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THE GIFT OF 
 
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An Account 
 
 Smithsonian Institution 
 
 ITS ORIGIN, HISTORY, 
 OBJECTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 Pfomote, as an object of primary importance, institutions ' for the 
 increase^and diffusion of knowledge: 'm proportion as the stfuctufe of 
 a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion 
 should be enlightened. Qeorge Washington, 1796. 
 
 I bequeath the whole of my propeity to the United States of America to 
 found at Washington an establishment for the increase and diffusion 
 of knowledge among men. , JaM^s SmiThlsoN, 1826. 
 
 Let the trust of James Smitfison to the United States of America be 
 faithfully executed by their representatives in Confess : let this result 
 accomplish his object — the increase and diffusion of knowledge 
 among men. John Quincy Adams, 1846. 
 
 \ 
 \ 
 
 city of washington 
 
 For Distribution at the Atlanta Exposition 
 
 1895 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924012205203 
 
An Account mi* 
 
 ' 1 ! / i 
 
 Smithsonian Institution 
 
 ITS ORIGIN, HISTORY, 
 OBJECTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 Promote, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the 
 increase and diffusion of knowledge: in proportion as tile structure of 
 a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion 
 should be enlightened. George Washington, 1796. 
 
 I bequeath the whole of my property to the United States of America to 
 found at Washington an establishment for the increase and diffusion 
 of knowledge among men. Jamhs Smithson, 1826. 
 
 Let the trust of James Smithson to the United States of America be 
 faithfully executed by their representatives in Congress ; let this result 
 accomplish his object — the increase and diffusion of knowledge 
 among men. John Quincy Adams, 1846. 
 
 city of washington 
 For Distribution at the Atlanta Exposition 
 
 1895 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 GROVER CLEVELAND, President of the United States, ex-officio. Pre- 
 siding OiEcer. 
 Adlai E. STEVbnson, Vice-President of the United States. 
 MEIvVII,lE W. Fuli^ER, Chief Justice of the United States, Chancellor. 
 Richard Olney, Secretary of State. 
 JOHN G. Carlisle, Secretary of the Treasury. 
 Daniel S. Lamont, Secretary of War. 
 Hilary A. Herbert, Secretary of the Navy. 
 William L. Wilson, Postmaster-General. 
 JUDSON Harmon, Attorney-General. 
 Hoke Smith, Secretary of the Interior. 
 J. Sterling Morton, Secretary of Agriculture. 
 
 REGENTS OF THE INSTITUTION. 
 
 Melville W. Fuller, Chief Justice of the United States, Chancellor 
 
 Adlai E. Stevenson, Vice-President of the United States. 
 
 Justin S. Morrill, member of the Senate of the United States. 
 
 Shelby M. Cullom, member of the Senate of the United States. 
 
 George Gray, member of the Senate of the United States. 
 
 Joseph Wheeler, member of the House of Representatives. 
 
 W. C. P. Breckinridge, member of the House of Representatives. 
 
 Robert R. Hitt, member of the House of Representatives. 
 
 John B. Henderson, citizen of Washington, D. C. 
 
 James B. Angell, citizen of Michigan. (Ann Arbor.) 
 
 Andrew D. White, citizen of New York. (Ithaca.) 
 
 William Preston Johnston, citizen of Louisiana. (Nevp Orleans.) 
 
 Gardiner G. Hubbard, citizen of Washington, D. C. 
 
 OFFICERS OF THE INSTITUTION. 
 
 S. P. LanglEY, Secretary of the Institution. 
 G. Brown Goode, Assistant Secretary. 
 
The Smithsonian Institution. 
 
 By G. Brown Goode. 
 
 THE name of the Smithsonian Institution is a household 
 word in America, while in every center of intellectual 
 activity abroad, it is regarded as the chief exponent of 
 the scientific thought of the people of the United States, thus 
 representing that which is deemed in other lands to be the 
 chief glory of our nation; for, whatever may be thought of 
 American art and literature, or of American institutions in 
 general, the science of America is everywhere accepted as 
 sound, vigorous and progressive.* 
 
 Its activities are, however, not limited to science, but 
 embrace every branch of human knowledge. 
 
 The Smithsonian Institution, although it bears the name of 
 a foreigner, has for half a century been one of the most impor- 
 tant agencies in the intellectual life of our people. It has been 
 a rallying point for the workers in every department of scien- 
 tific and educational work, and the chief agency for the free 
 exchange of books, apparatus of research and of scientific in- 
 telligence between this and other countries. Its publications, 
 
 * This Publication is intended to ser\'e as a "descriptive label" to accompany 
 the collective exhibit of the Smithsonian Institution and its dependencies. It is based 
 upon my essay on The Smithsonian Institution, printed in 1885. in "The Chautau- 
 quau" (Vol. V, pp. 275-79). ^^^ upon later writings, especially "The Origin of the 
 National Scientific and Educational Institutions of the United States" (Report Ameri- 
 can Historical Association, 1889, pp. 53-100); "The Genesis of the National Museum" 
 (Smithsonian Report, 1891, II, pp. 273-380) and the article " Smithsonian Institution" 
 in Johnson's Cyclopaedia, new edition (Vol. VII, 1895). 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 which include more than two hundred volumes, are to be found 
 in all the important libraries in the world, and some of them, it 
 is safe to say, on the work-table of every scientific investigator. 
 Its great library constitutes an integral and very important 
 part of the national collection at the Capitol, and its museum is 
 the richest in existence in many branches of the natural history 
 and ethnology of the New World. Many wise and enlightened 
 scholars have given their best years to its service, and some of 
 the most eminent men of science to whom our country has 
 given birth, have passed their entire life-time in working for 
 its success. 
 
 The most important service, however, which the Smithsonian 
 Institution has rendered to the nation— intangible, but none 
 the less appreciable — has been its fifty years of constant co- 
 operation with the Government, with public institutions, and 
 with individuals in every enterprise, scientific or educational, 
 which needed its advice, support, or aid from its manifold re- 
 sources. 
 
 Visitors to the city of Washington carry away pleasant 
 memories of the quiet group of buildings among the trees in 
 the Mall, filled with the wonders of nature and art, and the 
 trophies of scientific discovery: Few of them, however, have 
 the opportunity to visit the administrative ofiices and labora- 
 tories, or to gain any idea of the real significance and value of 
 the work which is being carried on within those walls. 
 
 It is probable that no class of the American people appreciates 
 the work of the Institution more fully than the members of 
 Congress. This has been clearly shown by the uniform liber- 
 ality with which, throughout many successive terms, regardless 
 of changes in the political complexion of the administration, 
 they have supported its policy; by the care with which they 
 disseminate its reports; by the judgment with which they select 
 their representatives upon its Board of Regents, and above all, 
 by the scrupulous care with which they protect the institution 
 in its independence of political entanglements. That the 
 Institution has accomplished so much in the past is largely 
 due to the support which it has received from these practical 
 men of business, and through them from the people of the 
 United States. It is to such support that it will owe its e£&- 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 ciency in the future, and it seems right that every opportunity 
 should be taken to explain its operations to the public. No 
 intelligent American can fail to appreciate the benefits which 
 the highest interests of the American people receive through 
 the proper administration of the Smithsonian bequest. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE INSTITUTION. 
 
 The story of the foundation of the Smithsonian Institution 
 sounds more like romance than fact. It seems like the fulfill- 
 ment of some prophec)', and all the more so because of the 
 promise of the future. 
 
 The father of the founder of the Smithsonian Institution, in 
 early life known as Sir Hugh Smithson, was one of the most 
 distinguished members of the English peerage. Upon the plate 
 of his coflSn in Westminster Abbey, where he was buried " in 
 great pomp" in 1786, he was described as "the most high, 
 puissant and most noble prince Hugh Percy, Duke and Earl of 
 Northumberland, Earl Percy, Baron Warkworth and Lovaine, 
 Eord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the Counties of Mid- 
 dlesex and Northumberland and of all America, one of the 
 Lords of his Majesty's most Honorable and Privy Council and 
 Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter, etc., etc., etc." 
 
 While his aged father was supporting this overwhelming 
 burden of honors and dignities, and while his half brother, 
 Earl Percy, was serving as a Lieutenant-General in the war 
 against the rebellious British colonies in North America,* 
 James Smith.son, a youth of modest fortune, was acquiring the 
 rudiments of a scientific education in English schools and col- 
 leges. He received the degree of Master of Arts from Pembroke 
 College, Oxford, in 1786, the year of his father's death. He 
 was then known as James Lewis M'acie, for he did not assume 
 the name of Smithson until several years later, after he had 
 attained to some reputation as a man of science. His mother 
 was not the Duchess of Northuml)erland, but her cousin. Eliza- 
 beth Keate Macie, of "Weston" near Bath (widow of James 
 Macie), great-granddaughter of Sir George Hungerford of 
 
 *LORD Algernon Pekcy, afterwards Duke of Northumberland, commanded the 
 reinforcements at the battle of I.exington in 1775, and led the column which reduced 
 Fort Washington, near New York, in 1776. 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 "Studley," and his wife, Lady Frances Seymour, sister of the 
 sixth Duke of Somerset and aunt of Algernon Seymour, Lord 
 Percy, whose daughter Sir Hugh Smithson married, and was 
 thus enabled to assume the name of Percy and the title of Duke 
 of Northumberland.* 
 
 The Smithsons were an old Yorkshire family; Sir Hugh, 
 the great-grandfather of James Smithson, having been created 
 baronet by Charles II in 1660. 
 
 James Smithson was undoubtedly proud of his illustrious 
 ancestry, for in his will he described himself as ' ' son of Hugh, 
 first Duke of Northumberland and Elizabeth, heiress of the 
 Hungerfords of Studley, and niece of Charles, the Proud Duke 
 of Somerset." 
 
 He was, however, a man of broad, philosophic mind, and 
 his training in the best scientific methods of his day, and 
 association with leading investigators in Germany and France, 
 and with his brother Fellows of the Royal Society of London, 
 had developed in his mind a generous appreciation of the value 
 of scholarship and scientific culture, and of the still greater 
 importance which these were to have in coming years. 
 
 "The best blood of England flows in my veins," he once 
 wrote; "on my father's side I am a Northumberland, on my 
 mother's I am related to kings, f but this avails me not. My 
 name shall live hi the memory of man when the titles of the 
 Northumbetlands and the Percys are extinct and forgotten. 
 
 These words seem little less than prophetic. The founder 
 of the Smithsonian Institution has already earned perpetual 
 
 * Smithson was born iu Frauce in 1765. The date 1754 usually given for his birth, 
 and engraved upon his tomb is wrong, as is shown by his Oxford matriculation 
 records. 
 
 The source of his fortune is not certainly known. At Oxford, where he was entered 
 as a Gentleman Commoner, he was understood to have succeeded to the estate of 
 his mother's husband, Macie, and in 1794 he received a bequest of 3,000 pounds from 
 his half sister, Dorothy Percy. The major portion of his estate however came to him 
 by the bequest of his half brother. Col. Henry Louis Dickinson of the 84th Regiment 
 of Foot, who died in Paris in 1820. The statement of Smithson that his mother was 
 " heiress of the Hungerfords of Studley," probably indicates the source of a considera- 
 ble portion of the wealth of which that document made disposition. 
 
 t Smithson was of royal descent, through his maternal ancestor, the ill-fated I^ady 
 Catharine Grey, great-granddaughter of King Henry VII. grandniece of Henry VIII 
 and cousin of Elizabeth. His ancestor in the ninth generation. Fdward Seymour the 
 first Duke of Somerset and Protector of England, was the brother of Queen Jane 
 Seymour and the uncle of King Edward VI. 
 
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ITS ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 fame ; while the name of the Duke of Northumberland is now 
 scarcely known outside the circle of the British Court. 
 
 Smithson seems, early in life, to have come fully into har- 
 mony with the scientific spirit of his time. In 1784, while 
 still an underg^raduate at Oxford, he made a scientific explora- 
 tion of the coasts of Scotland in company with a party of 
 geologists. In 1787 he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal 
 Society, and during the remaining forty-two years of his life, 
 in Berlin, Paris, Rome, Florence, and Geneva, he was an asso- 
 ciate of the leading men of science, and devoted himself to 
 research. He made an extensive collection of minerals, which 
 was destroyed by the burning of a portion of the Smithsonian 
 building in 1865, and he always carried with him in his travels 
 a portable laboratory for chemical research. 
 
 His contributions to science are included in twenty-seven 
 memoirs, chiefly upon topics in mineralogy and organic chem- 
 istry, though some of them relate to applied science and the 
 industrial arts. His work, though not of an epoch-making 
 character, was remarkable for its minute accuracy. 
 
 Smithson was a greater man than is indicated by his pub- 
 lished writings alone. Berzelius declared that he was one of 
 the most accomplished mineralogists in all Europe. 
 
 He was a man of generous culture who understood thoro- 
 ughly the needs of the world in the direction of scientific en- 
 dowment, and his action in bequeathing his estate to the 
 people of America was deliberate and well considered. 
 
 In that admirable little monograph entitled "Smithson and 
 His Bequest," Mr. W. J. Rhees has pointed out that the 
 tendency of the time of Smithson was toward the establish- 
 ment of permanent scientific institutions. Between 1782 and 
 1826 over twenty of the most important academies and societies 
 now in existence were organized. " This period " he writes 
 ' ' was not less marked by the gloom occasioned by long, pro- 
 tracted and almost universal war, and the extent and rapidity 
 of its social changes, than by the luster of its brilliant discover- 
 ies in science, and its useful inventions in the arts. Pure 
 science had many illustrious votaries, and the practical appli- 
 cation of its truths gave to the world many of the great in- 
 ventions by means of which civilization has made such immense 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 and rapid progress. ' ' In support of these statements he quotes 
 the words of lyord Brougham, a representative statesman of 
 the day, who said that "to instruct the people in the rudiments 
 of philosophy would of itself be an object sufficiently brilliant 
 to allure the noblest ambition." 
 
 Brougham forcibly recommended this idea to the wealthy 
 men of England, pointing out that by the promotion of such 
 ends, a man, however averse to the turmoil of public affairs, 
 might enjoy the noblest gratification of which the most aspiring 
 nature is susceptible, and influence by his single exertions the 
 fortunes of a whole generation. 
 
 Very closely do these thoughts correspond to those expressed 
 by Smithson in various passages in his note books, and 
 especially with that which is used for a motto upon the publi- 
 cations of the Institution: — • 
 
 "Every ma?i is a valuable member of society, who by his 
 observations, researches, and experiments, procures knowledge 
 for Tnen." 
 
 Another sentence of his is still more pregnant with meaning. 
 It is this: — 
 
 "It is in his knowledge that man has found his greatness 
 and his happiness, the high superiority which he holds over the 
 other ani^nals who inherit the earth with him., and conseqtiently , 
 no ignorance is probably without loss to him, no error without 
 evil. ' ' 
 
 It was with a mind full of such thoughts as these, with per- 
 haps the support and inspiration of Lord Brougham's words 
 quoted above from his "Treatise on Popular Education," 
 printed in 1825, with such models in mind as the Royal 
 Society, whose object is "the improvement of natural knowl- 
 edge," the Royal Institution "for diffusing the knowledge 
 and facilitating the general introduction of useful mechanical 
 inventions and improvements, and for teaching the application 
 of science to the common purposes of life," and the Society for 
 the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, established in London in 
 1825, that in 1826 Smithson drew up his will, containing this 
 most significant provision : — 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 "I BEQUEATH THE WHOLE OF MY PROPERTY TO THE 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO FOUND AT WASHINGTON, 
 UNDER THE NAME OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, AN 
 ESTABLISHMENT FOR THE INCREASE AND DIFFUSION OF 
 KNOWLEDGE AMONG MEN." 
 
