38 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1958 
to demonstrate the functioning of a the normal, healthy human body. 
A transparent manikin of a woman shows by electronic devices, light, 
and sound the location of the major organs of the human bedy and 
explains their functions. Among other exhibits are those that illus- 
trate the heart, teeth, endocrine glands, and the brain. Historical 
displays include reproductions of votive offerings by primitive peo- 
ples, ancient manuscripts, and pages from the earliest printed books 
illustrating embryology, the skeleton, the heart and blood circulation, 
the brain, and the digestive and respiratory systems. 
During the year a pictorial exhibit on the history of surgery, 
donated by the American Cyanamid Co., was renovated. The Na- 
tional Library of Medicine has lent the following exhibits: Vaccina- 
tion from Jenner to Salk; Nobel Prize Winners in Medicine; William 
Harvey and the Circulation; and Women Physicians and Their 
Hospitals. 
On the evening of December 8, 1957, Secretary Carmichael dedi- 
cated the hall of North American Indians and Eskimos, and in his 
address paid tribute to the farsighted men and women who had dur- 
ing the past 150 years saved from possible destruction the ethnological 
objects displayed therein. Mrs. Mabel A. Byrd, administrative as- 
sistant to the Director of the National Museum and herself of Seneca 
Indian descent, was invited to cut the ribbon at the formal opening. 
Traditional cultures of the Eskimos and of the Indians of the sub- 
arctic region, the eastern woodlands, the great plains, the northwest- 
ern plateau, and the north Pacific coast are displayed in this hall. 
Historically significant objects including the great wampum belt, 
symbolizing the union of midwestern tribes formed by the Shawnee 
chief Tecumseh to halt the advance of white settlement, and Sitting 
Bull’s rifle are featured in these display units. A completely fur- 
nished tipi of sewn buffalo hides, some 17 feet in height, depicts the 
home life of an Arapaho Indian family during the past century. 
Other life-size exhibit units show Polar Eskimos hunting hair seals 
and the Powhatan Indians trading with Capt. John Smith on the 
James River in 1607. 
The gems and minerals hall planned by curator George S. Switzer 
was nearing completion at the close of the fiscal year. New exhibition 
techniques have been utilized in the display of gems, uncut crystals, 
and minerals with gratifying results, particularly with respect to 
lighting and reduction of reflection. Installation of the exhibits pro- 
ceeded so satisfactorily that formal opening of the hall was scheduled 
for July 1958. 
Four new habitat groups portraying the sea-bottom life of the 
Upper Ordovician, Lower Devonian, Mississippian, and Upper Cre- 
taceous are being prepared for the invertebrate hall by George 
