56 REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 



with which they may be augmented to any desirable extent, it is 

 earnestly to be hoped that the day is not far distant when the moderate 

 amount of funds necessary may be placed in the hands of this Insti- 

 tution. 



It is, of course, impossible, in a few words, to give a detailed account 

 of the collections of the Smithsonian museum. This can only be sup- 

 plied by the descriptive catalogues of species and specimens already 

 published or now in course of preparation, after the plan of those of 

 the British museum. These will serve not only as guides to the cases 

 and collections, but as manuals by which the same species may be 

 readily identified elsewhere. 



Work done in connexion iviili the collections. 



The chief labor of the year in reference to the museum has con- 

 sisted in the transfer and partial arrangement of the collections 

 belonging to the United States, for many years constituting the 

 national gallery of the Patent Office, at first under the direction of 

 the Joint Committee of the Library of Congress, but for some years 

 under that of the Commissioner of Patents. 



In the spring of 1857 the appropriation was made by Congress for 

 the construction of cases in the Smithsonian building for the reception 

 of the Patent Office collections, but owing to various drawbacks these 

 cases were not entirely finished until 1858. As soon as the various 

 technicalities incident to the transfer of this property were completed, 

 the work of removal was commenced and the whole collection moved 

 over in July last. Since that time much has been accomplished 

 towards giving to the different portions of the collections thus trans- 

 ferred their final arrangement, but much necessarily remains to be^ 

 done before this can be completed. An indispensable preliminary 

 consists in the entry of every specimen in its appropriate record book 

 and the ineffaceable attachment of a number, by means of which the 

 displacement or loss of a label (so likely to occur in the operations of 

 a large and growing museum) will be of comparatively little conse- 

 quence. The nest step is to post all the specimens of each species on 

 its appropriate invoice sheet, as fast as accurate identification is 

 accomplished, and after these sheets are systematically assorted the 

 final arrangement of the specimens themselves can then be completed 

 and catalogues printed as guides to the collection. 



As none of these details had been entered into with regard to the 

 Patent Office collections previous to their removal, (with the exception 

 of the labelling of a portion, and the entry of the Crustacea in a 

 record book,) it becomes necessary to carry them out in the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. This, however, will require a long time to com- 

 plete, owing to the magnitude of the undertaking, and in the mean time 

 the specimens exhibited have been provisionally arranged for the 

 present, to be systematically placed and accurately and legibly labelled 

 hereafter. This has already been done by Mr. harden for the ethno- 

 logical collections in the galleries of the west end of the hall, and by 

 Professor Dana for the corals. 



