60 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 
j MEDICINE. 
The division of medicine is one of the branches of the department 
of arts and industries which has been continuously maintained since 
its establishment in 1881, when it was designated “ section of materia 
medica.” Its foundation was based upon the large donations of 
drugs and drug materials received by the Government from exhibit- 
ors at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which soon were supple- 
mented by important contributions from many other sources. 
Through this means and by the additions of subsequent years the 
collection has grown to a considerable size and to a certain degree of 
completeness, but there is still much to do in the way of perfecting it, 
and the active support of the division is urgently called for, in view 
of its direct relations with the medical work of the Government and 
of its influence on the practice of medicine generally. With its de- 
velopment there has been a broadening of its scope and the assump- 
tion of additional features, which add greatly to its cultural value 
and makes the collection, as exemplified in its exhibition series, 
entirely unique for this country. 
The curatorship of the division until recently has been held by 
medical officers of the United States Navy, of whom seven have 
from time to time been detailed to this duty. The first was Surg., 
later Medical Director, James M. Flint, who not only had the 
responsibility of organizing and planning the work of the division, 
but served 25 out of the 33 years since 1881 as its honorary curator, 
continuing in this office even after his retirement from active service 
in the Navy. 
The search for desirable material was naturally most active dur- 
ing the earlier years, when the field was practically open, and was 
richly rewarded by numerous and some very extensive gifts from 
the leading drug houses of this country, representing quite com- 
pletely the drug commerce of the United States at that time, and 
also to some extent by donations from abroad. Through the medium 
of exchange, chiefly with foreign museums, valuable specimens were 
likewise obtained; the accessions in recent years have been numerous 
and varied, and in the preparation of exhibits for international 
expositions means have sometimes been available for securing spe- 
cial features. The collection now aggregates over 6,000 actual 
specimens, besides numerous pictures or illustrations. There is the 
customary division into exhibition and reserve series, and notwith- 
standing the nature of most of the material the former has been 
made attractive and comprehensible to the general visitor. 
Under the original classification, that of 1881, two primary divi- 
sions were recognized, namely, inorganic materia medica and or- 
ganic materia medica, the latter being subdivided into vegetable 
products, products of fermentation and distillation, and animal 
