32 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



head curator of the department of biology, and Dr. G. P. Merrill head curator of 

 the department of geology. 



Mr. W. H. Ashmead was appointed assistant curator of the division of insects 

 on July 1, 1897. On November 12 Dr. W. L. Ralph was appointed honorary custo- 

 dian of the section of birds' eggs, and Dr. H. G. Dyar was made honorary custodian of 

 the section of lepidoptera. Mr. W. T. Swingle was appointed honorary custodian 

 of the section of algte, and Dr. D. G. Fairchild was appointed to a similar position 

 in the section of lower fungi. Both of these appointments took effect December 7. 



Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, jr., was given a temporary appointment as assistant curator 

 of the division of mammals on February 15, 1898. On April 30, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes 

 was appointed a collaborator in the division of ethnology. 



Accessions. — The accessions of the year number 1,442. AVhile this record shows a 

 slight falling off when compared with that for the preceding year, it should be noted 

 that many of the accessions embraced a large quantity of material, so that the total 

 number of specimens acquired represents a very large increase over the acquisitions 

 of recent years. Altogether, more than 450,000 specimens, as already stated, were 

 added to the collections, raising the grand total on June 30, 1898, to above 4,000,000. 



In calling your attention to the accessions of greatest importance, I will divide 

 my remarks under the three headings, anthropology, biology, and geology — these 

 beiDg the designations of the three scientific departments of the Museum (under 

 which all divisions and sections are embraced) in accordance with the revised 

 scheme of classification now in effect. 



Anthropology. — Considering first the department of anthropology, attention is 

 called to a large collection of antiquities and ethnological material, embracing more 

 than 12,000 specimens, bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institution by the late W. 

 Hallett Phillips, by whom the material was largely collected. The specimens are 

 accompanied by notes prepared by Mr. Phillips, and the collection, as a whole, is of 

 exceptional value. It consists mainly of stone implements from the Potomac region, 

 but includes also 106 ethnological specimens from Polynesia. From the Bureau of 

 American Ethnology has been received a valuable series of ancient stone and earth- 

 enware utensils from graves and mounds in Arkansas, and a collection of antiquities 

 from the mounds of the Etowah group of Georgia. The last-named collection, 

 together with the material previously received from the same locality, constitutes 

 an exceedingly valuable assemblage of archaeological material. Through the cour- 

 tesy of Surg. Gen. G. M. Sternberg, a series of over 2,000 human crania, mainly of 

 the Indian tribes of North America, has been transferred to the National Museum 

 from the Army Medical Museum. Dr. Roland Steiner, of Grovetown, Ga., deposited 

 an extensive series of stone implements from various parts of Georgia, and M. Emile 

 Granier, Paris, France, deposited a collection of ethnological material from the 

 Indian tribes of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountain region. Other loan col- 

 lections worthy of note are a series of personal mementos of the late Gen. W. S. 

 Hancock, deposited by G. R. Hancock, of the West Point Military Academy, a num- 

 ber of Jewish religious ceremonial objects, deposited by Mr. H. E. Benguiat, San 

 Francisco, Cal., and a valuable collection of Japanese porcelains from Miss E. R. 

 Scidmore. 



Prof. Alexander Graham Bell deposited a large number of pieces of apparatus 

 made and used by himself in his experiments and researches, including a series 

 illustrating the invention and development of the Bell telephone. The General 

 Electric Company deposited several dynamos and other pieces of apparatus of great 

 historical value. The Coe Brass Manufacturing Company, of Ansonia, Conn., pre- 

 sented ten dynamos made between the years 1873 and 1879 by William Wallace. 

 Some of these machines were in practical operation during the Centennial Exhibi- 

 tion at Philadelphia. An electric generator made in 1867 by Mr. Charles A. Seeley 

 and an electric motor devised in 1834 by Thomas Davenport were received on deposit 

 from the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Altogether, the pieces of elec- 

 trical apparatus received represent nearly the entire range of American invention, 



