REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 31 



AMERICAN ABORIGINAL POTTERY. 



Mr. W. H. Holmes, honorary curator, has made a study of the origin 

 and significance of the textile ornament upon the pottery of the east- 

 ern United States, and of the relation between the aucient and recent 

 ceramic remains of northern 'New Mexico. The work- of cataloguing 

 and installing the immense collection of prehistoric pottery has prac- 

 tically been completed. Four collections of considerable importance 

 have been received during the year: from Col. James Stevenson, of the 

 Bureau of Ethnology, from Mr. James Mooney, from Mr. J. A. McNiel, 

 and from Eev. Ward Batchelor, respectively. 



During the year 1,100 specimens have been added to the collection, 

 and 1,541 entries have been made in the catalogue, including the re- 

 cording of collections which had been previously received. 



PREHISTORIC ANTHROPOLOGY. 



The curatorship of this department became vacant in July by the 

 death of Dr. Charles Eau, and on December 1, 1887, Mr. Thomas Wil- 

 son was ajDpointed curator. Mr. Wilson had been consul of the United 

 States in Belgium and France, and had profited bj^ his opportunities for 

 the study of prehistoric anthropology in the localities in those countries 

 which had become renowned for their bearings upon this science. He 

 had while there made a collection of objects connected with prehistoric 

 anthropology in Europe, amounting in number to 10,288 specimens, 

 which he has deposited in the National Museum, and of which mention 

 is made in the last annual report. 



Dr. Eau bequeathed to the library 715 bound volumes and 1,722 un- 

 bound books and pamphlets. He also gave 89 modern Indian objects, 

 474 of European prehistoric objects, and 1,367 American prehistoric 

 objects, to the ethnographical and archseological collections in the Mu- 

 seum. 



The special work of the curator during the year has consisted ingath- 

 ering information concerning the existence and geographic distribution 

 of paleolithic implements in the United States, it being the curator's 

 desire to assist in the solution of the problem relating to the existence 

 of man on the American continent, especially in the United States, dur- 

 ing the paleolithic period of the stone age. In this connection a circu- 

 lar (No. 36) was prepared by the Smithsonian Institution for distribu- 

 tion among persons interested in archaeological matters. Several hun- 

 dred rei)lies were received. From these has been compiled a paper, in- 

 cluding a discussion of the correspondence upon this subject and of de- 

 ductions made therefrom, which is published in Section ill of this Ee- 

 port. 



During the year 6,972 specimens have been added to the collection, 

 and 2,696 eutries have been made in the catalogue. 



