REPORT OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR. 37 



sisted of 163 finely-mounted specimens of the game birds of North 

 America, mounted on stands made of polished black walnut. 



A collection of stone implements from various localities in North 

 America, occupying 406 square feet, was exhibited in six cases. 



The exhibit from the Department of Lithology and Physical Geology 

 (384 square feet) consisted of (1) a collection of 358 4-inch cubes repre- 

 senting the building and ornamental stones of the United States ; (2) 

 12 specimens of foreign and native marbles ; (3) 150 specimens of rock- 

 forming minerals ; (4) a " structural series," intended to represent all 

 the more common forms of rock structure and texture ; (5) 198 speci- 

 mens of rocks illustrating the geology and lithology of the Comstock 

 Jode and Washoe district, Nevada; and (6) a lithological collection of 

 500 specimens of rocks of various kinds. . 



An extensive series of models in plaster of the turtles and snakes of 

 North America, occupying a floor-space of 300 square feet, was shown. 

 These casts were life-size and accurately colored from living specimens 

 or colored sketches. 



These collections attracted marked attention, and sustained the repu- 

 tation of the Smithsonian Institution in its ability to prepare creditable 

 displays at very short notice. 



E.— REVIEW OF THE HALF YEAR'S WORK IN THE SCIEN- 

 TIFIC DEPARTMENTS. 



15. DIVISION OF ANTHROPOLOGY. 



(a) Department of Arts and Industries. 



In the Department of Arts and Industries several sections have al- 

 ready been organized. 



That of Materia Medica, under the charge of Dr. H. G. Beyer, U. 

 S. N., who has been detailed for this service by the Surgeon-General 

 of the Navy, is in excellent condition, and the collection is the most ex- 

 tensive of its kind in America. The work of labeling has been finished, 

 and during the year the exhibition series will be extended and rear- 

 ranged. Dr. Beyer is prosecuting a chemical investigation of the 

 different species of cinchona barks in the collection — numbering over 

 one hundred — and has made some important determinations of the 

 alkaloids of some cinchona barks from new regions in Guatemala and 

 Costa Rica. He has also carried on investigations upon the physio- 

 logical actions of atropia, cocaine, and caffeine on the circulatory 

 apparatus, the results of which have already been published in the 

 American Journal of the Medical Sciences. Other experiments on the 

 action of atropine on the heart, and of blood at different temperatures, 

 have been discussed in the Proceedings of the Museum. 



In the section of Foods, under the honorary curatorship of Professor 



