REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1922. 25 



coming to the Museum in groups accompanied by their sewing 

 teacher, and hearing talks by the curator of textiles on important 

 raw fibers and on spinning and weaving, made these trips the sub- 

 ject of compositions after returning to their classrooms. 



The members of the staff of the divisions of mineral and mechan- 

 ical technology not only conducted students through their exhibition 

 halls explaining the exhibits, but talked to District high school stu- 

 dents in their classrooms on the Museum's exhibits and activities. 

 The division of mechanical technology has quite a complete series of 

 lantern slides pertaining to its exhibits in transportation, which is 

 being loaned for lecture purposes to individuals known to the 

 Museum. 



The anthropological collections were particularly attractive to 

 higher students and were visited by several classes from George 

 Washington University and by the instructors of St. John's College. 

 The class in home economics of the former institution also visited 

 the Museum as a part of their regular work and were given lectures 

 on textiles by the curator in charge. An informal lecture on textiles 

 and pure fabrics legislation by this curator before the Sixteenth 

 Street Heights Club was illustrated with specimens from the Mu- 

 seum. The curator of textiles also gave a talk on the work of the 

 Smithsonian Institution to the library staff of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



Through the curator of mollusks, the Museum, assisted by several 

 scientific societies, organized the series of Saturday morning lectures 

 in the Museum auditorium for the honor pupils of the seventh and 

 eighth grades of the public schools, as mentioned elsewhere in this 

 report. The curator of mollusks delivered two of these talks and 

 also lectured on " American Shipworms " before the American Wood 

 Preservers Association, in Chicago, and on " Wonders of the Deep," 

 at the University of Delaware. Scientific lectures on human evolu- 

 tion were delivered by the curator of physical anthropology before 

 the medical students of Georgetown University in the Museum 

 auditorium. 



At various times during the year groups of Boy Scouts were con- 

 ducted through the exhibition halls, particularly those devoted to 

 mineral and mechanical technology, ethnology, Old World arche- 

 ology, and mammals, and were given talks on the various subjects 

 portrayed. 



The value of the Museum to the commercial as well as to the edu- 

 cational interests of the city was again demonstrated this year. A 

 series of lectures on cotton, wool, silk, linen, cloth construction, and 

 ornamentation was given by the curator of textiles at the request 

 of the director of the educational work of Woodward & Lothrop's 



