Committee on printing and publication.-All manuscripts submitted for publication by the Institution or its branches have, as usual, been examined and passed upon by the Smithsonian advisory committee on printing and publication. The committee has also considered various general matters concerning printing and binding. During the year 18 meetings were held and 109 manuscripts acted upon. The personnel of the committee was as follows: Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, head curator of biology, National Museum, acting chairman; Dr. C. G. Abbot, director of the Astrophysical Observatory; Dr. Frank Baker, superintendent of the National Zoological Park; Mr. A. Howard Clark, editor of the Smithsonian Institution, secretary of the committee; Mr. F. W. Hodge, ethnologist-in-charge of the Bureau of American Ethnology; and Dr. George P. Merrill, head curator of geology, United States National Museum.

THE SMITHSONIAN LIBRARY.

The formation of a library of science was one of the earliest activities of the Smithsonian Institution and its natural growth during the last 60 or more years has resulted in the accumulation of nearly half a million works bearing on practically every branch of natural science, the fine arts, and the industrial arts. For administrative reasons a large portion of the library, consisting in the main of transactions of learned societies, was in 1866 deposited in the Library of Congress. This deposit is constantly being increased, the accessions during the past year numbering 24,713 items of publications and making the total number of entries to June 30, 1915, 521,616.

The several libraries still directly maintained by the Institution and its branches include the Smithsonian office library; the libraries of the National Museum, comprising over 100,000 titles; the Bureau of American Ethnology, about 35,000 titles; the Astrophysical Observatory; the National Herbarium; and in addition to these should be mentioned the more recently formed aeronautical library, which contains probably the most complete series of works on this subject in the United States. One of the chief contributors to this library during the year was Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, whose gift included a working library of 46 volumes and 156 volumes of newspaper clippings covering the recent years of rapid development of the art of aeronautics.

Among other accessions to the art section of the library during the year I may mention the loan by Mrs. Walcott of nine volumes of Japanese art and about 400 volumes of architectural publications which formed the library of her brother, Mr. George Vaux, of Philadelphia.

The report of the assistant librarian, appended hereto, describes the improvements recently made by the construction of steel stacks in the Smithsonian building for assembling in accessible quarters many general works belonging to the Government bureaus under the Institution which had heretofore been widely scattered in unsuitable

rooms.

LUCY T. AND GEORGE W. POORE FUND.

In my last report I referred to a number of bequests then awaiting settlement. One of these was the bequest of George W. Poore, of Lowell, Mass., who died December 17, 1910, and by the terms of his will made the Smithsonian Institution his residuary legatee. As mentioned in my 1910 report, the estate, estimated at about $40,000, is bequeathed under the condition that the income of this sum should be added to the principal until a total of $250,000 should have been reached, and that then the income only should be used for the purposes for which the Institution was created. Although I have heretofore called attention to Mr. Poore's reason for making this bequest, it is so apt and appropriate that I will repeat it here. The will says:

I make this gift not so much because of its amount as because I hope it will prove an example for other Americans to follow, by supporting and encouraging so wise and beneficent an institution as I believe the Smithsonian Institution to be, and yet it has been neglected and overlooked by American citizens.

In March, 1915, the Institution received from the executors of the Poore estate the first installment of the bequest, amounting to $24,534.92, as noted under the head of finances. It will be known as the Lucy T. and George W. Poore fund.

THE FREER COLLECTION.

In 1906 Mr. Charles L. Freer, of Detroit, Mich., presented to the Institution about 2,300 paintings and other objects of art, and from time to time since then he has supplemented that gift by further generous donations until this wonderful collection now aggregates 4,811 pieces, including 991 paintings, engravings, lithographs, etc.. by American artists, and 3,820 oriental works of art, many of them. of high historic and intrinsic value. It was stipulated by Mr. Freer in connection with the gift that the collection should remain in his custody during his lifetime, and that he would provide funds for the erection of a suitable building for the permanent preservation of the collection. He is now considering the question of erecting such a building and a committee of the Regents has been appointed "on the securing of a site for the Freer Art Gallery."

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM.

The report of the Assistant Secretary in charge of the National Museum, hereto appended, indicates most gratifying progress in all lines of Museum activities. To the collections there have been many large and most valuable additions, and installation of exhibits, particularly in the new or natural history building, has been greatly advanced and improved.

More than 300,000 specimens were accessioned during the year, over two-thirds of which pertained to paleontology and zoology, one-sixth to botany, and the remainder to anthropology, geology, mineralogy, textiles, and to other divisions of the Museum.

The ethnological exhibits were enriched by a large series of old Japanese art assembled some 30 years ago by the late J. Crawford Lyon; baskets, musical instruments, and other objects from Dutch Borneo, presented by Dr. W. L. Abbott; also many interesting articles pertaining to the American Indians. In American archeology the principal accession was a series of implements and other objects of stone, metal, and terra cotta from various parts of the United States and Mexico, secured through cooperation with the management of the San Diego Exposition. Dr. Alexander Graham Bell added very greatly to the electrical exhibits by his gift of 280 pieces of experimental apparatus and relics relating to the early history of the telephone.

