REPORT OP THE SECRETARY. 41 



tory and the museum of the Institution; the object of the former 

 being more essentially in accordance with the primary idea of the 

 establishment, namely, the advance of science, and that of the latter a 

 public exhibition of the natural history, principally of the North 

 American continent, for popular as well as scientific study. 



While it has not been contemplated to employ any large portion 

 of the Smithsonian income in the support of a general museum, which, 

 under the most favorable circumstances, must be, in a considerable 

 degree, local in its influence, and can only produce its best effects 

 when connected with an educational establishment, as in the case of 

 the great museum now in process of being formed by Professor 

 Agassiz at Cambridge, yet much labor and money have been ex- 

 pended in making the collections, with a view principally to obtain 

 new materials for the investigation and illustration of the natural his- 

 tory, mineralogy, and geology of this country. As the primary ob- 

 ject of the Institution is the advance of science, such a disposition of 

 the specimens is sought to be made as will best secure this end. 



The specimens may be divided into two classes — 1st, those which 

 have been described in the reports of government expeditions or the 

 transactions of the Smithsonian and other Institutions; and 2d, those 

 which have not been described, and which consequently are con- 

 sidered of much value by the naturalists who are interested in ex- 

 tending the several branches of natural history. Of both classes the 

 Institution possesses a large number of duplicates, in the disposition 

 of which some general principles should be kept constantly in view. 

 After due consultation with naturalists, the following rules, which were 

 presented in the last report, have been adopted relative to the de- 

 scribed specimens : 



First. To advance original science, the duplicate type specimens 

 are to be distributed as widely as possible to scientific institutions in 

 this country and abroad, in order that they may be used in identifying 

 the species and genera which have been described. 



Second. To promote education, as full sets as possible of general 

 duplicates, properly labelled, are to be presented to colleges and other 

 institutions of learning that profess to teach the principal branches of 

 natural history. 



Third. It must be distinctly understood that due credit is to be 

 given to the Institution in the labelling of the specimens, and in all 

 accounts which may be published of them, since such credit is not only 



