184 REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1886. 



inch, while the front is five-eighths of an inch thick. The pieces are 

 firmly dove-tailed together, the front being clean and the dove-tailing 

 blind. The bottom is of three-ply cross-grained veneer, run into a 

 groove at the sides, leaving a clear inside depth of 2 T ] F inches to the 

 frame of the cover. The bottoms are lined in all but forty of the drawers 

 with first quality cork one-fourth of an inch thick. At a distance of one- 

 fourth of an inch from the sides and back and three-eighths of an inch 

 from the front there is an inside box of one-eighth inch white wood closely 

 fitted, and held in place by blocks between it and the outer box. There 

 is thus between the inner and outer box a clear space all round, in which 

 insecticides or disinfectants can be placed to keep out Museum pests, 

 making it impossible for such to get into the inner box containing the 

 specimens without first passing through this poisonous chamber. The 

 entire inside is lined with white paper, or, in the case of the uncorked 

 boxes, painted with zinc-white. The front is furnished with a plain 

 knob. The cover is of glass, set into a frame three-fourths of an inch 

 wide, three-eighths of an inch thick, with a one-fourth-iuch tongue 

 fitting closely into the space between the inner lining and outer box, 

 which here serves as a groove. This arrangement secures a perfectly 

 tight box of convenient size, and not unwieldy for handling when study- 

 ing the collection. 



The material of which these boxes are made is California redwood, 

 except the cover frame, which is mahogany. The cabinets containing 

 these drawers are 36 inches high, 40 inches wide, 21 inches deep (all 

 outside measurements), and are closed by two paneled doors. Each 

 cabinet contains twenty drawers in two rows of ten each, the drawers 

 running on hard-wood tongues which fit into grooves on the side of the 

 box. These cabinets are also of redwood. In the selection of redwood 

 as material for the drawers and cabinets the Curator was influenced by 

 a desire to secure a handsome piece of furniture at a moderate cost, and 

 if carefully finished they would have answered expectations. As, how- 

 ever, it was necessary under the present laws to give the work to the 

 lowest bidder, the contract for making them was awarded to one who 

 furnished a set of cabinets which were barely within the specifications. 

 The work is machine finished, carelessly put together, and evidently 

 run through with little regard for anything save to come within the 

 absolute terms of the specifications. 



The cabinets therefore, while very satisfactory, convenient, and safe, 

 do not present the neat and tasty appearance and careful finish that 

 they would have had if they had been made by a careful and skilled 

 mechanic. In future we intend to use cherry for the cabinets and ma- 

 hogany for the drawers. These woods, while more expensive, are much 

 more durable, and in all respects preferable. 



The bulk of the collection is still contained in small folding boxes 

 which are admirably suited for containing a working collection, espe- 



