DEPARTMENT OF PREHISTORIC ANTHROPOLOGY. 137 



dustnd the exhibitioa hall aud offices). The mail is opened, letters 

 read and briefed ; those pertaining to announcements of accessions are 

 sent to the registrar; requests for information, etc., are answered; 

 boxes opened, specimens received are unpacked, separated, arranged, 

 classified, and all entered in the catalogue. They are then sent out to 

 be numbered with the catalogue number, which is placed upon every 

 specimen with paint of suitable color. The name of the donor aud the 

 locality must also appear. They are then, in trays, placed in a special 

 case to be assorted and assigned to their respective places by the 

 curator. There is enough work of this numbering to keep a skilled 

 laborer continually employed. For example, the number of specimens 

 received during the past year was 6,972. The present catalogue num- 

 ber (139916) consists of six figures. The locality and name of donor 

 trebles the labor of marking, making the average of eighteen to twenty- 

 four figures and letters to be painted on each specimen, or a total of 

 125,000 to 175,000 figures or letters. This requires an average of two 

 painted figures or letters per minute, to be made without stop or break, 

 during the working hours of the entire year. The McGlashan collec- 

 tion from Georgia, comprising twenty thousand and more specimens, 

 had been received before mj appointment as curator. Only a partial 

 attempt had been made to number them. 



The work of the office on Circular 36 began about the middle of Jan- 

 uary, but from the middle of February the answers and specimens re- 

 ceived from correspondents were, together with their replies and ex- 

 changes, sufficient to occupy our entire force. The assorting of the 

 specimens and dividing them into their respective epochs of the 

 paleolithic period was a slow work, requiring care and deliberation. 

 Any intervals of time were occupied in the preparation and writing of 

 the descriptive catalogue of the archaeological collection. The classifi- 

 cation of the paleolithic implements had progressed as far on the list as 

 the State of Ohio on the 31st day of May. On the 1st day of June I 

 was notified to immediately commence the preparation of an exhibit 

 from the department of Prehistoric Anthropology for display at the 

 Cincinnati Centennial Exposition. That work required the services of 

 all available force in the office during the balance of the fiscal year 

 and somewhat into the present. 



Prior to March 23, 1888, no attempt was made in the office to keep a 

 record of the correspondence, requests for information, notes of refer- 

 ence from other departments, and their answers, etc. During the 

 months of January and February, and up to the 22d of March, there 

 had been sent between five and six hundred circulars. In March there 

 were written and sent, 32 circulars and 13 letters ; in April, 25 letters; 

 in May, 45 letters ; and in June, 63 circulars and 24 letters ; making a 

 total of 202. 



My experience has gradually demonstrated, to my own satisfaction at 

 least, that the daily routine business of the office is sufficient to fully 



