38 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1016. 



The more notable accessions in mechanical technology bore upon 

 the subjects of the telephone and firearms. The American Tele- 

 phone & Telegraph Co. contributed a set of instruments and of load- 

 ing coils, with examples of line wire and glass insulators, used at the 

 opening of the first telephone line between New York and San Fran- 

 cisco on January 25, 1915, and also a duplicate of the first instrument 

 through which speech was transmitted electrically in Boston in 1875 ; 

 while Dr. Alexander Graham Bell deposited his diplomas, certificates 

 of award, and announcements of election to scientific societies, an 

 interesting series of documents indicative of the many honors which 

 have been conferred upon him. A gift from Mrs. Bates of much 

 historical value included old military guns of European and Ameri- 

 can manufacture, pistols and revolvers, a gun made in the Philip- 

 pine Islands, two very fine bronze swivel cannon, and several Toledo 

 blades and other sAvords. 



Mr. Hugo Worch added three old American pianos to his munifi- 

 cent donation of the previous year, and made a provisional deposit of 

 four other instruments, three American and one of London make. 

 The permanent acquisitions in ceramics consisted mainly of examples 

 from some of the prominent potteries of the United States, but 

 among the loans were specimens of porcelains from abroad and also 

 of glassware, bronze, and brass, which are now exhibited in the 

 ceramic gallery. 



Among the accessions in graphic arts were experimental apparatus 

 and pictures illustrating progress and the several steps in the elec- 

 trical transmission of photographs from one place to another, as 

 also the development of the engraving machine called the akro- 

 graph; a Wells printing press; examples of the art of overlay in 

 printing; samples of poster stamps and lithographs; and a number 

 of fourteenth and fifteenth century manuscripts. The additions in 

 photography included daguerreotj^pes, ambrotypes, and tintypes; a 

 sepia print of a painting on carved wood by Rosselimo ; and a series 

 of prints of astronomical subjects from the Yerkes Observatory. 



American history. — The historical collections were increased to an 

 exceptional extent by both gifts and deposits. Most prominent was 

 a loan by Mr. Walter G. Peter, a descendant of Martha Washington, 

 of many objects of artistic and domestic interest once the property 

 of General and Mrs. Washington at Mount Vernon, which richly 

 supplement the Lewis collection long in the possession of the 

 Museum. Mention can here be made of only a few of the articles, 

 among which were a china portrait plaque of Washington designed 

 by Eichard Champion; a water-color portrait of him by William 

 Thornton; two gold lockets containing locks of his hair; a gold 

 watch of Mrs. Washington, the cover engraved with the Washington 

 coat of arms ; a child's French dressing table of exquisite workman- 