 There is no reason known why he should have selected the 
 United States as the seat of his foundation, though it is certain 
 that he was in full sympathy with republican governments and 
 the liberty of the people. His library contained only two books 
 relating to America. Rhees quotes from one of these, ' 'Travels 
 Through North America," by Isaac Weld, secretary of the 
 Royal Society, a paragraph concerning Washington, then a 
 small town of 5,000 inhabitants, in which it is predicted that 
 "the Federal city, as soon as navigation is perfected, will increase 
 most rapidly, and that at a future day, if the affairs of the 
 United States go on as prosperously as they have done, it will 
 become the grand emporium of the West, and rival in magni- 
 tude and splendor the cities of the whole world. ' ' 
 
 It is probable that he knew Joel Barlow in Paris, and was 
 familiar with his plan for a realization of Washington's project 
 for a great national institution of learning in the Federal city.* 
 
 Inspired by a belief in the future greatness of the new nation, 
 realizing that while the needs of England were well met by 
 existing organizations such as would not be likely to spring up 
 for many years in a new, poor, and growing country, Smithson 
 founded in the new England an institution of learning, the 
 civilizing power of which has been of incalculable value. Who 
 can attempt to say what the condition of the United States 
 would have been to-day without his bequest ? Well did John 
 Quincy Adams say: — 
 
 ' 'Of all the foundations of establishments for pious or charit- 
 able uses which ever signalized the spirit of the age or the cotn- 
 prehensive beneficence of the founder, none can be ?ianied more 
 deserving the approbation of mankind.'^ 
 
 In 1835, six years after Smithson's death, the United States 
 legation in London was notified that his estate, amounting in 
 value to about ^100,000, was held in po,sse.s.sion of the account- 
 ant-general of the British court of chancery. 
 
 *See Washington's Farewell Address (September 19, 1796). 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 As soon as the facts became public, great opposition to the 
 acceptance of the gift arose in Congress. Eminent statesmen, 
 led by Calhoun and Preston, argued that it was beneath the 
 dignity of the United States to receive presents, and that the 
 donor was seeking immortality for too moderate an equivalent. 
 The wise counsels and enthusiastic labors of John Quincy 
 Adams, who seems to have had from the first a thorough ap- 
 preciation of the importance of the occasion, finally prevailed, 
 and the Honorable Richard Rush was sent to England to pros- 
 ecute the claim. He entered suit in the Courts of Chancery 
 in the name of the President of the United States, and obtained 
 in less than two years, an event unparalleled in the history of 
 Chancery, a favorable decision. The legacy was brought over 
 in the clipper ship "Mediator" in the form of 104,960 gold 
 sovereigns. These were delivered September ist, 1838, to the 
 Philadelphia mint, and immediately recoined into American 
 money, yielding $508,318.46, as the first installment of the 
 legacy. This was soon after increased to $515, 169, and in 1867 
 by a residuary legacy of $26,210.63, the total sum derived from 
 the founder's beneficence, which by careful management had 
 been in 1867 increased to $650,000. At one time in the early 
 history of the Institution a large portion of its fund was in cer- 
 tain State bonds which became worthless. Congress appro- 
 priated money to make good the loss, and the permanent fund, 
 which, swelled by recent bequests, now amounts to $91 1,000, is 
 held as a deposit at six per cent, in the United States treasury. 
 
 Eor eight years this legacy lay in the Treasury, while the 
 wise men of the nation tried to decide what to do with it. At 
 the time, the adage that in a multitude of counselors there is 
 wisdom, did not appear to be applicable; yet the delay, though 
 irksome to those who desired to see immediate results, proved 
 to be the best thing for the interests of the trust. Every 
 imaginable disposition of the legacy was proposed and discussed 
 in Congress ; the debates fill nearlj' three hundred and fifty 
 pages of Rhees' compilation of Smithsonian documents. Hun- 
 dreds of letters advisory, expostulatory, and dissuasive were re- 
 ceived from representative thinkers and from societies at home 
 and abroad. Every man had a scheme peculiar to himself, and 
 opposed all other schemes with a vigor proportionate to their 
 
Chief Justice fuller 
 
 Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution 
 
 From a Photograph by C. M. Bell 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 dissimilarity to his own. Schools of every grade, from a 
 national university to an agricultural school, a normal school 
 and a school for the blind, were proposed. A library, a botani- 
 cal garden, an observatory, a chemical laboratory, a popular 
 publishing house, a lecture lyceum, an art museum, any and 
 all of these and many more were proposed and advocated by 
 this voluntary congress of many men of many minds. 
 
 THE THREE SECRETARIES. 
 
 The successful organization of the Institution has been the 
 result of long continued effort on the part of men of unusual 
 ability, energy, and personal influence. No board of trustees 
 or regents, no succession of oflBcers serving out their terms in 
 rotation could have developed from a chaos of conflicting 
 opinions, a strongly individualized establishment like the 
 Smithsonian Institution. The names of Henry and Baird are 
 so thoroughly identified with the history of the Institution 
 during its first four decades that their biographies would to- 
 gether form an almost complete history of its operations. A 
 thirty-two years' term of uninterrupted administrative service 
 was rendered by one, thirty-seven years by the other. Perhaps 
 no other organization has had the benefit of so uninterrupted 
 an administration of forty years, beginning with its birth and 
 continuing in an unbroken line of consistent policy a career of 
 growing usefulness and enterprise. 
 
 The first meeting of the board of regents took place on Septem- 
 ber 7, 1846, and before the end of the year the policy of the 
 regents was practically determined upon, for, after deciding 
 upon the plan of the building now occupied, they elected to 
 the secretaryship Professor Joseph Henry, and thus approved 
 his plan for the organization of the Institution which had 
 previously been submitted to them. 
 
 Henry was a man greatly distinguished in science through 
 his epoch-making discoveries, which had already given to the 
 world the electro-magnetic telegraph, and which form the 
 foundation of all systems of electric lighting and power.* 
 From the age of forty-seven to that of seventy-nine, he merged 
 
 * Self-induction, and the intensity magnet, with which Henry and Faraday 
 subsequently discovered magneto-electricity. 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 his life in that of the Institution. Professor Asa Gray has 
 shown so clearly the deep impression which he made upon the 
 organization while it was yet plastic, that I quote his words as 
 the best explanation of the character of this element in its 
 history : 
 
 " Some time before his appointment," writes Professor Gray, "hehad 
 been requested by the members of the Board of Regents to examine the 
 will of Smithson and to suggest a plan of organization by which the 
 object of the bequest might, in his opinion, best be realized. He did so, 
 and the plan he drew was in their hands when he was chosen Secretary. 
 The plan was based on the conviction ' that the intention of the donor 
 was to advance science by original research and publication ; that the 
 establishment was for the benefit of mankind generally, and that all 
 unnecessary expenditures on local objects would be violations of the 
 trust. ' His ' Programme of Organization ' was submitted to the Board of 
 Regents in the following year, was adopted as its governing policy, and 
 has been reprinted in full or in part in almost every annual report. If 
 the Institution is now known and praised throughout the world of 
 science and letters, it is fulfilling the will of its founder and the reasona- 
 ble expectations of the nation which accepted and established the trust, 
 the credit is mainly due to the practical wisdom, and the catholic spirit, 
 and the indomitable perseverence of its first Secretary, to whom the estab- 
 lishing act gave much power of shaping ends, which as rough-hewn by 
 Congress were susceptible of various diversion. Henry took his stand 
 on the broad and ample terms of the bequest, ' for the increase and dif- 
 fusion of knowledge among men,' and he never narrowed his mind and 
 to locality gave what was meant for mankind. He proposed only one 
 restriction, of wisdom and necessity, that in view of the limited means 
 of the Institution, it ought not to undertake anything which could be 
 done, and well done, by other existing instrumentalities. So as occasion 
 arose he lightened its load and saved its energies by giving over to other 
 agencies some of its cherished work." 
 
 His statue, erected by order of Congress, stands in the 
 Smithsonian Park. 
 
 Henry was succeeded in the office of Secretary by Professor 
 Spencer Fullerton Baird, then the leading authority on the 
 mammals, birds, fishes, and reptiles of America, the founder 
 of the U. S. Fish Commission, and of "public fish culture,'' 
 elected in 1878; and he in his turn, by Samuel Pierpont 
 Langley, pre-eminent as physicist and astronomer, the inventor 
 of the bolometer, the discoverer of the greater portion of the 
 infra-red spectrum, and the highest authority upon the physics 
 of the atmosphere, elected in 1S87. 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 Each of the three secretaries, in addition to his general ad- 
 ministrative work, has made some feature of the general plan 
 peculiarly his own. Secretary Henry gave especial attention 
 to the publications, the system of international exchanges, and 
 the development of that great system of meteorological obser- 
 vation and weather prediction which has since become the 
 Weather Bureau. 
 
 Secretary Baird continued the development of the museum, 
 which had been under his special charge during his twenty- 
 seven years of service as assistant secretary, secured the 
 erection of the new museum building, gave much attention to 
 zoological and ethnological explorations and, in connection 
 with his special work as Commissioner of Fisheries, secured 
 the construction of the exploring ship ' 'Albatross' ' and carried 
 on extensive investigations in American waters. 
 
 To Secretary Langley is due the establishment of the Na- 
 tional Zoological Park and the Astro-physical Observatory, 
 renewed activity in the library and exchange work, and a new 
 system of encouragement of original research in the physical 
 as well as the biological sciences. Under his administration, 
 also, important donations and bequests have been added to the 
 permanent fund of the Institution. The limit of $1,000,000 
 which may by law be permanently deposited in the United 
 States treasury at six per cent., having nearly been reached. 
 Congress has recognized the authority of the Institution to re- 
 ceive and administer other funds beyond this limit, thus mak- 
 ing it possible for it to undertake the administration of financial 
 trusts for any purpose within the scope of its general plan. 
 
 THE SYSTEM OF ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 The Smithsonian Institution was formally established by the 
 act of Congress approved August 10, 1846. As defined in the 
 act of establishment, it is composed of the President of the 
 United States, who is presiding officer ex-officio, the Vice- 
 President, the members of the Cabinet, and the Chief Justice ; 
 and the "Establishment" thus constituted is made responsible 
 for the duty of ' 'the increase and diffusion of knowledge among 
 men." 
 
 In addition to the "Establishment" the act provides for a 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 "Board of Regents" by whom the business of the Institution 
 is administered, composed of the Vice-President of the United 
 States, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, three members 
 of the Senate, three members of the House of Representa- 
 tives, and six citizens, no two of whom may be from the same 
 state, though two must be residents of the District of Columbia. 
 
 The presiding officer of the Regents is the Chancellor, 
 whom they may elect from their own number. This position 
 is customarily held by the Chief Justice. The executive officer 
 is the Secretary of the Institution, who is also elected by the 
 Regents. The duties and responsibilities of the Secretary' are 
 such as in other institutions usually belong to the office of 
 director, but the name of "Secretary" is that which in Wash- 
 ington designates the highest grade of executive responsibility. 
 The Secretary makes all appointments on the staff of the Insti- 
 tution, is responsible for the expenditure and disbursement of 
 all funds, is the legal custodian of all its property, and, ex- 
 officio, its librarian and the keeper of its museum. He pre- 
 sents to the Regents an annual report upon the operations, 
 expenditures, and condition of the establishment, which is 
 transmitted by the Board to Congress for publication. By 
 special act of Congress, of 1884, an Acting Secretary is pro- 
 vided in case of the absence or disability of the Secretary, the 
 designation being left with the Chancellor of the Institution. 
 There is at present but one Assistant Secretary, who is in 
 charge of the National Museum. 
 
 The annual meeting of the Regents is held in January ; their 
 executive committee of three members meets quarterly. 
 
 The building occupied by the Institution and bearing its 
 name is an ornate structure of Seneca brown stone, occupying 
 a prominent position in the 'Mall,' which extends from the 
 Capitol to the Washington Monument, in the square known as 
 the Smithsonian Park. This edifice, planned by James Ren- 
 wick, was begun in 1847 and completed in 1855. Features 
 selected from the Gothic and Romanesque styles are combined 
 in its architecture, but its exterior, owing chiefly to the irregular 
 sky line, is very picturesque and pleasing. 
 
 The eastern wing of the building, for so many years the 
 hospitable home of Professor Henry, has been reconstructed in- 
 
JOSEPH HENRY 
 
 First Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 
 
 1846-'78 
 From a Photograph by Gutekunst 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 ternally, and the ofi&ces of the Institution are all established 
 within its walls. The remainder of the building is occupied 
 by the laboratories and exhibition halls of the National Museum. 
 Another building of brick, 325 feet square, was built east of 
 the Smithsonian in 1881, for the reception of a portion of the 
 Museum collections. 
 
 THE OBJECTS OF THE INSTITUTION. 
 
 The objects of the Institution as defined by Henry are, first, 
 to increase knowledge by original investigations and study 
 either in science or literature ; and, second, to diffuse knowl- 
 edge not only through the United States but everywhere, es- 
 pecially by promoting an interchange of thought among those 
 prominent in learning in all nations. No restriction is made 
 in favor of any one branch of knowledge. 
 
 The leading features of the plan of Professor Henry were, in 
 his own words, "to assist men of science in making original 
 researches, to publish them in a series of volumes, and to give a 
 copy of them to every first-class library on the face of the 
 earth." There are not many scientific investigators in the 
 United States to whom a helping hand has not at some time 
 been extended by the Institution, and the hand has often 
 reached across the Atlantic. Books, apparatus and laboratory 
 accommodation have been supplied to thousands, and each 
 year a certain number of money grants have been made. Not 
 less important has been the personal encouragement afforded, 
 and the advice given in the tens of thousands of letters of in- 
 formation written in response to inquiries. 
 
 It is not, as some persons suppose, a teaching institution, nor 
 does it receive students. It constantly aids, however, in the im- 
 provement of the educational system of the country.* 
 
 An important feature in the educational work of the Institu- 
 tion has been its participation in the various International Ex- 
 
 *The Institution supports a table at the International Zoological Station in 
 Naples for the benefit of naturalists. 
 
 There is an assembly hall in the Museum building", in which meetings of scientific 
 bodies of national scope are held. Here the National Academy of Sciences holds its 
 annual meeting every April, and the American Historical Association (which is by law 
 aflaiiated with the Institution), its December meeting. Here also each year a course of 
 popular scientific lectures is delivered under the direction of the scientific societies of 
 Washington. 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 positions. It was represented at Philadelphia in 1876 ; Berlin, 
 1880 ; London, 1883 ; New Orleans, 1885 ; Cincinnati, 1889 ; 
 Madrid, 1892; Chicago, 1893; and has received many medals 
 and diplomas of commendatory nature upon these occasions. 
 
 THE PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 The pubhcations are numerous, and include many important 
 and authoritative works. There is no restriction as to subject, 
 and they consist of memoirs upon archaeology, ethnology, 
 botany, zoology, geology, paleontology, meteorology, mag- 
 netics, physics, physiology, and philology, and many other 
 branches of investigation. 
 
