ANTHROPOLOGY AT WASHINGTON. 789 



plants ; foods and textiles ; fisheries (showing methods of taking 

 and utilizing marine animals) ; naval architecture (starting with 

 the bark boat, the skin boat, the raft, and the dug-out, and trac- 

 ing the evolution of naval architecture to the ocean steamer) ; 

 graphic arts ; history and numismatics ; and land transportation 

 (beginning with the simplest device for locomotion and trans- 

 portation, and ending with the railroad) ; — Ethnology, in which 

 is included the fullest collection of American pottery in the 

 world ; — and Prehistoric Archaeology, in a magnificent collec- 

 tion, occupying the entire upper story of the Smithsonian build- 

 ing. The American portion was classified by the late Dr. Charles 

 Rau. The European collection, founded by Mr. Thomas Wilson, 

 is arranged according to the chart of De Mortillet. 



As avenues of publication the Museum has the "Reports," 

 " Miscellaneous Collections," and " Contributions " of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, and its own " Proceedings," " Bulletin," and 

 " Transactions." 



For obtaining collections, it relies upon gifts and deposits, 

 which are often very liberal ; the material collected by officers of 

 the army and navy, Hydrographic Bureau, Coast Survey, Geologi- 

 cal Survey, Bureau of Ethnology, consular service, etc., which 

 are given to it by law ; gifts turned over by public expositions 

 and fairs at their close ; and international exchanges. The ma- 

 terial thus accruing is received as fast as the staff of the Museum 

 can attend to it. 



The Bureau op Ethnology. — The bureau, as at present con- 

 stituted, was organized in 1879, when an appropriation of twenty- 

 five thousand dollars was made by Congress for " the prosecution 

 of ethnologic researches among the North American Indians." 

 During each of the succeeding years an equal or larger appropri- 

 ation has been made, the amount up to the present time aggregat- 

 ing three hundred thousand dollars. This amount has been ex- 

 pended for field and office work. The force officially connected 

 with the bureau, and constituting its staff of workers, consists of 

 specialists trained in the several lines of research, each working 

 independently in his own field, but each giving assistance, and 

 receiving assistance from every other, as the lines of investiga- 

 tion touch and overlap each other. The whole is under the direc- 

 tion of Major J. W. Powell. Results of great value are derived 

 by stimulating and guiding research on the part of collaborators 

 in different parts of the country who are not officially connected 

 with the bureau. 



Of the researches at present conducted by the bureau, the 

 most important are probably those in linguistics. Owing to the 

 breaking up of the tribal system and the consolidation of the 

 smaller with the larger tribes, to the adoption by the Indians of 



