REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 91 



This scheme should be carried out with all the iraplemeuts and extended to all 

 localities, and they should be described correctly, fully, and in detail, each different 

 kind having two illustrations, one the large and the other the small size, and one or 

 the other of them should have an edge view as well as a side view. When this is 

 done, Ave shall have a fairly accurate knowledge of the number and kind, with the 

 various differences of form and material, of every implement in the Museum, from 

 every locality. 



This can be done only by personal inspection of each object, wherein the cases 

 must be opened and the objects handled and counted as they are segregated and 

 classitied. This being accomplished, many of tlie specimens now encumbering the 

 cases can be retired, and only the type or representative specimeu of each class of 

 implements be retained and displayed; the rest of them may be either boxed and 

 stored, or may be made up into sets for exchange. The effect of this would be to 

 reduce the number of objects on display, but, naturally, the best specimens would be 

 chosen, and therefore the beauty and effectiveness of the display would be increased. 

 The specimens should be properly figured and described, either in a guide-book or 

 label, and each implement exhibited Avould be the representative of a certain num- 

 ber of other implements not in sight. Thus, they would stand as though the entire 

 number were ou display, and the gorging process now going on would be materially 

 relieved. 



We have, during the existence of the Museum, been preparing for this classifica- 

 tion and enumeration by the acce})tauce of all kinds of implements in as great a 

 number as was obtainable. No fault is found, or to be found, with the policy by 

 which this great aggregation of the commoner implements was made. It was neces- 

 sary for the purpose indicated; it is still necessary, and should be continued until 

 the plan herein suggested shall have been carried out. 



There were 5,826 specimens received during the year, the total num- 

 ber now in the department being 20!>,346. The last catalogue entry in 

 June, 1895, was 172315, and in June, 1S9G, 173061. 



DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 



Technological collections. — Although the number of accessions was not 

 large, several very interesting series and single specimens were added 

 during the year. A collection of models illustrating the various meth- 

 ods of land transportation, and incidentally the development of the 

 wheel, was prepared for the Atlanta Exposition, and installed in 

 the Museum after its return to Washington. This series embraces 

 thirty-nine models, and includes also a number of lithographs and pho- 

 tographs of foreign and American vehicles. The electrical collection 

 was enriched by the Western Union Telegraph Company, which depos- 

 ited the original of the first instrument used to record a message trans- 

 mitted to a distant point by means of electricity. Models illustrating 

 two electrical wheels, made by Benjamin Franklin in 1748 and described 

 in his autobiography, were constructed. Mr. Edward L. Morse depos- 

 ited various decorations conferred by foreign sovereigns upon his 

 father. 



A fine specimen of balsa, used by the Seri Indians, was received 

 from the Bureau of Ethnology, through Mr. W J McGee, who collected 

 it in Socorro, Mexico. This specimen was added to the collection 

 illustrative of naval architecture. Among the models of steamboats 