 These books are practically given away, for although there 
 is a provision for their sale at cost price, only a few hundred 
 doUars worth are sold each year. They are regularly distrib- 
 uted to about 4,000 institutions in all parts of the world, and 
 are supplied also to numerous private investigators. There 
 are several series, the aspect of which must be famiUar to every 
 observing person who has ever spent a day among the shelves 
 in any American library of respectable standing. 
 
 (i) The Annual Report of the Regents to Congress, of 
 which the 49th, that for 1894, is now in press. Since 1884 the 
 report of the Museum has been printed in a separate volume 
 (Part II). 
 
 (2) The Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, thirty- 
 two volumes in quarto, containing over 7,000 pages and many 
 fine plates.* 
 
 (3) The Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, in thirty- 
 five octavo volumes, aggregating about 22,000 pages.* 
 
 (4) The Bulletins of the National Museum, fifty in num- 
 ber, beginning in 1875. f 
 
 (5) The Proceedings of the National Museum, including 
 already 1,100 separate papers, embraced in seventeen annual 
 volumes, beginning in 1878. f 
 
 (6) The Annual Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology, 
 beginning in 1879 and forming a series of twelve illustrated 
 volumes in royal octavo. 
 
 * Published at the cost of the Smithsonian fund and not " Public Documents." 
 t Published in a limited edition from a special appropriation, and not "Congres- 
 sional Documents." 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 (7) The Bulletin of the Bureau of Ethnology, of which 
 twenty-six numbers have appeared.* 
 
 The value of the books distributed since the Institution was 
 opened has been nearly $1,000,000, or nearly twice the original 
 bequest of Smithson.f Many of the publications in each of 
 these series are now out of print. 
 
 THE LIBRARY. 
 
 One of the most important features of the Institution is the 
 library which has grown up under its fostering care. For 
 nearly fifty years its publications have been distributed 
 throughout the world, to almost every scientific and literary 
 establishment of good repute. In return for these, and by 
 purchase, it has received the great collection of books which 
 forms its library and which is one of the richest in the world 
 in the publications of learned societies, and therefore of ines- 
 timable value, containing as it does the record of actual pro- 
 gress in all that pertains to the mental and physical develop- 
 ment of the human family and affording the means of tracing 
 the history of every branch of positive science since the days 
 of the revival of letters until the present time. 
 
 This library was, in 1865, deposited at the Capitol, as a 
 portion of the Congressional Library. 
 
 The Smithsonian collection, which includes more than three 
 hundred thousand volumes and parts of volumes, constituting 
 perhaps one-fourth of the National Library, is to be installed 
 in a special hall of its own upon the main floor of the new 
 Library Building. The rapidity with which it is increasing is 
 indicated by the fact that in 1894, 37,952 titles were added. J 
 
 The Institution has probably done more toward building up 
 a great library in Washington than would have been possible 
 had all its income been devoted strictly to library work, as was 
 at one time seriously proposed. 
 
 • The Bureau also supervises a series of quarto volumes, beariug the title Contri- 
 butions to North American Ethnology^ begun in 1877 by the U. S. Geographical and 
 Geological Survey, of which nine have been issued. 
 
 fThis estimate is based upon the prices which are charged for the books by second- 
 hand dealers, as shown in their sale catalogues. 
 
 JThe working libraries of the National Museum and the Bureau of Kthnology are 
 distinct from the general Smithsonian library, and are separately administered. All 
 of these are placed at the service of advanced students and specialists. 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 THE NATIONAI. MUSEUM. 
 The Smithsonian Institution is the custodian of the National 
 Museum, which is the only lawful place of deposit of "all ob- 
 jects of art and of foreign and curious research, and all objects 
 of natural history, plants, and geological and mineralogical 
 specimens, belonging to the United States." The nucleus of 
 the collections consists of the specimens brought home by the 
 Wilkes and other exploring expeditions, but for many years 
 the Museum was supported entirely at the expense of the 
 Smithson fund, and a considerable portion of the collections is 
 the property of the Institution. 
 
 Professor Huxley defines a museum as "a consultative 
 library of objects. " The National Museum is such a consulta- 
 tive library and it is a great deal more. It is an agency for 
 the instruction of the people of the whole country, and it keeps 
 in mind the needs of persons whose lives are not occupied in 
 the study of science as well as those of the professional investi- 
 gator and teacher. 
 
 Its benefits are extended without cost or reserve to hun- 
 dreds of thousands of visitors from all parts of the United 
 States who pass through its doors each year, as is shown in 
 the following table: 
 
 Number of Visitors since i8Si. 
 
 New Old Tnfnl 
 
 Year. Building. Building. ^°'^*'- 
 
 88i 150,000 100,000 250,000 
 
 882 167,455 152,744 320.199 
 
 883 202,188 104,823 307,011 
 
 884 (half year) 97,66i 41,565 139,226 
 
 ^-'85 *205,026 102,093 .307,119 
 
 885-'86 174,225 88,960 263,185 
 
 ,886-'87 216,562 98,552 315,114 
 
 887-'88 249,665 102,863 352,528 
 
 888-'89 *374,843 149,618 524.461 
 
 3-'90 274,324 120,894 395.218 
 
 ;89o-'9i 286,426 111,669 398,095 
 
 i-'92 269,825 114,817 384,642 
 
 892-'93 *3'9.93o I74,i88 494,ii8 
 
 893-'94 195,748 103,910 299,658 
 
 894-'95 196.375 109,847 306,222 
 
 3,380.253 1.676,543 5,056,796 
 
 ♦Years of Presidential inaugurations. 
 
SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
 Second Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 
 
 1878-'87 
 From a Photograph by William Bell 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 and also through the distribution of the duplicate specimens 
 in the Museum, which are made up into sets, accurately named 
 and given to public institutions in all parts of the country. 
 
 The history of the Museum is divided into three periods: 
 First, that from the foundation of the Smithsonian Institution 
 to 1857, during which time specimens were collected purely 
 and solely to serve as materials for research, no special effort 
 having been made to publicly exhibit them or to utilize them 
 except as a foundation for scientific description and theory. 
 Second, the period from 1857, when the Institution assumed 
 the custody of the " National Cabinet of Curiosities," to 1876. 
 During this period the Museum became a place of deposit for 
 scientific material, which had already been studied, this mate- 
 rial, so far as practicable, being exhibited to the public, and 
 thus made to serve an educational purpose. Third, the present 
 period, beginning in the year 1876, during which the Museum 
 has entered upon a career of active work in gathering collect- 
 ions and exhibiting them on account of their educational value. 
 
 During the first period, the main object of the Museum was 
 scientific research ; in the second, the establishment became a 
 museum of record as well as of research ; while in the third 
 period there is growing up also the idea of public education. 
 
 The three ideas, Record, Research and Education, co-opera- 
 tive and mutuallj' helpful as they are, are essential to the 
 development of every great museum. The National Museum 
 endeavors to promote them all. 
 
 It is a Museum of Record, in which are preserved the 
 material foundations of an enormous amount of scientific 
 knowledge — the types of numerous past investigations. This 
 is especially the case with those materials that have served as 
 a foundation for the reports upon the resources of the United 
 States. 
 
 It is a Museum of Research, which aims to make its contents 
 serve in the highest degree as a stimulus to inquiry and a 
 foundation for scientific investigation. Research is necessary 
 in order to identify and group the objects in the most philo- 
 sophical and instructive relations, and its officers are there- 
 fore selected for their ability as investigators, as well as their 
 trustworthiness as custodians. 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 It is an Educational Museum, through its policy of illustrat- 
 ing by specimens every kind of natural object and every 
 manifestation of human thought and activity, of displaying 
 descriptive labels adapted to the popular mind, and of distri- 
 buting its publications and its named series of duplicates. 
 
 The collections are installed, in part, in the Smithsonian 
 building and, in part, in the large building adjacent, covering 
 three and a half acres of ground, which was erected in 1881 to 
 afford temporary accommodations for the overflow until such 
 time as an adequate new building could be constructed. 
 
 The number of specimens in the various departments of the 
 Museum, in 1894, is shown in the following table : — 
 
 Statistics of the Najtionai, Collections. 
 
 Arts and Industries. 
 
 Historical collections, coins, medals, etc 29,998 
 
 Musical instruments, 1,219 
 
 Modern pottery, porcelain, bronzes, etc., . . . 3,583 
 
 Graphic arts, 1,704 
 
 Physical apparatus 366 
 
 Transportation and engineering, .... i,793 
 
 Naval architecture 802 
 
 Fisheries 10,080 
 
 Animal products 3,028 
 
 Domestic animals, 162 
 
 Chemical products 1,309 
 
 Materia medica, 6,317 
 
 Foods i,in 
 
 Textiles, 3^306 
 
 Forestry, 726 
 
 Ethnology 423,000 
 
 Oriental antiquities and religious ceremonial, .... 4,145 
 
 Prehistoric anthropology, 153,424 
 
 American aboriginal pottery -33 293 
 
 Mammals, 12,948 
 
 Birds, ............ 72 ^2S 
 
 Birds' eggs and nests 58,041 
 
 Reptiles and batrachians 34 215 
 
 Fishes 125,'aoo 
 
 Vertebrate fossils,* i egg 
 
 Moll usks (including cenozoic fossils) 510,256 
 
 Iiisects, 610,000 
 
 Marine invertebrates, ^20 000 
 
 *Only that portion of the collection which is in Washington is included. 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 Comparative anatomy, 14,828 
 
 Paleozoic fossils, ......... 95,631 
 
 Mesozoic fossils, 89,493 
 
 Fossil plants 113,685 
 
 Recent plants, 252,111 
 
 Minerals, 25,431 
 
 Geology, . . . , 63,606 
 
 Total, . . . 3,279,531 
 
 The intrinsic value of such collections as these cannot well 
 be expressed in figures. There are single specimens worth 
 hundreds, others worth thousands of dollars, and still others 
 which are unique and priceless. Many series of specimens 
 which owe their value to their completeness and to the labor 
 which has been expended on them, cannot be replaced at any 
 price. The collections at a forced sale would realize more than 
 has been expended on them, and a fair appraisal of their value 
 would amount to several millions of dollars. 
 
 In the direct purchase of specimens, but little money has 
 been spent, less perhaps in fifty years than either France, Eng- 
 land, Germany, or Austria expends in a single year on similar 
 objects. The entire museum is the outgrowth of government 
 expeditions and expositions, and of the gifts prompted by the 
 generosity of the American people. 
 
 THE BUREAU OF EXCHANGES. 
 
 The Smithsonian system of international exchanges, begun in 
 1852, had for its object the free interchange of scientific material 
 between scientific institutions and investigators in the United 
 States and those in foreign lands. For this purpose it estab- 
 lished correspondence with learned men all over the world, until 
 there is no civilized country or people, however remote, upon 
 the surface of the planet, so far as is known, where the Institu- 
 tion is not thus represented. The list of correspondents has 
 lengthened until those external to the country alone number 
 nearly 17,000, while the total number is about 24,000. 
 
 The operations of this Bureau have affected most beneficially 
 the libraries of all learned institutions in America. In 1867 
 Congress assigned to the Institution the duty of exchanging 
 fifty copies of all public documents for similar works published 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 in foreign countries. Finally in 1889 a definite treaty, made 
 previously at Brussels, was formally proclaimed by the Presi- 
 dent of the United States, wherein the United States Govern- 
 ment, with a number of others, undertook the continuation of 
 the exchange service on a more extensive basis. Out of this 
 has grown the Bureau of International Exchanges, for the 
 maintenance of which Congress partially provides by annual 
 appropriation. From 1852 to 1895 the Smithsonian exchange 
 service handled 1,459,448 packages, and for three years past 
 the weight of books passing through this office has been con- 
 siderably over one hundred tons annually. 
 
 SPECIAL GIFTS AND TRUSTS. 
 
 The authority of the Institution to undertake the administra- 
 tion of financial trusts for any purpose within the scope of its 
 general plan, preserving in connection with each fund the name 
 of the person by whom it was established, has been recognized 
 by Congress. 
 
 There is no institution in the world which is more favorably 
 situated for the administration of trusts of this character, and 
 this privilege has already been accepted by several benefactors. 
 
 Mr. James Hamii<ton, of Carlisle, Pa., left, in 1874, the 
 sum of $1,000, the interest to be devoted to the promotion 
 of some scientific or useful subject. 
 
 Dr. Jerome H. Kidder, of Washington City, bequeathed, 
 in 1889, $5,000 for the purpose of an astro-physical observa- 
 tory. 
 
 Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, in 1889, gave $5,000 to 
 the Secretary for his personal use in physical investigation, 
 which has been transferred by him to the credit of the Institu- 
 tion, and devoted to astro-physical work. 
 
 Mr. Thomas G. Hodgkins, of Setauket, N. Y., gave, in 
 1891, nearly $250,000, the income from about $142,000 to be 
 applied to the investigation of atmospheric air.* 
 
 Robert Stanton Avery, of Washington City, who died 
 in 1894, left property estimated to be worth at least $75,000 to 
 
 * A prize of $10,000, derived from this fund, was awarded August 6, 1895, to Lord 
 Rayleig-h and Professor William Ramsay, of London, for the discovery of Argon, a 
 hitherto unknown element iu the atmosphere. 
 
Samuel Pierpont Langley 
 
 Third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 
 From a Photograph by T. W. Smiilie 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 provide for special investigations in the field of magnetism and 
 electricity. 
 
 There have also been many valuable gifts to the Museum, 
 such as that of Dr. Isaac Lea of Philadelphia, who gave his 
 great collections of mollusks, and of gems and precious stones ; 
 that of Mr. Joseph Harrison of Philadelphia, consisting of 
 the collections of Indian portraits painted by George Catlin ; 
 that of Mr. R. D. I,acoe of Pittston, Pa., the largest existing 
 collection of American fossil plants ; and the collections of 
 American birds' eggs given by Major Charles Bendire, 
 U.S.A., and Dr. William H. Ralph, of Utica, N. Y. 
 
 THE ASTRO-PHYSICAL OBSERVATORY. 
 
 The Astro-physical observatory was established in 1891 
 under the immediate direction of the present Secretary, five 
 thousand dollars having been given for this purpose by the 
 late Doctor J. H. Kidder, and five thousand dollars by Doctor 
 Alexander Graham Bell. The expense of maintenance has 
 since been provided for by a small appropriation from Congress. 
 Here is carried on work corresponding to that of similar insti- 
 tutions maintained by the principal European governments; 
 and on a much less expensive scale, though not less effectively. 
 
 Since astro-physics is almost the newest of sciences, it may 
 not be amiss to give here a brief description of the purposes of 
 this observatory: 
 
 "Within the past generation," we are told, "and almost coincident- 
 ally with the discovery of the spectroscope, a new branch of astronomy 
 has arisen, which is sometimes called astro-physics, and whose purpose 
 is distinctly different from that of finding the places of the stars, or the 
 moon, or the sun ; which is the principal end in view at such an observa- 
 tory as that, for instance, at Greenwich. 
 
 "The distinct object of astro-physics is, in the case of the sun, for 
 example, not to mark its exact place in the sky, but to find out how it 
 affects the earth and the wants of man on it ; how its heat is distributed 
 and how it in fact affects not only the seasons and the farmer's crops but 
 the whole system of living things on the earth, for it has lately been 
 proven that in a physical sense, it, and almost it alone, literally first 
 creates and then modifies them in almost every possible way. 
 
