REPORT OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR. 53 



E.— REVIEW OF'THE YEAR'S WORK IN THE SCIENTIFIC 



DEPARTMENTS. 



As in uiy last report, I here present a brief review of wbat has been 

 accomplished in each department of the several scientific divisions. 

 The curators' rei)orts are -:iven in full in Part II of this report. These 

 are es[)ecially intended to embrace (1) a review of the important addi- 

 tions during: the year; (2) a statement of the character of routine work 

 emi)l(>yed in arranginjj^ and classifying the collections, and in preparing 

 the exhibition and study series. 



17. DIVISION OF ANTHROPOLOGY. 



(«) Department of Arts and Industries. 



The curator of this department is the custodian of all materials pos- 

 sessing anthropological significance, which are not elsewhere assigned. 

 Its belongings are consequently somewhat heterogeneous and difficult 

 to report upon, and its relations with the Department of Ethnology are 

 so intimate that it is impossible to make a definite division between 

 them. Certain collections belonging to this department are under the 

 charge of other curators, the collection of building-stones being as- 

 signed to the department of lithology and physical geology, while all 

 that relates to mining and metal-working is cared for by the curator of 

 metallurgy and economic geology. Several sub-curatorships have 

 grown up in this department, and certain other collections, especially 

 those of architecture, musical instruments, and modern ceramics, to- 

 gether with the somewhat anomalous collection of historical objects, 

 are at present assigned to this curatorshi]). 



When, in 1857, the Smithsonian Institution assumed the custody of 

 the collection of the United States Exploring Expedition, together with 

 the miscellaneous material which had gatliered around this nucleus, a 

 great quantity of material was transferred to the Smithsonian building 

 which has not to this day been classified and placed upon exhibition. 

 TIk; rapid growth, especially during the past decade, of the collections 

 illustrating the ethnology of North American Indians, and especially 

 of prehistoric objects from this continent, has absorbed the attention of 

 all who were interested in this d«'i)artment of the Museum. The major- 

 ity of the foreign ethnological objects are still, on account of lack of 

 room, i)acked up or crowded together in a too limited amount of case- 

 room. At the close of the Centennial Exhibition the Museum received 

 from foreign Governments great (juantities of material exhibited af 

 Philadelphia, which, while possessing an undoubted ethnological inter- 

 est, could not in many instances be displayed in the manner usually 

 adopted in ethnological museums. 



The material I'eceived from Philad('Ii>hia in 1870 was for several years 

 stored in the Armory building. On completion of the i)resent Museum 



