REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 1898 rl7 



A card catalogae of the scientific papers contained in the annual 

 reports of the United States geological survey, has been made for 

 reference in the office. 



During odd hours, the work of compiling a list of public museums 

 of natural history in North America has been continued. It will 

 soon be ready for the printer. 



Mr George Douglas Miller of Albany has removed, to the rooms of 

 the Historical and art society, some of the ethnologic material which 

 he deposited several years ago in the rear wing of Geological hall, and, 

 in order to fill the space thus left vacant, the collection of military 

 relics has been removed from the cases in the front of the third 

 floor and placed in the vacated case in the rear wing. 



Attendance at the museum 



1 Oct. 1897 — 30 Sep. 1898 



Total attendance 54 907 



Greatest monthly maximum, August 6 430 



Greatest daily maximum, Sep. 14 671 



Average monthly attendance 4 575 



Average daily attendance 180 



The following is a comparison of the turnstile records for the past 

 five years showing the averages of yearly, monthly and daily 

 attendance. 



AVERAGE AVERAGE 

 YEARLY MONTHLY DAILY 



ATTENDANCE ATTENDANCE ATTENDANCE 



1 Oct. 1893—30 Sep. 1894 72 185 6 015 233 



1 Oct. 1894—30 Sep. 1895 61 368 5 114 197 



1 Oct. 1895—30 Sep. 1896 52 003 4 333 170 



1 Oct. 1896—30 Sep. 1897 53 366 4 447 175 



1 Oct. 1897—30 Sep. 1898 54 907 4 575 180 



From these statistics it will be seen that the attendance of visitors 

 at Geological hall is subject to slight annual variations, but that it is 

 quite large for a museum suffering from the disadvantages of the 

 present building, which can not be opened during the evening for 

 lack of illumination. 



Respectfully submitted 



Frederick J. H. Merrill 



Director 



