812 The Smithsonian Institution 



museum. In this he succeeded, Congress being interested 

 and willing to make the requisite appropriations for a build- 

 ing and for administration. The generous contributions of 

 private persons, and the results of public expeditions now 

 brought together, show what may be accomplished by co- 

 operation. The last report of the Director, acknowledging 

 the accession of one hundred and twenty-seven thousand 

 specimens within a year, attributes this increase almost en- 

 tirely to a warm interest in the welfare of the museum on 

 the part of individuals, many of whom have at one time 

 or another received some courtesy from the officials of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



Within the same year not far from forty thousand speci- 

 mens were distributed to universities, colleges, museums, 

 and normal schools, and the like distribution has been in 

 progress for years. Four hundred and sixty-seven " lots " 

 were sent to the museum for examination in the year 1895, 

 and the reports of the curators were extended outside the 

 United States and Europe to Canada, Central and South 

 America, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, India, Java, 

 Borneo, the Philippine Islands, and various islands of the 

 Pacific Ocean. 



One of the most remarkable characteristics of the Smith- 

 sonian has been its power of adaptation to changing cir- 

 cumstances. This is shown not only by its renunciation 

 of the library idea, and of the meteorological bureau, but 

 by the expansion of other work. The Bureau of Eth- 

 nology, for example, has its own accomplished director and 

 staff, and it is supported by special appropriations from 

 Congress. Yet it has grown up under the protection of the 

 Smithsonian, and has shared in its reputation for scholarship, 

 sagacity, and economy. The evolution of this bureau is an 

 interesting chapter in institutional history. The responsi- 