 "We have however arrived at a knowledge that it does so, without 
 yet knowing in most cases how it does so, and we are sure of the great 
 importance of this last acquisition, while still largely in ignorance how 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 to obtain it. We are, for example, sure that the latter knowledge would 
 form among other things a scientific basis for meteorology and enable us 
 to predict the years of good or bad harvests, so far as these depend on 
 natural causes, independent of man, and yet we are still very far from 
 being able to make such a prediction, and we cannot do so till we have 
 learned more by such studies as those in question. Knowledge of the 
 nature of the certain, but still imperfectly understood dependence of 
 terrestrial events on solar causes, is, then, of the greatest practical con- 
 sequence. 
 
 " It has been observed that this recent science itself was almost coeval 
 with the discovery of the spectroscope, and that instrument has every- 
 where been largely employed in most of its work. Of the heat which 
 the sun sends, however, and which, in its terrestrial manifestations, is 
 the principal object of our study, it has long been well known that the 
 spectroscope could recognize only about one-quarter — three-quarters of 
 all this solar heat being in a form which the ordinary spectroscope cannot 
 see nor analyze, lying as it does in the almost unknown " infra-red " end 
 of the spectrum, where neither the eye nor the photograph can examine 
 it." 
 
 The special feature of the observatory in Washington has 
 been the continuation of the famous researches in regard to that 
 invisible portion of the solar spectrum which lies beyond the 
 limit of the red, which had been begun by Mr. I^angley while 
 Director of the Allegheny Observatory. The exploration of 
 ' ' this great unknown region ' ' which was first rendered pos- 
 sible by the invention of the bolometer, is now being carried 
 still further by means of a new method, much perfected during 
 the last four years, which has rendered it possible to produce a 
 complete map by an automatic and absolutely trustworthy pro- 
 cess, which shows the lines which resemble the so-called Frauen- 
 hofer lines in the upper spectrum. The results already attained 
 are believed to be the most important which have ever been 
 reached in regard to that region of the spectrum of which so 
 little is known, and which includes the greater portion of all 
 those energies of the sun which, through its heat, affect climate 
 and the crops, and are thus related not only to questions of 
 abstract interest but to utilities of national importance. 
 
 THE NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 
 
 The National Zoological Park was established by Congress 
 in 1890 as a result of the desire to secure the preservation of 
 such American animals as are upon the verge of extinction and 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 will soon vanish forever if something is not done to protect 
 them. 
 
 The Park occupies a tract nearly twice as extensive as that 
 of any zoological garden in the world : this includes one hun- 
 dred and sixty-seven acres upon Rock Creek, two miles north 
 of the center of the city. The site has admirable natural advan- 
 tages, and much has already been done in the opening of drives 
 and the construction of buildings. A small representative col- 
 lection of native American animals has been formed, including 
 about five hundred individuals, among them a fine herd of 
 young elk and a small herd of buffaloes ; but the annual appro- 
 priations have not been sufficient to permit satisfactory progress. 
 
 THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 The Bureau of Ethnology is an outgrowth of activities be- 
 ginning early in the history of the Institution, which has from 
 the very outset devoted much attention to the native American 
 races. 
 
 The Special work of the Bureau in its present form was 
 begun in 1872, in response to a request from the Commis- 
 sioner of Indian Affairs, who desired trustworthy information 
 concerning the afiBnities of the Indian tribes, to serve as a 
 guide in grouping them on the reservations. The question 
 was referred by the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to 
 Major J. W. Powell, then engaged, under the direction of the 
 Institution, in explorations in the Southwest. Combining the 
 vocabularies and other manuscripts already in possession of the 
 Institution, he prepared a report showing the character and 
 extent of existing information, and the manner in which it 
 was possible to utilize this in the segregation of the Indian 
 tribes, at the same time suggesting plans for the completion of 
 the work of classification. 
 
 This was the beginning of the Bureau, which since 1879 has 
 been supported by special appropriations from Congress, with 
 the understanding that the research should be so extended as 
 to embrace the habits and customs of the American Indians, 
 their tribal organizations and government, and their myths 
 and ceremonials. 
 
 Major Powell was made director, and no one could have 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 been better fitted for the task. For more than thirty years he 
 had been a student of the native races of this continent. He 
 and his associates in the Bureau have succeeded in placing on 
 record, before it was too late, a vast number of facts in regard 
 to the Indians. The Annual Reports of the Bureau, twelve in 
 number, and nine volumes of Contributions to North American 
 Ethnology, with the Bulletin of the Bureau, form a consider- 
 able library in themselves. The archives still contain much 
 unpublished material, including hundreds of vocabularies. 
 
 A complete linguistic classification of the native languages 
 of the United States has been prepared by the Director, and an 
 effective classification of the tribes on the reservation, reducing 
 materially the danger of warlike outbreaks, has already been 
 accomplished. 
 
 Important explorations of the western continent have been 
 made by the Bureau staff, especially those of the Stevensons, 
 Gushing, Fewkes, and the Mindelefis, among the Pueblo 
 people and the ruins of the Southwest; those of Holmes among 
 the prehistoric quarry sites and villages of the eastern part of 
 the continent; those of Thomas among the mounds of the 
 Mississippi valley, and of McGee among the Papago and Seri 
 Indians of the Mexican boundary; and the notable explora- 
 tions of Powell himself, among the tribes of Utah, California, 
 Arizona and New Mexico. 
 
 THE PROMISE OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 At the time of the Smithson bequest the endownment of re- 
 search had scarcely been attempted in America. There were 
 schools and colleges in which science was taught, and certain 
 of the teachers emploj'ed in these institutions were engaged in 
 original investigation. There were a few young and struggling 
 scientific societies, very limited in extent and influence, but at 
 that time the chief outcome of American scientific work. 
 Science in America was an infant in swaddling clothes. Fifty 
 years have passed, and American science now stands by the 
 side of the science of Great Britain, of Germany, of France, a 
 fellow worker, competing on an equal footing in nearly every 
 field of research. 
 
 The Smithsonian Institution did what was, at the time of its 
 
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ITS ORIGIN AND ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 organization, absolutely indispensable to the rapid and symmet- 
 rical development of American scientific institutions, and but 
 for it science in America would no doubt have advanced with 
 much less rapidity. It is also certain that the progress of 
 American science has had an immense influence upon the 
 welfare of America in every department of intellectual and 
 industrial activity, and also a reflex action upon the scientific 
 and industrial progress of the entire world. 
 
 In i8g6 the Smithsonian Institution will celebrate the end of 
 its first half century. A special volume will be published to 
 commemorate the event, and two memorial tablets will be erected 
 in honor of the Founder in the city of Genoa, where he died, 
 June 26, 1829; one in the English church, and one upon his 
 tomb in the beautiful little English cemetery on the cypress- 
 clad heights of San Benigno. 
 
 It is interesting to remember that in September, 1896, will 
 occur not only the semi-centenary anniversary of the birth of 
 the Institution founded in the City of Washington by Smithson, 
 but also the centenary of the delivery of that immortal address 
 in which Washington so forcibly recommended to his coun- 
 trymen "to promote as an object of the highest importance in- 
 stitutions FOR THE INCREASE AND DIFFUSION OF KNOWL- 
 EDGE." 
 
PRESS 1 OF W. P. ROBERTS, 
 WASHINGTON 
 
^ 
 
 THE EXHIBIT, ^. , . , 
 
 ^') 189D 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Smithsonian Institution 
 
 AT THE 
 
 Cotton States Exposition 
 
 ATLANTA, 1895 
 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON 
 For Distribution at the Exposition 
 
 1895 
 
THE EXHIBIT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Smithsonian Institution 
 
 AT THE 
 
 Cotton States Exposition 
 
 ATLANTA, 1895 
 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON 
 For Distribution at the Exposition 
 
 1895 
 
The Smithsonian Institution. 
 
 Atlanta Exhibit. 
 
 THE PURPOSE of tJiis exhibit is to convey to the 
 minds of those who see it an impression similar 
 to that which they would receive if they visited the 
 Smithsonian buildings in W^ashington. 
 
 It illustrates every phase of the activities of the 
 Smithsonian Institution and its branches, especially 
 the National Museum, upon which, as a matter of 
 course, falls most of the responsibility of the prepa- 
 ration for an occasion like this. 
 
 The space assigned to the Institution is in the south- 
 eastern quarter of the Government building, and in- 
 cludes five thousand three hundred feet of floor space 
 exclusive of the central aisle. It is approached through 
 two entrances, one to the right of the southern portal 
 one to the left of the eastern portal of the building. 
 
 The Collections are arranged to be stiidied in j'egtilar 
 seqiience beginning at the southern portal. 
 
 They are grouped on either side of a broad passage- 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 way, one hundred and fifty feet in length, arranged in 
 alcoves, twenty feet in width, and from twelve to twenty 
 in depth. These alcoves are designated by letters 
 (A-O), as shown in the accompanying diagram. 
 
 On the right of the main entrance are a large picture 
 of the Smithsonian building, a portrait of Secretary 
 Langley, and a complete set of the publications of the 
 institution, about two hundred volumes; also photo- 
 graphs of apparatus and illustrations of the work in 
 the Astrophysical Observatory and photographs of the 
 National Zoological Park. A map, twenty feet by ten, 
 shows the geographical distribution of the correspond- 
 ents of the Institution, twenty-four thousand in num- 
 ber, as entered on the books of the International Ex- 
 change Bureau, also one of the fifty sets of Govern- 
 ment documents which are sent annually abroad by 
 the Bureau. 
 
 The work of the Institution, and its relationships, 
 are fully explained in the pamphlet which has been 
 published for distribution at the Exposition. 
 
 It has already been stated that most of the objects ex- 
 hibited are from the collections of the United States 
 National Museum. 
 
 In arranging these an attempt has been made: — 
 
 (i) To give as good an idea as possible of the character of the 
 treasures which are preserved in the Museum, by presenting an epi- 
 tome of its contents, witli contributions from every Department. 
 
 (2) To ilkistrate the methods by which Science controls, classifies, 
 and studies great accumulations of material objects, and uses these as 
 a means for the discovery of truth. 
 
 (3) To exhibit the manner in which collections are arranged, 
 labeled, and disjjlaycd in a great Museum. 
 
IViMOd 
 Na31SV3 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 (4) To afford as much instruction and pleasure as possible to those 
 who may visit the Atlanta Exposition, to impress them with the value 
 of museums as agencies for public enlightenment, and thus to en- 
 courage the formation of public museums in the cities of the South. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF MAMMALS. 
 
 In the entrance alcoves (A., B.), is placed also the 
 contribution of the Department of Mammals. In a 
 large wall case is a series of fort^'-three specimens to 
 illustrate the range of forms in the class of mammalia, 
 and in a general way the manner in which they are 
 classified by naturalists. 
 
 Each of the eleven orders, Primates, Chiroptera, Insectivora, Car- 
 nivora, Rodentia, Ungulata, Cetacea, Sirenia, Edentata, Marsupia- 
 lia, and Monotremata, is represented. There are also five groups 
 mounted in the best st3'le of modern taxidermy, and intended to 
 show, by the use of natural accessories, how the animals appear in 
 their native haunts. Flanking the arch on one side is a group of 
 Rocky Mountain Sheep or Bighorns, Ovis canadensis, six in number, 
 from Wyoming, and on the other of a group Rocky Mountain Goats, 
 Mazania montana, three individuals, collected in British Columbia 
 and Montana, by Mr. George Bird Grinnell. There is also a family 
 group of the Coyote or Prairie Wolf, Canis latrans, mounted by JNIr. 
 W. T. Hornaday, from specimens obtained in Montana, and one of the 
 finest examples of mammal mounting in existence ; also a family group 
 of the Nine-Banded Armadillo, Tatusia novenicincta, from Texas, and 
 another of the American Badger, 'Taxidea aniciicana, from Kansas. 
 
 TYPES OF MANKIND. 
 
 Near the entrance stands a portrait statue of Osceola, 
 the great Seniinole chief, who was born on the Chatta- 
 hoochee River, in Georgia, in 1804, and who led his 
 people in the Florida Indian War, which was ended by 
 his capture and his death in i^S'S. This figure was 
 modeled by Achille Colin and Theodore Mills, from a 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 portrait by George Catlin, and represents the war chief 
 at the time of his greatest power. 
 
 Beyond the archway attention is first attracted by a 
 series of costumed figures, which are arranged on the 
 sides of the main hall at the entrance to the alcoves. 
 These are intended to illustrate the physical charac- 
 ters and the ethnical costumes of twelve of the most 
 characteristic types of the human species. The cos- 
 tumes, most of which are now exhibited for the first 
 time, have been collected by the explorers and corre- 
 spondents of the Institution, and the figures, in sculp- 
 tor's plaster, have been modeled either from life or from 
 abundant material in the Museum, under the superin- 
 tendence of Professor Mason and the immediate direc- 
 tion of Dr. Walter Hough. Each of the four divisions 
 of mankind is represented by three figures. 
 
 Although dispersed through the entire Exhibit their 
 relation to each other is so intimate that they are 
 grouped together in this catalogue. Their sequence is 
 indicated by the large numbers above the cases. 
 
 Black Types. 
 
 (i) Papuan, of New Guinea, modeled by Theodore A. Mills, from 
 photographs in the National Museum. 
 
 Costume : a feather plume, earrings, and nose-pin, anklets of 
 shell-disks with boar's tusk pendant, armlets, and wristlets of shell, 
 and a large waist-belt of bark, carved on the exterior. 
 
 (2) Australian, from the Clarence River district, Australia, 
 modeled by Theodore A. Mills, from photographs. 
 
 The figure carries a boomerang and wears an apron of Kangaroo skin. 
 
 (3) Zulu, from Southeast Africa, modeled by Henry J. EUicott, 
 from photographs by Emil Holub. 
 
 Costume : an apron of cow tails : assegai held in hand. 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 Brown-red Types. 
 
 (4) American Indian, of the Jivaro stock of Peru, modeled from a 
 life-sized painting by Peruvian artist, in National Museum. 
 
 Costume (collected by Lieut. W. E. Safford, U. S. N.) : apron of 
 feathers of tropical birds upon a foundation of bark cloth, anklets, etc., 
 of seeds, beetle wings, and teeth of monkey and puma. 
 
 The Jivaros live on the headwaters of the Maranon and are thought 
 to belong to an independent stock. 
 
 The other native stocks of North America are represented more 
 fully in groups elsewhere displayed. 
 
 (5) Dyak, from Borneo, modeled under the direction of W. T. 
 Hornaday from photographs made by himself in Borneo. 
 
 Costume : a Malay sarong. The weapons are a spear of native 
 manufacture and shield with tufts of human hair, and a curious 
 serpentine dagger of the form called the creese. 
 
 (6) Maori, of New Zealand, modeled by Henry J. Ellicott, from 
 New Zealand photographs in the National Museum. 
 
 Costume : robe of New Zealand Flax, Phormiitm tenax ; shoulder 
 cape of feathers. Scepter of a chief held in both hands. 
 
 The Maoris, at present on the verge of extinction, are among the 
 most perfect types of physical beauty. 
 
 Yellow Types. 
 
 (7) Eskimo, from Hudson Bay, modeled by Theodore A. Mills, 
 from photographs and from life masks in the National Museum. 
 
