REPORT OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR. 67 



block of glacial polished marble, a gifl of th<- Gouverneur Marble Com- 

 pany. 



The total Dumber of Bpeeimens in the reserve series is estimated at 

 15,000, of which some 3,000 are od exhibition. Of these 4,246 are 

 building or ornamental stones, 1,658 of which are on exhibition. Tlje 

 number of specimens in bhe duplicate scries is about 3,000. 



(c) Department of Metallurgy and Economic Geology. 



An immense amount of work has been performed in this department 

 during the year. The curator, Mr. Fred. P. Dewey, divides the mate- 

 ria] administered upon and collected during the year into lour classes: 



(1) those received as accessions in the usual way; (2) those received 



from the permanent exhibition in Philadelphia; (3) those received from 



the Boston Exhibition, and (4) the material specially collected for dis- 

 play at the New Orleans Exposition. The collections embraced under 



the last head were very numerous and valuable. A series of 87 speci- 

 mens, representing the occurrence of placer gold at most of the promi- 

 nent regions, was purchased, and is tin' most full and complete collec- 

 tion of its kind in the country. The early part of the year was devoted 

 to administration upou great quautities of material which had been 

 accumulating for many years, and was stored away in the southwest 

 court. From this source alone 7,540 new specimens were added to the 

 eolleetions of the department. Not less than 9,500 specimens have 

 been placed on exhibition, and the total number of specimens iu the 

 department is estimated at 40,000. 



Since July, Mr. Dewey and his staff have been preparing the New 

 Orleans collection, having an allotment of $5,000 wherewith to illus- 

 trate the' metallic resources of the country, and by the aid of a number 

 of volunteer assistants in the field the collection has received accessions 

 of very great value, which make it one of the most valuable metallur- 

 gical eolleetions in the world. 



The organization of the collections in economic geology has con- 

 sumed a great deal of time. The curator Teports that in the develop- 

 ment of this branch of the department a serious obstacle is presented 

 by the unwillingness on the part of mine owners to impart such infor- 

 mation as is uecessary in order that the specimens shall attain their 

 highest value in an educational series. 



.Mr. Thomas Donaldson has continued the work of cataloguing and 

 packing the collection of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, 

 which, having been presented to the Museum, are still in Philadelphia 

 under his charge. 



21. MISCELLANEOUS DEPARTMENTS. 



(a) Exploration and field icorJc. 



As in previous years the work of exploration and investigations in 

 the field has been under the immediate auspices of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, and under the special care and direction of the Secretary, who 



