24 EEPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1910. 



and four remarkable portraits of a girl, on Royal Nepera paper, pre- 

 sented by the Eastman Company, of Rochester, New York. There 

 is now assembled an excellent collection to illustrate the history of 

 photography from the earliest period to the present time, which it is 

 expected to prepare and install during the current year. It includes 

 both apparatus and pictures, and contams many rarities. 



Musical instruments. — The following were among the additions to 

 this section: Tliree Japanese musical instruments — a treble guitar, 

 direct bass flute, and fiddle — obtained by the late Mrs. James M. Flint 

 in Yokohama and presented by Dr. Flint; a series of drawmgs, 

 tracings, and notes relating to violins, their manufacture, dimensions, 

 and characteristics, both old and new, collected by Mr, Gilbert 

 Thompson and donated by Miss A. G. Thompson, of Washington; a 

 melodeon made in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, by William Pierce, prior 

 to 1863, formerly the property of Dr. Theodore F. Hance, and con- 

 tributed by his estate, through his daughters, the Misses Emma and 

 Eleanor W, Hance, of Washington; a "marimba" of the most recent 

 type, used by the natives of Yucatan, presented by Mr. Emil Mosonyi. 



Medicine. — This division acquired a number of surgical instru- 

 ments, cases of medicine, microscopic slides, and other interesting 

 material. 



History. — The accessions received by this division contained much 

 that is noteworthy. A collection of 38 pieces of table porcelain 

 bearing the insignia of the "Society of the Cincinnati," made in 

 Cliina for David Townsend, of Massachusetts, in 1790, was lent by 

 Mr. Thomas Gerry Townsend. Accompanying it is the diploma of 

 membership of David Townsend in the Society of the Cincinnati and 

 a letter from Samuel Shaw, dated 1790, relating to the procurement 

 of the china. A number of personal relics of Rear Admiral Charles 

 Wilkes, United States Navy, were deposited by his daughter, Miss 

 Jane Wilkes, of Washington, including a handsome jeweled sword 

 presented by the city of Boston in 1862, a gold medal conferred by 

 the Royal Geographical Society of London in 1848, a service sword, 

 hat, epaulets, and other articles used by the admiral, then a lieuten- 

 ant, during his command of the United States Exploring Expedition 

 of 1838-1842. Many personal memorials of the distinguished astron- 

 omer Simon Newcomb, bequeathed by him to the United States 

 Government for exhibition in the National Museum, were deposited 

 by Mrs. Newcomb, though possessing the right to retain them dur- 

 ing her life. The collection embraces the uniform and sword of 

 Prof. Newcomb, who had the rank of rear admiral in the United 

 States Navy, two orders of the Legion of Honor of France, various 

 gold and bronze medals and tablets, a large jasper vase on a black 

 marble pedestal presented by the Observatory of Poulkova, Russia, 

 a pair of bronze vases from the Imperial University of Tokyo, and 



