48 Report of the President 



The equipment and work of the printing office have increased 

 to such an extent that the next logical step would seem to be 

 raising it to such a point that it could do all the work of the 

 Museum, save, possibly, the printing of the Journal. 



The year has witnessed the completion of the iron storage 



racks in the Department of Vertebrate Palaeontology, greatly 



increasing the storage space, safety and acces- 



Care of Building s ibility of the specimens. Work is well ad- 

 and Equipment J \ 



vanced on a series of four concrete storage 



rooms to replace the large wooden boxes over the west corri- 

 dor, fifth floor, and here again their completion will add much 

 to the security and ease of handling of the ethnological material. 



This year also sees the gallery and cases built in the Osborn 

 Library of Vertebrate Palaeontology, where additional room 

 was badly needed, and the galleries for birds and mammals in 

 two of the office rooms. 



Many additions have been made to the storage cases for mam- 

 mals, birds and insects, and yet the growth of the collections 

 has been such that the lack of appropriations in 191 5 has put 

 the construction work so far behind that it seems impossible 

 to catch up with them. To paraphrase the well known dictum 

 as to the requirements of civilization, one may say that the 

 needs of a museum are for cases, more cases, and still more cases. 



Another and most important item, for which special pro- 

 vision was made in the budget, has been the improving of the 

 acoustics of the large auditorium, plans for which were sub- 

 mitted by Professor Wallace C. Sabine three years ago. The 

 results have been extremely satisfactory to lecturers and audi- 

 ences, and it is to be regretted that structural obstacles make it 

 impossible to effect equal improvements in the heating and ven- 

 tilation. 



Since the subsidence of the epidemic of poliomyelitis, the 

 attendance has become almost normal, though the disquiet at- 

 tendant on the imminence of war and subse- 

 quent participation in it by the United States, 

 has apparently had a deterrent effect on visitors, especially on 

 those from out of town. 



