to be done in the way of cataloguing and 

 labeling. During the greater part of the year no one but myself has 

 been engaged in this work, and the progress has necessarily been slow. 

 Some of the older collections are in a most deplorable condition, owing 

 to the fact that many of the labels are lost, or, if present, were written 

 with a common pencil and have become almost illegible. Moreover, the 

 data given are frequently so scanty that they are of no possible value. 

 The collections of the various TJ. S. Geological Surveys are especially 

 bad in this respect, and doubtless much of their material must ultimately 

 be thrown away on this account alone. 



A swing saw, made on the same general plan as the saw ordinarily 

 used by stone- workers for sawing marble, &c, but much smaller, has 

 been added to the department, and promises to be very efficient in cut- 

 ting all varieties of material not sufficiently hard to require diamond 

 dust. Steam-power has been introduced into the work-room, and the 

 preparation of microscopic sections is thereby greatly facilitated. 



The department of physical geology has been so recently assigned to 

 my care that no report of progress can as yet be made. 



DEPARTMENT OF MINERALS. 

 F. W. Clakke, Honorary Curator. 



The report of Mr. W. S. Yeates, who for the past year has had 

 practically sole charge of the department of minerals, is here presented. 

 Inasmuch as I only entered upon the duties as curator during the 

 month of December, I have had as yet few opportunities of familiar- 

 izing myself with the collections, and can add nothing of importance 

 to what Mr. Yeates has said. I have already taken steps towards the 

 organization of a system of exchanges, and have entered into corre- 

 spondence with some collectors; but there has not yet been time enough 

 to realize anything from my efforts. 



The department, in addition to the services of Mr. Yeates, now has 

 the assistance of Naval Ensigns E. Wilkinson, H. S. Knapp, and O. G. 

 Dodge. These gentlemen have been detailed for Museum services by 

 the Secretary of the Navy, and are to be regarded as students rather 

 than regular aids. Although they are called upon for work in the 

 arrangement for cataloguing of specimens, it is clear that their chief 

 efforts should be in the line of study ; and that with them mechanical 

 labor should be reduced to a minimum. 



W. S. Yeates, Acting Curator. {Jan.-Nov.) 

 Accessions. 



A large number of additions have been made to the collection during 

 the year; and a large number of specimens, which had been tempo- 

 rarily under the care of this department, have been turned over to the de- 



