14 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



23. HISTORY OF MEDICINE, DENTISTRY, AND PHARMACY 



Immediately adjacent to the Hall of Health is the Hall of Medi- 

 cine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy, where the evolution of many of the 

 devices used by physicians, surgeons, dentists, and pharmacists down 

 through the years is shown. The development of such now common 

 aids to the physician's practice as the stethoscope and blood-pressure 

 instrument is traced. Some of the more elaborate devices of modern 

 medicine and surgery such as the artificial heart and the X-ray ap- 

 paratus are also exhibited. Here too is displayed a complete medieval 

 pharmacy with an almost unique and very beautiful collection of early 

 pharmaceutical ceramics and glassware. 



THE NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM 



Of all the notable renovations of exhibit presentations at the 

 Smitlisonian, none has been more outstanding than the recent trans- 

 formation of the small temporary Air and Space Building. The 

 National Air Museum, a special imit of the Institution, has in its 

 custody probably the world's greatest collection of aircraft and 

 instruments and objects related to aviation. Nearly all the great 

 treasures of this museum are in storage. Some of its outstanding 

 possessions, such as the first Wright plane and the Lindbergh plane, are 

 on display in the Arts and Industries Building. The main museum 

 displays of aviation, however, are now shown in a building built as 

 a temporary test center for Liberty Motors during the First World 

 War. This galvanized-iron building on Independence Avenue behind 

 the original Smithsonian Building has been renovated in such a way 

 that the new exhibits installed in it can be moved without loss to a 

 new and permanent building when such a building is constructed. 

 Even the present "temporary" structure in its renovated form gives a 

 vivid demonstration of the public's interest in aviation. This small, 

 far from commodious structure has now become one of the great 

 attractions of Washington. During the first 12 months after this 

 renovated building was opened, more than a million visitors sought 

 it out and studied its exhibits portraying man's conquest of air and 

 space. Here are shown a few examples from the Smithsonian's pos- 

 sibly unrivaled collection of kites. The basic principles of the aerial 

 navigation of birds as studied by the fii*st aviation scientists are 

 displayed. In the center of the building are a few of the actual early 

 aircraft of peculiar significance in the history of aviation. Models of 

 hundreds of types of balloons and heavier-than-air craft are shown. 

 Here also are presented many early and important types of aircraft 

 engines. One of the notable exhibits is a collection of the great early 

 liquid-fuel rockets made by America's, and indeed the world's, pioneer 

 scientific student of devices for the exploration of space, the late 



