38 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1904. 



RESEARCHES. 



Of the material which reaches the Museum a part has previously 

 been studied and a part not. The act founding the establishment 

 provides that the collections shall be arranged and classified, and there- 

 fore in selecting the care-takers, persons skilled in the various branches 

 represented are chosen. It is recognized that their first obligation is 

 to look out for the safety of the specimens, and as the technical staff 

 under pay is relatively small, attention to this dut} T consumes the 

 greater part of their time. About one-half of this staff consists of 

 volunteers employed in other bureaus of the Government on whom 

 the same demands can not be made, though some of these are equally 

 attentive to the routine work. The scientific results accomplished 

 each }^ear by the paid employees of the Museum is, nevertheless, 

 relatively extensive, comprising mainly the identification, labeling, 

 and descriptions of specimens, and their classified arrangement in 

 cases and drawers so as to make them convenient for reference. 



For a large part of the scientific work, however, assistance must be 

 obtained from experts connected with other establishments throughout 

 the United States and in Europe. Entire groups of specimens may 

 be assigned to individuals for study, or advantage taken of researches 

 in progress elsewhere to have material of greater or less extent iden- 

 tified, and visiting scientific men are often willing to spend some time 

 upon such parts of the collections as come within their knowledge. 



It is impossible within the limits of this report to account for all 

 the work of this character carried on during the past year, but the 

 number of persons concerned, not including those on the Museum 

 staff, was in the neighborhood of 200, and over 20,000 specimens were 

 sent away for study. This cooperation is far greatest in connection 

 with the Department of Biology, whose varied collections have long- 

 attracted a widespread interest and have led to many extensive and 

 important investigations. 



In the Department of Anthropolog} 7 considerable progress was made 

 by the Head Curator and his assistants in studying the ethnological 

 collections sent to the Museum during the past ten years by Dr. Wil- 

 liam L. Abbott from the southern part of Asia and its adjacent islands. 

 Mr. William H. Holmes has continued his work of monographing the 

 mines and quarries of the American aborigines. Dr. A. F. Hrdlicka 

 conducted extensive researches in different branches of physical anthro- 

 pology. Further investigations in the subjects of primitive heating, 

 illumination, cooking devices, etc., have been carried on by Dr. Walter 

 Hough. Mr. Paul Beckwith has begun the preparation of a descrip- 

 tive catalogue of the Grant relics in the National Museum and a 

 catalogue of ancient coins. The collection of swords has also been 

 catalogued. 



