REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1020. 141 



have beon many, it is conceded that the important steps in the de- 

 velopment of the art to its present state of refinements, were made 

 through the efforts of about twenty of them. It is the work of these 

 men which will be represented in the series beginning with Leonardo 

 da Vinci in the 15th century and ending with Martin. Upon com- 

 pletion of this series, a second will be constructed illustrating all of 

 the modern types of machines. 



The collections of the division relate primarily to engineering. 

 particularly mechanical, electrical, civil, and marine engineering, and 

 back of all the proposed plans is the idea of building upon this 

 foundation a true Museum of Engineering. 



Museums devoted to history, art. and the natural sciences are estab- 

 lished in all of the larger nations of the world and many of them 

 have established, in addition, educational museums of engineering 

 and industries. Thus, England has her South Kensington Museum; 

 Fiance her Conservatoire des Aits et Metiers; and Germany her 

 Deutsche* Museum, but nowhere in this nation of ours, the most 

 advanced in the application of the engineering and mechanical 

 arts, is there a similar institution. The commanding place in the 

 world which the United States has reached in the short space of 

 seventy-five years is due largely to the full development and utiliza- 

 tion of mechanical power in the exploitation of her natural resources. 

 It is this that has made it possible for the people of the United 

 States to enjoy a standard of living far and above that under which 

 the peoples of the rest of the world exist and still no public sign of 

 appreciation either national or otherwise is to be found anywhere. 

 What more suitable monument could there be, therefore, than a 

 Museum of Engineering, and where could there be found a more 

 logical place for it than as a part of the great National Museum l 



