Canadian railway cases.

American and English Encyclopedia of Law, second edition.

Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure.

American negligence reports.

Opinions of Attorneys-General.

Court of Claims reports.

Decisions of the Comptroller of the Treasury.

Legal treatises.

Official reports on foreign railways.

United States Statutes at Large, 1789-1908.

United States Compiled Statutes.

Federal Statutes, Annotated.

Congressional Record, 1885-1908.

Report of the Industrial Commission. Nineteen volumes.

Archiv für Eisenbahnwesen. Complete set.

Consular reports. Complete set.

Bulletin of the International Bureau of American Republics. Complete set.
Bulletin of the International Railway Congress. Complete set.

Proceedings of the International Railway Congress. Complete set.

Congressional documents and reports relating to interstate commerce and private committee hearings.

Bills and resolutions relating to interstate commerce.

Addresses and papers.

tion of pamphlets.]

1863-1879. By Judge Thomas M. Cooley. 8°. [Collec

Congressional Debates on Interstate Commerce. Compiled by U. H. Painter. 1884-1895. Washington: 1884-1895. [In 8 parts.] 8°. [Printed from Government stereotype plates.]

Report of the Hepburn Committee in the Investigation of Railroads in the State of New York in 1879. Testimony and reports, 6 volumes. 8°.

Interstate Commerce Commission. Addresses, papers, etc., by commissioners and secretary, 1885-1907. Two volumes. [Compiled by Charles W. Kendall.] 8°.

Hepburn bill, H. R. 12987, Fifty-ninth Congress, first session. Approved June 29, 1906. Bills, resolutions, reports, documents. With table of contents and indexdigest. Compiled by Leroy Stafford Boyd, acting librarian. [Consists of 183 separate publications. 4°.

8°.

Interstate Commerce Speeches, 1884-1885. [A compilation of separate speeches.]

Speeches on Interstate Commerce, Fifty-ninth Congress, 1905-1907. Compiled by Leroy Stafford Boyd, acting librarian. Two volumes. 8°. [A compilation of separate speeches.]

Steam Railway Accidents. Great Britain and the United States Compared. 18951905. Compiled by Leroy Stafford Boyd, acting librarian. One sheet. obl. fo.

1. 1891.

INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS.

(Officer reporting: John Barrett, director.)

2. The principal facilities offered by this office for advanced study and research are such as might be obtained from the Columbus Memorial Library, which is connected with the office and under its supervision. This library was reorganized in 1901 and given the name it now bears. It contains about 15,000 volumes relating to the American republics, principally law, history, and Government publications.

3. In its present location the Columbus Memorial Library is much limited in the facilities it can offer to students on account of want of space. A limited number, however, were welcomed to the use of the library, and were given such assistance as it was within the power of the attendants to render.

4. No record has been kept of the number of persons availing themselves of the library during the fiscal year 1908. The number is not very large, probably four or five hundred. These were all apparently special or general students of Latin-American affairs.

6. The only rules governing admission to the use of the library are that the person applying must have a serious purpose in wishing to consult the books, and must not abuse the privileges extended. Ordinarily, admission to the stacks is not allowed, but in a proper case this rule may be waived.

ISTHMIAN CANAL COMMISSION.

The Isthmian Canal Commission reports that it has no special facilities available for students of any class whatsoever.

1. 1850.

UNITED STATES BOTANIC GARDEN.

(Officer reporting: W. R. Smith, superintendent.)

2. The opportunities for study consist of four or five thousand object lessons in botany, open to all visitors from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. every working day. The tropical collection is rich in palms, containing 125 species, and in ferns of the genus ficus, a very interesting exhibit of 30 species. There is a large collection of succulents, orchids, and insectivorous plants. There is also a miscellaneous general collection grouped in five divisions in the main conservatory; tropical in center, all south of the equator in one wing and north of the equator in the other, facilitating exits at the two cool ends. The outdoor collection is grouped after Dr. Gray's five divisions. 3. Offers were made by Senator L. M. Morrill, chairman of Library Committee, some years ago, and were taken advantage of one season by Howard University students, but no others applied. Medical students are not examined as much in botany now as in previous years. Trinity College (D. C.) botany class made frequent visits with an instructor, and botany classes from District high schools come from time to time during the school year.