 Costume : reindeer skin with gloves of polar bear skin ; collected 
 by New Bedford whalers. 
 
 (8) Tibetan, from Eastern Tibet, modeled under the direction of 
 W. W. B-ockhill from photographs taken by him in Mongolia. 
 
 Costume : a woolen robe and boots of native manufacture. 
 9. Siamese, modeled by Theodore A. Mills, from photographs 
 obtained by General J. B. Halderman, U. S. Minister to Siam. 
 Costume : robes of native fabrics, presented by the Ki,ng of Siam. 
 
 White Types. 
 
 (10) Arab sheik, modeled by Monsieur Hubert, replica of his figure 
 in the Trocadero Museum, Paris. 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 Costume : woolen robe or hunioose, turban of camel's hair, with 
 cord, etc., gift of the Trocadero Museum. 
 
 (ii) Armenian, from Erzerum, modeled by Theodore A. Mills, 
 from life. 
 
 Costume (collected by Talcott Williams, of Philadelphia) : a turban, 
 embroidered coat and trousers and robe of blue gros-grain silk, shot 
 with gold. 
 
 (12) Berber, from North Morocco, modeled by Theodore A. Mills, 
 from photographs by Talcott Williams. 
 
 Costume (collected by Talcott Williams) : an inner cotton gar- 
 ment and outer robe called the haik ; gun of native manufacture. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF BIRDS. 
 
 The birds are shown in six cases, five of which con- 
 tain groups mounted in the midst of accessories which 
 represent their natural surroundings and are intended 
 to illustrate their habits and the characteristics of differ- 
 ent ages and sexes. (Alcoves C, D). 
 
 Bower-Birds and their Playhouses. — This illustrates the curious 
 habits of the Satin Bower-Birds of Australia which construct a 
 "run," or bower of twigs, decorated with brightly-colored feathers, 
 shells, bleached bones, and other conspicuous objects. They steal 
 buttons, and other bright things from the natives, who, it is said, 
 search these bowers for objects which they miss from their houses. 
 
 Lyre Birds and their Dancing Mound. — The Lyre Bird, Menura 
 superba, is peculiar to Australia, where it inhabits the densest forests. 
 It has a curious habit of building round hillocks, upon which the 
 male parades with outspread tail while uttering his curious cries. 
 
 American Flamingoes and their Nests (from a photograph). — This 
 group shows the manner in which the Flamingo sits upon its eggs ; 
 the specimens are from the Bahama Islands, where the nests are made 
 of decomposed white coral. 
 
 Mexican Jacanas.—Thtsft specimens, from Lake Patzcuaro, in 
 Michoacan, Mexico, illustrate the peculiar habit of walking upon 
 floating leaves of aquatic plants, for which these birds are well 
 adapted by their long, slender toes. 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 " The Interrupted Dinner." — This group, mounted by Mr. F. A. 
 l.ucas, received a diploma of honor at the Boston Exhibition of the 
 Society of American Taxidermists. A Red-Tailed Hawk while eat- 
 ing a Grouse or Pheasant, is attacked by a marauding Goshawk. 
 
 Collective Exhibit of Birds of Paradise. — A representative collec- 
 tion, including about thirty different species of this family of birds 
 from New Guinea, so remarkable for the beauty of its plumage. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF REPTILES. 
 
 A group of the poisonous snakes of the United 
 States (Alcove E), in connection with which is shown 
 the important illustrated memoir upon "The Poisonous 
 Snakes of North America " by Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, 
 which has just been published by the Museum. 
 
 The specimens have been brought together from 
 widely separated localities. 
 
 The following species are represented : 
 
 I. Diamond Rattlesnake, Crotalus adainanteus, Southwestern 
 States; 2, 3. Banded Ratt'lesnake, Crotalus horridus, Eastern 
 States, south to Florida and the Mexican Gulf, west to Kansas ; 4. 
 Prairie Rattlesnake, Crotalus confluentus, Great Plains ; 5. West- 
 ern Diamond Rattlesnake, Crotalus atrox, Southern United 
 States, from Texas to the Gulf of California; 7, 8. Southern 
 Ground Rattlesnake, Sistrurus miliarius, Southeastern States ; 
 9, 10. Copperhead, Agkistrodon contortrix, Eastern and Southern 
 States; 11-13. Water Moccasin, Agkistrodon piscivorus. Southeast- 
 ern States; 14. Harlequin Snake, Elaps fulvius, Southeastern and 
 Gulf States. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF FISHES. 
 
 The Department of Fishes shows (Alcove E) a por- 
 tion of a collection, which, if exhibited as a whole, would 
 contain a representative of every one of the two hun- 
 dred and fifty existing families of fishes. The abridged 
 collection actually shown includes seventy-three of the 
 most characteristic American families. 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 The method of installation is a new one and is worthy 
 of careful examination. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 
 
 This collection occupies the wall space in Alcoves 
 C. and D., and its exhibit, arranged by Mr. F. A. 
 Lucas^ is intended to illustrate the structure of a con- 
 siderable number of the most interesting types of the 
 animal kingdom. 
 
 The collection is arranged in four groups as follows: — 
 
 Representative Forms of Invertebrate Animals. — ^Here are exhibited 
 most af the orders of the invertebrate animals in such a manner as to 
 illustrate their external appearance, general structure, and mode of 
 growth. The smaller and more perishable forms, as well as certain 
 details of anatomy, are illustrated by enlarged models and drawings. 
 
 Embryology and Development. — Here is shown the early stages of 
 various animals, showing the curious transformations undergone by 
 the Starfish, the Water Beetle, the Lancelet or Amphioxus, the 
 Trout, and the Frog ; the development of the domestic fowl and the 
 earlier stages of man. There is also a series of models showing the 
 development of the Gastrula, the most important and significant 
 germ form af the animal kingdom, through which all animals above 
 the Protozoa pass in the earliest period of development. 
 
 Modification of the Skeleton for Locomotion. — This series is intended 
 to show how the Fish, Turtle, Penguin, and the Seal, representing 
 four classes of animals, are so modified as to be all equally at home 
 in the water ; how the Bat can fly like a Bird, a Frog leap like a 
 Kangaroo, and a Snake swim, climb and crawl, although it possesses 
 no limbs at all. The modifications of the skeleton for climbing are 
 illustrated by a Macaque, a Specter-lemur or Tarsier, and a Sloth ; 
 modifications for leaping by the Jerboa, Kangaroo, and Frog ; for 
 crawling, by a Water Snake ; for digging, by the Mole and Gopher ; 
 for swimming, by the Fur Seal, the Penguin, the Turtle and the 
 Golden Mackerel, or CrevallS ; for sailing, by a Flying Lemur^ or 
 Colugo, a Phalanger, and the strange little lizard, Draco volans, 
 known as the "Flying Dragon " ; for flying, by a Stork and a Bat- 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 Above the cases are shown the skeletons of a Black Bear, a Tapir, 
 a Manatee, and a Porpoise. 
 
 Anatomical Models Illustrating Structure. — These Models are on a 
 large scale, and are intended to show organs which are so minute in 
 size, or so delicate in structure that they cannot otherwise be ex- 
 hibited. One model illustrates the structure of the Precious Coral, 
 and teaches how the x'arious single polyps are connected with each 
 other and have a common circulation so that what is eaten by one 
 benefits all. Others show, upon a large scale, the various organs of 
 complicated anatomy of a large Fish, a Medusa, a Fluke -Worm, a 
 Marine-Worm, a Bee, a Frog, and a Perch. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF MARINE INVERTEBRATES. 
 
 This exhibit is, in part, a continuation of that of the 
 Department of Comparative Anatomy and includes, 
 arranged nearly in systematic order, a series of speci- 
 mens representing the principal groups of marine ani- 
 mals, bemnninof with the lowest or Protozoa, and 
 embracing at the other extreme the Ascidians and 
 Cephalopods and the Amphioxus or Lancelet, which is 
 by many authorities regarded as the transition between 
 invertebrate and vertebrate animals. 
 
 An attempt has been made to show the general character of the 
 lower forms of animals which inhabit the ocean. The series begins 
 with the Foraminifera, the smallest of the shell -bearing Protozoa, and 
 ends with the forms which are believed to be the nearest to the ver- 
 tebrate animals. Most of the types shown are familiar only to the 
 professional naturalist, and are not even provided with popular 
 names : no attempt is made, therefore, to describe this series in 
 detail or to do more than mention some of the most familiar types. 
 Sponges are shown, both as they grow and after preparation for use, 
 and among them is the beautiful lace-like "Venus' Flower Basket." 
 There are also Sea-anemones, Corals, and Jelly-fishes, among the 
 specimens illustrating the group Coelenterata, etc., some of the most 
 beautiful being from the Naples Zoological Station and the explora- 
 tions of the Fish Commission off the New England coast. Among the 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 Sea-Worms are the forms known as Sea-Mice, Sea-Centipedes, and 
 Tube-Worms. The group known as Echinodermata is illustrated by 
 specimens from each of its five orders: (i). The Crinoids or "Sea- 
 Lilies;" (2), The Starfishes; (3), The Ophiurans or " Brittle-Stars ; " 
 (4), The Echinoids or " Sea-Eggs ; " (5), The Holothurians or " Sea- 
 Cucumbers." There are also specimens of the Cephalopod Mollusks, 
 including the Pearly Nautilus, the Octopus or " Devil-Fish," and the 
 Squids and Cuttlefishes. 
 
 The series ends with the representative of the so-called Protochor- 
 data which includes the Ascidians or "Sea-Squirts," and the Lance- 
 let, which, as has been said, occupies debatable ground, and is also 
 shown in the exhibit of the Department of Fishes. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF MOLLUSKS. 
 
 This is shown in Alcove F, and is properly a part of 
 the synoptic series of marine invertebrates. It is ex- 
 hibited in a single table case, and Mr. C. T. Simpson 
 has made the most of the very small space available in 
 selecting specimens which show the wonderful beauty 
 and variety of form in the class of Mollusks. The ex- 
 hibit is described by him as follows: — 
 
 The families and sub-families of recent shell-bearing mollusks are 
 arranged essentially according to Tryon's " Structural and System- 
 atic Conchology," nearly all the shell-bearing families are represented. 
 
 In the collection Nos. i to 4 represent families of the Class Ceph- 
 alopoda, the most highly organized of the Mollusks. It includes 
 the Chambered Nautilus, represented by numerous species in past 
 geological ages, but of which only four species are now living : the 
 Argonauts, or Paper Sailors, a genus in which the female only has a 
 shell, or rather an egg-case, which is detachable from her body ; the 
 Octopuses, Cuttlefishes, Squids, and Ammonites ; the last being 
 extinct shells with marvellously complicated chambers. 
 
 No. s represents the Pteropoda, a class of Mollusks having thin, 
 fragile, glassy shells which float on the surface of the sea. They are 
 sometimes called " Sea Butterflies," and serve as food for whales. 
 
 Nos. 8 to 136 represent the Class Gasteropoda. Of these Nos. 66, 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 67> 70-7S' 129-132, are families which inhabit fresh water; Nos. 
 119-128 are terrestrial, and the remainder for the most part live in 
 the sea. The shell of the Gasteropods is typically spiral, but varies 
 from a mere flat plate like that concealed under the mantle of Limax, 
 through conical, tubular, and coiled forms to the regular spiral. 
 Nearly all spiral shells are dextral (right-handed), but some few 
 families or genera are sinistral (left-handed), as for example the 
 Achatinellida (No. iiS). The Gasteropods include a large number 
 of useful and ornamental species. Among those of economic im- 
 portance are the BucciiiiJa, the Littoritiiila, and the Trochidce, many 
 of which are used for food. 
 
 No. 137 represents the class Scaphopoda. The shells of some of 
 this class are used by the Indians for making wampum. 
 
 Nos. 138 to 199^ represent the class Pelecypoda or Bivalves. 
 Most of these are marine, but Nos. 179 and 180 live in fresh water. 
 Many are beautiful and valuable, while others are injurious. The 
 wood -borers (No. 141) destroy the piling and the planking of vessels 
 and dry-docks. Some of the M\tilidiz and Ostfeida are edible. 
 The Aviculida produce pearls and mother-of-pearl. 
 
 The class Brachiopoda, which doubtfully belongs with the Mol- 
 lusca, was extremely abundant in past geological ages but is now rep- 
 resented by only a few species, most of which inhabit deep seas. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF INSECTS. 
 
 This display occupies the wall space in Alcove F, and 
 is of course very far from completeness either as an 
 exhibit of insects or as an illustration of the wealth of 
 material in the entomological collections of the Museum. 
 Here, thanks to the pains of Prof C. V. Riley, the lim- 
 ited space has been utilized to admirable advantage. 
 The exhibit is described by him as follows : — 
 
 The chief exhibit, arranged in twenty-four frames, is designed to 
 illustrate the peculiarities of the various families of insects. It is 
 limited to Hexapods, or Insects proper, and does not include the 
 Spiders, Mites, and Myriapods, and in fact some of the families of 
 the true insects are necessarily omitted. The object of this family 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 exhibit is a two -fold one: first, to give the student the salient charac- 
 teristics by which he may be enabled to refer any insect to the family 
 to which it belongs, and also to illustrate what are considered as 
 family characteristics as compared with the larger and lesser group- 
 ings or alliances. The second object is to give a very good exhibit 
 of the North American fauna, since by selecting types illustrative of 
 each family the beholder gets a very fair impression of the character 
 of the North American insect fauna, the family illustrations all being 
 drawn from North America. 
 
 The second portion of the exhibit is designed to relieve the mo- 
 notony of a series prepared solely for instruction by adding some- 
 thing pleasing to the eye. Thus eight frames have been arranged 
 as a sort of attractive entrance to the alcove. These consist of 
 beautiful Lepidoptera and Coleoptera which have been purposely 
 chosen from the four great sections of the globe not represented in 
 the family collection. ITius there are two boxes of European butter- 
 flies and moths, one of Asiatic, one of African, three of South 
 American and one of South American beetles. These "show " cases, 
 for such they practically are, differ, however, from similar show 
 collections in having each insect properly named, so that many 
 a specimen which has perhajjs become familiar to the Museum or 
 Exposition visitor by virtue of its attractiveness and brilliancy will 
 here be properly introduced by name, and thus give an added 
 pleasure to those who wish to be able to call things by name. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF PALEONTOLOGY. 
 
 The exhibit occupies one double case in Alcove G, 
 and is intended to show, so far as can be done in a 
 small space, the character of the collections in the 
 Museum and the manner in which they are arranged 
 and labeled. It includes one hundred and sixteen 
 species of North American fossils, arranged according 
 to their geological age, and is described as follows by 
 Mr. Charles Schuchert: — 
 
 The fossils are arranged in the order of their appearance, or chrono- 
 logically, with a view to illustrate some peculiar characteristic of the 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 geological systems. The surface distribution of each system is shown 
 on the colored map of the United States, on top of the case. The 
 oldest undoubted fossil -bearing horizon in North America is the 
 Cambrian which is distinguished for the variety and abundance of its 
 trilobites or lowly organized crustaceans (shown on the extreme left 
 of the case). It is remarkable that so early in the history of life, 
 great diversity of structure is attained, since this system has all the 
 essential types of invertebrate animals or organisms without internal 
 hard skeletons, such as Sponges, Corals, Molluscs, and Crustaceans. 
 In the next section — the Ordovidan system — the MoUusca or shell- 
 bearing animals are present in great diversity of form. These ani- 
 mals continue prominently throughout all succeeding geological 
 formations and are particularly abundant in the Tertiary strata. 
 The Devonian is marked by extensive coral reefs, of which but a few 
 species can be here shown on account of their large size : at this 
 time peculiar strongly armored fishes also abound. The Carbonifer- 
 fttis system, more particularly the Lower Carboniferous, is characterized 
 by the development of Crinoids or stone lilies, animals related to 
 Star-Fishes. A number of excellent specimens from the celebrated 
 locality at Crawfordsville, Indiana, are sho%vn. This system is also 
 peculiar for the first abundant and diverse development of land 
 plants whose remains have supplied the material for the many coal 
 seams. In the shale bands between the coal or in the roofs of coal 
 mines beautiful ferns abound, some of which are shown. 
 
