194 REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



scientific use of the collection. Such physical characters as are presented 

 to the eye by the specimen itself have been in all cases omitted, and 

 such facts selected, relating to source, habitat, mode of production, con- 

 stituents, medical properties, &c, as seemed to the writer to be of 

 greatest public as well as professional interest. Two kinds of labels are 

 used : (1.) Generic labels, applicable to series of specimens compris- 

 ing natural and commercial varieties, and preparations of given drugs. 

 These are not strictly limited as to size, are printed in large type, 

 and contain general information relating to the substance in question. 

 (2.) Specific labels. These are attached to every specimen, are limited 

 in size to 4 inches by H inches, are printed in ordinary clear type, and 

 contain the name and synonyms, source, medical properties, dose, and 

 other facts that can be considered within the given limits. 



The number of specimens already furnished with printed labels is 575 ; 

 copy for 530 labels is ready for the printer. 



Arrangements have been made, or are in progress, by which the nat- 

 ural sources of the drugs of commerce may be very fully illustrated. 

 Models or stuffed specimens of the animals furnishing substances used 

 in medicine may be found in the different sections of the zoological de- 

 partment of the Museum ; the chemical elements, ores, &c, in the chem- 

 ical and mineralogical departments. For the plants furnishing the veg- 

 etable medicinal products a large series of colored plates and photographs 

 have been obtained. Upwards of 1,000 medicinal plants can thus be 

 illustrated by colored lithographs taken from works on medical botany 

 and by photographs now in the possession of this section of the Museum. 

 More than half of these are already mounted in swinging frames where 

 they are easily accessible to all visiting the Museum. The nucleus of 

 an herbarium has already been formed and arrangements are complete 

 for its rapid development so soon as the necessary dispositions have been 

 made for its care, and exhibition. 



Early in the organization of this section of the Museum effort was 

 made to obtain the latest editions of the Pharmacopoeias of all nations, 

 in order that from them a list might be compiled of the drugs in prin- 

 cipal use among the civilized people of the world. Nearly all the latest 

 Pharmacopoeias have been obtained, and, besides furnishing mere lists 

 of medicines, they have supplied much interesting material for study 

 and comparison. Some of the results of this comparative study have 

 been presented in a report to the Surgeon-General of the Navy.* The 

 work of comparison has been carried much further, and the attempt is 

 being made to prepare a compend which shall contain a full official syn- 

 onomy of each of the drugs mentioned in any of these Pharmacopoeias 

 and tables giving composition and strength of every preparation. More 

 than half of this compilation has already been made, but being consid- 

 ered of secondary importance to the work of the collection proper pro- 

 gress upon it has been irregular and slow. 



•Report of the Surgeon-General of the Navy for the year 1861, p. 600, "Report on 

 the Pharmacopoeias of all Nations." 



