THE MAGIC, PSYCHIC, ANCIENT EGYPTIAN, GREEK, 

 AND ROMAN MEDICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE DIVI- 

 SION OF MEDICINE IN THE UNITED STATES NA- 

 TIONAL MUSEUM 



By Charles Whitebread 



Assistant Curator, Division of Medicine, United States National Museum 



INTRODUCTION. 



The origin of the materia medica collection of the United States 

 National Museum dates back to 1881. In 1882 the drug collection 

 which had been exhibited at the Centennial Exposition at Phila- 

 delphia in 1876 was transferred to the Museum by the Department 

 of Agriculture. For a time the efforts of the section of materia 

 medica were confined almost exclusively to procuring authentic 

 specimens of medicinal materials. Some years later the scope of the 

 section was enlarged to include exhibits visualizing the history of 

 the healing art, and in 1898 the more comprehensive name of division 

 of medicine was substituted for the " section of materia medica" 

 theretofore used. The scope of activities of the division was again 

 enlarged in 1916, this time to include the history of pharmacy, public 

 hygiene and sanitation, and the division, which up to that time had 

 been administered under the department of anthropology, was made 

 a unit of the department of arts and industries. 



The materia medica collection has served the purpose of giving 

 the general public an easy reference to specimens of " official " me- 

 dicine and has afforded students of medicine and pharmacy the 

 opportunity of studying this subject in its various details. The 

 subjects of history of pharmacy, public hygiene and sanitation, be- 

 cause of their comparatively recent addition to the activities of the 

 division, have not progressed to the same degree of perfection as the 

 materia medica and history of medicine collections, but with the 

 cooperation of the various government departments and outside 

 agencies interested in these subjects, extensive plans for their de- 

 velopment are now under way. 



This paper has been prepared to meet the demand for labels and 

 information concerning the historical medical collections, and to 



No. 2528. — Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 65, Art. 15. 



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