 In the Carboniferous air-breathing animals occur rarely but in sub- 
 sequent strata land animals are more numerous. In the Jurassic or 
 the system immediately below the Cretaceous great reptile-like ani- 
 mals, the Dinosaurs, abounded, some seventy feet and more in 
 length, continuing to the close of the Cretaceous. Among shelled 
 animals the Ammonites are particularly peculiar to these systems. 
 
 From the Tertiary formations of the Rocky Mountain region their 
 young have been exhumed many and d i\'erse mammals or animals that 
 suckle. These are the ancestors of many modern land animals now 
 inhabiting land areas than North America. Among them were other 
 very small horses mth three toes on each foot, camels, tapirs, ele- 
 phants, etc. One of the characteristic sea animals of this time abound- 
 ing in the Gulf border region is the Zeuglodon MTiale, a form related 
 to both whales and seals. A restoration of the skeleton of this long 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 and slender animal is shown, suspended from the roof. The shelled 
 animals of this era at once remind us of living species. 
 
 This collection also aims to show methods of displaying fossils now 
 in use in the Department of Paleontology. The fossils are cleaned 
 of all adhering rock, and when possible a series of each species is 
 selected to show specific varieties, being then glued upon encaustic 
 tiles. The advantage of tiles lies in the fact that they will neither 
 fade nor warp, are more uniform in size and nearly as cheap as 
 paper or thin wooden tablets. In cases where the attached speci- 
 mens must be removed this can readily be accomplished by soaking 
 in water without injury to the tiles. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY. 
 
 In a single ca.se in Alcove H is a collection illustrat- 
 incr the occurrence and association of Gold and Silver 
 in nature, which is thus described by Prof. George P. 
 
 Merrill : — 
 
 The exhibit begins with a series of specimens showing both the 
 native metals and their compounds in the condition of greatest 
 nntiiral purity. This is followed by a series of the same compounds 
 with their characteristic associations, but in which the metal-bearing 
 portions are still plainly evident, and this in turn by a third series 
 showing selected types of the ores, as mined, but in which, as a rule, 
 the metal or its comi>ounds are scarcely discernable. 
 
 Attention is called to the fact that while gold, aside from its 
 native form enters as an essential constituent into less than half-a- 
 dozcn known minerals, silver occurs in upwards of six times as many. 
 Thus gold, aside from its natural alloys with silver, (electrum) bis- 
 muth and palladium, is found in chemical combination with other 
 elements only in the minerals petzite, sylvanite, krennerite, and 
 nagyagite. Silver, on the other hand, is found native, as an alloy 
 with gold (electrum), or mercury (amalgam), and also as an essen- 
 tial element in compounds forming nearly forty mineral species more 
 or less well defined. 
 
 Several of these compounds are very rare, and not at present in- 
 cluded in the series exhibited. 
 
 It is further to be noted, that while both gold and silver occur 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 either as native or in compounds of such size as to be easily seen by 
 the naked eye, the great majority of ores of either metal are com- 
 posed in large part of other substances with which the metal is so 
 finely and intimately admixed as to be invisible and determinable 
 only by chemical means or where it occurs as a replacing constituent 
 with other elements. Thus the most common form of gold ore is an 
 auriferous pyrites, while the most common silver ore is an argentifer- 
 ous galena. 
 
 In the series as exhibited attention needs be called, first, to the 
 native gold, that is, the gold found in the metallic state in nature, as 
 displayed in the form of nuggets, leaf gold, wire gold, and gold-dust 
 from various localities ; second, to the compounds of gold with silver, 
 tellurium, antimony, and sulphur as shown in the minerals petzite, 
 sylvanite, krennerite, and nagyagite ; third to the occurrence of the 
 native metal with its associates, either as dust or nuggets in sand and 
 gravel, or impregnating quartz, slate, calcite, and other minerals 
 forming the characteristic gangue, and lastly to the series of gold ores, 
 representing the metal-bearing rocks as usually mined, and which, 
 while, as above-noted, showing no trace, on casual inspection, of the 
 precious met»l, nevertheless contain it in sufficient amount to render 
 its extraction by chemical or mechanical means a profitable industry. 
 
 The silver-bearing series is arranged in a siijiilar manner. It is to 
 be noted that while gold is common in deposits of sand and gravel, 
 as " placer gold," silver very rarely occurs in this form, and is repre- 
 sented here only by the silver-bearing sandstone from Washington 
 County, Utah. Native silver in the form of " wire " or " moss " silver 
 is however comparatively common as shown in the specimens from 
 Mexico and Saxony. Some of the silver -bearing compounds are of 
 great beauty, as illustrated in the ruby s,i\\ers, proustite znA pyrargyrite. 
 
 The total annual production ot gold and silver for the world, for 
 1894, is given as 8,616,892 ounces of gold, and 166,437,408 ounces 
 of silver. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF MINERALS. 
 
 This department (Alcove G) is represented by a col- 
 lection of high educational importance, arranged by 
 Mr. Wirt Tassin, under the direction of Prof F. W. 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 Clarke, the curator, and is described as follows: — 
 
 Entering the alcove the wall cases contain a series of minerals 
 selected and labeled to illustrate the several properties or characters 
 of one mineral species as compared with other mineral species, in 
 other words, " Comparative Mineralogy." 
 
 The first case on the left contains a series of one hundred and forty- 
 three minerals illustrating Chemical Mineralogy ; that is, the compo- 
 sition, variation in composition, and the relation of composition to 
 form of minerals. 
 
 The chemical composition of minerals is illustrated by several typi- 
 cal elements together with a majority of their combinations. It will 
 be observed that gold has comparatively few combinations and that 
 its occurrence is practically restricted to the element ; while iron, 
 the most useful of the heavy metals, rarely occurs as the element, yet 
 affords a great number and variety of compounds. 
 
 Proceeding from left to right the next case contains a series of 
 models and specimens illustrating the principal forms of minerals 
 depending upon molecular structure or form. 
 
 Beginning with the systems of crystalization each system is repre- 
 sented by a typical crystal group followed by models and specimens 
 showing the principal forms belonging to that system. 
 
 For example, fluorite, a typical isometric mineral, is shown, then a 
 glass model of the fundamental isometric form, the octahedron, and 
 spinel, a typical octahedral mineral. Following the systems of 
 crystallization are Crystal Aggregates, including twin crystals, paral- 
 lel growths and imperfections of crystals. 
 
 The next wall cases contain series illustrating isomorphism, pseudo- 
 morphism, and the various characters depending upon the action of 
 the several physical forces, such as Light, Cohesion, Mass, Heal, etc. 
 
 The floor case on the left contains several minerals arranged to 
 show the great diversity and beauty of their coloring. 
 
 The floor case on the right contains meteorites showing the general' 
 character and composition of those bodies. Attention is called to 
 the large meteorite on the pedestal weighing seven hundred and forty- 
 six pounds from Canon Diablo, Arizona, and to the several other 
 meteoric irons in the case, from the same locality. These irons are of 
 interest because of the great size and extent of the "fall," over ten 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 tons of them having been found in the region, and also from the fact 
 that they contain microscopic diamonds. 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF ARRANGEMENT. 
 Comparative Series. 
 
 I. Chemical Mineralogy. — Chemical composition. Variation in 
 composition. Relation of composition to form. 
 
 II. Physical Mineralogy. — Crystallography, Compound crystals, 
 Isomorphism, Pleomorphism. 
 
 Pseudomorphs. — Characters depending upon Light. — ■ Luster ; 
 Color; Diaphaneity. Characters depending upon Cohesion. — Cleav- 
 age ; Fracture ; Tenacity ; Hardness. — Characters depending upon 
 Mass, Heat, Magnetism, and Electricity. — Specific gravity; Fusibility ; 
 Magnetism ; and Electricity. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY. 
 
 This exhibit occupies three sides of Alcove H, and 
 consists of a collection of the woods and shrubs of 
 Japan mounted in a very original and beautiful man- 
 ner by Japanese artists. To each species is devoted a 
 polished panel, made of its own wood, upon which 
 are painted the leaves, flowers, and fruit, while the panel 
 is framed in its own bark. 
 
 The collections belonging to this department are, for 
 the most part, not available for exhibition purposes, 
 being chiefly dried specimens for research work. The 
 National herbarium contains a quarter of a milHon 
 mounted plants. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF MATERIA MEDICA. 
 
 The exhibit of this department, Alcove H, consists 
 of a case illustrating the composition of a number of the 
 principal mineral waters used as beverages and for 
 medicine. Bv the side of a bottle of the water as 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 found in commerce are placed a number of smaller 
 bottles, which contain the amount of each chemical sub- 
 stance found in the amount of water shown in the first 
 bottle. Here also is a case which illustrates the compo- 
 sition of the human body by displaying in bottles the 
 exact quantity of each substance to be found in the 
 body of a man of average size (one hundred and fifty- 
 four pounds), while in a parallel series are shown the 
 quantities of each element in the same man's body. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF PREHISTORIC ANTHROPOLOGY. 
 
 This exhibit occupies Alcove I, and consists of a 
 small, carefully selected collection of implements and 
 objects used by man in prehistoric times, the specimens 
 being mostly American. 
 
 The explanation of the Exhibit is contributed by 
 Dr. Thomas Wilson : — 
 
 In this exhibit seven hundred and ninety-two specimens are dis- 
 played, as follows : Stone, four hundred and ten ; copper, one hun- 
 dred and ten ; shell, twenty -six ; bronze, seventy -eight ; gold, twenty- 
 six ; bone, eighteen ; pottery, one hundred and twenty-four. 
 
 Anthropology is the Science of Man considered in all of his parts and 
 nature. Prehistoric Anthropology is that part of this great science 
 which relates to man in prehistoric times. " Prehistoric " means 
 before written history was begun in the locality or country under 
 consideration. History begun several thousand years earlier in Egypt 
 and the Classic Orient tlian in Gaul and Britain, and these fifteen 
 hundred years earlier than America. Knowledge of the existence 
 of prehistoric races began with the discovery, about the year 1806, 
 of the Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron in the Scandinavian coun- 
 tries. It was not recognized in its full scope until the discovery 
 in France, about 1859, of what is called the "Chipped Stone" or 
 "Paleolithic" Age. Since the antiquity of man has been a subject 
 of lively discussion in most countries, and many attempts have 
 been made to construct the history of his early times. The an- 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 noiincenient by Darwin of his theory of '-Evolution" as the origin 
 of the human species added interest to the investigation. The 
 study of the life, customs, culture, and, indeed, the making of the 
 history of prehistoric man can only be done through the investigation ■ 
 of objects made and used by him. This investigation considers their 
 condition, the mode of their manufacture, their associations, and the 
 places wherein they have been buried, with the incomplete informa- 
 tion we get from the skeletons ; in its relation to the North American 
 Indian we are dependent upon the objects we find in his workshops, 
 his destroyed homes, or in his graves and monuments. We study his 
 mounds and earthworks, cemeteries, village-sites, quarries, and work- 
 shops. We find his axes, hatchets, adzes, and gouges, and from 
 these we speculate how he felled trees, cut wood, made boats, 
 sledges, saddles, and the hundred objects of wood employed by 
 savages. His stone quarries and workshops show the raw material, 
 and how he manufactured his implements by the processes of chip- 
 ping, grinding, polishing, and drilling. The same ibr horn, shell, 
 and bone, of which we possess many thousand objects made into beads, 
 pins, gorgets and other ornaments. The copper and gold objects are 
 to be studied on the same lines. Pottery was much used by Prehis- 
 toric Man, and its manufacture was carried on wherever he dwelt. 
 The pottery exhibit is displayed on the shelves above the flat -topped 
 cases. To the right are specimens of European Prehistoric Pottery 
 of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. This is followed by ware from 
 the Aborigines of the United States. The long shelves in front con- 
 tain specimens from Mexico, Central, and South America. On a 
 pedestal is a reproduction of an "Ogham stone," illustrating a 
 rude written language, which was prevalent in Ireland at a very early 
 day. 
 
 THE ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICANCE OF GAMES. 
 
 In the next Alcove (K), which occupies the circular 
 tower in the southeast corner of the building, is dis- 
 played a special collection illustrating " The Origin and 
 Significance of Games in all Parts of die World," espe- 
 cial prominence being given to chess and cards. The 
 display is made in cooperation with the University of 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 Pennsylvania, and has been arranged by Mr. Stewart 
 Culin, director of the University Museum: — 
 
 The objects, arranged in a progressive series, fill thirty-four 
 upright cases, like pictures in frames, and one large table case. They 
 form an almost complete history of cards and chess, beginning 
 with the primitive forms, originally used for divination, down to the 
 games of the present day. 
 
 Especial interest attaches to the fact that the clue to the origin of 
 both chess and cards was found by Mr. Culin, with the aid given by 
 Mr. Gushing, among the aboriginal people of America, llie pack 
 of cards is shown to have originally consisted of a bundle of arrows, 
 marked with the signs of the world quarters. The shaftments, 
 or feathered part of these arrows, bearing cosraical marks were first 
 used in fortune-telling, and from their use our card games arose. 
 
 In America the Indians did not get beyond the use of carved 
 and painted staves. The American case shows the arrows of the 
 McCloud River Indians of California, marked with colored ribbons, 
 by which they were distinguished. Side by side with them are the 
 gambling-sticks of the Haidas of Vancouver's Island, similarly 
 marked with rings of color and used like cards in their gambling 
 even at the present day. In the adjoining case, devoted to Eastern 
 Asia, the practice arrows of Korea are shown, and with them the 
 derived playing cards here made of oiled paper, yet bearing, both 
 on their backs and faces, devices copied from the cut feathers of the 
 arrows. With them are Chinese cards with the same emblems sur- 
 viving as m.arkers or indexes at the ends. These cards are "double- 
 headers," as indeed were the gambling sticks, carrying back the idea 
 of our common playing cards with double heads and index marks to 
 the most remote antiquity. The Japanese cards in the same case 
 bear emblems derived in part from the same source, while the cir- 
 cular cards, called Gunify, of which a beautiful pack is shown, are 
 painted in colors to correspond with the world quarters. A single 
 pack of the national cards of each of the principal countries in the 
 world follow, comprising in Europe, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, 
 Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, England, and Russia. The card series 
 closes with the pack with pictures of the Chicago Exposition and the 
 cards with pictures of the confederate flag, made in England for sale 
 in the South during the war. 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 The chess series begins like that of cards with the divinatory 
 games of primitive people, in which our game originated. America 
 is here again conspicuous, and with the objects representing the first 
 steps in the evolution of the game are shown other common things, 
 such as visiting cards and the folding fan, which Mr. Culin traces, 
 with chess, to the marked arrow of primitive culture. The historical 
 chess series comprises boards and men from India, Burmah, the 
 Malay Peninsula, the Maldive Islands, Korea, China, and Jajjan. 
 
