EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 57 



the installation in this hall has ])een ntlierwise much improved. The Southeast 

 Range has ])een cleared of storage, and entirely assigned to the exhibition of reptiles 

 and fishes, of which a partial display is now in ])lace. The rearrangement of the 

 bird collection has been nearly completed, and a system of lighting the central dark 

 cases by means of electric lamps has been devised. 



The condition of both the exhibition and reserve collections in the Department of 

 Geology has been greatly improved, and, except as to labeling, many parts of the 

 display series are now in a practically finished state. • The two galleries in the south- 

 ern ranges have been fitted up as storerooms and laboratories for the Divisions of 

 Paleobotany and V^ertebrate Paleontology, the collections of which have been trans- 

 ferred to the racks and drawers provided for the purpose. Much of the activity of 

 the Department of Geology has been directed toward unpacking and arranging the 

 Marsh Collection of vertebrate fossils, to which reference is made elsewhere. 



Pablic benefits. — While the principal function of the Museum is to care for and 

 classify the Government collections, it is best known to the public through its educa- 

 tional features and as a place where information may be sought on many scientific 

 topics. Being one of the chief points of interest at the national capital, it is visited 

 by large numbers of persons from all parts of the country, the annual attendance 

 during the past twenty years having averaged about 220,000, though in years of 

 Presidential inauguration it has sometimes exceeded 300,000. During the past year 

 the number recorded was above 225,000. 



In the matter of supplying information the Museum is called upon from all jiarts 

 of the country and to some extent from abroad. Specimens are sent to it for identifi- 

 cation and analysis, and inquiries are received bearing upon every subject coming 

 within its scope, as well as upon many with which it has no relation. Every com- 

 munication is answered, and so far as possible the writer's wishes are complied with, 

 though requests for chemical analyses can not be met, as the Museum is not equipped 

 for work of that character. Over 700 lots of objects were received for examination 

 during the year, while of letters asking information there was an average of not less 

 than 100 weekly. As will be realized, the time of b(jth the scientific and the clerical 

 staff was heavily drawn upon in preparing the necessary replies. 



A number of students have been given facilities and allowed the use of collections 

 for carrying on researches at the Museum, and a large amount of material has been 

 sent to specialists in different parts of the country and abroad for working up. While 

 the latter has mainly been done under agreement to prepare reports for the use of 

 the Museum, yet specimens are constantly being lent to institutions and individuals 

 to aid in investigations conducted in their own behalf. 



The distribution of duplicate specimens among educational establishments through- 

 out the United States has come to be regarded as one of the important features in the 

 work of the Museum. It can only be carried on, however, upon a very limited 

 scale with the funds now available, as entire collections have first to be identified, 

 and the expenditure of a relatively large amount of labor and material is required for 

 assorting, labeling, and preparing the specimens for shipment. During the last year 

 39 sets of such duplicates, containing about 7,000 specimens in all, were sent out. 

 The principal subjects represented were marine invertebrates, geology, and prehis- 

 toric archaeology. 



Pan-American Exposition. — The preparation of the exhibits for the Pan-American 

 Exposition at Buffalo in 1901, as authorized by the Fifty-fifth Congress, was begun 

 during the year under the immediate direction of Dr. F. W. True, who has been desig- 

 nated as the representative of the Smithsonian Institution and its bureaus on the 

 Government Board of Management. 



Publications. — Volume 21 of the Proceedings was issued early in the year, and 24 

 papers of Volume 22 have been printed and distributed in separate form. Volume 1 

 of the Annual Report for 1897 was received from the Government Printing Office in 



