40 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



and 49 specimens of wood from Surinam were added to the com- 

 mercial series of timbers, and the series illustrating wood finishing 

 and tanning materials were also increased. 



Mineral technology. — Most important among the additions in min- 

 eral technology was an impressive model of the Bingham Canyon 

 copper property in Utah, measuring 16 by 19 feet, accurately sculp- 

 tured and colored, representing what is probably the most significant 

 mining achievement of the present generation. It was a gift from 

 the Utah Copper Co. The manufacture of white lead is shown in 

 another excellent model presented by the National Lead Co., of New 

 York, while among the models made in the Museum are five visual- 

 izing the mode of occurrence, the recovery, and the preparation, re- 

 spectively, of tin, sulphur, asphalt, lime, and oil. A specimen exhibit 

 illustrative of design and execution in cut glassware, specially pre- 

 pared for the Museum, was contributed by T. G. Hawkes & Co., of 

 Corning, New York, and another series of specimens exemplifying 

 the properties and uses of asphalt came from the Barber Asphalt 

 Paving Co. 



Exhibits more or less representative or at least covering some 

 phase of 18 mineral resource types are now available to the public in 

 the halls of the division. Of these, abrasives, asbestos, asphalt, coal 

 and coal products, copper, graphite, lime, mica, petroleum, plas-ter, 

 Portland cement, and sulphur have been treated with sufficient full- 

 ness to warrant the publication of descriptive accounts of them and of 

 their significance. 



NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART. 



The progress of work in the erection of the building for the Freer 

 collections has already been mentioned. Next in importance to 

 record in this connection are the terms of the will of Henry W. 

 Ranger, N. A., one of the best-known of contemporary American 

 painters, who died on November 7, 1916, leaving his residuary estate, 

 estimated at over $200,000, to the National Academy of Design to be 

 held as a permanent fund of which the income is to be used for pur- 

 chasing paintings by American artists, the paintings so obtained to be 

 given to art or other institutions in America which maintain a gal- 

 lery open to the public, upon the express condition that the National 

 Gallery of Art shall have the option and right to take, reclaim, and 

 own any picture for its collection provided such option and right is 

 exercised at any time during the five-year period begianing 10 years 

 after the artist's death and ending 15 years after his death. 



This generous provision by Mr. Ranger, which has been most 

 gratifying to all lovers of art in this country and may be expected 

 to have a stimulating influence upon the work of American artists, 