 The specimens are all arranged as if actual play. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 
 
 In Alcove K is shown also a small case containing a 
 collection of ancient glass from excavations in the 
 vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, remarkable not only for its 
 beauty of form but on account of the entirely iridescent 
 coloring which it has acquired through having been 
 buried in the soil for twenty centuries or more. 
 
 Adjoining this is a case of carved ivories from Japan. 
 The native sculptors have shown, with great minuteness 
 and accuracy, the costume, tools, and methods, of work 
 of a large number of the nadve mechanics before the 
 introduction of any European implements — the carpen- 
 ter, the mason, the armor-maker, the lantern-maker, the 
 umbrella-maker, the cooper, etc. 
 
 Here also is shown a collection to illustrate the devel- 
 opment of the Ceramic Art in Japan. This has been 
 arranged by Mr. Heromich Shugio, and although it 
 does not contain any considerable number of very 
 cosdy pieces, it is historically quite complete, and is de- 
 scribed by Mr. Shugio as follows: — 
 
 Japanese history mentions that some [jottery was made in a village 
 of Idsumi to a considerable extent from the very early days, and that 
 another factory was in existence in the province of Ouri during the 
 period of 581-660 B. C. Twenty-nine years before the Christian 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 era Tenno Suijin ordered that human figures made of burnt clay 
 be buried with his wife, Empress Hihasubrime, in place of her attend- 
 ants, as had been customary until that time whenever any member of 
 the Imperial family died. This humane decree abolished an abomin- 
 able custom, and the pottery in its infancy played one of the most im- 
 portant and noblest acts in history. 
 
 The early productions were of mere unglazed burnt clay, not like 
 those of the early American pottery. 
 
 The introduction of the potter's wheel by Giyoki, a priest of 
 Idsumi, in 724 A. D., must be taken as the real beginning of our 
 Keramic art. 
 
 The first glazed stoneware is said to have been made by Kato 
 Shiroye now at Seto, in the province of Owari, in 1223 A. D., after 
 his return from China, where he spent seyeral years in studying 
 Keramic art. From his time, Seto became the centre of Keramic 
 art, and all the Keramic productions came to be called " Seto mono " 
 in Japan, as all the porcelains are called "China" in Great Britain 
 and America. 
 
 The first porcelain was made by Gordayu Shonsui, a native of the 
 province of Ise, who studied Keramic art in China in about 15 13. 
 His productions were mostly made with Chinese materials, which 
 were brought back by him from that country and they were deco- 
 rated in blue under the glaze. 
 
 The greatest progress in Japanese Keramic art has been made since 
 the triumphant return of the Corean Expedition in 1859, when many 
 skilful Korean potters were brought over, and the famous Keramic 
 factories of Hizcn, Higo, Chikuzen, Satsuma, Tosa, Nagato, Yama- 
 shiro, Owari, etc., were either established or improved by those 
 potters. 
 
 The first potter who succeeded in decorating porcelain with enamel 
 paintings over the glaze was the celebrated potter Kakiyemon, of the 
 Sakaida family of Nangawara, a village near Arita, who mastered this 
 secret of enamel painting from Tokuzayemon, of Imri, who learned 
 his method from a captain of a Chinese ship at Nagasaki m 1640. 
 
 Kakiyemon was assisted in his essays in enamel painting by Gosu 
 Gombei, another well known potter. In 1646 Kakiyemon is said to 
 have sold his decorated porcelains to a Chinese trader in Nagasaki, 
 and thus he has the honor of being the first Japanese potter who 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 decorated porcelain with enamels, and who sold Japanese porcelains 
 to a foreigner. Since then his productions were bought by Chinese 
 and Dutch traders at Nagasaki to export. He was honored by Prince 
 Naheshinia Samio, of Hizen, by being appointed a special maker to 
 His Highness. Specimens numbers 150 and 151 are his works. 
 Although they are not his best works they will be found, on close ex- 
 amination, to be the works of a master hand. 
 
 Nisei, the great Kioto potter, through the generosity and liberality 
 of Wankiu, a wealthy Osaka merchant, succeeded, during i6s5-'57, 
 in decorating pottery with enamel painting after the newly intro- 
 duced method by Kaki)'emon, now so much admired as the Ninsei 
 ware. Number 53 in this collection is a specimen of this great 
 potter, and Numbers 54, 55, 56, and 57, are copies after his works. 
 Numbers 56 and 57 were copied by Okumura Shozan, of Kioto, who is 
 perhaps the best copyist, of Ninsei, since his time, and some of his copies 
 are often mistaken for the originals even by Japanese connoiseurs. 
 
 Another important epoch in our Keramic art was the disco\'ery of 
 the use of saggars in baking porcelains by Tsuji Kizayemon, a noted 
 potter of Arita, during the Kwhmbum period (i66i-'72). The porce- 
 lains baked in saggars are called " Gokuskin Yaki." Number 152 is 
 a specimen of this Gokuskin Yaki made by one of his descendents 
 who were honored by being appointed makers to the Imperial Court 
 of Kioto. The porcelain was and is made at Arita ; Okawachi (where 
 Naheshima ware was made) ; Mikawachi (where Hirado ware was 
 made) ; Shiraishi, Kameyama, etc., in the province of Hixen ; at Seto, 
 in Owari ; at Tajimi, in Mino ; at Kutani, in Kaga ; at Kiyomidsu, 
 in Yamashiro ; at Sanda, in Settsu ; at Himeji, in Harima ; at Hikone 
 or Koto, in Omi ; at Ota and Tokio, in Musashi ; at Okayama, in 
 Kii; Wakamatusu, in Iwashiro, etc. ; of which nearly all the factories 
 are represented in the collection. Of the important factories where 
 the pottery (Faience and Stoneware) was and is made this collection 
 represents Satsuma ; Karatsu, in Hizen; Takatori, inChikuzen, Yat- 
 sushsro, in Higo ; Shiga, on the Island of Tsushima ; Hagi or Matsu- 
 moto, in Nagato ; Suwo ; Shido, in Samuki ; Kosohe, in Settsa ; Aka- 
 hada, in Yamato ; Kioto, in Yamashiro ; Shigaraki, in Omi ; Seto, 
 in Owari ; Tachikui and Sasayama, in Tamba ; Fujiria, in Idsumo ; 
 ]ga, Sado, Kutani, in Kaga; Soma, in Iwaki ; Imbe, in Bizen : 
 Mianto, in Idsumi ; Banko, in Ise, etc. 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 The collection is displayed in three cases in Alcove K, 
 by provinces, in accordance with the following- plan: — 
 
 Hizen 
 
 Karatsu. 
 
 Idsumi .... 
 
 Idsumi. 
 
 
 Arita. 
 
 Yamato . 
 
 
 
 Akahada. 
 
 
 Hirada. 
 
 Survo 
 
 
 
 Survo. 
 
 
 Nangawara. 
 
 Nagato . 
 
 
 
 Hagi. 
 
 
 Nabeshima. 
 
 Chikuzen 
 
 
 
 Takatovi. 
 
 
 Kakiyemon. 
 Tsryi Gokushin. 
 
 Higo . . 
 
 
 
 Yatsushiro. 
 
 
 Satsuma 
 
 
 
 Satsuma. 
 
 
 Karaeyama. 
 
 Settsu . 
 
 
 
 Saiida. 
 
 
 Bogasaki. 
 
 
 Kirko. 
 
 
 Shiraishi. 
 
 
 Kosube. 
 
 Taishiu 
 
 Tsushima. 
 
 Iwaki 
 
 Soma. 
 
 (Island oi Tsushima). 
 
 
 
 
 Owari 
 
 Seto. 
 
 Kaga 
 
 Kutani. 
 
 
 Horaku. 
 
 Ise 
 
 Banko. 
 
 Bizen 
 
 Bizen. 
 
 Sado 
 
 Sado. 
 
 Omi 
 
 Shigaraki. 
 
 Sanuki .... 
 
 Shido. 
 
 
 Koto. 
 
 ': Yamashiro . . . 
 
 Raku. 
 
 Kii 
 
 Zuishi. 
 
 
 Kioto. 
 
 Iga 
 
 Tamba. 
 
 Musashi . . . . Tokio. 
 
 Tamba . . . . 
 
 
 Ota. 
 
 Idzumo . . . . 
 
 Idzumo. 
 
 
 
 Across the aisle (Alcove L) is a small series of 
 musical instruments intended to illustrate the character 
 and method of arrangement of the very extensive col- 
 lection in the National Museum. A series of five times 
 the extent had been selected to be sent to Atlanta, but 
 the limitations of space were such as to make it neces- 
 sary to reduce this, as well as every other exhibit. 
 
 The collection is intended to illustrate a few of the stages in the 
 progressive evolution of stringed instruments. The series begins 
 with a rude musical bow of Mashonaland, which is used only to 
 mark time and is audible only to the performer who holds one end 
 between his teeth. At the other end of the series are the guitar and 
 violin ; the former represented not only by the well-known European 
 instruments, but by related forms from India and Africa. Interme- 
 diate stages are shown by a number of interesting types named and 
 described upon the labels. The series selected for Atlanta contains 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 about two hundred instruments ; the small portion of it shown gives 
 but a meager idea of the great collection in the National Museum, 
 which includes some three thousand forms. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF ORIENTAL ANTIQUITIES AND RELIGIOUS 
 CEREMONIAL. 
 
 Alcove M is devoted to a collection of objects illus- 
 trative of the Bible, arranged under the direction of Dr. 
 Cyrus Adler, custodian of the collection of Religious 
 Ceremonials in the Museum. An attempt has been 
 made to show representative specimens of most of the 
 classes of objects which are of value to the students of 
 the Bible, and the collection, through necessariljdimited 
 through lack of space, may fairly be said to constitute a 
 minature Biblical Museum. 
 
 The archeology of the Bible is represented by a collection of casts 
 illustrating the ancient Hittites, frequently mentioned in the Bible 
 from the time of Abraham down; by an Egyptian mummy secured 
 by the late Hon. S. S. Cox, U. S. minister to Turkey ; busts of 
 Rameses, the second, supposed to have been the Pharaoh of the 
 Exodus ; and of his father, Seti. Assyria and Babylonia are repre- 
 sented by a model of a temple tower of Babylon, especially con- 
 structed for this Exposition. This Temple Tower was situated in the 
 outskirts of the city of Babylon. The model is made after the de- 
 scription of Herodotus, and the report on the ruins discovered by 
 Sir Henry Rawlinson. There is also a cast of a huge Assyrian 
 Winged Lion, eleven feet long, and eleven feet high, such as were 
 placed to guard the doorway of Assyrian Temples; cast of the Chal- 
 dean account of the Flood, etc. Palestinean Archaeology is repre- 
 sented by casts of Moabite stone, Siloam inscription, and Temple 
 stone. 
 
 The ancient religion of the Jews is represented by a case contain- 
 ing a selection of the more important objects of Jewish ceremonial. 
 Still another case shows a collection of the gems of Palestine, with a 
 model illustrating the method in which the gems were placed in the 
 Hio-h Priest's breastplate. There is also a collection of coins struck 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 in Palestine, as well as those which apjseared in Bible times in cities 
 mentioned in the Bible. In another case is a collection of musical 
 instruments of Palestine and adjacent countries, which differ in 
 nowise from those used in ancient times. To these are added a 
 few representations of musical instruments from Egyptian and 
 Assyrian monuments. A collection of domestic implements, such 
 as are mentioned in the Bible, and a relief map of Palestine, 
 are also shown. 
 
 In this connection there is also exhibited a collection to illustrate 
 the history of the Bible, as a book, and to show the important trans- 
 lations which have been made of it. The Hebrew Bible is repre- 
 sented by portions of an Egyptian manuscript of the fourteenth cent- 
 ury, facsimile of the Aleppo Codex, by the first American edition 
 of the Hebrew Bible printed at Philadelphia in iSio; by other 
 well-known prints of Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Hamburg. The 
 Septuagint or Greek version is represented by facsimiles of the 
 famous Alexandrian and Vatican codices. Following these are 
 copies of the Targum or Aramean version, the Syriac version ; 
 the Coptic version (represented by a manuscript) ; the Ethiopic 
 version ; Gothic version, Anglo-Saxon version ; the edition of the 
 Latin version or vulgate of St. Jerome ; a Spanish-Jewish version ; 
 the Arabic version (represented by a manuscript) ; and the transla- 
 tion of Saadia. 
 
 The New Testament is represented in the Vatican and Alexan- 
 drian Codices, already mentioned, as well as in the Sinaitic and by 
 the first American edition printed at Worcester in iSoo. 
 
 Finally, there is a most interesting and valuable work, consisting 
 of a New Testament arranged in historical order by clippings from 
 the Latin, Greek, French, and English Testaments, all arranged by 
 Thomas Jefferson. This Book contains a concordance of the verses 
 used, and a number of notes scattered throughout, all in Jefferson's 
 handwriting, and is said to have been arranged by him for transla- 
 tion into the Indian languages, so that the Gospels might be pre- 
 sented to the Indians in a simple form. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF TECHNOLOGY. 
 Alcove N is occupied by objects designed to show 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 the more important stages of improvement through 
 which the appliances now in use for the conveyance 
 of men and goods from place to place have passed 
 before the present high standards of mechanical effi- 
 ciency were attained: These have been selected with 
 the special purpose of illustrating the important in- 
 fluence exercised by the South Adantic States upon 
 the early history of internal improvement in America 
 and the inauguration of transatlantic commerce by 
 steam. The theory upon which they are arranged 
 is thus described by Mr. J. E. W'atkins: — 
 
 The origin of many of the contrivances now utilized by man to 
 facilitate individual mo\ement or to transport objects too heavy to 
 be carried by man belongs to a period so remote in prehistoric time 
 that no attempt to arrange aboriginal watei' or land vehicles in a 
 definite chronological sequence has been made. 
 
 Boats and S]iips.'-^Yt\m\'VL\& boats, such as the Catamaran and 
 Dugout Canoe, are placed at the beginning of the series which con- 
 tains among the craft propelled by poles or oars the Ohio River flat- 
 boat, and keelboat by the instrumentality of which the settlement of 
 the Southern and Western States was promoted during (Colonial and 
 Revolutionary times. Among the sailships are to be found the 
 "Sally Constant," from which the first English settlers in the United 
 States landed at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1609, and the Mayflower 
 which brought the Puritans to Plymouth Rock eleven years later. 
 
 The American Steaiiilioat. — The fine rivers of America stimulated 
 the exertions of several ingenious men living on the Atlantic sea- 
 board to adapt the steam engine to navigation. Prominent among 
 these pioneers, whose labors make good America's claim to the birth- 
 place of the steamboat, was James Rumsey, some of whose experi- 
 ments upon the Potomac River were witnessed by General Washing- 
 ton as early as 1787. A model of Rumsey's steamboat of 1788 and 
 of that made by Fitch about the same time are shown together with 
 the model of the first screw propelled steamboat to navigate the 
 waters of any country built by John Stevens in 1804. Fulton's 
 "Clermont" of 1807, Stevens' "Phoenix" of 1808 are also in the 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 series which contains a model of the steamship " Savannah," built in 
 1818 by Georgia capitalists, which has the distinction of being the 
 first steamship to cross the Ocean sailing from Savannah, Georgia, 
 for Liverpool on her initial voyage, Saturday, May 22, 1819. The 
 original log-book, containing the account of this historic voyage, 
 is deposited in the National Museum. 
 
