38 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Tlie necessity, therefore, of some adequate means of displaying this 

 rich collection, now withdrawn from the inspection of the public, has 

 weighed very heavily upon the officers of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 and several efforts have been made to secure an appropriation from 

 Congress for the erection of a fire-proof building sufficient to contain 

 it, but of the most inexpensive form of construction compatible with 

 protection against fire, and allowing the greatest convenience of display. 

 A plan was prepared on the basis of suggestions from General Meigs, 

 and approved by the Committees on Public Buildings and Grounds of 

 both the Senate and House. The Senate, at the second session of the 

 Forty-fourth Congress, passed a bill appropriating $250,000 for the 

 erection of a building of the kind, without a dissenting vote. This also 

 passed the House; but obtained only a majority vote, under circum- 

 stances requiring a two-thirds vote. 



A bill making an appropriation for the erection of such an edifice 

 was again introduced into Congress at the current session, which it is 

 hoped will be more successful. Owiug to the particular form of con- 

 struction of the proposed building, it can be completed in probably not 

 more than a year, and the collections removed into it. - 



It is now proposed to place this building in the southeastern corner 

 of the reservation of 52 acres, situated between Seventh and Twelfth 

 streets and North and South B. It will be so situated as not to obstruct 

 the view of the Smithsonian from the Capitol or from any other impor- 

 tant point. As originally contemplated, the building was to occupy the 

 space between the present Smithsonian edifice and Twelfth street; but 

 it was finally concluded that if placed there it would obstruct the view 

 of the Agricultural building, and the change of location was accordingly 

 determined upon. 



Attention was called by the report for 1877 (page 36), to the continued 

 increase of the number and variety of the collections received during the 

 year, the exceptional year of the Centennial being the only one that fur- 

 nished a larger quantity of material. The returns for 1878 have again 

 been much larger than usual, exceeding considerably those of the pre- 

 vious year. The total number of donors was 635 for the year, to 335 in 

 1877, of which 180 were contributors to the collections of the United 

 States Fish Commission at Gloucester. The number of donations was 

 455, to 489 in 1877 ; and of separate packages 1,197, to 815 in 1877. A 

 large part of the increase is due to the extensive contributions made to 

 the United States Fish Commission by the fishermen and merchants of 

 Gloucester, Mass., in which city the Commission lias had a station for the 

 prosecution of researches and the propagation of food-fishes during the 

 last half of the year. The hearty appreciation, by all classes of the com- 

 munity, of the operations of the Commission, caused those fishermen re- 

 siding at the port to save many articles brought up on the trawls from 

 the deep water, and to bring tliein to the office of the Commission at 

 Gloucester. The result is to be seen in several hundred donations, some 



