REPORT OP THE SECRETARY. 27 



Borneo, and the Philippines ; and a large collection from aboriginal 

 mounds and ruin sites in Utah. To the division of American his- 

 tory the additions included china and glassware and other objects 

 once the property of General and Martha Washington. The memor- 

 ials of Gen. Sherman, which had long been in the custody of the 

 Museum, have now been presented by his son, Hon. P. Tecumseh 

 Sherman, and the Cromwell collection of 20,000 domestic and for- 

 eign postage stamps, deposited some years ago, became the absolute 

 property of the Museimi on the death of Mr. Cromwell in Septem- 

 ber, 1915. 



To the interesting collection of historical costumes there have been 

 added costumed figures representing four hostesses of the White 

 House, Mrs. James Monroe, Mrs. John Quincy Adams, Mrs. Abraham 

 Lincoln, and Mrs. James R. McKee. 



By the will of Dr. Shepard there was bequeathed an important 

 collection of meteorites which had been in the possession of the 

 Museum for a number of years. 



In the department of biology the additions were representative of 

 many parts of the world, including mammals, birds, and reptiles 

 from Celebes and Borneo, collected through the long-continued gen- 

 erosity of Dr. W. L. Abbott; and like collections from Siam, Kash- 

 mir, northern China, and Manchuria. Part of the results of the 

 Smithsonian biological survey of the Panama Canal Zone was a 

 collection of about 18,000 fishes. The Carnegie Institution of Wash- 

 ington deposited some 8,000 botanical specimens gathered by Dr. 

 J. N. Eose in Brazil and Argentina. 



Mr. Eathbun enumerates many other interesting objects recently 

 received, particularly those pertaining to the industrial arts, a depart- 

 ment which has been very greatly developed since the removal of the 

 natural history exhibits to the new building, yet the proper installa- 

 tion of series illustrating the many branches of the arts and indus- 

 tries is already seriouslj^ hindered through lack of space. It is in 

 this department in particular that the Museum manifests one of its 

 principal functions. The exhibits are so selected and so installed as 

 to teach visitors how things are made and what they are made of, 

 and not so much who makes the best articles or how they should be 

 packed to meet the demands of trade. And yet while these collec- 

 tions first of all educate the public they also teach the manufacturer 

 and therefore are of decided economic importance. One of the lead- 

 ing New England manufacturers not long since, while examining 

 the exhibits in his own industrial line, remarked, "this helps 

 business." 



I can not too strongly urge the need of still greater advancement 

 in this department of Smithsonian activities. The time is fast ap- 

 68663°— 16 3 



