90 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



therefore to what was accomplished duriug the first six months of the 

 year (July 1 to December 31, 1804). 



The principal contributors of specimens were Mr. N. S. Amstutz, 

 Cleveland, Ohio; Mr. J. M. Falconer, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Mr. J. W.Osborne, 

 Washington, D. C. ; the United States (reological Survey, and Mr. W. 

 W. Wallingford, Washington, D. C. The entry of the accessions took 

 up 61 catalogue numbers (5501-5561). The most interestiug of these 

 are 44 specimens illustrating the transmission of photographs bj"- means 

 of electricity. They were contributed by Mr. N. S. A mstutz, the inventor 

 of the i^rocess. A photomechanical color-print was purchased from the 

 United States Aluminum Printing Plate Company, New York, and a 

 book containing chromolith jgraphs was obtained in exchange. The 

 duplicates, which are not included in the above total, have been sepa- 

 rated. A catalogue of the specimens on exhibition has been prepared, 

 and also a card catalogue of the whole collection. This is arranged by 

 technical divisions, preliminary to a more systematic arraugement 

 later on. 



Materia medica. — This collection is again under the charge of Dr. 

 James M. Flint, U. S. N., who resumed his connection with the Museum 

 May 24, 1895. For several years the collection has been practically 

 complete, and little remains to be done except to replace specimens 

 from time to time with fresh material and to substitute new labels for 

 old. Only five specimens were received during the year. These were 

 recorded under catalogue numbers 142309 to 142313, which is the last 

 entry of the year. 



The historical collections. — There is a continually increasing interest 

 shown in objects relating to the history of the United States during the 

 colonial and Revolutionary periods. If sufficient exhibition space were 

 available, the material already on hand would permit a very interesting 

 and fairly complete exhibit in these directions, but unfortunately it is 

 impossible under tlie circumstances to provide room for more than 

 a limited number of objects, consisting chiefly of personal relics of 

 illustrious statesmen and soldiers. 



The most interesting addition to the collections during the year con- 

 sists of a number of utensils and objects of wearing apparel used in 

 New England during colonial times. They illustrate in a very satisfac- 

 tory manner the customs and costumes of the seventeenth and eight- 

 eenth centuries. The donor is Mr. John B. Cop]), Old Mystic, Conn. 

 Among other accessions are: A sword belt presented to Admiral S. D. 

 Trenchard by the Government of Great Britain for his services in res- 

 cuing the officers and crew of the British bark Adieu off Cape Ann, 

 Massachusetts, in August, 1850; an old Si)anish sword of the kind 

 used by the Conquistadores in Santo Domingo; a sword from Puerto 

 Rico bearing the date 1790; early Spanish .spurs from Argentina and 

 San Domingo; a collection of early Spanish Mexican copper and silver 

 coins; a cabinet containing 102 plaster casts of historic medals and 



