6 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



details of coustruction on which I do not here euter, further than to 

 say that the whole should be absolutely fire-proof throughout, and in 

 view of the further great variation of the cost of building materials 

 within the jiast two years, 1 am not prepared to state the sum which 

 would be necessary for its completion. It is certain, however, that 

 $500,000, if not sufficient to complete it, would be all that would be 

 required to be expended during the present year, and I would res{)ect- 

 fully represent the desirability of an appropriation of this amount for the 

 purpose in question. 



Your attention is directed to certain facts in regard to the character 

 of the materials for the accommodation of which this building is desired. 

 The collections of the Smithsonian Institution and of the Government 

 are especially rich in collections of natural history, which may be 

 grouped in three general classes: The zoological collections; the botan- 

 ical collections, and the geological collections, including not only all 

 the geological and mineralogical material, but the greater portion of 

 that belonging to i^aleontology, the study of fossil animals and plants 

 forming an essential part of modern geological work. 



Besides the natural history collections, there are equally important 

 anthropological collections which illustrate the history of mankind at 

 all periods and in every land, and which serve to explain the develop- 

 ment of all human arts and industries. In everything that relates to 

 the primitive inhabitants of North America, Eskimo as well as Indian, 

 these collections are by far the richest in the world, and with the nec- 

 essary amount of exhibition space, the material on hand will be arranged 

 in a manner which will produce the most impressive and magnificent 

 effect, the educational importance of which can not be over-estimated. 

 Again, there are collections of considerable extent which illustrate the 

 processes and products of the various arts and industries, as well as 

 what are termed the historical collections, which are of especial interest 

 to a very large number of the visitors of the Museum on account of the 

 associations of the objects exhibited with the personal history of repre- 

 sentative men, or with important events in the history of America. 



The collections illustrating the arts and the art industries are rela- 

 tively small, and although in themselves of great interest and value, not 

 to be compared in importance with those in natural history and eth- 

 nology. 



In a letter addressed on June 7, 1888, to the Hon. Justin S. Morrill, 

 and which will be found in a report of June 12 of the same year from 

 the Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, I made a state- 

 ment of the rapidity of the recent growth of the Museum, mentioning 

 that in the five years from 1882 to 1887 the number of specimens in the 

 collection had multiplied no less than sixteen times, and endeavored to 

 give an idea, though, perhaps, an inadequate one, of the extent to which 

 the pressure for want of space was felt. The evil has grown rapidly 

 worse, and as I have had occasion to mention, it has been felt in the last 

 year in a partial arrest of the growth of the collections, which empha- 

 sizes the demand for more room. The i)resent Museum building is not 

 lai ge enough even for the natural history collections alone, a number of 

 which are without any exhibition space whatever. The proposed build- 

 ing will afibrd accommodations for the ethnological and technological 

 material already on hand, and for a large part of the natural history 

 material also. 



The collections are still increasing, and the number of specimens, as 

 estimated, is now not far from 3,000,000. The appended table (A) shows 

 the aQQual increase since 1882. The increase during the last year was 



