APPENDIX 1. 



REPORT ON THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Sir: Owing to the death on July 16, 1918, of Mr. Richard Rathbun, 

 Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in charge of the 

 National Museum, the duty devolves on me of submitting the follow- 

 ing report on the operations of the United States National Museum 

 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918 : 



WAR ACTIVITIES. 



During the trying conditions that have prevailed in the United 

 States since it entered the war, the National Museum has demon- 

 strated its value as a national asset in many Avays. Members of its 

 staff of experts, its great collections, its laboratories, and all the in- 

 formation in its possession, have been placed unreservedly at the serv- 

 ice of the executive departments and other Government agencies, and 

 have been freely used by a number of them. Some of its exhibition 

 halls have been closed to visitors and turned into office quarters for 

 one of the important war bureaus of the Government. Facilities for 

 the comfort and recreation of officers and men stationed in the vicinity 

 and drilling on the Mall have been provided in the buildings, and the 

 reading rooms of the libraries have been equipped with tables and 

 writing materials for all men in uniform,, 



Its department of geology has been frequently called upon to fur- 

 nish the Bureau of Standards, Naval Experiment Station, Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Geological Survey, the Carnegie Institution, and 

 various arsenals, materials for experimental work. A single call from 

 the Bureau of Standards embraced 27 varieties of minerals, many of 

 which were rare. To meet all of these demands, it has been neces- 

 sary to make trips into the field to secure additional supplies. At the 

 request of the National Research Council the head curator of this 

 department has taken over the entire work of securing optical quartz 

 for the needs of the United States and of Great Britain, involving a 

 large volume of correspondence and travel to different points. 



The division of mineral technology has concentrated its activities 

 for the year upon the interrelationships, and consequent interdepend- 

 ence, existing in the industries sustained by mineral resources. In 

 addition to instructive exhibits, the curator and his assistants, in the 

 solution of the problems connected with the fertilizer, sulphur, fuel, 



