Report of the President 45 



and that of the Synoptic Series of Mammals have also been 

 painted to their very great improvement and to the delectation 

 of the visitor. 



It has also been possible with the special appropriation to 

 replace at last the old and badly corroded return lines of the 

 North Wing, in use for fifteen years, with new piping, and 

 to introduce new, semi-indirect lighting in the Tertiary and 

 Quaternary Halls, fourth floor: these halls are now the best 

 lighted in the building. 



All the above repairs, replacements and improvements have 

 been made by the Museum force. 



As part of the equipment work, there have been built in the 

 Museum shops another 120-drawer case for lantern slides, 

 300 glazed drawers for insects, 800 trays for standard storage 

 cases and 200 feet of iron galleries. The metal storage racks 

 for fossil vertebrates have been completed and metal shelving 

 has been installed around the anthropological storerooms, to 

 provide room for pottery and other objects not injured by 

 exposure to light and air ; 37 metal frame cases have been con- 

 structed, some of them of very considerable size, such as that 

 for the duck-billed dinosaur, and various exhibition and stor- 

 age cases of wood have been built for departments. 



For the first time for many years, there has been a decrease, 

 of about eight per cent., in the number of visitors, though in 

 this particular case the reasons for the decrease 

 seem apparent: the first three months of the 

 year were unusually inclement; the traction strikes deterred 

 many people from using the customary car lines, and the out- 

 break of infantile paralysis caused many children and their 

 parents to stay at home and prevented others from returning 

 as usual in the fall, while at the same time it prevented others 

 from visiting the city. 



A study of museum reports will show that at sporadic inter- 

 vals, and usually without apparent reason, the attendance at a 

 given museum will fall off many thousands. This condition is 

 viewed usually with greater apprehension by boards of trustees 

 than the writer believes to be warranted ; such a drop is bound 

 to come sooner or later, and it is a great mistake in such cases 



