148 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



In 1867 the Royal Society of London published its well-known 

 "Catalogue of Scientific Papers," and the Smithsonian Institution 

 has from time to time issued catalogues of the literature of special 

 branches of science. In 1894 the Royal Society invited the Govern- 

 ments of the world to send delegates to a conference to be held in 

 London in 1896. At this and the following conferences in 1898 and 

 1900 a plan was formulated to start the work with a classified sub- 

 ject and author catalogue of all original scientific literature, begin- 

 ning with January 1, 1901. 



THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSUEM. 



By the act of 1846 the Smithsonian Institution was made the cus- 

 todian of the national collections in both nature and art. The 

 Museum branch was definitely organized in 1850, the title "U. S. 

 National Museum" being authoritatively given by Congress in 1875. 

 During the first few years expenses of the Museum were wholly met 

 from the Smithsonian fimd, and it was not until 1878 that the Gov- 

 ernment began to provide entirely for its maintenance, this being 

 done through annual appropriations by Congress. 



The Museum staff includes the Secretary of the Institution as 

 keeper ex-officio, the assistant secretary in immediate charge, the 

 administrative assistant, three head curators, and about 50 curators, 

 assistant curators, custodians, and aids, besides many clerks and 

 other employees. 



Four general divisions are recognized: (1) Natural history, in- 

 cluding ethnology and archeology; (2) the fine ai-ts; (3) the indus- 

 trial arts; (4) history. 



The division of natural history is divided into three departments, 

 biology, geology, and anthropology. The collections of natural his- 

 tory have been received in greater part from Government surveys 

 and explorations, and are richest in material from North America. 

 Many other parts of the world are also well represented in one sub- 

 ject or another, especially Central America, the Philippines, Ma- 

 laysia, and some portions of Europe, Africa, and South America. 

 The deep-water zoological collections from both the Atlantic and 

 Pacific Oceans are the most extensive and important in existence. 



Among important early sources of collections may be mentioned 

 the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838 to 1842, the Perry 

 Expedition to Japan, the North Pacific Exploring Expedition of 

 the Navy, the railroad and wagon-road surveys by the Army in 

 connection with the opening up of the far West, the Canadian and 

 Mexican boundary surveys, certain geological explorations, and the 

 work of the coast survey in Alaskan waters, besides many expedi- 

 tions organized or assisted by the Smithsonian Institution. Of more 



