12 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1908. 
of executing the act and trust.”* The work was to go forward as 
the funds permitted, and, as is well known, the maintenance of the 
Museum and the hbrary was long ago assumed by Congress, the 
Institution taking upon itself only so much of the necessary respon- 
sibility for the administration of these and subsequent additions to 
its activities as would weld them into a compact whole, which to- 
gether form a unique and notable agency for the increase and diffusion 
of knowledge, for the direction of research, for cooperation with 
departments of the Government and with universities and scientific 
societies in America, and likewise afford a definite correspondent to 
all scientific institutions and men abroad who seek interchange of 
views or knowledge with men of science in the United States. 
Since that early day no material change has been suggested in the 
general scope of the Government Museum; it has only remained to 
elaborate the details, and the opportunity is now close at hand to 
realize all that the first Board had in view, since ample space will be 
available within another two years. 
The development of the Museum has naturally been greatest in 
those subjects which the conditions of the past sixty years have made 
most. fruitful—the natural history, geology, ethnology, and arche- 
ology of the United States, supplemented by many collections from 
other countries. The opportunities in these directions have been 
mainly brought about through the activities of the scientific and 
economic surveys of the Government, many of which are the direct 
outgrowths of earher explorations, stimulated or directed by the 
Institution. The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 afforded the first 
opportunity for establishing a department of the industrial arts on 
a creditable basis, and of this the fullest advantage was taken, though 
only a part of the collections then obtained could be accommodated 
in the space available. 
The department or gallery of the fine arts had made lttle progress, 
though not from lack of desire or appreciation, until within the past 
two and one-half years, during which its interests have been markedly 
advanced, as elsewhere explained. 
Another subject to which much attention has been paid with grati- 
fying results is American history, illustrated by objects representing 
“Resolved, That it is the intention of the act of Congress establishing the 
Institution, and in accordance with the design of Mr. Smithson, as expressed in 
his will, that one of the principal modes of executing the act and the trust is 
the accumulation of collections of specimens and objects of natural history 
and of elegant art, and the gradual formation of a library of valuable works 
pertaining to all departments of human knowledge, to the end that a copious 
storehouse of materials of science, literature, and art may be provided which 
shall excite and diffuse the love of learning among men, and shall assist the 
original investigations and efforts of those who may devote themselves to the 
pursuit of any branch of knowledge, 
