REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 5 



The difficulties attending the formation of such a museum were 

 appreciated by him, and in his report for 1849 he spoke with much 

 emphasis of the difficulties attending the assumption by the Institution 

 of the care of the national collections, and in the Report of the Institu- 

 tion for 1870 ' he again carefully expressed his opinion as to the aims 

 proper to such a museum. 



" There is [he wrote] scarcely any subject connected with science and 

 education to which more attention is given at the present day than 

 that of collections of objects of nature and art known under the gen- 

 eral denominations of museums. This arises from their growing impor- 

 tance as aids to scientific investigation and instruction." 



In the Eeport for 1873^ allusion was made to. the increase in the 

 national collections, even then very great, " requiring the utmost exer- 

 tions of the limited force connected with the National Museum for its 

 proper treatment." 



Although the appropriations for the Museum have of late years been 

 more liberal, it is certain that, on account of the immense annual 

 increase in the quantity of material received, quite as much caution as 

 ever is needed in the development of its plans for the future. 



The Smithsonian Institution, from its foundation, fostered explora- 

 tions, and its museum was enriclied by the numerous ethnological 

 and natural history objects brought home by the explorers. Many 

 gifts were received from private sources, and valuable objects were 

 deposited in its museum for safekeeping. The nucleus of its collec- 

 tions was a small but valuable cabinet of minerals formed by the 

 founder, James Smithson, who was himself a chemist and mineralogist 

 of high repute, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. 



At the time of the establishment of the Institution several naval 

 expeditions and surveys of the public domain were being organized by 

 the Government, and during tlieir progress large collections of ethno- 

 logical and natural history objects were made. Important foreign 

 material was obtained by the Pacific Exploring Expedition, Perry's 

 Expedition to Japan, and other naval expeditions, while the naturalists 

 attached to the Pacific Railroad Survey, the Mexican Boundary Sur- 

 vey, and the surveys under the Army Engineer Corps brought together 

 great collections illustrating the natural resources and ethnology of 

 North America. 



A new source of growth, subsequent to 1871, was the exploration of 

 the waters of North America by the United States Fish Commission, 

 The great collections of all forms of aquatic life made by the Commission 

 found their way gradually into the National Museum, to be placed beside 

 the collections of other bureaus of the Government engaged in scientific 

 work. 



At the close of the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 the exhibits of the 

 United States Government and thoseof numerous foreign governments 

 and of private exhibitors came to the National Museum. 



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