4 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



classification and organization. As the various branches of the work 

 develop, and increase is made in the number of curators, reclassifica- 

 tion of material and readjustment of the force will gradually lead to a 

 satisfactory and permanent organization. 



The accessions to the department were numerous and valuable. 

 Among those of more notable importance is a collection of antiquities 

 and ethnological material, the bequest of the late Mr. W. Hallett 

 Phillips, of Washington, to the Smithsonian Institution. This collec- 

 tion is not only of great extent, but of exceptional value to archaeolog- 

 ical science. It contains 12,407 ancient relics, mainly stone implements 

 from the Potomac region, and 106 ethnological specimens from Poly- 

 nesia. By transfer from the Bureau of American Ethnology the 

 Museum received material from Arizona, Arkansas, and Georgia; and 

 by transfer from the Army Medical Museum, a collection of 2,206 

 human crania, representing mainly the Indian tribes, ancient and mod- 

 ern, of North America. There was received on deposit, and at the 

 same time ottered for sale, an extensive collection of stone implements 

 and other ancient relics from various parts of Georgia, together with 

 a collection of ethnological material from the Indians of the Great 

 Plains and the Eocky Mountains, made by Emile Granier, of Paris. 

 Valuable deposits were made by Prof. Alexander Graham Bell. These 

 include a large number of i)ieces of apparatus made and used by him in 

 his experiments and researches in various branches of electrical sci- 

 ence. The General Electric Company also deposited many pieces of 

 original apparatus connected with the early use of electricity for light- 

 ing, the transmission of x>ower, and like purposes. Other valuable 

 deposits are described in the report of the head curator. 



During the year there were prepared by the curators and expert 

 preparators of the department a number of models illustrating primitive 

 life, processes, implements, utensils, etc. 



The research work of the department during the year was extensive, 

 the study, comparison, and classification of the collections before instal- 

 lation being essential to their intelligent utilization. 



The system of installation inaugurated by Mr. Holmes is somewhat 

 elaborate. The primary arrangement is founded, first, on the geo- 

 graphical or ethnographical assemblage, and, second, on the develop- 

 mental or genetic assemblage. Other methods may be classed as sjiecial. 

 They are the chronological, the comi)arative, the individual, etc. The 

 primary methods are adapted to the presentation of the general truths 

 of anthropology, and the special methods ai^e available for limited por- 

 tions of the field. A full description of the method of installation will 

 be found in Mr. Holmes's report. 



Biology. — The Department of Biology was embarrassed by reason of 

 Dr. True's time being largely consumed in executive work, and it was 

 not until late in the year that he secured an assistant curator to take 

 charge of the work in the Division of Mammals. 



