3^4 The Smithsonian Institution 



under the immediate direction of Doctor Goode ; a collection 

 of porcelains, bronzes, and ivory carvings ; a large and va- 

 ried collection illustrating fisheries, which was brought to- 

 gether chiefly in connection with the Fisheries Exhibition of 

 Berlin and London ; a small forestry collection ; a collection 

 of foods ; a collection representing the utilization of industrial 

 products derived from animals ; a collection of fibers and tex- 

 tiles ; and a series of objects illustrating the chemical com- 

 position of the human body. 



I have already alluded to the work done by the Museum 

 in the direction of supplying from its surplus the needs of 

 other scientific and educational establishments. 



This undertaking was inaugurated at an early date, as I 

 have stated on a preceding page (page 323), and already 

 in 1866, at the end of the second decade of the Institution, 

 110,000 specimens from the collections had been distributed. 

 At the close of the fifth decade, in 1896, the number had 

 risen to 521,000 specimens. These included animals of every 

 class and many geological and mineralogical specimens and 

 plants. 



Every State and Territory in the Union has received a share 

 of these collections, and numerous institutions outside the 

 United States have also been beneficiaries in the distribution. 



The majority of these specimens were distributed without 

 demand for, or expectation of, a return ; but the National 

 Museum has received from other institutions in exchange for 

 the collections sent out a body of specimens amounting in all 

 to perhaps one-third the number distributed. Important ad- 

 ditions have been made to the Museum in this way, and, 

 indeed, its surplus collections, owing to the comparatively 

 small amounts available for purchases, have constituted its 

 chief capital. The system of exchanges, however, has its 



