110 REPORT OF NATIOx\AL MUSEUM, 1884 



wishes in this matter. Doubtless material of questionable reference 

 will continue to flow in, but under the secure guidance of things wisely 

 selected even rubbish, well authenticated, will become useful. In car- 

 rying out this view I would recommend the preparation of a short and 

 exi)licit guide-book on this subject. I would also most earnestlj* request 

 that contributors to our collections be impressed with the necessity of 

 sending their specimens which are subject to destruction by moths, 

 breakage, or weather promptly to the Museum, and to give as much 

 attention to preservation as to collection. It is a lamentable fact that 

 a very large number of the objects received during ray short term have 

 been rendered comparatively worthless by a neglect of this precaution. 

 I cannot think of a greater disaster in museum work than that in which 

 the gatherings of a lifetime frequently are sacrificed in a few short weeks. 

 If contributors cannot comply with this request at once, they should 

 soak the specimens in benzine to kill any vermin already concealed, and 

 with a fine brush go over the parts in danger with a solution of arsenic 

 and alcohol, or corrosive sublimate in alcohol, drying in the shade. 



Among the ends which the curator of the Department of Ethnology is 

 very anxious to accomplish, and toward which he begs the co-operation of 

 his scientific brethren, no one seems to be more important than a correct 

 nomenclature of the difierent classes of objects with which he has to 

 deal. On the one hand an utter disregard of nomenclature is so vicious 

 that no argument need be urged against it. On the other hand there is 

 a danger of overloading the subject with too many difiBcult names, tend- 

 ing rather to confusion than to perspicuity. The following rules, found 

 to be of the greatest service to anthropo-biologists, will certainly meet 

 with favor from all comparative technologists: 



First. Every class or species of objects, and every distinct part of each 

 object, should have a name. 



Second. Each class or part should have but one distinctive name, 

 although synonyms well understood may be allowed. 



Third. Distinctive names should ai)ply to only one class of objects or 

 parts. 



Fourth. Names in good use, if distinctive, should always have prefer- 

 ence. 



Fifth. If a class of objects is confined to a definite locality, then the 

 name used for that class in that region should be adopted, e. <;., kyak, 

 babbiche, tepee, &c. If necessarj', Latin and Greek compounds may 

 be used when no other modern appellation can be found. 



ACCESSIONS OF THE YEAR. 



It is contemplated to i)repare, with copious illustrations, a classified 

 report of all the ethnological materials in the Museum, according to 

 those concepts or categories that aie in use among ethnologists, such as 

 function, tribe, geographical distribution, degree of elaboration, mate- 

 rial, classes of investigators, &c. For the present, in order to show in 



