THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION CLAKK. 149 



recent date are the investigations of tiie Bureau of Fisheries, the 

 Geological Survey, the Bureau of American Ethnology, and the 

 Bureaus of Plant Industry, Entomology, and Biological Survey of 

 the Department of Agriculture. Of private donors, some of whom 

 have made gifts of great extent and value, the list is very long. 



The total number of specimens in all branches of natural history 

 recorded to the present time amounts to several millions, the annual 

 accretion during several years past having averaged a quarter of a 

 million specimens. 



Of arts and industries there are on exhibition extensive collections 

 of firearms, the most complete in this country; boat and railroad 

 models, electrical apparatus, time-keeping and measuring devices, 

 musical instruments, ceramics, graphic arts, textiles, laces, em- 

 broideries, and collections in mineral technolog}'^ and in photography. 



The growth of the National Museum has heretofore been greatest 

 in natural history lines, including primitive man. The develop- 

 ment of the natural resources of the country and the study of the 

 American aborigines through Government surveys and explorations 

 have contributed toward building up collections illustrative of nature 

 and earl}" man that equal if not actually surpass those of any other 

 country. The millions of specimens and hundreds of thousands of 

 distinct species and forms here preserved serve as the basis for 

 extended researches and discoveries. Through cooperation with the 

 executive departments of the Government the Museum collections 

 constantly render aid in solving many broad economic problems in 

 agriculture, in mining, in fisheries, and in Indian affairs. Unri- 

 valed conditions are here afforded for the arrangement, care, and 

 safety of the Nation's treasures, for their unrestricted study in the 

 advancement of knowledge, and for their use in promoting the 

 interests of public education. 



In recent years great advance has been made in the development 

 of the department of technology — a Museum of Industrial Arts. 

 It is in this department in particular that the Museum manifests 

 one of its principal functions. The exhibits are so selected and so 

 installed as to teach visitors how things are made and what they 

 are made of, and not so much who makes the best articles or how 

 they should be packed to meet the demands of trade. And yet while 

 these collections first of all educate the public they also teach the 

 manufacturer and therefore are of decided economic importance- 

 While commercial museums have their place for developing trade 

 and commerce, and are of much value for such purpose, the develop- 

 ment of the artistic taste of the public through an educational 

 Museum of Industrial Arts seems of even greater general importance. 

 It stimulates inventive skill and advances every art and everj'^ 



73839°— SM 1916 -11 



