228 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



am fully impressed with the fact that the tendency of the Institution will 

 be to a statical condition, in which the income will be absorbed in the 

 support and accommodation of objects of a doubtful or contingent value. 

 There is even danger in receiving donations from individuals. The 

 articles may be valuable in part, but may consist also of much which 

 the Institution cannot well afford to keep. Besides this, it is extremely 

 difficult to discharge, acceptably, the duty of the curator of property 

 thus acquired. Since the house-room and the income of the Institu- 

 tion for the accommodation and support of collections are limited, great 

 care must be exercised in the choice of the articles, and preference 

 given to those which are of importance in determining problems of 

 interest, and which give promise of the read}'^ productioy of new and 

 interesting results. 



For a detailed account of the additions to the museum during the 

 past year, and the present state of the collections, I must refer to Pro- 

 fessor Baird's report herewith presented. 



In an appendix to this will be found a list of the doriations, with the 

 names of the donors alphabetically arranged. These consist principally 

 ot" specimens not generally found in other collections ; and though they 

 may not be very attractive to ordinary visitors, the studerjt of natural 

 history will find in them much of interest. 



The circular prepared by Professor Baird, describing the method of 

 collecting and preparing specimens, and indicating objects especially 

 desirable, has proved effective in procuring important contributions. 



Among the objects which should be collected and preserved with care, 

 are the remains of the specimens of the arts of the aboriginal inhabit- 

 ants of" this country, the contents of mounds, and the stone implements 

 found on the surface of the earth. The implements and industrial pro- 

 ducts of the present tribes of Indians should also be gathered as the 

 materials for the advance of the new and interesting science of ethnol- 

 ogy. Of the contents of mounds, but a limited amount of specimens 

 exist; and as these are not, like the spontaneous productions of nature, 

 constantly in the process of reproduction, every article should be dili- 

 gently sought lor, and carefully preserved. Some additions have been 

 made to the collections in this line. 



The museum of natural history, besides plants and minerals, numbers 

 eig[iteen hundred and fifty jars, containing specimcRS in spirits of 

 mannnalia, reptiles, fishes, articulata, mollusca, and radiata, amounting 

 in ail to twenty-five hundred species. Besides these, there are 

 about nine hundred specimens of skulls and skeletons, and three thous- 

 and of" skins of European and American birds. 



Lectiires. 



In accordance with the suggestion contained in the act of incorpora- 

 tion of the Institution, courses of lectures have been given during the 

 past year in the lecture-room of the Smithsonian building, and the 

 reports of these lectures ai"e generall}'^ copied in the pubUc papers 

 throughout the Union. Though the plan of diffusing knowledge by 

 njeans of lectures is too restricted in its influence to meet fully the libe- 

 ral views of the Smithsonian bequest, yet there is no place in the 



