768 The Smithsonian Institution 



TECHNOLOGY 



THE great collections of objects illustrative of arts and 

 manufactures gathered from all quarters of the globe have 

 offered unrivaled advantages for studies of technology. Sev- 

 eral prominent specialists have availed themselves of these 

 facilities, and publications on the arts have covered a wide 

 field of human activities. 



The study of ceramics has been given great importance, 

 and the publications on this subject from time to time have at- 

 tracted world-wide attention. In 1866 Doctor Rau opened 

 the series with a valuable article on Indian pottery, a subject 

 which was later treated in so exhaustive and artistic a manner 

 by W. H. Holmes. From the rich storehouse of material in 

 the hands of aboriginal potters, Gushing and others have 

 drawn much in the preparation of their valuable papers on 

 the primitive potter's craft and its origin and significance. 



Professor O. T. Mason's studies of comparative technology 

 were broader in scope, more varied in subjects. From this 

 industrious worker, identified for so many years with the 

 growth of the museum, have come some of the most learned 

 and exhaustive articles which enrich the pages of the publica- 

 tions of the museum. 



His work on throwing-sticks gave him a wide reputation 

 for its comprehensive treatment, while that on basketwork, 

 published in the same year, was of great importance. A 

 natural complement of the former article was a treatment of 

 the subject of bows and arrows, in which is found a wealth of 

 information and illustration only possible with the resources 

 of a large museum at the disposal of the author. Child-life 

 in all its phases is of greatest ethnological interest, and in 

 Mason's article on "Cradles of North American Indians" one 



