76 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1918. 



quisitions were made. Efforts were concentrated on obtaining ma- 

 terial for exhibition purposes, and as a result the increments were 

 of educational rather than scientific value. The most important ac- 

 cession of the year was a gift by Armour & Co., of Chicago, Illinois, 

 of 73 specimens illustrating the subject of Organotherap} 7 , an old 

 therapeutic measure. Pliny mentions the use of brains of animals 

 in the treatment of jaundice, and it is believed that this medicine was 

 employed by the early Egyptians. The extensive use of the sub- 

 stances of internal secretion is, however, of recent origin. The or- 

 gans of the body deliver their secretions directly into the blood 

 stream and, being essential for the maintenance of health, it was not 

 unreasonable to expect that the artificial administration of these 

 secretions would have a beneficial influence in certain conditions. 

 Three of the organs of internal secretion have achieved so fixed a 

 place in medicine as to have received official recognition, namely, the 

 hypophysis, the suprarenal capsule, and the thyroid gland. Other 

 substances of this kind which have firmly established their claims 

 have not yet been included in the United States Pharmacopoeia; 

 however, most of them are in the experimental stage. This con- 

 tribution consists of 22 fresh specimens of glands and glandular 

 tissues, and 50 specimens of the finished products in the different 

 forms in which they are administered — powders, capsules, tablets, 

 and ampules. 



Fairfield Bros. & Foster, of New York City, donated 13 speci- 

 mens to illustrate the manufacture of pepsin. Pepsin is an official 

 drug and one of the most important obtained from animals. 

 The power of official pepsin to dissolve 3,000 times its own weight of 

 freshly coagulated and disintegrated egg albumen has caused its 

 extensive use in medicine to improve the digestive powers of the 

 stomach. These specimens illustrate the method of obtaining the 

 mixture containing the proteolytic ferment or enzyme (pepsin) from 

 the glandular layer of the stomach of the hog. In addition to speci- 

 mens of the finished product in its several forms, there is included 

 in the display a sample of pure pepsin, which has a standardized 

 strength of 1 :20,000 ; that is, it has the power to dissolve 20,000 times 

 its own weight of freshly coagulated and disintegrated egg albumen. 

 The company which furnished this sample of pepsin states that a 

 pepsin of higher strength has not been obtained. 



Some exceptionally good specimens of crude vegetable drugs were 

 contributed by Gilpin, Langdon & Co. (Inc.), of Baltimore, Mary- 

 land. A great deal of care was exercised by the contributor in the 

 selection of this material, and it is believed that it will be of popular 

 interest, pointing out as it does some of the parts of plants used in 

 medicine. This accession consists of 34 entries, and is comprised of 

 the following parts of plants: Barks, buds, bulbs, corms, flowers, 



