REPOBT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 163 



tioa is desired, it can be found in the reports of the curators, under 

 whose direction the separate exhibits were prepared. 



SECTION OF PREHISTORIC ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Mr. Thomas Wilson, Curator of Prehistoric Anthropology, was re- 

 quested to prepare au exhibit which should illustrate the methods em- 

 ployed in the study of prehistoric man, and the present state of our 

 knowledge of his manners and customs, and of his geographical distri- 

 bution daring the different periods. To accomplish this purpose, he 

 selected about two thousand specimens which would best represent man's 

 progress during the early centuries of his existence. These included 

 objects from all parts of the world. They were arranged in continuous 

 series in cases placed end to end to represent the stream of time during 

 the prehistoric ages. The entire series of cases was divided longitudi- 

 nally, each separate division being devoted to a different country or group 

 of countries. At the top was Great Britain, uext below came France 

 and Belgium, then Italy, Switzerland, the Scandinavian countries, Asia, 

 Africa, Oceanica, and at the bottom the United States. Perpendicular 

 divisions were also made to represent the various epochs of prehistoric 

 civilization. By this arrangement it was easy to compare the progress 

 of man in the different countries, and to show the variations in the im- 

 plements used in each. Special attention was given to demonstrating 

 that our own country was inhabited during the earliest periods. This 

 was done by the exhibition of large series of specimens similar in all 

 important particulars to those belonging to the earlier epochs from the 

 Old World. 



The collection began with the Chellian epoch, when man used but 

 one implement, a crudely chipped stone, and followed down through 

 the different divisions of the stone age, then through the age of 

 bronze to that of iron, showing clearly the steps in human progress from 

 a lower to a higher civilization. Charts showing the distribution of pre 

 historic man and the location of his settlements during different epochs 

 were exhibited ; also drawings and models of the Swiss Lake dwellings; 

 a skeleton of the cave bear ; and a series of crude stone, ivory, bone, and 

 metal implements, used by Indians of modern times, to illustrate the 

 various methods of fastening them to handles. 



SEC! ION "i ii UNOLOGY. 



The Curator of Ethnology, Prof. O. T. .Mason, was asked to prepare 

 an exhibit to illustrate in a general way the leading characteristics of 

 t lie different races of men ;. and to show the tribal relations of the North 

 American Indians and the progress made by them in civilization. His 

 exhibit occupied more than 1,1()() square feet of floor space, and ;it 

 traeted much attention. It was divided into two series, namely: the 

 general ethnological exhibit, which included all •>!' the principal races 

 of men, and the collections illustrating the life and habits of the various 



