52 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



side by side — musical instruments together, weapons together, &c. — 

 and arranged in such a manner as to show the evolution of each idea 

 from the most primitive type. In discarding the ethnographic method 

 of arrangement, almost universal among museums, special care has 

 been taken not to sacrifice the possibility of bringing together the ob- 

 jects belonging to any particular locality or race, if this shall at any 

 time be required for purposes of study. 



The department of art and industry must in time necessarily be sub- 

 divided iuto a number of special departments. At present, and until 

 the material now on hand is properly assorted, such subdivision is not 

 particularly to be desired. There have grown up, however, a number 

 of sections in this department, the result of the accumulation of large 

 quantities of material requiring the care of a special officer. 



Section of materia medica. — This section is already thoroughly under 

 control, the specimens beirg installed in exhibition cases in systematic 

 order, and a large number of labels being attached. This department 

 has been for two years under the care of Dr. James M. Flint, surgeon, 

 U. S. N., who has been detailed for this service by the Surgeon-General 

 of the Navy, and to whose skill the Museum is indebted for the develop- 

 ment of a collection of medicinal substances probably unequaled else- 

 where. 



Section of methods of transportation. — The collection of models of 

 boats and vessels now includes between two and three hundred speci- 

 mens. This collection has been developed in connection with the fish- 

 eries collection, and is especially complete in representation of Ameri- 

 can forms, both aboriginal and modern. The series of primitive types 

 is particularly full, and the collection, which will be installed in the 

 room adjoining the fisheries collection, will, when arranged upon the 

 evolutionary plan, be thoroughly unique. 



Section of foods and textiles. — The Museum is very rich in the textile 

 products and food substances of the North American aborigines and a 

 number of foreign countries, acquired at the close of the Philadelphia 

 Exhibition. Prof. W. O. Atwater, of the Wesleyan University, Mid- 

 dletown, Conn., has been acting as honorary curator of the section of 

 foods, and has carried on extensive operations in the analysis of food 

 products for the benefit of this collection and of the Fish Commission. 

 Mr. Eomyn Hitchcock, of New York, an experienced microscopist and 

 chemist, has recently been designated acting curator of the department 

 of textiles and acting assistant curator of the department of foods. 



Section of Aboriginal pottery. — Mr. W. H. Holmes has been detailed 

 by the Director of the Bureau of Ethnology of the Institution to pre- 

 pare a report upon American aboriginal pottery, and the entire collec- 

 tions of the Museum have been placed in his hands for that purpose. 

 This collection is very rich, and after its arrangement has been com- 

 pleted will be one of the most impressive in the whole Museum. 



