128 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1933 



investigations of the utility of certain tropical Florida woods and 

 gave special study to the anatomy of other species of woods; the 

 assistant curator of medicine, Dr. Charles Whitebread, pursued his 

 studies of Arabian medicine and the history of pharmacy; R. P. 

 Tolman, curator of graphic arts, devoted some time to further re- 

 search on the artist Malbone; and the assistant curator of engineering, 

 Paul E. Garbcr, found time to give to his researches in aeronautical 

 history. 



Many individuals and industrial organizations made use of the 

 department's collections during the year, some in connection with 

 their studies on various phases of industrial and technologic history 

 and transportation, involving in some cases the comparison of speci- 

 mens in the collections with privately-owned objects, and others in 

 connection with the preparation of historical exhibits for the Century 

 of Progress Exposition in Chicago. Assistance of this sort was 

 rendered also to a number of Federal agencies, including the United 

 States Shipping Board, the Bureau of Public Roads, the Bureau of 

 Navigation and Steamboat Inspection, and the Aeronautics Branch 

 of the Department of Commerce. Much time too v/as required to 

 comply with requests for the identification of specimens brought or 

 sent in by individuals and Federal bureaus. Such assistance in- 

 cluded identification of woods for the United States Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, the National Committee on Wood Utilization, the Bureau 

 of Standards, and the Bureau of American Ethnology. Seeds of 

 foreign cottons were identified for the Division of Foreign Plant 

 Introduction and rare drugs for the Division of Botany, United States 

 Bureau of Plant Industry. In addition, man}^ lots of material, such 

 as paintings, sculpture, ship models, tools, textile fabrics, machinery, 

 electrical and mechanical equipment, watches and clocks, and 

 scientific apparatus, were identified and appraised. 



DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE OF SPECIMENS 



The distributions from the department of arts and industries during 

 the year aggregated 2,091 specimens, of which 39 were gifts in aid of 

 education, 8 exchanges for material which has or will be received, and 

 1,595 loans for educational or research purposes. Also 449 specimens 

 that had been temporarily in the department were returned to their 

 owners. 



