REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 43 



tional Association of Postmasters, holding its nineteenth annual con- 

 vention; by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the 

 Department of Commerce ; by the National Parks Conference, under 

 the auspices of the National Park Service of the Department of the 

 Interior, accompanied by an exhibition of paintings; by the Na- 

 tional Research Council; and by the Bureau of Commercial Eco- 

 nomics, which gave an exhibition of lantern slides and motion pic- 

 tures relative to the prevention of contagious diseases, for the bene- 

 fit of the Council of National Defense. Mr. Eugene E. Thompson 

 addressed the employees of the Institution and its branches on the 

 subject of the first Liberty loan, and two rehearsals of the inter- 

 Departmental chorus in preparation for Flag Da}^ exercises were 

 held in the auditorium. 



Receptions were given, on the invitation of the Regents and Secre- 

 tary of the Institution, on the occasion of a special view of paintings 

 by Mr. Orlando Rouland, and to the Daughters of the American 

 Revolution at the time of their annual congress and the delegates to 

 the eighth annual convention of the American Federation of Arts. 

 The exhibition halls in the natural history building were opened on 

 the evening of June 6 in honor of the visiting Confederate Veterans, 

 Sons of Confederate Veterans, and Daughters of the Confederacy, 

 the receiving party consisting of Secretary and Mrs. Walcott, Miss 

 Mary Lee, and members of the local reception committee. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Over 6,000 duplicate specimens, included in 1G regular sets of mol- 

 lusks, 19 regular sets of fossils, and a number of special sets, were 

 distributed to schools and colleges. Exchanges for securing addi- 

 tions to the collections involved the use of about 19,500 duplicates, 

 while above 14,000 specimens, chiefly biological and geological, were 

 lent to specialists for study. 



The attendance of visitors at the natural history building aggre- 

 gated 343,183 persons for week days and 63,842 persons for Sundays, 

 being a daily average of 1,096 for the former and 1,227 for the latter. 

 At the arts and industries building and the Smithsonian building, 

 which are open only on week days, the totals were, respectively, 

 161,700 and 86,336, and the daily averages, 516 and 275. 



By the terms of three wills admitted to probate during the year 

 the Museum will be materially benefited, and in another case the 

 testator's desires have already been carried out. Attention has been 

 called to two of these bequests in other connections. That of Henry 

 Ward Ranger is destined to have an important bearing on the future 

 welfare of the National Gallery of Art, while the collection of rep- 

 tiles left by Julius Hurter, sr., is especially noteworthy and valuable. 

 To the late Miss Sarah J. Farmer, of Eliot, Maine, the Museum is 



