48 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEMM, 1884, 



manent benefit to the Museum. This we have found to be entirely con- 

 sistent with the interests of the exhibitions, since the material which is 

 useful for these temporary disjjlays is even more useful for the perma- 

 nent exhibition series of the Museum. At the same time, in many of 

 the departments an ofitbrt has been made, in selecting specimens for the 

 expositions, to make use of duplicate material from the Museum, in 

 order that, should we be called upon in future to participate in other 

 expositions, the preparation of a collection can be effected with less 

 expense of time and money than has been heretofore i^racticable. 



In the report for 1885 J hope to include an extended account of the 

 New Orleans Exposition, with special reference to the specimens ac- 

 quired for the National Museum by gifts and exchanges. 



The following statement will, however, serve to indicate the extent 

 of the preparations made by the Smithsonian Institution for participa- 

 tion in the expositions at Louisville, Cincinnati, and New Orleans : 



The following preliminary report upon the exposition work of the 

 year has been prejjared by Mr. R. Edward Earll, the head of the special 

 exposition staii': 



On July 7 Congress passed a bill authorizing the representation of 

 the various executive departments of the Government, including the 

 Smithsonian Institution and Department of Agriculture, at the World's 

 Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition to be opened in New 

 Orleans December 1, and to continue for six months. The bill further 

 provided for an exhibit by each of the departments at the Southern 

 Exposition to be held at Louisville, Ky., and at the Industrial Ex- 

 position at Cincinnati, Ohio. The bill authorized the appointment by 

 the President of representatives for each of the departments, these to 

 constitute a United States Executive Board, to whom all questions re- 

 lating to the Government participation in the various expositions were 

 to be referred. Each representative was to be charged with the prep- 

 aration of an exhibit for his department, and the funds placed to its 

 credit by Congress were to be disbursed under his direction. Mr. G. 

 Brown Goode, Assistant Director of the U. S. National Museum, who 

 had represented the U. S. Fish Commission at Berlin in 1880, and at 

 London in 1883, was appointed to represent the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, including the U. S. National Museum and U. S. Fish Commission. 

 Seventy-five thousand dollars were placed to the credit of the Institu- 

 tion for the preparation of exhibits for New Orleans, with twenty-four 

 hundred dollars additional for Louisville and twenty-three hundred 

 dollars for Cincinnati. 



THE EXHIBIT AT LOUISVILLE. 



In 1883 the people of Louisville obtained control of a large plat of 

 ground within easy access of the city and erected a building 920 feet by 

 630, with extensive galleries, where they held a large and successful 



