42 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1921, 
public interest is subject to litigation, and its acquisition by the Mu- 
seum depends upon action by the courts. 
A set of 169 pieces of heavy porcelain with blue decoration was 
received by the section of ceramics as a bequest from Miss Caroline 
Henry. This porcelain was given to Prof. Joseph Henry by the 
first Japanese minister to the United States. The ware is interest- 
ing as representative of the first somewhat crude attempts to adapt 
European forms in Japanese ceramic art; Mr. Grosvenor B. Clark- 
son, Washington, D. C., presented two Japanese porcelain vases in 
blue and white; Miss Freeman and Mrs. B. H. Buckingham, Wash- 
ington, D. C., presented six large Japanese and Chinese plaques 
with rich decoration in colors and a Japanese bronze statuette. 
EXPLORATIONS AND EXPEDITIONS. 
Dr. W. L. Abbott is a constant contributor of the resuits of his 
numerous explorations east and west. At present his material is 
coming from Haiti and Santo Domingo. The major expeditions 
of a scientific nature have contributed little material for anthro- 
pology. Special archeological explorations in Arizona and New 
Mexico directed by the Museum, the Bureau of American Eth- 
nology, and the National Geographic Society added much excellent 
material. The expedition of the National Geographic Society to 
the Chaco Canyon ruined cities in New Mexico, directed by Mr. Neil 
M. Judd, of the National Museum, is expected to produce important 
results. This expedition, which set off in April, contemplates five 
years researches in Chaco Canyon. The preliminary work on this 
expedition was carried on during the summer and a large collection 
of artifacts sent in. Dr. J. Walter Fewkes’s epoch-making ‘investi- 
gations on Mesa Verde, Colo., for the Bureau of American Eth- 
nology and the Department of the Interior were productive of dis- 
tinctive scientific and educational results. 
WORK OF PRESERVING AND INSTALLING THE COLLECTIONS—PRESENT CONDITION OF 
COLLECTIONS. 
It is difficult to characterize the multifarious and intricate work 
accomplished by any department of the Museum. The high stand- 
ards of the National Museum embrace every feature from the 
minute io the greatest. The visible Museum must be kept to the 
highest point of perfection and the work this necessitates is con- 
stant and exacting. In the background is the tremendous routine 
of occupational activities which the Geologist Lesley called “ dead- 
work,” and which must be completed before specimens are brought 
to public view. 
The care of specimens in ethnology presents many problems on 
account of the character and variety of the material. Some of the 
