REPORT OF THE SECRETARY: NATIONAL MUSEUM 127 



An attractive exhibit portraying the early work of Joseph Wharton 

 in the development of nickel refining and manufacturing processes 

 was installed. 



Textiles, organic chemistry, wood technology, foods, and medicine. — In 

 all, 35 installations of new material and 13 rearrangements or rein- 

 stallations of specimens received in previous years were made in the 

 textile halls. In the section of organic chemistry 17 exhibits were 

 dismantled and revised, replacing some specimens with new material 

 of more recent manufacture. Three new installations were made in 

 the section of foods. A new colony of bees was installed in the obser- 

 vation hive in the spring, the bees in the old colony having nearh' all 

 perished in the previous cold winter. 



In wood technology a new cork exhibit was installed from material 

 contributed by the Armstrong Cork Co., the walnut airplane pro- 

 peller and accompanying parts, received in 1917 from the American 

 Propeller & Manufacturing Co., were rearranged; and parts of the 

 exhibit of the Hammermill Paper Co., illustrating the manufacture 

 and use of sulphite wood pulp for writing papers, were revised. This 

 year 203 woods were received, primarily for the stud}^ collection. Of 

 these, 65 were of such size that they could be placed in the regular 

 drawers with little or no cutting, 133 were cut to size and all duplicates 

 put in storage, wliile 5 await seasoning. A total of 308 hand samples 

 were prepared for the study collection, 2,087 duplicates for distribu- 

 tion and exchange, and 318 thin sections were made for the division 

 of plants. 



Important among the new or improved installations in the division 

 of medicine are models illustrating various phases of child welfare; 

 exhibits devoted to the portraying of general hygiene, preventive 

 medicine, and vital statistics; the Arabian period of medical history; 

 the history of pharmacy; the evolution of pharmacopoeias, dispensa- 

 tories, and formularies; and improved insulin, surgical dressings, and 

 crude drug exhibits. 



Grayhic arts. — Besides conducting 8 special exhibitions, the mem- 

 bers of the staff of the di^^sion of graphic arts devoted 4% months to 

 the arrangement and installation of the photomechanical prints. 

 Many of the early specimens are rare, and to insure their careful 

 preservation they were covered with glass and bound with passe 

 partout. This method, once started, made it necessary to cover all 

 specimens in order to make the exhibition uniform. Nearly all the 

 old material and much new was remattcd and covered with glass. 



INVKSTIGA'JION AND KJiSEARCU 



Dr. F. L. Lewton, curator of textiles, continued his botanical 

 studies of certain undcscribed plants related to the cottons; the 

 assistant curator of wood technology, W. N. Watkins, carried on 



