REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1909. 31 



significance of low foreheads in American crania. Studies were com- 

 pleted on three special groups of skeletal material — the Gilder collec- 

 tion from Nebraska, the Fowke collection from Missouri, and the 

 Moore collections from Arkansas and Louisiana. A bulletin by- 

 Doctor Hrdlicka, entitled " Medical and Physiological Observations 

 amons the Indians of Southwestern United States and Northern 

 Mexico," was issued by the Bureau of American Ethnology. The 

 results of the investigation of tuberculosis among the Indians were 

 published in several preliminary reports, and also in a special bulle- 

 tin of the Bureau of American Ethnology. The examination of Mr. 

 Clarence B. Moore's collection of 1909 has been completed and an 

 illustrated report embodying the results is in course of preparation. 



Technology. — An important accession, completing the transfer of 

 models from the United States Patent Office under act of Congress, 

 comprised 222 objects, including 118 rifles, muskets, revolvers, and 

 pistols, some of much historical importance; 80 models of electrical 

 devices, rare calculating machines, models of printing presses, etc.; 

 and a model of the gasoline automobile invented by Mr. George B. 

 Selden, of Rochester, New York, in 1895, which, it is stated in a 

 report by the Commissioner of Patents, may be considered the pioneer 

 invention in the application of the compression gas engine to road 

 or horseless carriage use. The firearms embrace not only models, but 

 also a large number of full-size pieces, as well as examples illustrat- 

 ing the history of the flint-lock, the percussion pill-lock, and the ordi- 

 nary percussion cap, together with automatic percussion primers 

 fitted to guns and pistols. With the addition of the specimens re- 

 ceived during the past year, the firearms exhibit in the National 

 Museum is now the finest in the country, containing not less than 50 

 pieces which can not be duplicated. 



A noteworthy contribution to the section of aeronautics was re- 

 ceived from Mr. Octave Chanute, of Chicago, Illinois, and consists 

 of 3 models, one-fourth the original size, of the gliding machines with 

 which Mr. Chanute has successfully experimented. They comprise 

 the biplane of 1896, the multiple wing of 1896, and the oscillating 

 wing of 1901-2. The Aerial Experiment Association presented, 

 through Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, an exceptionally fine collec- 

 tion of 76 enlarged photographs of the Wright aeroplane taken dur- 

 ing the period of testing by Mr. Orville AVright at Fort Myer, Vir- 

 ginia, in September, 1908. The views show the machine at rest, in 

 different positions during the successful flights, and at the time of 

 the accident which resulted in the death of Lieutenant Selfridge. 

 They constitute a valuable historical record of this important epoch 

 in the history of air navigation. 



Mr. Alfred C. Clark, of New York City, deposited a Berliner 

 gramophone, with improvements by the lender. A flint-lock horse 

 12048—09 3 



