table the following have been favorably acted upon: W. T. Swingle, B. Sc., Kansas State Agricultural College, 1890, assistant pathologist, United States Department of Agriculture, appointed for two months in the winter of 1895-96; and F. M. McFarland, professor of biology and geology, Olivet College, Michigan, assistant professor of histology, Leland Stanford Junior University, appointed for three months during the spring and summer of 1896. Prof. L. Murbach, who occupied the table for two months in 1894, has submitted a memoir entitled "Observations on the development and migration of the urticating organs of sea nettles, Cnidaria," which has been published in the Proceedings of the United States National Museum.

The table has been occupied constantly since October 1, 1893, the date of the first appointment, with the exception of May, 1894. In several instances Dr. Dohrn, the director of the station, has courteously arranged for the accommodation of two occupants at the same time.

In order that all investigators may be given an equal opportunity to avail themselves of the facilities for study at Naples, final action upon applications is not taken more than six months in advance of the date for which the table is desired, and when more than one application is filed for the same period, presumably of equal merit, the assignment is made according to priority of application. No appointment is made for a period of more than six months.

Art collection.-The fundamental act creating the Institution, in enumerating its functions, apparently considers it first as a kind of gallery of art, and declares that all objects of art and of foreign and curious research the property of the United States shall be delivered to the Regents, and only after this adds that objects of natural history shall be so, also.

The scientific side of the Institution's activities has been in the past so much greater than its æsthetic that it is well to recall the fact that it was intended by Congress to be a curator of the national art, and that this function has never been forgotten, though often in abeyance.

In 1849 Secretary Henry, in pursuance of this function of an institution which in his own words existed for "the true, the beautiful, as well as for the immediately practical," purchased of the Hon. George P. Marsh a collection of works of art, chiefly engravings, of much artistic merit and now of great commercial value. A portion of this collection was some years ago deposited in the Corcoran Gallery of Art and in the Library of Congress, subject to recall by the Regents at any time. In accordance with the terms of the deposit some of these objects have already been returned to the Institution.

A collection of etchings and engravings was during the past year presented to the Institution by Mr. Charles William Sherborn, of London.

Atlanta Exposition.-Under the provisions of an appropriation made by Congress for a Government exhibit at the Cotton States and International Exposition at Atlanta, during the autumn of 1895, a very

satisfactory exhibit was prepared, illustrating every phase of the activities of the Institution and its bureaus, especially the National Museum. A detailed description will be printed in the Museum Report for 1896.

Zoological congress.-Dr. Charles W. Stiles, honorary curator in the National Museum, was nominated by me, and appointed by the Secretary of State, as United States representative at the International Zoological Congress at Leyden, Holland, in September, 1895, and Dr. Herbert Haviland Field was appointed as a second delegate to the same congress. Dr. Stiles reports that 232 members attended the congress, representing 22 nationalities. The business of greatest international importance accomplished was the adoption of resolutions (1) establishing a central bureau of bibliography for zoology, (2) appointing an international commission upon the code of nomenclature, and (3) in favor of the repeal of the section of the present international postal laws which prohibits the sending of "animals living or dead" through the international mails. Committees were appointed in accordance with the provisions of these resolutions.

The Smithson Memorial tablets.-The bronze tablets mentioned in my last report have been completed and will be placed on Smithson's tomb and in the English church at Genoa, in memory of the founder of the Smithsonian Institution. The tablets, which measure 40 by 28 inches, were designed by Mr. William Ordway Partridge, of New York City. They bear a portrait of James Smithson, surrounded by a wreath and on either side a torch, and beneath is the legend "James Smithson, F. R. S., founder of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington; erected by the Regents of the Institution, 1896." The accompanying illustration of the tablets is from a photograph of the plaster model.

American Historical Association.-The annual report of the American Historical Association for the year 1895 was transmitted to Congress through the Secretary of the Institution, in accordance with the act of incorporation of the association. These reports are Congressional documents, and the Institution has had no control of their distribution.

NATIONAL MUSEUM.

The museum of the Smithsonian Institution, which was formed in part and for a time entirely maintained at the expense of the Smithson fund, was the nucleus of the present National Museum, to which the Regents have continued to contribute matter especially under their charge, so that the Institution has in it a large pecuniary interest, and has always maintained with it, on account of this history and ownership, relationships of a more intimate kind than with some bureaus which have not been at one time a part of itself.

Ever since 1858 Congress has appropriated money for the maintenance of the Museum, but it has scarcely made any special appropriation for the improvement of the collections by purchase, so that in respect

to the means at disposal for this it has been almost at the foot of all American museums, being surpassed by every municipal museum of note. In the earlier years of the Museum this was not of very great moment, as numerous American natural-history specimens came in from the various Government expeditions. It became evident later that for a proper understanding of native products it was necessary to compare them with those of other parts of the world. To obtain these exotic specimens no adequate means have ever been provided, and it is not to be expected that valuable, specially-selected specimens from foreign lands will ever be procured in large numbers except by purchase or by the sending out of expeditions.

The result of years of accumulation unsupported by purchases has been that the collections of the National Museum are very unsymmetrical-full and rich in some directions, especially in North American natural history, surpassing all other museums, and exceedingly poor in others.

In the meanwhile museums have sprung up in some of the large cities of the United States, with liberal means for the acquisition of specimens by purchase and the sending out of expeditions, and these are outstripping the National Museum in many of its departments by the wealth of their collections.

From such causes the National Museum, while truly national in the sense of possessing very full collections of the natural products of the United States, maintains, with increasing difficulty, its supremacy in this special respect over the wealthier private museums, and compares very unfavorably, as regards the breadth of its collections, with the national museums of Europe-in London, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Florence.

I called attention to this matter in a former report when I remarked that the American Museum of Natural History in New York expended $23,552.89, in 1892, for filling out its natural-history collections alone, while the National Museum in the fiscal year 1892-93 expended only $5,769.75 for specimens of all kinds.

The discrepancy has grown greater in succeeding years. In the past fiscal year, for example, the National Museum expended $3,336 for all collections, while the expenditures of the American Museum of Natural History, for acquiring natural-history collections alone, were $41,959.65, or fully thirteen times as much as expended by the National Museum, although the total amount of money available for the two was not greatly different, that for the National Museum being in fact the larger.

The causes of this discrepancy are not far to seek. The income of the local museum is usually devotable wholly to its collections (which in the case cited are housed in adequate buildings) and to their increase and care, which include the services of officers and employees in charge of them and who are devoted only to them.

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