30 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



tailed for this service by the Surgeon-Gen6ral of the Navy, is in excel- 

 lent condition, and the collection is the most extensive of its kind in 

 America. The work of labelling has been finished, and during the year 

 the exhibition series will be extended and rearranged. Dr. Beyer is 

 prosecuting a chemical investigation of the different species of cinchona 

 barks in the collection, numbering over one hundred, and has made 

 some important determinations of the alkaloids of some cinchona barks 

 from new regions in Guatemala and Costa Rica. He has also carried on 

 investigations upon the physiological actions of atropia, cocaine, and 

 caffeine, on the circulatory apparatus, the results of which have already 

 been published in the "American Journal of the Medical Sciences." 

 Other experiments on the action of atropine on the heart and of blood 

 at different temperatures on the same, have been discussed in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Museum. 



In the section of foods, under the honorary curatorship of Professor 

 Atwater, some progress has been made in the work of building up a 

 collection illustrating the physiological action of foods and the composi- 

 tion of the human body, similar to the famous collection in the Bethnal 

 Green Museum, in London. Mr. Hitchcock, who is acting curator of this 

 collection, has, however, devoted most of his time to the development of 

 the section of textiles, which is directly under his charge. This section 

 has been largely increased by donations from abroad, but especially 

 through collections made by himself while preparing for the Exposition 

 atl^ew Orleans. The object of these collections is twofold, first, to af- 

 ford an exhibit of the various textile fibers available for use in this coun- 

 try and abroad, with specimens of articles made therefrom, such as cloth, 

 rope, twine, mats, &c.; second, to provide a series of specimens of every 

 fiber that can be used in the arts, to be used for scientific examination, 

 tests of tensile strength, and especially to serve as type specimens 

 for the identification of other fibers by microscopical examination. A 

 number of collections which have been received are worthy of special 

 mention. Among these, a particularly fine set of fibers from Brazil, 

 collected by Dr. J. Carlos Berrinni, of Quissaman, who has devoted un- 

 usual care and labor to the work. All the textile fibers in the Museum 

 of the Department of Agriculture were placed in Mr. Hitchcock's charge 

 during January, and from this collection some valuable specimens have 

 been selected and placed on exhibition. Mr. George W. Bond, of Boston, 

 has selected a large collection of native and foreign wools from samples 

 belonging to the United States customs department which have been pre- 

 pared for exhibition; they are not yet on exhibition, as the cases 

 for their display have not been made. This collection is probably al- 

 ready the best thing of the kind to be found m any museum, and when all 

 the wools belonging to the Museum collections are mounted, the display 

 of this textile will be, if not quite complete, at least very large and valua- 

 ble. Owing to the restricted floor space in the Museum which has been 

 assigned to this department, it has been impossible to make the display 



