758 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



two months in this work, with a probability that it will not be completed before the 

 1st of February. 



The Government building is at present crowded with these additions, notwith- 

 standing the removal of many of the original exhibits; the objects thus presented, 

 it is believed, being sufficient to fill 50 freight cars to their utmost capacity. * 



The value of these collections to the people of the United States can not be over- 

 estimated, consisting as they do of many varieties of ores and minerals, specimens of 

 animal products, and materials from the vegetable kingdom, including, also, the 

 stages of their manufacture and the finished products, as well as, in many cases, the 

 apparatus by which these results are accomplished. Thus, nearly all the known 

 varieties of the ore?) of silver, gold, mercury, iron, copper, lead, tin, zinc, nickel, cobalt, 

 antimony, etc., are represented, with the furnace products accompanying them, and 

 the resulting metal; the brick, tile, and pottery earth and clays of China, Japan, 

 France, Belgium, Great Britain, Australia, Brazil, etc., in many cases accompanied by 

 careful analyses of their composition and numerous illustrative specimens of their 

 products; also building stones, marbles, etc., specimens of artificial stone, mortars, and 

 cements, with the materials producing them, and samples of coals from hundreds of 

 different localities. 



Among illustrations of products from the animal industries may be mentioned 

 specimens of leathers from all parts of the world and from many varieties of animals; 

 wools, graded by their different qualities, and applications and prices; furs of various 

 species of animals of Europe, Asia, and Australia, and preparations of Russian isin- 

 glass, glues, and gelatins in immense variety. 



The wealth of vegetable material is incalculable, embracing as it does the magnifi- 

 cent displays of Brazil, the Argentine Confederation, Australia, Netherlands, and 

 other countries that have excited so much attention during the exhibition. 



Among the individual objects may be enumerated samples of the woods of thou- 

 sands of species of trees, fibers of all kinds, including material for paper and textile 

 fabrics, objects of the materia medica, gums, dyestuffs, materials for tanning, seeds 

 of every variety of the grains, hemp, flax, cotton, ramie, tobacco, coffee, cocoa, etc., 

 many of them at present new to the United States and giving promise of successful 

 introduction therein. These have been received, in large part, in quantity sufficient 

 for distribution, Russia alone supplying more than 200 bushels of seeds of every best 

 variety of hemp, oats, wheat, barley, etc. A large amount of material illustrating 

 the habits and customs of other nations has also been received. Notably among these 

 objects may be mentioned the entire exhibit of the King of iSiam and that of the 

 commissioners of customs of China. Both of these collections present an exhaustive 

 illustration of the mode of life, habits, and characteristics of the people. Many 

 important collections of educational apparatus and objects have also been presented. 

 The navy department of Russia has furnished samples of cordage, wire rope, chain- 

 cable, iron forgings, etc. 



The various objects thus presented, after being transferred to the Government 

 building, have been taken possession of by the respective departments to which they 

 are most appropriate, and by which they would naturally be exhibited in connection 

 with any systematic display that might be authorized by Congress. Although no 

 formal action had been taken by Congress in reference to the acceptance of such dona- 

 tions, yet the fact that an appropriation was made to fit up a building in Washington 

 to receive what might be presented was considered a sufficient warrant for receiving 

 them, especially as their rejection would have placed the United States in an embar- 

 rassing position in respect to its foreign guests. 



It is proper to state that the utmost eagerness has been manifested by the repre- 

 sentatives of technical, industrial, and educational institutions in the United States in 

 gathering objects of the kind in question, and that in very great part they were pre- 

 vented from accomplishing their object by the information that the entire exhibits 