 The collection further embraces the following series : 
 
 1. Boats pushed by poles or propelled by paddles or oars. 
 
 2. Sailboats (driven entirely by the wind). 
 
 3. Steamboats. 
 
 Tlie American Raihuay. — As the South Atlantic States were fore- 
 most in the introduction of transatlantic steam navigation, so were 
 they early in the field of railroad construction. The first railway 
 line, one hundred miles long, built and operated in the world, was 
 the railroad, one hundred and thirty-nine miles long, built by the 
 South Carolina Railroad Company from Augusta, Georgia, to Charles- 
 ton, South Carolina ; and the first steam locomotive built upon the 
 Western Continent for actual service was the "Best Friend," which 
 was built for that road in 1830 and went into service in the following 
 year. 
 
 Various forms of locomotives experimented with in England and 
 America previous to the construction of the "Best Friend " are illus- 
 trated. 
 
 The First Steam Railway Train in tlie South Atlantic States. — The 
 South Carolina Railway was built upon plans which would now en- 
 title it to be called an elevated railway. A model showing the 
 method of track construction upon which is placed the first steam 
 train that ran in the South Atlantic States December 14, 1830. 
 Near it are ])laced models of sleeping-car appliances built for rail- 
 ways terminating at Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, the earliest 
 forms of sleeping berths used in American cars. 
 
 Land Vehicles. — For the purposes of this Exposition the Land 
 Vehicles are arranged under the following classifications : 
 
 I. Land Vehicles drawn by men or domestic animals. 
 
 1. The Rolling Load. 
 
 2. Sledges and Rollers. 
 
 3. Vehicles with solid (or nearly solid) wheels. 
 
 4. Vehicles with wheels containing spokes. 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 II. Land Vehicles propelled by natural or generated forces. 
 
 1. Experimental sail cars and horse-power locomotives. 
 
 2. Experimental Steam Locomoti^'es. 
 
 3. Experimental Electrical Locomotives. 
 
 Early Electrical Appayatus. — In no other department of science 
 have American investigators, from the very beginning, been so 
 successful, not only in the discovery of fundamental truths, but also 
 in the prompt application of the principles deduced therfrom to use- 
 ful purposes as in the domain of electricity. 
 
 The success of Franklin's experiments in the year 1784 in the con- 
 struction of what he calls the "Electrical Wheel " is illustrated, for 
 the first time, in these collections in the models of the two devices 
 involving the most important principles utilized in the modern 
 motor as described by Franklin in his letter to Peter Collinston, 
 London, dated that year and published on page 252 of his autobi- 
 ography. Strangely enough no prominence has been given to these 
 ancient electrical machines in subsequent scientific writings relating 
 to the history of electricity. 
 
 In the models and photographs of the apparatus designed in 1829 
 by Joseph Henry, the First Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- 
 tion, are found the instruments by which the electro-magnet was for 
 the first time utilized to convey a signal to a distance ; in it is em- 
 bodied the principle upon which the modern electrical telegraph is 
 based. The first instrument to make a permanent record of words 
 transmitted over a wire by the agency of electro-magnet was de- 
 signed and constructed by Samuel F. B. IMorse in 1837. A model, 
 an exact reproduction of the original machine, too precious to risk 
 removal, which is now in the custody of the Western Union Tele- 
 graph Company, has been obtained through the courtesy of the 
 president of that Company. 
 
 Actively associated with Morse from the date of his earlier experi- 
 ments was Alfred Vail, a man of great ingenuity and rare mechan- 
 ical ability. 
 
 The original telegraphic instrument by which the historic message, 
 " What hath God wrought," was received at Baltimore, May 24, 1844, 
 and constructed under the direction of Vail. It is one of the valua- 
 ble treasures deposited in the United States National Museum, the 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 removal of which being prohibited on the ground of safety, is illus- 
 trated by a model of full size. 
 
 Limitations of space, unfortunately, prevent a more extended ex- 
 hibit of apparatus connected with the origin of the telephone, the 
 dynamo, and the application of the electrical current for producing 
 light, and the transmission of power. 
 
 Following is a brief outline of the apparatus exhibited : 
 III. Early Electrical Apparatus (models only exhibited). 
 
 1. Apparatus designed by Benjamin Franklin. 
 
 2. Apparatus designed by Joseph Henry. 
 
 3. Telegrahic apparatus invented by Morse and Vail. 
 
 In the same Alcove are shown the contributions of 
 the Department of History and Numismatics. This 
 consists of a series of coins and medals, as follows: — 
 
 {a) Principal coins occurring in the the North American Colo- 
 nies from 1525 to the establishment of the United States Mint in 
 
 1793- 
 
 {fi) Medals commemorative of the Revolutionary War. 
 
 Among the most interesting coins are the " Oak Tree " shillings 
 
 1652, the "Mark Nubby " penny, the "Rosa American" penny, 
 
 the Continental dollar, of the copper coins issued by the Colonies 
 
 before the Revolution. Here also are shown three colored sketches 
 
 of birds by John J. Audubon, the most famous painter of birds who 
 
 ever lived, who was born near New Orleans, in 1781. 
 
 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 The exhibit of the Bureau of American Ethnology 
 occupies Alcove O and has been prepared under the 
 direction of Prof J W McGee, who describes it as 
 follows: — 
 
 This exhibit illustrates three representative Indian tribes of North 
 America, viz : Cherokee, Papago, and Seri. The Cherokee Indians 
 represent a large and important Iroquoian family or stock ; the 
 Papago tribe forms the leading branch of the Piman stock ; while 
 the Seri Indians are the sole representatives of their family. It has 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 been thought better to make moderately full exhibits of a limited 
 number of tribes than to illustrate a large number of tribes incom- 
 pletely. The Cherokee tribe was selected for representation because 
 of its local interest ; the others because they are little known and 
 the collections are quite new. 
 
 The Cherokee Indians were the aboriginal owners of the pine-clad 
 hills and fertile valleys of what is now northern Georgia, the western 
 Carolinas, eastern Tennessee, and a part of Virginia. They were 
 the first occupants of the site of Atlanta ; they lingered long in their 
 old hunting grounds ; and while most of the tribes have disappeared 
 from the woodlands and mountains, a few remain in the eastern 
 Cherokee reservation in Swain county. North Carolina, within one 
 hundred and fifty miles of Atlanta. The collections illustrating the 
 Cherokee Indians comprises pottery and basketry, largely of primi- 
 tive types ; the aboriginal bow and arrow, with the singular blow- 
 gun, which attracted much interest among the earliest white explorers ; 
 the eagle-feather masks and tortoise-shell rattles, and other paraph- 
 ernalia of the primative ceremonials ; stone implements and pipes ; 
 pottery-making tools and domestic utensils ; articles of costume 
 and personal adornment ; fishing spears, etc. The collection was 
 made within a few years by an expert familiar with Indian customs, 
 who was enabled to obtain the most ancient and sacred, as well 
 as the modern posssessions of the Indians. While many of the 
 articles are accultural (or affected by the influence of the higher 
 race), many illustrate fairly the aboriginal ideas of the Indians of 
 southeastern United States. The collection fills one wall case, with 
 the larger articles arranged above it. 
 
 The Papago Indians are a tribe of the desert ; they occupy the hot 
 and dry Papagueria (the most arid region of equal extent in North 
 America), lying south of the Gila river and west of the Sierra IVIadre 
 mountains in Arizona and Sonora (Mexico). Their mode of life is a 
 blending of the nomadic and agricultural ; they establish settlements 
 by springs and water holes, and, while the ground is moist from one 
 of the rare storms, they plant maize, melons and beans, which quickly 
 mature ; and when the spring fails or the water hole dries up, the 
 rancheria is abandoned and the people scatter in search of other 
 sources of water. In autumn they collect the fruits of different 
 species of cactus, mesquite beans, etc., and in winter they migrate 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 to the mountains of Mexico, where they live by hunting. Although 
 discovered and highly esteemed by the early Spanish explorers and 
 missionaries, the Papago Indians are little known outside of their 
 own territory ; the collection exhibited is the first one of note, both 
 as to articles and photographs ever brought to eastern United States. 
 It embraces pottery and water-tight basketry, in the making of which 
 these Indians excel ; the crude plow, akin to that of ancient Egypt, 
 and the still more primitive spade or digging stick ; games of divina- 
 tion and diversion ; musical instruments ; bows and arrows, which 
 are still in limited use, with some of the stone implements used by 
 ancestral tribes in the same region ; rope-making material and appa- 
 ratus ; domestic utensils, costumes and the like. The collection is 
 arranged in three wall cases, one of which is allotted to the peculiar 
 articles made chiefly of the agave ; these include the mat used for 
 bedding, basketry, the cradle, etc. In addition there is a large floor 
 case showing life-size models of Papago women engaged in pottery 
 making, with examples of the pottery made by the tribe ; and the 
 peculiar carrying basket and costumes introduced were those found 
 in actual use among the Indians last autumn. Many of the articles 
 are accultural, since the Papago Indians have borrowed from the 
 white men such arts as seemed good in their sight; but a part (in- 
 cluding the pottery and basketry) are primitive, and some represent 
 perfectly the aboriginal condition of the tribe — among these being 
 the family and other fetiches still in constant use among the Papago 
 Indians. Two additional floor cases contain models of the Papago 
 habitations, which are commonly built of a peculiar grass over a 
 framework of mesquite poles, more rarely of adobe. 
 
 The Seri Indians occupy Tiburon Island, in the Gulf of California, 
 and a considerable area of the adjacent mainland of Sonora, Mexico. 
 They are probably the most primitive Indians remaining in North 
 America ; they are without agriculture, and have no domestic animals 
 except dogs. Their food is fish and water-fowl from the sea," and 
 game from the land, commonly eaten raw, with the fruits of cacti, 
 mesquite beans, berries, acorns, etc., in season. They have been at 
 war with the neighboring tribes and with whites for three-and-a-half 
 centuries, and lose no opportunity to rob by night or to murder by 
 ambush or strategy. By reason of their war-like and treacherous 
 character, the Seri Indians are little known to ethnologists. The 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 articles and photographs exhibited are believed to be the first ever 
 obtained among them. The collection comprises the bow and arrow 
 (the latter, according to the testimony of Mexicans and Indians them- 
 selves, being poisoned), robes of pelican skin which take the place 
 of blankets, face-painting material and utensils, basketry, and their 
 peculiar pottery, as well as their exceedingly meager series of imple- 
 ments and utensils ; the collection being complete except for the 
 rude water-craft and fishing nets which it was found impracticable 
 to obtain. The exhibit occupies two wall cases, with a number of 
 articles arranged above them ; it includes also a floor case containing 
 a life-size model of a Seri hunter, armed with bow and quiver with 
 arrows. The Seri Indians are notable for tall statue, robustness of 
 chest, slenderness of arras and legs, and dark color of the skin. 
 They are remarkably fleet of foot. 
 
 The Exliibit includes twelve transparencies (photographs on glass), 
 six representing the Papago Indians with their houses, occupations, 
 costumes, etc., while six represent the Seri Indians with the flimsy 
 wickiups used on the mainland ; their seaside houses, consisting of 
 turtle-shells elevated on rocks or poles, have never been photographed. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF ETHNOLOGY. 
 
 At the north end of the long aisle (Alcoves P 
 and O) and adjoining the eastern portal is the ex- 
 hibit of the Department of Ethnology. This space 
 is adjacent to the east entrance, and is actually one 
 of the entrances to the Smithsonian space. On either 
 side of the archway are shown groups of Indian 
 figures, clothed in their native costumes, and engaged 
 in their customary occupations. Especially conspicu- 
 ous is the Sioux chieftain, in full war paint, mounted 
 on his gaily housed pony, and with feather headdress 
 sweeping to the ground; while facing him is a group 
 of Kiowa Indians engaged in moving their habitation, 
 some mounted upon a horse, and others carried behind 
 it by means of primitive appliances known as the 
 
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
 
 "travois." Beneath there is a group of Kiowa chil- 
 dren, another of Navajo women weaving blankets, also 
 a Crow warrior painting his blanket, and a Chippeway 
 writing an inscription on a tablet of birch bark. 
 Another very striking group of seven figures repre- 
 sents a religious ceremony practiced by the Indians of 
 Prince Rupert's Sound. The principal figure is an 
 Indian who is personating a cannibal, and who is about 
 to leap into the house through a circular door. Two 
 men are holding him back, while four musicians in 
 front are playing upon their rude instruments The 
 remainder of this space is occupied by an exhibit pre- 
 pared at the express desire of the ladies in charge of the 
 Woman's Building, showing the arts which are practiced 
 by women among primitive peoples, especially in North 
 America. This collection includes implements for basket- 
 making, pottery, weaving, bead-work, sewing, agricult- 
 ural implements, and appliances for burden-bearing. 
 These are all fully named and explained upon the labels. 
 The theory which has guided Prof O. T. Mason in the 
 selection of this series is explained by him as follows: — 
 
 The object of this exhibit is to show the share that women have had 
 in the industrial progress of the world. 
 
 In that continual struggle called Progress or Culture men have 
 played the militant part, women the industrial part. A study of 
 modern savagery is a guide to the activities of our own race in 
 primitive times, and this teaches us that women were always the 
 first house-builders and furnishers, and that they devised the utensils 
 of the humble apartments. They were the first clothiers, whether in 
 skins at the north or in vegetable fibre nearer the equator. It was 
 the women who went first to the field with baskets that they them- 
 selves had fabricated ; they gathered the seeds of plants, bore them 
 home on their backs, ground them on rude mortars, and from 
 the flour made their mush or dough. They invented all sorts of 
 
THE ATLANTA EXHIBIT 
 
 fireplaces and ovens, pottery, and cooking utensils, and the many 
 things employed in the serving and consuming of food. 
 
 In early society women were literally the first beasts of burden, 
 and it was they that devised all sorts of frames for the carrying of 
 children, and bands, and baskets for carrying loads. 
 
 Both men and women in savagery are touched with the sense of 
 beauty, the former in the adornment of the person, the weapon, and 
 the canoe, the latter in the technique of basketry, weaving, embroid- 
 ery and pottery. 
 
 In a small space it is designed to bring together a few examples of 
 primitive woman's work in order to show the paths along ^vhich the 
 sex has traveled in times past. The beadwork, and embroidery, the 
 personal ornaments, the blankets, mats, belts, and looms, the uten- 
 sils connected with food, the conveniences of housewifery, tlie bark- 
 cloth, the delicate handwork in palm leaf, the pottery, the exquisite 
 skin-dressing, and implements of Americans, Africans, and Polyne- 
 sians are silent witnesses of the genius, patience, and skill of women 
 in savagery. 
 
 Many visitors will approach the exhibits from the eastern portal, 
 and must use this guide by taking up the Alcoves in reversed order 
 from Q to A. 
 
 It is hoped that many thousands of those who, for the first time, 
 view a portion of the collections of the National Museum at the 
 Atlanta Exposition will hereafter have the opportunity of seeing the 
 Museum in its entirety in Washington. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 Q 11.S66G64 
 
 An account of the Smithsonian Instifutio 
 
 3 1924 012 205 203