1. 1846.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

(Officer reporting: Cyrus Adler, assistant secretary.)

2. The Institution aids investigators by making grants for research and exploration, supplying books, apparatus, laboratory accommodations, etc. It occasionally provides for lectures, which are published. It maintains, in cooperation with the Library of Congress, a library which numbers 250,000 volumes, and consists mainly of the transactions of learned societies and scientific periodicals. Whilst the body of the library is deposited in the Library of Congress and accessible to all its readers a working library is maintained at the Institution.

The parent Institution has the administrative charge of several branches which grew out of its early activities and which are supported by congressional appropriations. These are the National Museum, including the National Gallery of Art; the International Exchange Service; the Bureau of American Ethnology; the National Zoological Park; the Astrophysical Observatory; and the Regional Bureau for the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature. [The Exchange Service and the Catalogue of Scientific Literature are occupied with the publication and distribution of matter for investigators outside of Washington. For the work of the remaining institutions, see the detailed reports which follow.]

3. In addition to the main portion of the Smithsonian Library, which (as stated under No. 2) is deposited in the Library of Congress, there is maintained at the Institution a working library, which is available for consultation to any students or others who may wish to avail themselves of the privilege. Facilities could be provided for perhaps a dozen students.

The Institution proper does not maintain any general laboratory in the Smithsonian Building. It, however, leases a table at the Naples Zoological Station, which is placed at the disposal of investigators. The facilities available in the laboratories of the Institution's various branches are mentioned in the reply from each branch. While no special arrangement has been made for the direction and supervision of students, members of the Institution's staff are glad to aid, as far as practicable, any properly qualified student.

No provision for the employment of student assistants is possible from the limited funds at the Institution's disposal.

4. During the past year the Schoolcraft manuscripts in the possession of the Institution have been examined and a portion of them copied by members of the staff of the Department of Historical Research of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

5. The library is consulted each day by individuals engaged in researches on various subjects. No list of names is preserved.

6. While the accommodations at the Institution are somewhat limited, such facilities as may be possible will be given to any properly qualified student engaged in any original investigation.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: NATIONAL MUSEUM.

(Officer reporting: W. deC. Ravenel, administrative assistant.)

1. The museum of the Government was established by the act of Congress approved August 10, 1846, founding the Smithsonian Institution. It was designed to include both nature and art, without limitations. The designation "United States National Museum" has been used in all the acts of Congress since 1875, in which year it was first so employed. While the museum was practically organized in 1850, by the employment of an assistant-in-charge, it was not until 1858, when the Smithsonian Building had been completed, that all the Government collections then existing were brought together in that place.

It can scarcely be said that there has been any real change in the status of the National Museum since the beginning. With the increase of the collections, assistants have been added from time to time, specialists in each of the branches represented, and the head of each branch reported directly to the person in charge of the

museum.

For convenience of administration, however, the several branches were segregated in 1897 under three headings, called departments, as follows: Biology, Geology, and Anthropology. The last-named department included not only ethnology and archeology, but also all the activities of civilized man. Some modifications of this classification will soon be made.

In 1906 the department of the fine arts, which had been authorized in the original act, but had not been developed, owing to the pressure of other subjects, was definitely organized as the National Gallery of Art, the stimulus to this action being supplied through several contributions of exceptional importance and value.

The subjects now most fully represented are zoology, botany, geology (including paleontology), the ethnology and archeology of North America, certain branches of the arts and industries, such as firearms, land and water transportation, methods of lighting, time-taking devices, measuring apparatus, electrical inventions (the telegraph and telephone), ceramics, glass making and decoration, etc., and paintings by contemporary American artists.

