REPORT ON THE DIVISIONS OF TEXTILES AND MEDICINES AND THE 

 SECTIONS OF WOOD TECHNOLOGY AND FOODS, 



By F. L. Lewton, Curator of Textiles. 



1. General administration of divisions and sections. — Owing to the 

 necessity of emphasizing certain lines of work due to the war activi- 

 ties of the countrv, and the fact that two assistant curators from this 

 office had entered the military service, the attention of the curator 

 has very largely been directed to war work and war-time exhibits, 

 and to keeping active the work of the absent assistant curators. These 

 conditions have preveiited any very well defined plans of administra- 

 tion from being carried out. 



lA. Accessions of the year. — The accessions received during the 

 year numbered 76, 9 less than the preceding year, and without count- 

 ing the large number of unlisted specimens included in the exhibit 

 of the Medical Department of the United States Army, comprised 

 884 entries, which are 648 less than were received in the fiscal year 

 1918. 



These entries may be divided into five groups, as follows : Textiles 

 183, medicines 293, woods 3, foods 336, and organic products 69; 

 each group, with the exception of foods, showing fewer entries than 

 last year. The smaller number of entries not only shows that the at- 

 tention of the curator and assistant curators was given to many 

 things outside of their special work, but also the disturbance of war- 

 time conditions upon time and attention of all of the Museum's 

 contributors. A large number of business firms were giving their 

 whole attention to supplying the war needs of the Government, and 

 could not be expected to devote time or to assist in building up the 

 Museum's collections. Under these conditions the showing made is 

 better than could reasonably be expected. 



Accessions of importance. — By far the most important ac^iession 

 was that covering the material transferred from the Office of the 

 Sui'geon General, War Department. This collection consists of ap- 

 paratus, hospital appliances, and field equipment used by the medi- 

 cal department, including the dental and sanitary divisions in the war 

 with Germany, 1917-18, and includes examples of all the kinds of 

 equipment used in a 1,000-bed overseas hospital. The greater part 

 of this material may easily be arranged for exhibit purposes into six 

 groups: The furniture and appliances used in the ward for the 

 care of the sick and wounded; X-ray apparatus for the examina- 

 tion of the wounded; apparatus and instruments used in the gen- 

 143943°— 20 8 113 