Special mention should also be made of the gift of Mr. Hugo Worch of a large number of pianofortes, illustrating the progress and development of piano making from about 1770 to 1850. The earliest of European pianos in the series dates from about 1770 and of American pianos about 1790. Many interesting accessions pertaining to American history are mentioned by the Assistant Secretary in his report, as also important additions to the zoological, geological, and botanical collections. A most notable contribution of mollusks, consisting of a very large collection of specimens from practically every part of the world, was a gift from Mr. John B. Henderson, a Regent of the Institution.

As in previous years, much material was received from the United States Geological Survey, the Bureau of Fisheries, the Department of Agriculture, and other Government establishments, these accumulations from various field researches having served their purpose in the preparation of reports on scientific investigations.

The National Gallery of Art has already outgrown the space allotted to the display of paintings. Each year the additions to the permanent collection of paintings, as well as the loan exhibits, causes more and more embarrassment to those in charge of their installa

tion, and the time has now come when serious consideration must be given to securing adequate quarters for these national collections.

I can not pass without mention of the very interesting exhibition of laces, embroideries, and other art textiles, as also the historical costumes, especially those representing the several administrations at the White House since the period of President Washington. I will not attempt to describe any of the gowns recently received, further than to say that they include a lavender silk dress worn by Mrs. Fillmore, one of black moiré worn by Mrs. Pierce at the inauguration of President Pierce in 1853, and a pale green brocade worn by Mrs. Cleveland during President Cleveland's first administration.

The division of textiles has greatly increased in popular interest through the installation of a series of machines illustrating methods of manufacture as well as exhibits of the raw and finished products. Likewise, mineral technology is being illustrated by models and products, showing the manufacture of mica plate from material heretofore thrown away as waste, the preparation of asbestos products, and the manufacture of graphite and its industrial products.

The Museum is participating in the expositions at San Francisco and San Diego, although the very small allotment allowed the Institution and its branches from the appropriation for Government exhibits permitted only a comparatively small display at San Francisco. At the San Diego Exposition, however, for which no appropriation was granted for Government exhibits, it was possible, through cooperation with the exposition management, to prepare an interesting exhibit of physical anthropology and one illustrating American aboriginal industries. The former exhibit, more fully described on a previous page, is an entirely novel one. It illustrates man's evolution, his development or growth, his racial, sexual and individual variations, and the causes, other than normal senility, which result in the decline of the human organism.

For many years it has been possible to aid the schools and colleges of the country in their teaching of natural history through the distribution of duplicate material. During the past year 163 sets of such duplicates, aggregating 14,843 specimens, were thus distributed. And about 8,000 duplicate specimens, nearly three-fifths of which were plants, were utilized in exchanges with other museums and institutions.

The total number of visitors to the older Museum building during the year was 133,202, and to the new building 321,712. The latter aggregate includes 59,577 Sunday visitors to the new building, the older building not being open on that day.

The Museum issued its usual annual report and series of scientific papers, the total distribution for the year aggregating 54,000 volumes and pamphlets.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY.

The field work of the Bureau of American Ethnology during the last year resulted in the accumulation of a large amount of important data relating in particular to the early inhabitants of the western and southwestern portions of the United States. There was also brought together a great deal of material bearing on the habits, customs, beliefs, institutions, ceremonies, and languages of vanishing tribes of Indians throughout the country. The report of the ethnologist-in-charge, appended hereto, reviews in detail many lines of systematic research now being conducted by the bureau. Among these I may note interesting explorations in New Mexico and Utah among ancient village sites which appear characteristic of peoples probably of a considerable earlier period than those heretofore known from those regions. Ancient earthenware collected by Dr. Fewkes in such sites in the lower Mimbres Valley in New Mexico bear decorations of animals and geometric designs in some measure resembling certain ancient paintings on the walls of caves in France. In southern Arizona are some extensive aboriginal ruins awaiting investigation, which bid fair to add much to our knowledge of the early inhabitants of that region.

Among documents preserved in the Santa Ines Mission in California there has been brought to light an old manuscript of special interest in connection with the study of the former Chumash Indians, and a complete copy of the manuscript has been made for the use of the bureau.

Special researches have been in progress for some years in the preparation of several series of handbooks relating to American Indians. One of these series, devoted to Indian languages, is in course of publication, the first volume already having been issued, under the editorship of Dr. Franz Boas. A Handbook of American Antiquities, the first part of which will soon be ready for the printer, is being prepared by Mr. W. H. Holmes. The "Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico," published some years ago, has had several reprintings, and the public demand for it still continues. A handbook in course of preparation is devoted to Aboriginal Remains East of the Mississippi.

There had been such doubt and discussion as to the probable age of certain Indian mounds in northeastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska that it seemed important for a representative of the bureau to make an investigation of the facts in the case. This task was undertaken by Mr. Gerard Fowke. His report indicates that instead of dating back many thousands of years, as some had claimed, "it is safe to say that no earthwork, mound, lodge site, or human bones along this part of the Missouri River has been here as long as 10 centuries."