REPORT OF ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 21 



which is identical with that of bona fide acquisitions. The adminis- 

 tration of the function of acquisition in the department is uniform 

 with that of other departments. 



Gifts. — The accessions for the year have been numerous and valuable, 

 and details relating to them will be found in another place. Among 

 the gifts are some of notable importance. A collection of antiquities 

 and ethouological material, the bequest of the late W. Hallett Phillips, 

 of Washington, is not only of great extent but of exceptional value to 

 archaeological science, having been collected and recorded with care by 

 Mr. Phillips, who was a conscientious and discriminating devotee of 

 archaeological research. The collection contains 12,467 ancient relics, 

 mainly stone implements from the Potomac region, and 106 ethnolog- 

 ical specimens from Polynesia. The latter material was collected by 

 Mr. Henry Adams, of Washington, during a ijrolonged voyage among 

 the Pacific islands. 



Transfers. — The Smithsonian Institution, through the agency of its 

 Bureau of American Ethnology, has acquired by purchase and trans- 

 ferred to the Museum two collections of importance — a valuable series 

 of ancient stone and earthenware utensils from graves and mounds in 

 Arkansas, and a collection of antiquities from mounds of the well-known 

 Etowah group of Georgia, made by Dr. Koland Steiner, of Grovetown, 

 Georgia, The latter lot, together with the material previously obtained 

 from the same locality by agents of the Bureau of Ethnology, forms 

 one of the most instructive assemblages of archiieological material ever 

 brought together from the mound region. 



A noteworthy accession of the year is a collection of 2,206 human 

 crania transferred to the Museum from the Army Medical Museum, 

 through the courtesy of Surgeon-General G. M. Sternberg. This col- 

 lection has been accumulating for many years and represents mainly 

 the Indian tribes, ancient and modern, of North America. Much of 

 the material was acquired through National Museum agencies and was 

 turned over to the Medical Museum for the benefit of the corps of 

 students of physical anthropology connected with that institution. It 

 includes only nonpathologic remains and is to form the nucleus of a 

 division of physical anthropology in the Anthropological Department. 



Deposits. — Of the various collections loaned to the Museum during 

 the year, and at the same time offered for sale, two are of more than 

 usual importance. (1) A very extensive series of stone implements 

 and other ancient relics from various parts of Georgia, owned by Dr. 

 Roland Steiner, and (2) a collection of ethnological material from the 

 Great Plains and Eocky Mountain Indian tribes, made by Emile 

 Granier, of Paris. It is expected that these collections will be acquired 

 by the Museum at an early date. Other loan collections worthy of note 

 are (1) a series of personal mementos of Gen. W. S. Hancock, deposited 

 by Cadet G. K. Hancock, of West Point Military Academy, and a num- 

 ber of important Jewish religious ceremonial objects deposited by Mr. 



