REPORT OF ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 11 



bauds of the (Joveriimeut, go abroad or to municipal museums or pass 

 iuto the hands of private citizens. Money is also needed to fill out and 

 make significant the various series already established in the Museum. 

 The American Museum of Natural History in i^ew York expends 

 annually $00,000 for the increase of its collections, and the Field 

 Columbian Museum in Chicago has spent for collections during the 

 last five years over $419,000. Much of this was expended the first 

 year, but material is purchased from time to time as it is needed to 

 make collections more nearly complete. 



No eftbrt on any scale commensurate with the importance of the 

 Museum has hitherto been possible in the direction of acquiring col- 

 lections by field work and exploration. There are many kinds of col- 

 lections that can be obtained only by scientific men working in the field. 

 Collecting expeditions are often costly, but in many cases their results 

 are such as can be obtained in no other way. There is no doubt what- 

 ever that it would be a very great advantage to the oSlational Museum 

 if it could every year, besides purchasing a reasonable amount of mate- 

 rial, send out collectors to various regions to obtain objects which are 

 never ofl'ered for sale, and which, if gathered by unskilled collectors, 

 would lose all their value. 



The experience of many years has shown that however active sur- 

 veying and exploring expeditions may be, collections can not thus be 

 made to grow symmetrically. There are always gaps which can be 

 filled only by purchase of materials. It is often necessary, for jiurposes 

 of comparision and for study, that the Museum obtain collections from 

 abroad, and such as can be had also only by purchase or exchange. 

 This fact is well recognized abroad, and the British museums and some 

 of those on the Continent contain rarer and better specimens from 

 America than do the American museums. 



DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIMENS. 



It is well known that the Museum distributes great quantities of 

 duplicate specimens. This is a very important work and could be much 

 extended if tlie scientific staff were larger. The work of bringing 

 together, identifying, labeling, and preparing for shipment sets of speci- 

 mens for educational institutions is very considerable, and consumes so 

 much time that it can not be properly entered upon by the present 

 force. 



A NEW MUSEUM BUILDING. 



The immediate and greatest need is a suitable museum building. 

 The present building is 375 feet square. The space on the ground 

 floor is 140,625 square feet, and that in the galleries 10,000 square feet; 

 exhibition space 90,000 square feet. The entire cost was $315,400. 



For comparison with the above figures the following statistics 

 relating to the American Museum of Natural History in New York are 

 given. Total floor space, 294,000 square feet, divided as follows: Exhi- 

 bition space, 196,000 square feet; laboratories, library, etc., 42,500 



