REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 41 



on the ground floor, which also contains the heating and power plant, and 

 the wood and metal work shops. Otherwise, this floor, and the third floor and 

 attic, are allotted to the immense reserve collections in all branches of natural 

 history, the laboratories, preparators' rooms and administrative offices. It is 

 planned with reference to these three floors to use only metal furniture as 

 far as possible, especially for the storage of specimens, since the fire risk is 

 greater in the relatively small closed rooms than in the large exhibition halls, 

 through which a clear view can be had at all times. The danger of fire or of 

 its spread has, however, been reduced to a minimum, first through the use of 

 metal doors supplementing the otherwise fireproof construction, and, second, 

 through a system of alarms, fire plugs and fire extinguishers. While the metal 

 as well as wooden storage cases are made in several styles to meet the re- 

 quirements of different classes of specimens, the rule of construction along 

 unit lines continues to be followed. The large demand created by the needs 

 of the new building has given rise to a keen competition among manufacturers 

 of steel furniture, and resulted in a quality of workmanship which is highly 

 gratifying. 



A certain amount of fireproof storage furniture had been constructed during 

 the year 1908-9, but it was not until the beginning of last year that the 

 larger orders could be placed, and a considerable amount of work was also 

 done in the Museum shops. As it was deemed most important to first com- 

 plete the furnishing of the working quarters, very little has been done in the 

 matter of exhibition cases, but the requirements of the public halls will be 

 given active consideration during the current year. 



Considerably more than half of the natural history collections, both reserve 

 and exhibition, were transferred during the year, and it is expected that the 

 entire moving will be completed before winter. The only exhibition series 

 opened to the public were those referred to below in connection with the 

 National Gallery of Art, but the arrangement of other halls was in progress 

 when the year closed. For the division of plants, the second story of the main 

 part of the Smithsonian building is being fitted up. 



From what has been said it will be noted that with the readjustments now 

 in progress all of the collections relating to natural history, including anthro- 

 pology, but excluding the herbarium, will soon be segregated in the new building, 

 which was specially planned for that branch of the Museum. The installation 

 of the paintings of the National Gallery of Art in the middle wing of the build- 

 ing, as described below, is virtually an intrusion, and it is expected that in due 

 time more appropriate accommodations will be found for this important and 

 rapidly growing department. 



The great difference in the amount of space required by each of the respective 

 departments and their branches, dependent upon the size of their collections, 

 has rendered impossible any exact division between them of the floor area of the 

 building, and the claims of each has been decided according to the actual needs. 

 In a general way anthropology has been given the middle part of the building, 

 biology the western side, and geology the eastern side. This division of space 

 extends essentially from the ground floor to the attic, and, in view of the many 

 elevators and stairways provided, the arrangement is not inconvenient. It 

 gives to each of the departments one of the large halls, and, as all of these halls 

 open on the rotunda, a visitor entering by the main doorway may proceed 

 directly to whichever department he desires. 



NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART. 



Mr. William T. Evans contributed 32 paintings and 1 fire etching to his collec- 

 tion of the works of contemporaneous American artists, which now numbers 114 



