14 REPORT OF NATIONAL. MUSEUM, 1911. 



division of plants, whose collections, already extensive, are increasing 

 rapidly. With the readjustments now in progress, the older Museum 

 building and .the lower exhibition halls in the Smithsonian building 

 will become entirely available for the arts and industries and Ameri- 

 can history. 



While the division of space between the three departments under 

 which the scientific collections are administered is not equal, owing 

 to the fact that their requirements in this respect are not identical, it 

 may be said that in a general way anthropology occupies the middle 

 part of the building, geology with paleontology the eastern part, and 

 biology the western part. The distribution of the reserve collections 

 and laboratories of the several divisions within the departments has 

 been determined by various considerations. The central dark area of 

 the west wing in the ground story has been converted into a vast 

 alcoholic storage room, about which are located the laboratories for 

 reptiles, fishes, and marine invertebrates. To the division of mam- 

 mals, which has the most bulky of all the reserve collections, has 

 been allotted the entire western range in the same story; while the 

 corresponding eastern range contains the section of vertebrate paleon- 

 tology, and the geological and anthropological workshops. In the 

 third story the divisions of birds, mollusks, and insects are on the 

 western side; the divisions of ethnology, historic and prehistoric 

 archeology, and physical anthropology are on the northern side and 

 in the middle wing; and the divisions of physical and chemical 

 geology, mineralogy, and paleontology are on the eastern side. The 

 storage spaces in the attics are apportioned among the several divi- 

 sions in accordance with their needs. 



In preparing the new building for occupancy many difficult prob- 

 lems, relating chiefly to the subject of furnishings, have been 

 encountered, but they have been mostly settled satisfactorily. As 

 very little of standard commercial make is applicable to museum 

 needs, it has been necessary to have the great majority of the furni- 

 ture constructed specially and to plan separately for the various 

 requirements of different classes of specimens. After careful con- 

 sideration it was decided to use fireproof or fire-resisting material 

 for the storage furniture, which is mainly contained in closed rooms, 

 and nearly all of the storage cases, racks, and shelving have been 

 built of or covered with steel. While experience has shown that 

 entire reliance can not be placed on metal furniture to secure immu- 

 nity from the effects of fire, still by its employment the surfaces on 

 which a fire might catch or along which a fire might be carried may 

 be greatly reduced in extent if not eliminated, and with constant 

 oversight by an efficient watch force this is an advantage to be 

 counted. In the large public halls, however, where a fire is less 

 likely to originate and may more readily be detected, the use of 



