60 Report of the President 



making observations on the geology and glaciers of the Green- 

 land coast from Cape York to Etah, supplementing the studies 

 made in the same region and beyond by Mr. W. Elmer Ekblaw, 

 the geologist of the expedition staff. Important collections were 

 made and many photographs taken. The long sledge journey 

 outward in the spring of 191 7, from Etah to Godhavn, Disko 

 Island, gave the Curator an opportunity to add to his notes on 

 the geology of the country. 



Many changes in the department have taken place during the 

 long absence of the Curator. The practical or apparent aban- 

 donment of the construction of a gallery in the 



Development of ma j n exhibition hall has entailed radical changes 

 the Department . . . , . « 



in the possibilities of arrangement and installa- 

 tion. One of the results has been the concentration of the thou- 

 sands of type fossils of the James Hall and other collections in 

 table cases, almost filling the center of the hall. 



Assistant Curator Reeds worked faithfully and with ability 

 in his care of the department during the Curator's absence and 

 he accomplished noteworthy results. I beg to quote from his 

 departmental report upon the first eight months of 1917, while 

 he was still in charge, as follows : 



The difficulties encountered in the rearrangement of the collec- 

 tions were so numerous and the object and possibilities so indefinite 



that drawings to scale of two exhibition halls, show- 

 Plan of m g a possible arrangement of cases and exhibits, 

 of Exhibits 11 were submitted by Assistant Curator Reeds as "The 



August 1, 1917, Plan." An illustrated report con- 

 cerning the features of this plan, called "The Revision of an Estab- 

 lished Collection," by Assistant Curator Reeds, was delivered on 

 October 1. 



The rearrangement of the thousands of identified specimens ac- 

 cording to the various biologic groups, a work which was started in 

 1916, was concluded by the end of February, 1917. 

 Exhibition jj^g wor k permitted the assembling in small compass 

 of all the specimens of an entire class or phylum. 

 Furthermore, it enabled experts to work conveniently on their 

 respective specialties. 



