2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL, MUSEUM. vol.60. 



Tliere is no evidence that this series attracted particular attention at 

 the Omaha exposition or for some time thereafter. There began, 

 however, an appreciation, slight at first, but rapidly increasing, 

 concerning the educational value of this exhibit. The inconspicuous 

 cases displaying the scries came to be assiduously studied and were 

 the object of special visits by classes from schools far and near. The 

 cases taken to the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco in 

 1915 were placed on the curriculum of visits to the exposition by the 

 schools of California, and it is estimated that 60,000 pupils inspected 

 them. 



The history of the various halting stages of development through 

 which inventions have come to our hands from the past is of fascinat- 

 ing interest. It is only just that we who inherit should know our 

 inheritance. This knowledge may not only prove an asset in expand- 

 ing the mind but may be of economic usefulness in stimulating 

 invention. 



Every art that is used to minister to our comfort in this present 

 vastly complex civilization has been brought forward step by step, 

 beginning with the simple needs of cruder times. Some of these arts 

 we may follow back into the oblivion in which they had their dawn, 

 some branch off at later marks on the dial of progress, others arise in 

 the full light of history, while myriads swarm within the memory 

 of man. 



The series deals with two classes of inventions — those whose an- 

 cestry is very ancient and which form the foundation stones of 

 progress and those which begin with the present age of science and 

 have part in its great material advancement. 



Also some of the older inventions caught by the genius of the 

 modern age have formed the starting points for new series, as the 

 electric light, which has no genetic relationship with any of the 

 lights which preceded it. The steam engine is also a similar example. 



There are two arrangements of inventions practicable — the one 

 followed in this paper, in which the order is by the grades of in- 

 ventive results attained ; the other is the distribution of inventions in 

 area, demonstrating the effects of environment as shaping or modify- 

 ing factors. Both are instructive and suggestive. 



The specimens are arranged in the order of their grade of develop- 

 ment irrespective of race, place, or time. The series therefore do 

 not always represent a direct genesis of invention. They suggest 

 rather the genesis and indicate how the mind of man has arrived at 

 certain datum points which marlc epochs in progress. No account 

 has been taken of the fluctuations, the countercurrents, and eddies 

 in the stream of invention, but only those specimens are selected 

 which show a substantial improvement amounting to an advance. 



