EEPORT OP THE SECEETARY. 27 



carry out the purposes for which the building is erected. And the said George 

 Washington Memorial Association shall in addition provide a permanent endow- 

 ment fund of not less than $500,000, to be administered by the Board of Regents 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, the income from which shall, as far as necessary, 

 be used for the maintenance of the said building. 



Permission is granted the George Washington Memorial Association to erect 

 said building in the north end of the reservation known as Armory Square, 

 bounded by Sixth and Seventh Streets west and B Street north and B Street- 

 south. The south front of said building is to be on a line with the south front 

 of the new National Museum Building, in the north end of the Smithsonian 

 Park ; and the said land is hereby set apart for that purpose : Provided, That 

 the actual construction of said building shall not be undertaken until the sum 

 of $1,000,000 shall have been subscribed and paid into the treasury of the George 

 Washington Memorial Association: And provided further, That the erection of 

 said George Washington Memorial Building be begun within a period of two 

 years from and after the passage of this act, and this section shall be null and 

 void should the George Washington Memorial Association fail to comply with 

 the provisions thereof, which are conditions precedent to the authorization 

 herein granted. 



Said building may, among other purposes, be used for inaugural receptions 

 and special public meetings authorized by Congress. 



Congress may alter, amend, add to, or repeal any of the provisions of this 

 section. 



NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Since the operations of the Museum are reviewed by Assistant 

 Secretary Eathbun in the first appendix of this report and are dis- 

 cussed in detail in a separate volume, it seems unnecessary for me 

 here to do more than to allude to some of the more important fea- 

 tures of the year's work. The growth of the Museum during recent 

 years has been greater than during any prior period of its history. 

 Confined as it was for more than 30 years within restricted quarters 

 poorly adapted for many classes of exhibits, its growth was greatly 

 hindered and its value to the public hampered in many ways. With 

 the completion of the new building, however, there has come an era 

 of greater usefulness to the Nation in every direction. The natural 

 history collections are now given adequate room in the spacious 

 halls of the new building, while in the older structure opportunity'' 

 is afforded for the proper display of objects relating to the arts and 

 industries and to American history. Increase in every division of 

 the three principal departments of the Museum — anthropology, biol- 

 ogy, and geology — is now welcomed both for purposes of exhibition 

 and in the study series. 



During the last fiscal year there was added a total of 337,705 

 objects, 14,879 of which pertained to anthropology, 257,816 to zoology, 

 44,675 to botany, 3,648 to geology and mineralogy, 13,045 to pale- 

 ontology, 2,930 to textiles and other animal and vegetable products, 

 505 to mineral technology, and 207 to the National Gallery of Art. 

 The relative importance of many classes of objects thus acquired is 



