REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 37 



velop a detailed system of arrangement in conneetiou with, tlie prelimi- 

 nary handling of the collections. With this object in view, certain 

 rooms and areas have been assigned, and in these have been grouped, 

 with special reference to their final installation, certain large classes of 

 objects, such as the weapons of war and the chase, implements of agri- 

 culture, and other iirimitive industries. In addition to these groat 

 series of objects, classified according to function, other groups of objects 

 have been arranged in accordance with another idea of classification, 

 which is deemed of equal imi^ortance, namely, that of race. 



The Eskimo collection, for instance, has been arranged in table cases 

 in one of the exhibition halls, in accordance with the ethnic idea, although 

 in the minor details of classification function and form, as well as geo- 

 graphical distribution, have been followed. 



A preliminary study of the collection of basketry has been completed. 

 A paper upon the baskets of uncivilized peoples, with numerous illus- 

 trations, was published in the Museum report for 1884, and a represent- 

 ative series placed on exhibition with provisional labels. The throwiug- 

 sticks and sinew back-bows have been the subject of papers, and are 

 now on exhibition. The curator has in progress investigations upon 

 several groups of objects, notably the history and technology of archery; 

 upon transportation as eftected by man without the aid of domestic 

 animals or mechanism; upon the peculiar industries of several handi- 

 crafts; upon the Hoopah Indians of California. 



The underlying ideas in these investigations, a first installment of 

 which was published in the last report of this Museum, are (1) that 

 the methods of strict classification and nomenclature already applied 

 in the other natural sciences are equally applicable to anthropology; (2) 

 that a trustworthy and minute study of modern savage and barbarous 

 technique is absolutely requisite to the archa3ologist and technologist 

 in reconstructing the history of civilization. 



II (B). Beparlment of American Aboriginal Fotiery. — The collections 

 in this department have continued to increase with astonishing rapidity, 

 and the extensive accessions which have been received through the 

 Bureau of Ethnology, and from other sources, have been of the great- 

 est scientific importance and popular interest. One of the four large 

 central halls of the Museum is devoted entirely to this subject, and the 

 removal of the collections of South American aboriginal pottery and of 

 the extensive collections from the mounds which have for many years 

 been accumulating in the Arch Geological Hall of the Smithsonian build- 

 ing, have filled it up to such an extent that it is difficult to find room 

 for the new material as it comes in. 



During the year a portion of the hall has been thrown open to tlie 

 public, although it has been necessary to retain one-half of the floor space 

 as a work room. The exhibition case surrounding the walls of this 

 room is probably the largest in existence in any museum, being 2C0 feet 



