REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 81 



Considerable i)rogress h;is been made in snpplying- the exhibition 

 series with Libels. The cases have been numbered and labels attached. 

 Tliese indicate the plan of arrangement and the location of the mate- 

 rial. Experiments have been made with a view to determining the 

 best method of mounting crystals and preserving specimens which are 

 liable to decomposition. A special set of specimens, designated the 

 "educational series," is being prepared for exhibition. The collections 

 of gems and meteorites are increasing very satisfactorily. Two collec- 

 tions of minerals have been made by Mr. Wirt Tassin, assistant cura- 

 tor, aggregating more than 200 specimens. These have been suitably- 

 distributed among the exhibition and study series. The field parties 

 ot the United States Geological Survey brought in much interesting 

 material. 



Four papers l)y the curator were published during the year — one as 

 a bulletin of the Geological Survey, two in the American Journal of 

 Science, and one in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. 

 These are mentioned in the Bibliograi)hy (Appendix iv). 



It is the hope of the curator to establish a series of specimens illus- 

 trating tyi)ical famous American localities, and also a series illustrating 

 the type and original material in the collection, accompanied by refer- 

 ences to the publications in which the material was described. The 

 preparation of a guidebook to the collection has been commenced by 

 Mr. Tassin. 



The last catalogue entry in June, 1894, was 83320, and in June, 1895, 

 83G13. 



DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY. 



There is pressing need of more exhibition space for the geological 

 collections, and owing to the crowded condition of the halls very little 

 can be added to the exhibition series. The present aim of the curator, 

 Mr. George P. Merrill, is therefore in the direction of eradicating the 

 poorer specimens and substituting better ones in their places. For 

 this reason probably not more than 200 specimens have been actually 

 added to the exhibition series during the year. Mr. Merrill repeats his 

 recommendation that a balcony be placed around the interior of the 

 southwest court, of sufficient capacity to hold some of the lighter and 

 least bulky of the collections. This would allow room on the floor 

 for the expansion of the other collections in this departmeiit. Unfor- 

 tunately, Congress hus not taken favorable action on the request for 

 permission to erect galleries, and until this point has been secured, 

 nothing can be done to relieve the pressure either in this or the many 

 other departments which are similarly hampered. 



The time of the curator and his assistant has been largely occupied 



in bettering the condition of the exhibition series, as already intimated, 



and in bringing the records of the department down to date. A card 



catalogue for the collections is being prepared, and manuscript for 



NAT MUS 95 6 



