114 KEPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1886. 



exception of the section of fibers, etc., it will be seen that they may all 

 be included under pure and applied chemistry, and are, therefore, more 

 or less directly connected, although very properly separated in different 

 sections for museum purposes. 



The section of textiles has engaged my attention most fully during 

 two years. My connection with the Museum dates from November, 

 1883, when an office in the east tower, on the ground floor, was assigned 

 to me, Mr. F. H. Towne, who had previously been engaged on the col- 

 lections as preparator, acting as assistant. A few specimens of textile 

 fibers and fabrics were then on exhibition, but without labels, iu the 

 west hall. A large number of specimens of foods in bottles were on ex- 

 hibition in the northwest range, but very imperfectly classified, and 

 not selected with discrimination. A large collection of fibers and 

 fabrics, mostly from the Centennial exhibition of 1876 was still un- 

 packed and required attention. These were immediately prepared for 

 study. The different divisions of work will now be separately re- 

 viewed. 



The early work in this section was very much retarded, and some of 

 it was not very perfectly done, so that it required subsequent revision, 

 owing to the want of necessary books of reference. A sectional library 

 was soon provided, which has served very well, but even now some very 

 useful books of reference are not available. It was soon found that 

 much of the accumulated material was of little value, owing to deteriora- 

 tion by long keeping, the loss of marks for identification, and other 

 causes. Gradually such specimens were eliminated, and the plan has 

 been followed throughout the section to discard all specimens of even 

 doubtful identity, except when it was thought their identity might be 

 established in future, in which case, when the specimen was a good one 

 that might not be easily replaced, it was catalogued and held in re- 

 serve. 



Four series of specimens are provided for in this section, viz : exhibi- 

 tion series, study series, reserve series, and duplicate series. 



This series includes all specimens mounted for exhibition. Owing to 

 the limited space on the Museum floor the mounted specimens are not 

 all on exhibition at the present time, but the unit boxes containing them 

 are ready for display when space permits. Every specimen in this se- 

 ries is provided with either a written or a printed label. 



A system of marking the catalogue cards has been adopted which 

 indicates at a glance when a specimen is in the exhibition series and 

 when a label has been written for the printer. The mark o on a cata- 

 logue card indicates that a specimen is mounted for exhibition and if fol- 

 lowed by a check, thus v/, the label for printing is written. 



The system of classification proposed some time ago in one of my re- 

 ports has been carried out in a general way, but the collection is so 

 broken up by the necessity of storing specimens that should be shown, 

 that the system can not be strictly adhered to. Beginning at the en- 



