26 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



the region in question for the special purpose of procuring further 

 information regarding the features covered 1)}^ your inquir3\ 



In conckxsion I would say that all with whom I have consulted are 

 agreed that the " Petrified Forest," or " Chalcedony Park," of Apache 

 County, Arizona, should be preserved as a pul)]ic park for the benefit 

 of the American people. In no other area is there such a profusion of 

 highly colored stone trees. Fossil wood is scattered over a very great 

 area of Arizona, but the densest portion and chief place of interest is 

 "Chalcedony Park," an area of less than 5 miles square. This region 

 is al)out 20 miles south of Carrizo station. 



A list of papers relating to the Arizona forest trees is appended. 

 Very respectfully, 



Richard Ratiibun, 



Acting Secretary. 



Hon. BiNGER Hermann, 



Commission ei" General Land Office^ 



Department of tlie Interior, WasJihujfon, I). C 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Gifts.- — Among the gifts to the Institution during the 3'ear may be 

 mentioned an extensive and valuable collection of archaeological 

 objects presented to the Institution )\v Mr. Joseph D. McGuii-e, of 

 Washington. 



Smithson tahlet. — The In-onze tablet afiixed, by the direction of the 

 Regents, to the tomb of Smithson in Genoa, having been stolen, it has 

 been ordered to be replaced by one in Carrara marble. 



Foreign ■institutions. — Dr. Andrew D. White, ambassador to Ger- 

 manj' and a Regent of the Institution, was designated to represent the 

 latter at the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the Royal 

 Prussian Academy of Sciences, at Berlin, on March 19 and 20, 1900. 



Dr. White attended, and, in his report of the ceremonies, suggested 

 that the formal congratulations of the Institution should be suitably 

 engrossed and forwarded to the Roval Academ3\ This was done 

 through the Department of State. 



The congratulations of the Institution were also sent to the Kaiser - 

 lich-Konigliche Geologische Reichsanstalt, on the occasion of its fif- 

 tieth anniversary, and to the Koniglich Sachsischen Altertumsverein 

 on the occasion of its seventv-fifth anniversarv. 



THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Of the several bureaus of the Smithsonian Institution the National 

 Museum is of most general interest, and the administration of its busi- 

 ness has demanded most care. 



The primary object of the Museum is the acquisition, preserva- 



