REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 59 



gas; $200.25 for telephones; $384.95 for electric supplies; $32.75 for 

 electric work; $20 for rental of call boxes; $81.79 for heating supplies, 

 making a total of $840.69, and leaving an unexpended balance July 1, 

 1892, of $1.65. 



Prom the appropriation of $12,000 for heating and lighting for the 

 fiscal year ending June 30, L892, the disbursements are as follows: 



For salaries or compensation, $5,218.93; for special or contract serv- 

 ices, $20; for coal and wood, $3,365.85; gas, $1,360.51; telephones, 

 $622.65; electric work and supplies, $124.53 ; rental of call boxes, $100; 

 heating repairs. $329; heating supplies, $433.62; making a total of 

 $11,575.09, and leaving an unexpended balance July 1, 1892, of $424.91, 

 to meet outstanding liabilities. 



From the appropriation of $5,000 for removing decayed wooden floors 

 in the Museum building, and replacing them with artificial stone pave- 

 ment, and for the purchase of slate for covering trenches containing 

 heating and electrical apparatus, the expenditures for materials and 

 services to July 1, L892, are $4,474.64, leaving on that date an unex- 

 pended balance of $525.30 on hand to meet outstanding liabilities. 



With a view to securing the best pavement possible, as well as for 

 the purpose of obtaining for future guidance a practical knowledge of 

 the merits of the artificial stone flooring made by different bidders, three 

 proposals, which did not vary materially in amount, were accepted. It 

 will require a greater length of time than has yet elapsed to pronounce 

 upon the relative merits of these pavements, but they have already 

 proved themselves far more satisfactory than the wooden floors for 

 which they were substituted, and it is hoped that it will soon be possi- 

 ble to put down the same or some equally durable form of pavement in 

 other parts of the Museum. 



From the appropriation of $3,000 for removing the old boilers under 

 the Museum hall in the Smithsonian building, and replacing them with 

 new ones, making necessary alterations and connections of steam-heat- 

 ing apparatus, and covering pipes with fire-proof material, the expen- 

 ditures are as follows: Alteration of pipes, etc., $121; purchase of two 

 new boilers, $2,769; black pipe, etc., $48.47; making a total expendi- 

 ture of $2,9.38.47, and leaving ou hand July 1, 1892, an unexpended 

 balance of $61.53 to meet liabilities still outstanding. 



The Museum is under obligation to Commodore Melville, U. S. Navy, 

 Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, Navy Department, who, in 

 July, 1801, at the request of the Acting Secretary, appointed a board 

 of engineer officers to prepare specifications and examine bids for the 

 new steam-heating apparatus. The Museum was thus enabled to profit 

 by the skill and experience of Passed Assistant Engineer Baird and 

 Assistant Engineer Leopold, the officers designated to serve on this 

 board. The practical working of the steam-heating apparatus has 

 since demonstrated the wisdom of the board in the preparation of the 

 test questions and specifications submitted to the bidders, and of the 



