REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. ^ 31 



finishing the great hall, occupying the entire second story of the main 

 building, intended for the extension of the museum ; and, with the 

 remainder of the appropriation, arrangements have been made for fur- 

 nishing with cases this room, and also the room formerly occupied by the 

 library, and now devoted to mineralogy and geology. 



With a view to the entire separation of the affairs of the museum 

 from those of the Smithsonian proper, all the operations of the latter, 

 with the exception of those in the Regents' room, are carried on in the 

 east wing and range of the building, leaving all the other parts, includ- 

 ing the main edifice, towers, west wiug, and west range, to the museum 



The following is Professor Baird's account of the additions to the 

 Museum, and the various operations connected with it during 1872: 



Additions to the National Museum in 1872, in geographical sequence. — 

 The additions to the National Museum, in charge of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, during the year have shown a" gratifying increase over those 

 of 1871, and have been decidedly equal in value to those of any previ- 

 ous year. The great bulk, as might be expected, has been derived from 

 the collections of the various Government expeditions, especially those 

 under the charge of Professor Hayden, Professor Powell, and Lieuten- 

 ant Wheeler, supplemented, however, by others, contributed by private 

 effort, especially on the part of Mr. Henry W. Elliot and Mr. William 

 H. Dall. 



A great addition to the magnitude of a portion of the cabinet, namely, 

 that of mineralogy and geology, has been the result of the transfer to 

 -the Institution, under the order of the Secretary of the Interior, of the 

 extensive museum of the Land- Office. 



In the appendix to this report will be found a detailed list of the 

 donors of the various specimens, together with the general indication of 

 their nature 5 but with a view of calling attention more particularly to 

 the different regions represented therein, I beg leave to present some 

 remarks, both in regard to the auspices under which they were secured 

 and their general character. 



As in previous years, the principal regions of America are more or 

 less represented among the additions in 1872, and these, as usual, will 

 be mentioned in systematic order. 



Beginning, therefore, with the Northwest Coast, we have, in the first 

 place, from the Island of Saint Paul, one of the fur-seal group in Behr- 

 ing Sea, a very extensive collection, presented by Mr. Henry W. Elliot, 

 for a long time connected with the Institution. This gentleman visited 

 the two seal-islands, Saint Paul and Saint George, as an assistant agent 

 of the Treasury Department, to attend to the interests of the Govern- 

 ment with the Alaska Commercial Company, and to look after the wel- 

 fare of the native tribes. The collection embraces a large number of 

 skeletons of many species of water-fowl, as well as their skins and eggs, 

 quite a number of which are new to the national collection ; also various 



