622 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 193 



except in a few instances, has been secondary — to be carried on as 

 time from these other duties permits. In addition specialists and 

 interested visitors must naturally be shown all possible courtesies. 

 Finally, label writing for the exhibition series requires the greatest 

 care and a thorough knowledge of the subject described." (MS. 1929.) 

 It is therefore only by the most careful husbanding of the curator's 

 time that any research work can be accomplished at all, and most 

 of it is done out of official hours. How well Merrill made use of his 

 time and facilities is attested by his bibliography of nearly 200 

 titles, many of which are long papers and books. In addition, he 

 wrote 47 annual reports of his department, and was a contributor of 

 articles to at least six dictionaries and cyclopedias. Furthermore, 

 in the years 1893 to 1916 he held the chair of geology and mineralogy 

 in the Columbian (now George Washington) University and lec- 

 tured several times each week during the college year to under- 

 graduates, finally retiring on account of ill health. This teaching 

 he likewise did after official hours. He also was lecturer in the 

 Maryland Agricultural College in 1890-91. 



Merrill's first geologic work had to do with the microstructure of 

 building stones and their preparation for exhibition in the Museum. 

 In 1883 appeared his first report as curator, in the course of which 

 he states that he has in his keeping about 12,500 specimens, of which 

 3,862 were the just added building stones. These new and old col- 

 lections occupied him for the next few years. He soon came to see 

 that " the facts in regard to each and every specimen should be so 

 placed on record that its identity can never again be lost, however 

 often the administrative force of the department may be changed." 

 This greatest of museum necessities he learned from the old collec- 

 tions then in his charge, which were largely valueless because of the 

 loss of labels, or, worse, because labels had never been written. 



In 1889 Merrill feels that his department in the Museum is in good 

 condition, " having become fairly established." In the following year 

 he is striving to apply the educational views of that born museum 

 worker. Doctor Goode, then in charge of the National Museum, by 

 making the geological exhibition series " a profusely illustrated text- 

 book in which the objects themselves serve as illustrations, and the 

 text, reduced to a minimum amount, is furnished by the labels." 

 By 1891 his department has " at last emerged into a systematic series 

 of collections, designed to show something regarding the earth's 

 structure and history and the extent to which its resources are 

 utilized by man." His section now had about 35,000 specimens, and 

 that of mineralogy about 25,000 more. 



After 1890 the Department of Geology grew especially rapidly 

 and in 1897 there were about 60,000 items in its reserve collections. 



