REPORT OF NATIONAL, MUSEUM, 1924 95 



Trinidad from which asphalt and asphaltic products are obtained 

 was completely renovated during the year, and alterations were made 

 to conform with the present conditions of the island which have 

 taken place since the model was made 10 years ago. . The Barber 

 Asphalt Paving Co., which originally donated the model to the 

 Museum, generously paid all expenses involved. 



EESEARCHES 



Last year Samuel S. Wyer, associate in mineral technology, made 

 a special study of the mineral resources of Pennsylvania, which was 

 published in a book entitled " The Smithsonian Institution's Study 

 of Natural Resources Applied to Pennsylvania's Resources." The 

 edition has already been exhausted and to satisfy the demand a sec- 

 ond edition is being considered which will have added to it a third 

 part on the transportation industry. Toward this end Mr. Wyer 

 and the writer have spent a great amount of time, the results of 

 which are expected to appear in printed form early in the coming 

 fiscal year. For this work materials within the division were largely 

 utilized. 



In continuance of the work of visualizing the progress in aero- 

 nautical developments, Paul E. Garber began his investigations and 

 the collection of data for construction of a model of the aircraft 

 made in 1896 by Sir Hiram Maxim. Henry Schroeder, Harrison, 

 N. J., made an intensive study covering a period of several months of 

 the collections devoted to electrical illumination. This was done 

 at the instigation of the curator for the specific purpose of pub- 

 lishing a bulletin on the developments of electrical illumination in so 

 far as based on the Museum material. This publication was finally 

 issued in August of last year under the title " History of Elec- 

 tric Light." In the section of transportation, the oldest within the 

 divisions, there have been brought together a large number of photo- 

 graphs, drawings, and engravings of railway materials, particularly 

 of locomotives. The data on file are in many instances rather meager 

 and in others apparently inaccurate. With a view toward correcting 

 these defects the divisions had the whole-hearted cooperation of C. B. 

 Chaney, Brooklyn, N. Y., who has spent a great many years in the 

 collection of data on the history of locomotive building in the United 

 States. Many of our photographs were sent to him for identifica- 

 tion and the furnishing of additional data which he most graciously 

 supplied. 



DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE OF SPECIMENS 



The very nature of the divisions' collections, comprising in the 

 main original models and other objects, precludes the possibility of 

 the distribution of specimens ; however, the divisions are often called 



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