36 ANNUAI. BEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1924 



slices, and the preparation and dyeing of seal, miiskrat, and rabbit 

 skins, were added to the collections, through cooperation with na- 

 tional trade associations. Exhibits were presented which show the 

 manufacture and use of new materials from the field of industrial 

 chemistry and include synthetic plastics and hot-molded and cold- 

 molded compositions having high dielectric properties. These ma- 

 terials are used in the manufacture of electric equipment, auto- 

 mobile parts, musical instruments, etc. Other chemical exhibits 

 received during the year include glues, coal-tar dyes, and artificial 

 silk. The textile collections were increased by the gift of fibers, 

 silk and cotton dress and drapery fabric, and a large series of hand- 

 woven textiles ; also hand looms and a commercial braiding machine. 

 To the collections arranged to show the importance of wood and the 

 industries based thereon were added products of the hardwood dis- 

 tillation industry', veneered doors, sporting goods made of wood, and 

 paper-pulp products. The collections in the division of medicine 

 were enlarged by 25 models showing ad'^'^ances in sanitary science, 

 specimens of materia medica, and objects associated with the history 

 of medicine in America. 



Graphic arts. — The division of graphic arts held throughout the 

 year successful temporary exhibitions of artistic prints, etchings, 

 lithographs, and photographs, which were well attended and favor- 

 ably mentioned in the press both here and abroad. 



The two traveling exhibits of graphic arts were continually in 

 demand, being displayed in 13 cities in 9 difi^erent States, and the fall 

 and winter are already well dated up. 



No entirely new and complete exhibit for the permanent collec- 

 tions was received, but important additions were made, especially 

 to that of letterpress printing and to etching, the latter subject 

 having been entirely rearranged with numerous additions, the most 

 important of which was Miss Beatrice S. Levy's gift of three 

 aquatint plates for her color print. White House by the Sea. This 

 method is new to the technical series. The division now has all the 

 regular methods of printing etchings in color. 



Probably the most important accession received by the section 

 of photography was the motion-picture camera invented by Wallace 

 Goold Levison in 1887. This m.achine could expose 12 plates in 

 rapid succession from one point. This is probably the first motion- 

 picture camera ever made. Edward Muybridge did not have a 

 motion-picture camera but had a row of separate cameras, each ex- 

 posed as the person or animal passed in front, by the breaking of a 

 string. 



Flistory. — The most notable addition to the historical collection 

 was a number of objects comprising the interior furnishings of an 



