42 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



LIBRARY. 



Mr. John jVEurdocli, libraiiiiii, fuinislics the following- iiifonuatioii re- 

 garding the oiierations of the library during the year: 



The total mind)er of publications added to the library during the year 

 was 12,854 (922 voluuu'S of more than 100 pages, 2,492 pamphlets, 9,280 

 parts of regular serials, and ir>(> charts). Of these, 424 volumes, 883 

 pamphh'ts, and 0,413 x^arts of serials were retained tor the use of the 

 Museum from the accessions of the Smithsonian Institution. The re- 

 mainder were obtained by gift, exchange, and purchase. 



The largest gift to the library during tlie year was from the Rev. .lohn 

 Croumbie Brown, of Haddington, Scotland, and consisted of the pro- 

 fessional library of his late brother. Dr. Samuel Brown. Dr. Brown, 

 who has been called " the last of the alchemists," was born in Scotland 

 in 1817. He devoted himself at an early age to thestudy of chemistry. 

 His attention was especially attracted to the ultimate problems of the 

 science, and he became persuaded that the elements usually regarded 

 as chemically simj^le and primary were transmutable into each other. 

 He was a poet and essayist as well as a chemist, but his time was chietly 

 spent in his laboratory, and at the time of his death, in 1850, he believed 

 that he was very near to the point of demonstrating the great funda- 

 mental theory, in which his own faith had never wavered. His library, 

 consisting of 150 volumes and 8 i)amphlets, contains many rare and 

 valuable old works on chemistry and physics, and will be kept by itself 

 in t\i(i libi'ary under the name of the " Samuel Brown Collection." 



An important donation was received from Dr. Charles A. White, 

 U. S. Geological Survey, honorary curator of the section of mesozoic 

 fossils, consisting of 100 volumes, 82 parts, 50 pamphlets, and 5 maps. 



The work of entering and cataloguing the Rau Memorial Library has 

 at last been completed. This collection, as finally catalogued, com- 

 prises 1,009 titles. 



An excellent beginning has been made on the much-needed subject 

 catalogue. This now consists of 1,838 cards, arranged according to the 

 decimal classiticafion in general use among libraries. 



Three new sectional lil)raries have been added to the list during the 

 year, namely: Aeronautics (authorized by order of the secretary, June 

 19), in charge of Mr. G. E. Curtis; astronomy, in charge of Mr. W. C. 

 Winlock; and reptiles and batrachians, in charge of Dr. Leonhard 

 Stejneger. 



The nundx'r otl)ooks assigned to the sectional libraries is as follows: 



Admiiiistialioii. — 203 vohimcs. 6 parts, 5S ])iiiiii)]i]ets, and 1 cliart. 



Aerondutics. — (Now Iteiug orgauized.) 



Astroiioniji. — 9 vohuucs, 5X0 parts, 3 pamphlets. 



Birds. — 534 vohinics, 252 parts, 49 pamphlets, 5 charts. 



Editor. — 628 volumes, 538 parts, 46 pamphlets. 



Jitliiiologi/. — 347 volumes, 201 parts, 16 paiiijililets, and 1 chart. 



Fislics. — 87 volumes, 24 parts, 8 pauijtlilets. 



Geology. — 522 volumes, .547 parts, 365 ])auipli]ets, and 4S charts. 



