REPORT ON THE DIVISIONS OF TEXTILES AND MEDICINE AND THE 

 SECTIONS OF WOOD TECHNOLOGY AND FOODS, 



By F. L. Le\yton, Curator of Textiles. 



CHANGES IN ORGANIZATION "1; STAFF. 



During (lie year there was but one change in staff, Mrs. E. W. 

 Kosson, of the division of textiles, having been promoted from pre- 

 parator to aid. On September 2, 191!), Mr. William M. N. Watkins, 

 assistant curator, section of wood technology, returned to the 'Mu- 

 seum and took up the work of the section where he laid it down in 

 August, 1918, due to induction into the military service of the United 

 States. It seems to be the fate of this section to suffer long periods 

 of inactivity for, due to changes in personnel or war service, there 

 have been three such periods since 1910. It is earnestly hoped that 

 nothing more will come up to prevent steady progress in the carrying 

 out of plans long since formulated for the section of wood tech- 

 nology. 



COMrAUISON OK INCREMENT OF SPECIMENS OF L91S 20 Willi THAT OF 191S-10. 



The accessions received during the year number 75 (including two 

 joint accessions with other departments), being one less than the 

 preceding year. 



Without counting the more than 4,000 yet unlisted specimens com- 

 prised in the incompleted exhibit of the Medical Department of the 

 U. S. Army, the entries covered by the accessions of the year were 

 1,716, 832 more than were received in the fiscal yea.' 1919. These 

 entries may be divided into five groups as follows : textiles 133, med- 

 icine 889, wood technology 570, foods 55, and miscellaneous organic 

 products G9; each group, with the exception of textiles and foods, 

 showing as many or more entries than last year. 



The value of the accession covering the Medical Department of 

 the U. S. Army was emphasized in the report for last year, although 

 but a part of the exhibit material had been received by June 30, 1919. 

 Leaving out of the comparison this accession, since it comes into the 

 activities of both the fiscal years 1919 and 1920, the scientific value 

 of the entries received during the present year is much in excess of 

 that of last year. This comparison is not just, however, as concerns 

 the section of wood technology', since the section was practically 

 inactive during the year 1919, on account of war work and service. 



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