Congress has laid upon the National Museum quite other and additional functions. Not to dwell upon the fact (so constantly insisted on in previous reports) of the entire inadequacy of the buildings here for the collections, the National Museum, containing all the diverse collections of the Government, has many more departments and a very much larger necessary expenditure for salaries, owing to the diversity of its cares. It is also the source of supply which has been successively depleted for the exhibitions at Louisville, Cincinnati, and New Orleans in 1884 and 1885, Madrid in 1892, Chicago in 1893, and Atlanta in 1895; and a large part of the force has thus been engaged in the disarrangement of its own collections, a condition of things under which no museum, public or private, could prosper.

It is also called upon by Members of Congress to send collections to every portion of the country, and in the last year, on the request of individual Members of Congress, collections comprising in all at least 39,000 specimens were sent out. The National Museum is also treated as a National Bureau for scientific information, and is expected to answer inquiries from every portion of the country.

These are some of the purposes for which the Museum is compelled to use money which should go to collections, purposes not perhaps alien to the objects of a National Museum, but widely diverse from those of a private one.

The final result is shown in such figures as those above cited, where museums no larger or even of less extent, paying in many cases higher salaries to their officers and employees, are able to expend, as in the instance alluded to, thirteen times the amount on collections.

All these are reasons why, in spite of the most earnest efforts and self-sacrifice on the part of those in their immediate charge, the collections of the Government in many most important respects are not advancing as fast as those of some civic museums.

It seems but justice to the late eminent man-Dr. G. Brown Goodewho gave his life to this Museum, and who had entire freedom in his administration of it, to say that more than he did would have been, it is believed, impossible under the conditions just cited. He did more, in fact, than could be demanded, for he supplemented these defects by arousing, through his own enthusiasm and his unselfish interest, such a like spirit in others, that a large portion of all the curatorships are actually filled by those giving entirely voluntary and unpaid services, there being, in fact, more exactly, eight curators who are paid (though inadequately) to seventeen who receive their salaries in other Government employment, but give their private time to their respective departments, a condition of things which it would be hard to parallel elsewhere, but which alone has made it possible, under the depressing influences already cited, for the Museum to not have fallen further behind the progress of others than it has done. The clerical force, which is relatively larger than it would be under conditions other than

those stated, is paid at rates considerably less than for similar service in the Executive Departments.

I again most earnestly commend this most regrettable state of affairs to the attention of the Regents, and through them to Congress. It is for them to apply the remedy.

In my previous reports I have called attention to the congested state of the exhibition halls of the Museum, which prevents the collections from being seen to advantage. This condition has been met to a limited extent by the appropriation of $8,000 for galleries, which will afford a temporary relief; but it is evident that a new building must soon be provided, or the Museum will tend to present the appearance of a place for storage rather than that of one for commodious exhibition. There would not be the slighest difficulty in immediately filling a second building of the same size as the present one with objects of interest from the collections already accumulated.

It may possibly be a matter of surprise that I should urge the increase of appropriations for purchases, while the Museum building is thus crowded; but, as I have stated above, the present collections represent, in large part, not what is most desirable, but what has come to hand, leaving everywhere great gaps, or at least, fragmentary series which, to be properly presented, should be filled out by objects only obtainable by purchase.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY.

The researches relating to the American Indians under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution have been continued. During the year special attention has been given to the more precise classification of the Indians by Maj. J. W. Powell, Director of the Bureau, and several of his collaborators; meantime the customary operations have been carried forward in such manner as to elucidate the arts, institutions, beliefs, and languages of the native tribes.

As usual a part of the work of the Bureau was exploratory. An extended exploration conducted by Mr. W J McGee, ethnologist in charge of the Bureau, was carried on over the territory of the Seri Indians, including Tiburon Island, in the Gulf of California, and adjacent mainland area in the State of Sonora, Mexico. These Indians are remarkable for primitive character and warlike disposition, and have successfully protected their habitat from invasion by white men since the time of Coronado. An account of this interesting journey will be found in Major Powell's report.

Archeologic explorations of considerable extent were carried forward. also in Arizona, and some of the ruins thereby discovered were excavated with great success. The chief result of this work was a remarkably rich collection of symbolically decorated prehistoric pottery, made by Dr. J. Walter Fewkes and transferred to the United States National Museum.

Another noteworthy archeologic exploration was made along the western coast of Florida, south of the twenty-seventh parallel, bringing to light abundant relics of the prehistoric age. In this case the collections were taken chiefly from salt-water bogs within coral islands or atolls, in which domestic and ceremonial objects of wood, bone, shell, and antler, together with implements and weapons of shark and other teeth, and even textile fabrics were preserved in wonderful perfection. Water-color sketches were made of all masks and other wooden specimens liable to deteriorate in drying.

The work on the "Cyclopedia of the American Indians" has been carried forward, and a considerable part of the material has been made ready for the press.

Researches concerning the social organization and institutions of the Indians have been continued, and some of the results have been incorporated in the reports of the Bureau.

The work in linguistics has gone on steadily. A comparative vocabulary of Algonquian dialects is well advanced, and additions to it have been made through studies of the Miami and Peoria tongues. The tribal and linguistic development of the Iroquois Indians, or Six Nations, has been studied with success, yielding a means of determining, within. limits, the prehistoric movements of these tribes. Substantial progress has been made also in ascertaining the general laws of linguistics and in applying these laws to the problems of the character and distribution of the aborigines.

