EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



25 



Museum, and care of specimens. — The exhibition rooms, to which the 

 public generally have admission, have been limited since the lire to the 

 large hall on the first floor of the main building, and the apartment on 

 the same floor in the southern projection, the latter containing ethno- 

 logical specimens of a large size, principally from Central America, the 

 former, the general collection brought home by the Wilkes Exploring 

 Expedition, and the large additions since made to it by the several 

 explorations under the direction of officers of the general government. 



It is greatly to be regretted that in the original plan of the building 

 proper attention had, not been given to the purposes to which it was to 

 be applied. The spacious room, in which the rich collections of ornitho- 

 logy and ethnology are contained, presents to the eye a succession of large 

 pillars which obstruct the view of the cases containing the specimens, 

 and it is only by a separate examination of the contents of these cases 

 that the value of the collections can be duly estimated. In fitting up 

 the room of corresponding dimensions in the second story, an opportu- 

 nity will be afforded of adopting arrangements far better suited for a 

 comprehensive display of the vast number of objects with which in time 

 it will be furnished. 



During the past year, in addition to the rooms before mentioned, the 

 west connecting range has been provided with cases for which the Insti- 

 tution is indebted to the Commissioner of Patents, and to which will be 

 transferred, in the course of a few weeks, the ethnological specimens from 

 China and Japan, a part of which are still in the Patent Office. It is 

 intended to devote the whole of this room to ethnological specimens, 

 especially those illustrating the dress of the different inhabitants of North 

 America. The west wing of the building, previously occupied by the 

 library, is temporarily appropriated to the alcoholic specimens, and to 

 such other collections as are not of special interest to the general public; 

 it is used also for storing duplicates for distribution. 



For the support of the museum during the last year Congress appro- 

 priated $4,000, while the actual expense of the care and preservation of 

 the collections, independent of the interest on the cost of the building, 

 was upwards of $10,000. If to this be added only $10,000 for the rent 

 of the apartments, it will be seen that the cost of the museum to the Insti- 

 tution cannot be estimated at less than $20,000 per annum. 



The steady increase in the receipt of specimens has been maintained, 

 and has fully equalled in number and value that of any preceding year. 

 The different additions were from 180 different parties, and were contained 

 in 308 boxes, 119 bundles, 19 jars and cans, 2 kegs, and 7 casks ; 485 in 

 all, inclosing many thousand specimens, a detailed notice of which will 

 be found in the appendix to this report. It should be remarked that all 

 these specimens are not intended to swell the number exhibited in the 

 national museum, but that only the type specimens of such as are not 

 already in the collection are to be devoted to this purpose, and the 

 remainder made up into sets for distribution. 



