REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 13 



of Classification for the World's Columbiau Expositiou." In the prep- 

 aration of this classification an exhaustive study was made of all classi- 

 fications which had been published in connection with previous exhibi- 

 tions. Since up to the present time no attempt has been made to pre- 

 pare a scheme so generally comprehensive, it is reproduced in the Ap- 

 pendix (Section ill) to this report, in the hope that it may be useful to 

 persons who are engaged in exhibition or museum administration. 



During the latter part of the year the Treasury Department decided 

 that the sum of between .|30,()00 and $40,000 was available for expendi- 

 ture in connection with the preparation of the Government exhibits. 

 This sum was divided among the executive departments, including 

 the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum, and the Fish Com- 

 mission ; the Smithsonian Institution, including the National Museum 

 and the Bureau of Ethnology, receiving about $6,000. As soon as this 

 money became available, several of the curators in the National 

 ]\Iuseum commenced work upon the special exhibits of their depart- 

 ments, and a force of taxidermists and mechanics was engaged. Mr. 

 It. Edward Earll was appointed chief special agent iu April, and 

 will act as the executive officer under the direction of the representa- 

 tive of the Smithsonian Institution. 



PATENT CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 



The celebration of the beginning of the second century of the American 

 patent system by a ('ongress of American Inventors and Manufacturers 

 was held on April 8, 9, and 10, 1891. A committee of citizens of Wash- 

 ington was appointed to carry out the details. Mr. J. E. Watkins, 

 curator of the section of transportation, was appointed secretary. The 

 ceremonies consisted of a series of meetings at which addresses relating 

 to the history and influence of invention were delivered by prominent 

 statesmen, inventors, political economists, and engineers. During the 

 meetings a loan collection was installed in the lecture hall of the Na- 

 tional Museum, where machines of antique design, models, and early 

 l>atents were inspected and studied. In this collection were patents 

 signed by Washington, Madison, and Monroe, the first two talking- 

 machines, an antiqiu' electrical railway constructed in 1837, the original 

 Morse telegraph instruments, the first ])hotographic camera made in 

 the United States, the original tyi)ewriting machine from which the 

 ]»crfected Kemington typewriter was constructed, early forms of sew- 

 ing machines, besides other curious and useful devices, many of which 

 have been donated to the Museum, and are now on exhibition. Prof. 

 Otis T. Mason, curator of ethnology, read a paper before the congress, 

 entitled " The Birth of Invention." 



BOARD ON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES. 



Prof. Otis T. Mason, curator of ethnology in the National Museum, 

 was appointed by the President of the United States a member of the 



