54 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1884. 



building, and before the collections could be transferred to it, it became 

 necessary to decide by what method the stored material (other than 

 zoological, botanical, geological, or mineralogieal) could be most effect- 

 ively classified for purposes of study and exhibition. 



After a careful consideration of the methods of the large museums of 

 Europe, the officers of the Museum agreed that the ordinary classifi- 

 cation by races or tribes would in this case be less satisfactory than a 

 classification based upon function. 



The Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1881, pages 117-122, 

 and also Circular No. 13, of the National Museum, presented a pro- 

 visional outline of the plan of classification for the Museum. This 

 classification, while its purpose was to embrace every kind of object 

 which could possibly be exhibited in the Museum, was especially full 

 in those parts which related to the arts and industries, forty-nine out 

 of the sixty-four primary classes relating to this group of museum 

 material. The general idea of the classification, as there explained, is 

 that the collections should constitute a museum of anthropology, the 

 word u anthropology" being applied in its most comprehensive sense. 

 It should exhibit the physical characteristics, the history, the manners 

 past and present of all races civilized and savage, and should also illus- 

 trate human culture and industry in all their phases ; the earth, its 

 physical structure, and its products are to be exhibited with special 

 reference to their adaptation for use by man. 



Some experiments have already been made with reference to the fea- 

 sibility of this plan of arranging the exhibition series, but I am not yet 

 prepared to recommend its final acceptance ; indeed the experience of 

 three years has brought about many changes in the plan, and a revision 

 is now being made by Professor Mason and myself. 



The adoption of any plan of this general character would necessitate 

 the grouping together, in continuous series, of objects which had never 

 before been placed side by side in any museum. If the evolution of 

 any given industry or class of objects is to be shown, the series should 

 begin with the simplest types and close with the most perfect and 

 elaborate objects of the same class which human effort has produced. 



In the textile industry, for instance, at one extreme is shown the 

 simple whorl of stone or terra cotta, used by savage or semi-civilized 

 man, together with the archaic representative of the same, surviving 

 among rural members of the most highly civilized races ; these being 

 supplemented by the threads and the simple woven fabrics produced 

 by them ; on the other hand, the steam spinning apparatus and the 

 power and Jacquard looms. 



Much attention has been devoted during the year to experiments for 

 determining the manner in which the idea of this classification can best 

 be carried into effect. It is not possible within the limits of this report 

 to describe what has been done. In fact a full account of them at pres- 

 ent would be premature. The practicability of the scheme can best be 