2 and 3. The use of the study collections has always been fully granted to properly accredited investigators, and no modification in the museum's policy in this respect was made during the year 1907-8. Not infrequently, material desired for study is sent away from Washington, but this is done only when it is impossible for the applicant to come to the museum. It is especially desirable that such studies should be carried on in the museum building when type material has to be consulted, as the lending of type specimens is in general discouraged.

The systematic classification of the collections demands a large amount of scientific research, and as far as possible this work is done by members of the staff.

As the National Museum, whose primary duty is the preservation of the national collections, performs the double function of affording opportunity for research and the general instruction of the people, the public exhibits are so selected as to form an excellent means of study.

The museum has minor laboratories and working rooms equipped for the immediate needs of the scientific work of the staff, in classifying and describing collections. There is practically no opportunity in these laboratories for outside students owing to the limitations of space.

The museum occasionally distributes to educational institutions sets of carefully selected and labeled specimens of various kinds, such as fishes, marine invertebrates, rocks, and ores, minerals, and fossils. It is doubtful, however, if very much can be done in this direction for some time to come, owing to the crowded conditions which exist and which render the overhauling of the duplicates difficult, if not impossible. Each annual report of the National Museum contains under the heading "Research,' or some similar caption, the statement showing the extent to which this use of the collections was made during the year.

When specialists or advanced students are granted the privilege of studying the collections, it is assumed that they do not need supervision, and at present there is no provision for furnishing assistance of this kind. Advice as to the particular groups of specimens which will best cover their needs, or which it is thought would be of a special value in their work, is gladly given by the curator having direct charge of the collections, and he is also expected to exercise such reasonable care as will prevent improper use of the specimens, but beyond this no direction or supervision is given. The student who has not had special training in scientific methods could hardly make profitable use of the collections, and indeed requests from such are very seldom

28865 No. 3-14

received. No earnest applicant, however, is allowed to feel discouraged, and every effort is made to meet his wants as far as possible, provided that he can carry on his work without consuming too much of the curator's time.

Members of the museum staff are encouraged to make investigations on the collections under their charge, but assistants in the lower grades are expected to seek their opportunities for research work both through constant contact with the collections and by daily association with the higher and more experienced officials.

There is no special provision for the appointment of students as assistants in the scientific departments of the museum, and the engagement of volunteers without pay is prohibited by law.

The facilities of the working library, which now contains more than 85,000 volumes, unbound papers, and manuscripts, are daily availed of, not only by members of the staff, but also by specialists attached to other scientific bureaus of the Government— especially in the various divisions of the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Fisheries, and the Hygienic Laboratory of the Marine Hospital Service. No exact account is kept of the number of persons by whom these advantages are utilized, but it can be safely said that hardly a day passes without a hundred or more volumes being called for by those needing to consult them in connection with some special investigation.

4. The statistics for the fiscal year 1908 are not yet definitely available, but it is more than likely that at least 200 investigators availed themselves of the museum collections during that period.

5. The facilities which can be offered to students during the year 1908-9 will probably be no greater than those of preceding years. In fact, they may be even less, for not only has the museum become more crowded, but the problem of the removal of the scientific collections to the new building will tax the energies of the entire staff. With this removal, however, which will probably take place during this year, it is reasonable to hope that the facilities offered to students will be greatly increased.

6. The regulations regarding investigators are as simple as possible. Little is required other than to furnish assurance of good character and scientific ability; as a rule, a brief indorsement to that effect from any scientific person in good standing or from the head of the institution with which the applicant is connected is all that is needed.

As already intimated, it is not possible to make special provision for the accommodation of students. Each applicant for the privilege of studying collections in the museum building is made fully aware of the conditions, however, before consent is definitely granted.

1. 1879.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY.

(Officer reporting: W. H. Holmes, chief.)

