\imm ON THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY 

 IN THE 11. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. \m. 



V>y (Jf.orce 1'. Mkrriix, Curafor. 



Work on the economic section of the department has consumed a 

 veiylarge shareof the energies of the curator and tlie assistants through- 

 out the entire year, though during the month of June we have been 

 able to devote a little attention to the systematic series. This work 

 has been in many cases discouragingly slow, partly from the fact that 

 we have for years beeu burdened with a vast quantity of undesirable 

 material, wliich has been a long time accumulating, though in large 

 part an inheritance from the International Exhibition at Philadelphia 

 in 187(>. 



Matters had at last arrived at that stage where no satisfactory prog- 

 ress could be made, owing to the congested condition of storage and 

 exhibition space. 1 have, therefore, gone systematically through the 

 entire collections, so far as contained in the Museum building, carefully 

 sifted out the undesirable material, identified, labeled, and classifled such 

 as was to be retained, and after trimming, cleansing, and numbering, 

 had it installed in its proper shape. The amount of routine gone through 

 with in this work can be appreciated by no one who has not had a simi- 

 lar experience. We have, however, the satisfaction of feeling that the 

 de]»artment has at last emerged into a systematic series of collections, 

 designed to show something regarding the earth's structure and his- 

 tory and the extent to which its resources are utilized by man. It is 

 not meant by this to claim that the department is thoroughly organized, 

 or by any means in a perfectly satisfactory condition, but we have at 

 least arrived at that stage whereby the public may gain some tangible 

 idea of the work we are trying to do. The system employed in arrang- 

 ing these collections has been given in sufiBcient detail in a preliminary 

 handbook published in the Report of the National Museum for 1890, 

 and need not be further referred to here. 



One hundred and nineteen accessions and one hundred and thirty- 

 two lots of specimens forwarded for examination have been received 

 during the year, the former comprising upwards of 1,000 si)ecimens. 

 With a few exceptions, noted below, these have been comi^aratively 

 unimportant. This may be explained by the fact that no money has 



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