REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 75 



above was built, thus giving an additional room for the accommodation 

 ofthe Entomological Department. Much new shelving was put up in 

 the different departments, the stationery room was re-arranged, new 

 files and boo. cases were built for the Department of the Library } and a 

 large number of cases, bases, frames, pedestals, etc., was built ami re- 

 remodeled. 



in various places repairs have been found necessary in the flooring 

 ofthe Museum, on account of the dry rot, which is becoming so exten- 

 sive as to be a serious detriment. The bases of the cases standing 

 directly upon the floor have also been found to be so much injured by 

 the prevailing dry rot as to make it necessary to raise them upon blocks, 

 pending the time when the bottoms of the cases can be repaired and 

 strengthened, and, when practicable each article permanently raised 

 upon casters. In order to prevent so far as possible any accumulation 

 of dampness, which might cause this decay, the trenches below the 

 building -have been thoroughly cleaned, and have received several coats 

 of whitewash, but the tact that the floors throughout the building were 

 laid in the damp concrete renders this precaution of little avail. It 

 has, however, been taken every year since the Museum has been oc- 

 cupied. 



BEATING AND LIGHTING. 



The appropriation for heating and lighting for the fiscal year ending 

 •Tune 30, 1889, was $13,000. 



The services of telephone clerk, engineer and firemen for this year 

 amount t<> $5,435; $4,188.43 has been spent for coal and wood; 

 $1,188.37 for gas; $625.24 for electric work ; $800.1(5 for telephones; 

 $120 for rental of call boxes; $638.81 for heating repairs ; making a 

 total of $12,996.01, which leaves. May 1, 1890, an unexpended balance 

 of $3.99. 



The average amount paid this year on the monthly roll for heating 

 and lighting is $453. The greatest number of employes in any month 

 is '.» ; the smallest, G; the average, 8. The highest salary is sll'O, paid 

 to the engineer; the salaries of telephone clerk and firemen being uni- 

 formly $50; the average salary is $59.08. 



The number of telephone calls made during the year is ">1 ,.'577. 



ELECTRICAL SERVICE. 



A change, which proves satisfactory, lias been made in the electrical 

 service, by substituting for the clocks formerly used others which are 

 run by the ( lardiner system, and which, being connected with the t T . S. 



Naval Observatory, are automatically regulated each day at noon. 



A ii important improvement in the engine room has been the repairing 

 ofthe boiler, many of the tubes of which had become defective by Ion- 

 use. New ones were obtained, and put into position by the regular 

 firemen, who. being practical mechanics, were able to accomplish these 

 repairs at a saving of a considerable expense to the Museum. 