2. The facilities offered for advanced study and research prior to 1908 were limited to the use of the library of upward of 20,000 books and pamphlets relating to ethnological subjects; the privilege of consulting the 16,000 linguistic manuscripts contained in the archives of the bureau; the use for purposes of study of the 15,000 photographs of Indians and Indian subjects; the use of a desk, and the privilege of consulting with the ethnologic staff of the bureau.

3. (a) The library has table privileges to accommodate five or six persons.

(b) The photographic laboratory will accommodate two or three students engaged in photographic work and experiments.

(c) The ethnologists of the bureau, seven in number, could give some attention to an equal number of students.

(d) Practically all the members of the scientific corps spend at least a part of each year in original research in the field.

(e) No provision can be made for appointment with pay of student assistants. 4. During the present year Miss Densmore, of Red Wing, Minn., spent several weeks in the office engaged in preparatory studies relating to Indian music. A number of Indians of visiting delegations were induced to sing their native songs into the phonograph and valuable records were secured. Miss Densmore spent some months during the previous year among the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota studying the music of the "Grand Medicine" ceremony, and will continue this work during the summer season under an allotment of funds from the bureau.

Mr. David I. Bushnell, jr., an archeologist of standing, has pursued his studies at the bureau, enjoying the privileges of a member of the staff, and the same is true of Dr. H. A. Scomp, of Tennessee, who is engaged principally in the study of the Indian languages of the Southern States. The library has been frequented by a number of

scholars, largely members of the faculty of the Catholic University, engaged in the main in linguistic and historical studies.

5. Without enlargement of office space the bureau can not afford greater facilities, to students than are indicated above. On completion of the new building for the National Museum it is probable that additional room will be available.

6. The bureau is devoted to research exclusively, and the facilities for students other than those pursuing original investigations are necessarily limited.

1. 1895.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK.

(Officer reporting: Frank Baker, superintendent.)

2. To students of natural history the examination, comparison, and observation of the habits of animals. Photographing is allowed.

To artists special facilities for representing animals either by drawing, painting, or modeling.

3. A special shelter has been made for the use of artists who wish to sketch in the open without attracting the attention of the animals. Every practicable facility is afforded to those who wish to sketch in the houses.

4. No record kept. A considerable number of specimens of blood from animals was furnished Dr. Edward T. Rechert, who has been conducting a series of investigations on blood crystals under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY.

(Officer reporting: F. E. Fowle, aid.)

1. March 3, 1891. Previously started by the Smithsonian Institution, 1889. 2. In 1905 Mr. H. H. Kimball, of the United States Weather Bureau, was assigned to the observatory for special instruction in spectrobolometric work.

3. (a) The library contains such books as relate to physics and astronomy, especially radiation and spectrum absorption.

(b) Laboratory facilities are exceptional for bolometric and spectrobolometric research. An instrument shop is comnected with the observatory for the construction of necessary laboratory apparatus.

(f) Students will be expected to take part in such work as relates to the main researches undertaken at the observatory. During 1908 this relates to the radiation of the sun and the temperature of the earth.

6. These facilities are in general open only to the graduate students pursuing original research connected with the main researches under progress at the observatory. Such students must satisfy the director that they are qualified for the work.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: BUREAU FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

The Bureau for the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature and the International Exchange Service are organizations to secure the cooperation of investigators in different parts of the world, and have no distinctive importance for the student who resides at Washington.

Mr. FESS. I now offer a very brief statement of the various associations for the advancement of knowledge domiciled here in the capital.

IMPORTANT SOCIETIES FOR ADVANCEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, LOCATED IN THE CAPITAL.

1. Anthropological Society of Washington. Founded 1879. Membership, about 200. Publications: Almost a library.

2. Biological Society of Washington. Founded 1880. Membership, 300. Publications: Numerous.

3. Carnegie Institution, 1902. Endowment, $12,000,000. Publications: Over 100 original titles.

Research activities:

Department botanical research, Tucson.

Department economics, C. O. Wright, Worcester.

Department experimental evolution. Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y.

Department geophysical laboratory, McGill University.

Department historical research, Washington.