34 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



In reply I beg to advise you that there is no objection to the occupa- 

 tion, in the manner stated, of a piece of ground not exceeding 2 acres, 

 indicated on a plat which may be examined in the office of the Quarter- 

 master-General, provided that the ground in question be vacated 

 whenever it is required by this Department. 

 Very respectfully, 



Prof. S. P. Langley, 



Secretary Smithsonian Institution. 



Wm, C. Endicott, 



Secretary of War. 



The plat in question shows the location of the lot near the center and 

 highest part of the unoccupied wooded ridge, near the colored soldiers* 

 portion of the cemetery. The site, however, is so distant that I should 

 not propose to occupy it while any better could be procured. 



Reception. — I have alluded in my previous report to the habit of the 

 first Secretary of giving receptions from time to time in the rooms of 

 the Institution and to the fact that though these rooms are uow de- 

 voted to official purposes, the writer, desiring to maintain the tradi- 

 tions of this hospitality, had used them once for a similar purpose. He 

 has again employed them in this year on the 18th of April for a recep- 

 tion where it was sought to unite the old and new friends of the Insti- 

 tution. 



Correspondence. — The Institution receives annually inquiries from all 

 parts of the country for information on topics often most incongruous, 

 but usually connected with science, which are submitted to the Secre- 

 tary. None of these inquiries is left unanswered, and the burden of 

 this correspondence is very considerable. It has always been regarded, 

 however, as incumbent on the Institution to reply to them as a part of 

 its function in the distribution of knowledge, and a good deal of labor 

 which does not appear, continues to be devoted to this end. 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The main features of the work of the National Museum are briefly 

 referred to in this place. They are fully described elsewhere, in th e 

 separate volume forming the report of Dr. Goode, Assistant Secretary 

 in charge of the Museum, and the Curators of its several departments. 



Classified service of the Museum. — In response to a resolution of the 

 Senate asking for a " schedule of the classified service of the officers and 

 employes of the National Museum," a letter was addressed by me on 

 March 2 to Hon. John J. Ingalls, President pro tempore of the Senate, 

 transmitting a schedule which upon very careful deliberation repre- 

 sents the actual necessities of the service. . 



This schedule and the letter of transmittal were printed as miscel- 

 laneous document No. 92, Fiftieth Congress, second session, and are 

 here re-printed: 



