REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 55 



for the old wooden one and to paint the walls and ceiling, which has been 

 done in very tasteful and pleasing colors. The furnishings consist of the 

 necessary platform, chairs, lantern, curtain, and stand, and adjustable 

 screens at the windows. It is expected that the facilities thus afforded will 

 often be utilized for the delivery of scientific lectures bearing upon the 

 rich and varied collections in the Museum. 



Some years ago a number of electric arc lamps were temporarily installed 

 in the Museum building, the only attempt that had been made np to the 

 present time to light its exhibition halls. The sundry civil appropriation 

 act for 1901 carried an item of $3,500 for beginning a permanent instal- 

 lation of wires for lighting the entire building. This work is now well 

 under way and will be completed during the next fiscal year under an 

 additional appropriation sufficient to cover the small wiring and the pur- 

 chase of the necessary fixtures and lamps. 



The roof of the Museum building, never entirely satisfactory, and 

 showing many weak points during recent years, has been repaired and 

 strengthened to the extent that its character warranted, under the advice 

 of a competent engineer, and it is hoped that it can be made to answer for 

 a few years longer. 



It is noted with pleasure that the last of the wooden floors, with which, 

 through motives of economy, the Museum was originally provided, have 

 finally given place to a more substantial character of pavement. In antic- 

 ipation of the appropriation made at the last session of Congress for 

 improving the heating system, plans have been prepared for the instal- 

 lation of a pair of more powerful boilers, sufficient for supplying steam to 

 both buildings, whereby it is expected to obtain a more reliable and 

 economical service. 



The furniture acquired during the year consisted of nine exhibition and 

 45 storage cases, besides 578 other pieces of furnishings. 



Additions to the collections. — The new material received embraces 1,470 

 separate accessions, including about 180,000 specimens, and a census of the 

 collections at the end of the year shows a total of about 4,995,000 specimens 

 now catalogued in the Museum books. 



The Department of Anthropology has received several collections of 

 interest: From the Indian tribes of the Great Plains and the Interior 

 Basin material of ethnological importance was obtained, consisting of 

 articles of dress, implements, products of industry, and weapons, gathered 

 by Capt. Paul B. Carter, U. S. A. A series of ethnological and archaeolog- 

 ical objects was collected from the Mission Indians of southern California 

 by Mr. Horatio N. Rust, with the special view of aiding the Museum 

 ethnologists in distinguishing between the arts and industries of the Indians 

 belonging to the Shoshonean and Yuman missions, and it therefore 

 becomes a type of southern Californian material already in the Museum. 

 About 150 specimens of costume, implements, utensils, and products 

 of the primitive manufactures of the Chilkat Indians in southeastern 

 Alaska were secured by Lieut. G. T. Emmons, U. S. X., and they have 

 been largely used in preparing lay figures, constituting a family group of 

 this tribe. To students of aboriginal American culture a series of seven 

 facsimile reproductions of ancient Mexican codices, or books, presented by 

 the Due de Loubat, will furnish valuable information. 



