REPORT OF THE SECRETARY, 23 



Congress of Psycliology.—Dv. William James, professor of philos- 

 ophy at Harvard University, was designated to represent the Smith- 

 sonian Institution at the Fifth International Congress of Psychology 

 at Eome, April 26-30, 1905. 



Botanical Congress. — Mr. F. Y. Coville, cnrator of the Division of 

 Plants in the National Museum, represented the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution and the Museum at the Second International Botanical Con- 

 gTess at Vienna, June 11-18. 1005. 



Ornithological Congress. — Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, curator of the 

 Division of Reptiles and Batrachians in the National Museum, rep- 

 resented the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum at the Fourth 

 International Ornithological Congress at London, June 12-17, 1905. 



International Convention of the International Catalogue of Scien- 

 tific Literature. — Dr. Leonhard Stejneger represented the Institution 

 at the meeting of this body held in London. July 25-30, 1905. 



NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



A great museum, in the modern usage of the word, has been defined 

 as " an institution for the preservation of those objects which best 

 illustrate the phenomena of nature and the works of man, and the 

 utilization of these for the increase of knowledge and for the culture 

 and enlightenment of the people." This thought is that of one very 

 especially conversant with the subject, and implies both a collection 

 for the student and an exhibition for the visitor. It is this second 

 part of the museum's work, the exhibition collection, wdiich was 

 probably in the minds of those who originally described the future 

 Smithsonian museum as containing " objects of art and of foreign 

 and curious research," although even at that early date they added 

 '* and all objects of natural histor}'^, plants, and zoological and min- 

 eralogical specimens belonging to the United States." Under the 

 impulse of Congressional legislation the Museum has obtained a 

 signal advantage over the national museums of other countries, since 

 by law all collections made by the surveys of the Government of the 

 United States must be deposited here, thus providing for the sys- 

 tematic preservation of collections of great extent and vast im- 

 portance. 



From the foundation of the Institution to about 1857 its specimens 

 were collected solely to serA'e as materials for research, and the exhi- 

 bition collections belonging to the United States were maintainerl 

 at the Patent Office. At the date mentioned Congress made an 

 appropriation to the Smithsonian Institution for the building of 

 cases to receive these collections, which were known as the " National 

 Cabinet of Curiosities," and from that time on the Institution's 



