REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 47 



The gem collection has been thoroughly overhauled, reweighed, 

 and recatalogued, and a handbook and catalogue of the same pre- 

 pared, the manuscript of which is now in the hands of the Govern- 

 ment Printer. 



The work of preparing 100 sets of 85 specimens each of ores and 

 minerals for distribution to schools, mentioned in the report of last 

 year, has been completed and the sets are now ready as occasion shall 

 demand. 



Textiles. — The collections under the supervision of the curator of 

 textiles, which, besides textiles, embrace medicine, food, wood tech- 

 nology, and miscellaneous animal and vegetable products, were in- 

 creased by many gifts and by transfer from other Government 

 bureaus amounting to about 2,000 objects. The most important of 

 these are as follows : The division of textiles received for exhibition 

 from the Department of Ordnance, War Department, specimens of 

 the silk cartridge cloth which was so essential in the preparation of 

 separate loading ammunition for all the large guns taking part in 

 the World War; also examples of this same fabric showing the re- 

 sults of the experiments made to demonstrate the value for civilian 

 uses of the 11,000,000 yards sold as surplus material. There were 

 added by gift many specimens of knitted fabrics contributed by 

 American manufacturers, and made from artificial silk, wool, and 

 mohair. 



Medicine. — The collections in the division of medicine were en- 

 larged by a series of pharmaceutical preparations illustrating the 

 various forms in which medicinal substances are prepared for ad- 

 ministration, a series of essential oils, and an addition to the materia 

 medica collections of a large number of inorganic chemicals. The 

 exhibits planned to illustrate the basic principles of different schools 

 of medicine were increased by many gifts, and the one devoted to 

 homeopathy completed. The section of pharmacy received many 

 documents and publications bearing on the history of the United 

 States Pharmacopoeia and the complete series of written and printed 

 records of the last revision of this important work, amounting to 

 many thousands of pages. 



Wood technology. — The exhibition collections of the section of 

 wood technology were much improved by a transfer from the Forest 

 Service of 25 colored transparencies and 48 colored bromide enlarge- 

 ments specially prepared for the National Museum, representing 

 typical forest scenes, methods of lumbering, and forest industries, 

 and by the gift of exhibit material illustrating the use of wood waste 

 and wood pulp. 



Animal and vegetable products. — Many specimens of edible and in- 

 edible oils developed as a branch of the meat-packing industry, and 



