1841.] THE NATIONAL INSTITUTION. 127 



From M. Serruys, Charge d'Affaires of Belgium. 



Belgian Legation, Washington, December 8, 1841. 



Dear Sir: In addition f,o the Antique Roman Lamp, which you had the kind- 

 ness to accept in my name for the National Institution, I hope you will allow mc 

 to offer you now — 



1st. A Medal struck by the Royal Society of Science, Letters and Arts of Ant- 

 werp, on the occasion of the bis.secular fetes in honor of Rudens. 



2d. A Medal of the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1839, intended as a 

 national reward. 



3d. A Medal commemorating the opening of the first section of the Belgian Rail- 

 Road, in 1834. 



4th. A Medal struck in honor of the Regent of Belgium. 



These Medals arc presented by me, in the name of the Belgian Government, as 

 a proof of the warm interest in the establishment and prosperity of the National 

 Institution for the Promotion of Science, founded at the seat of Government, which 

 is destined, I believe, to shed lustre on the United States. 



Very respectfully, &c., CHARLES SERRUYS. 



From Lieutenant Harwood, U. S. Navy. — (Extract.) 



U. S. Navy- Yard, New.York, November 16, 1841. 



My Dear Sir : Several months ago, I collected sundry trifles wherewithal to 

 show my desire to serve the National Institution. ***»«* But I boo- to re- 

 mind you that they are not forwarded so much for their novelty or intrinsic value 

 as to point out a way in which tlie officers, particularly of the Mediterranean 

 Squadron, may render very essential service to the Institution, the interests of 

 which I feel assured they will all take a pride in advancing. 



By means of that simple apparatus the Electerotype, perfect fac-similes of the 

 choicest medals, both ancient and modern, may be collected ; and if the apparatus 

 of Dagucrre could be placed on board one of the ships, perfectly accurate views of 

 the most interesting sites and monuments of classic history be obtained. The "?no. 

 dus operandi," in both cases, being well understood, I need not here refer to it ; but 

 I must be allowed to lay before you a more humble, yet hardly less complete method, 

 of copying and preserving ancient inscriptions, a specimen of which you have in 

 the copy of an ancient Egyptian monumental slab, in the collection of the Naval 

 Lyceum at this place. The whole apparatus consists of a sheet of unsized paper, 

 such as is used by lithographers, a hat brush, and a little water. The paper is wetted 

 laid upon the stone, and beaten into the intaglio of the monument, and, when dry 

 will preserve perfectly the form of the inscription and figures. This method is not 

 only shorter but much more effective than any other, as it shows every thing of the 

 proper form and size ; and had it been applied to the hieroglyphics on the Dighton 

 Rock, would have saved the learned antiquaries of Copenhagen a world of trouble 

 arising from the misconception or imagination of the draughtsman, who very often 

 gives a finish to forms, which, like tliose wo fancy in the sky, require some assist. 

 anco in the making out. 1 have passed whole fields strewed with inscriptions in 

 the course of my travels in the East, and, on a second visit, looked in vain for sonio 

 of the must remarkable. A hat brush and a little water would liavo proscrvod tlio 