One of the results of researches concerning the Kiowa ceremonials was the discovery that the Indians deepened their trance condition, and at the same time strengthened their bodies against fatigue, by the use of the dried tops of a cactus which contains certain alkaloids of remarkable properties.

The subject of native American mythology has received attention. It has been found that the myths and ceremonials throw much light on the origin and development of some of the industries and games of the Indians, and give an insight into many characteristics of primitive peoples in general. The ceremonials of the Pueblo Indians have been studied with care, and new indications have been found of the intimate connection between rituals and environment. A report dealing with the operations and ceremonials of the Zuñi Indians was practically completed during the year.

The Bureau made an exhibit in connection with the National Museum, under the Smithsonian Institution, at the Cotton States and International Exposition held at Atlanta during the autumn of 1896. This illustrated the characteristics and habits of the Cherokee Indians of eastern United States, of the Papago Indians of the far Southwest, and of the little known Seri of the western coast of Mexico. It received the highest award-a diploma and a gold medal.

The details of the Bureau's operations are recounted in a special report from Director Powell, forming Appendix II.

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THE SMITHSONIAN INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE SERVICE. The International Exchange Service was inaugurated half a century ago as a means for developing and executing in part the broad and comprehensive objects paramount in the mind of the founder for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge."

The "increase of knowledge," accomplished only by constant research and persistent experiments, as prosecuted by the Institution in its various branches, would not alone have fulfilled the objects and attained the results desired by the founder. The knowledge obtained must also be diffused, and in order that the memoirs, contributions to knowledge, and annual reports published by the Institution might be systematically exchanged for publications of other scientific institutions throughout the world, the exchange system was inaugurated.

The advantages of the service have not been confined to the Institution alone, but have been shared by scientific societies and educational institutions everywhere for the ultimate purpose of increasing the resources of their libraries. That the best results might be attained, the Institution proceeded to establish relations with various scientific societies and libraries in England and Germany, where the interchange of publications was more extensive than in other countries, and it was found to be not only advisable but necessary that agents should be employed and paid some salary from the funds of the Institution. With the exception of the two countries named there is a systematic exchange of publications with nearly every nation of the civilized world without any expense to the Smithsonian Institution for the distribution of packages after the delivery of cases to the authorized agency.

Although the exchange service was originally established in the interest of science, for many years it has forwarded and received so many publications of the United States that the latter function has superseded the original design of the Bureau, both as to the number of packages and their weight, and especially since it became the official medium of the National Government for the distribution of parlia mentary and scientific publications of the several Bureaus it has undergone a complete change and necessarily many improvements have been adopted in the system.

The appropriations made by Congress for the support of the exchanges since 1881 have never been adequate, notwithstanding the fact that treaty obligations made it compulsory for the Exchange Bureau to forward Government publications and receive the parliamentary documents of other countries for the Library of Congress. Without mentioning the cost to the Smithsonian Institution of the transmissions of the United States Government prior to the Exchange Bureau becoming the official representative of the Government, the Institution has advanced during that period over $45,000 from its own

income in excess of moneys appropriated by Congress, two-thirds of which at least was directly due to the expense of forwarding Government publications, and which has never been reimbursed to the Institution. The benefit derived by the Government from the exchange system has not been confined to the direct contributions of foreign governments, but the accumulations of the Smithsonian Institution have been systematically deposited with the Library of Congress, known as the "Smithsonian Deposit," and at the close of this fiscal year the publications thus deposited have reached the great number of 350,000.

By reference to the report, in the Appendix, of the acting curator of exchanges, it will be noticed that the expenditures of the year have amounted to $20,568.14. Of this amount $17,000 were appropriated by Congress, $2,727.43 were paid by Government bureaus, $271 by State institutions, and $461.29 by other contributors. This amount was insufficient to meet outstanding obligations, and the Institution advanced the sum of $98.42.

The number of correspondents of the Exchange Bureau, both foreign and domestic, has noticeably increased during the past year, and the total now amounts to 24,914, of which 18,900 are foreign, some of them being in the most remote parts of civilization.

I have before suggested the advisability of adopting some means by which to increase the store of parliamentary publications for the Library of Congress as a more adequate return for the large number of publications of this Government sent to foreign countries, and as the new Library building will in a few months be ready for cataloguing the books now on hand, and as ample space will be available for accessions, it seems most desirable that action should at once be taken to accomplish this end. Correspondence can do much, but personal solicitation can do more, and to attain the desired results a special representative in the joint interest of the Institution and the Library of Congress should be commissioned to visit the leading countries of the world.

THE NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK.

In former reports I have called attention to the general policy of the Institution with reference to the National Zoological Park and the embarrassments that have arisen in carrying it out. Some of these embarrassments still remain, especially the absence of authority for the purchase of animals in the appropriation act. Because of this the proper growth of the collection is much retarded and many of the rarer native animals now fast disappearing are not yet represented. It is not likely that such animals will often be presented to the park, as they are rarely obtained and are always readily sold. For several years past I have recommended to Congress the removal of this restriction by restoring to the annual appropriation act an item for the purchase of animals.