EEPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY, 7 



which a much larger number of equally commodious buildings is found 

 needful. 



POSSIBILITIES OF THE FUTURE. 



It is possible, as I remarked in last year's report, to show that Wash- 

 ington may readily be made the seat of one of the greatest museums in 

 the world. It will perhaps be neither practicable nor desirable to 

 gather together in Washington collections of ancient mediaeval art, 

 such as those which adorn the capitals of Europe; but a representative 

 series of such objects will undoubtedly grow up, which shall tend to edu- 

 cate the public taste, and to promote, so far as possible, the study of the 

 elements of art and the history of civilization, as well as to forward the 

 growth of the arts of design. This having been accomplished, the at- 

 tention of the Museum should be directed mainly toward the exhibition 

 of the geology and natural history of America, and its natural resources, 

 to the preservation of memorials of its aboriginal inhabitants, and the 

 exposition of the arts and industries of America. 



It is evident that the National Museum of the United States will of 

 necessity have features peculiar to itself, developed in response to the 

 peculiar needs of the people of this continent. Itshould be remembered 

 that the national collections of every principal European nation are di- 

 vided into several groups, each under separate administration, though 

 often within the general control of some central authority. In France, 

 for instance, most of the museums are under the Ministry of Public In- 

 struction, and in England, to a less extent, under the Department of 

 Science and Art. 



In the great European capitals the public collections are scattered 

 through various parts of the cities, in museums with distinctive names 

 and independent in their organizations. Much of the work which should 

 properly be done by such museums is omitted, because no one of them 

 has seen fit to undertake it; while, on the other hand, much labor is du- 

 plicated, which is ]3erhaps equally unfortunate, collections of similar 

 scope and purpose being maintained in different parts of the same city. 

 One of the chief objections to such division of effort is that much of the 

 value of large collections in auy department is lost by failure to concen- 

 trate them where they may be studied and compared side by side. In 

 Washington the national collections are all, without exception, concen- 

 trated in one group of buildings. The Army Medical Museum now oc- 

 cupies a building side by side with those under the control of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, and this i^roximity, in connection with the long-estab- 

 lished policy of co-operation between the two organizations, will cause 

 them to be, for all practical purposes, united in interest. 



POSSIBILITIES OF INCREASE AND IMPROVEMENT. 



Although the appropriations from the public treasury for the main- 

 tenance of a national museum are small, compared witli those in sev- 

 eral European countries, the value of objects given by private Individ- 



