REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 69 



engine, the first steam engine ever erected on the western continent, 

 having been imported from England in 1753, set up by Josiah Horn- 

 blower, and used for pumping water from the copper mines of Col. 

 John Schuyler, located opposite Belleville, near Newark, New Jersey. 

 Two clocks received from the Chelsea Clock Company, of Boston, 

 through the courtesy of Charles H. Pearson, treasurer, were placed 

 in the east hall near the telegraph instruments. Here the noon signals 

 are received from the IT. S. Naval Observatory, and serve a useful pur- 

 pose in illustrating to visitors the Government's method of distributing 

 correct time throughout the United States. 



The Daughters of the American Revolution have manifested great 

 interest in the historic collections, and cases especially devoted to their 

 contributions have been arranged and labeled. 



MODELS AND REPLICAS. 



Models of a large number of objects, chiefly ethnologic, have been 

 made under the supervision of the Department for use in filling out 

 the series of exhibits in the Museum and for exchange purposes. A 

 number of replicas in plaster have also been prepared under the direc- 

 tion of Mr. William H. Holmes, including a series of casts of 120 of 

 the most important archeologic objects illustrating the higher achieve- 

 ments of the ancient Mexican peoples. One set of these; carefully 

 colored, was installed with the Museum's exhibit at the St. Louis 

 Exposition, while several additional sets were prepared for exchange 

 with other museums. These replicas have been executed with the 

 greatest care, and one series has been photographed side by side 

 with the original objects for distribution to the museums with which 

 exchanges are contemplated. Up to the present time these include 

 the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago; Carnegie Museum, Pittsburg; 

 Free Museum of Science and Art, Philadelphia; American Museum 

 of Natural History, New York; Museum of the Brooklyn Institute 

 of Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn; Peabod}^ Museum, Cambridge; and 

 also with the following foreign museums: Trocadero Museum, Paris; 

 British Museum, London; Royal Ethnological Museum, Berlin; Royal 

 Museum of Dresden; National Museum of Mexico, and the National 

 Museum of Argentina. 



The preparators of this Department, from plans by Mr. Holmes, 

 also constructed models of a number of the ruined buildings of Mexico 

 and Yucatan, five of which were completed and installed with the 

 exhibit prepared for the St. Louis Exposition. These represent the 

 " Pjn-amid Temple," Xochicalco; the "Temple of the Columns," Mitla; 

 "House of the Governor," Uxmal; "El Castillo," Chichenitza; and 

 the "Temple of the Cross," Palenque. Models are kept of such parts 

 of these as can be cast in plaster for use in preparing replicas. 



In the laboratory of this Department twenty masks, besides other 



