2 



SMITHSONIAN LOCAL NOTES 



and expects to be absent from the Mu- 

 seum for about 2 or 3 months. 



Doctor August F. Foerste, specialist 

 in Paleozoic paleontology, is spending 

 the summer at the Museum to forward 

 his studies of the Museum's collections 

 of cephalopods and cystids, a work upon 

 which he has been engaged every summer 

 for several years past. 



Meetings in Auditorium and Rooms. 



June 29-30 — Auditorium and Room 43 — 

 Federal Horticultural Board — Public 

 hearings on the subject of fruit and 

 rose stocks and the white pine blister 

 rust — 9 A. M. to 4:30 p. m. 



ARTS AND INDUSTRIES DEPARTMENT. 



An interesting exhibit in the Division 

 of Graphic Arts consists of the Lord's 

 Prayer, engraved by Mr. Alfred McEwen, 

 shown inside of the eye of a sewing needle, 

 magnified 145 diameters. About 13,5O0 

 complete prayers of 56 words each could 

 be engraved in one square inch, but this 

 is very large compared to one of these 

 micro-engravings measured by the Bu- 

 reau of Standards, which is so small that 

 it took 781,050 to cover one square inch. 

 This is equivalent to 43,694,000 words. 



The micro-engraving on exhibition in 

 the Smithsonian, made February 10, 

 1925, is very clear and distinct. It was 

 engraved on glass, with a diamond point, 

 by means of a pantograph. The machine 

 itself is as wonderful as the work it does. 

 The first machine to do work of this char- 

 acter was invented and used by the Lon- 

 don banker, W. Peters, in 1852. Fifty 

 and sixty years ago, micro-engravings 

 were quite common, but at present are 

 very rare. 



In times of war, microscopic messages 

 could be sent engraved on the edge of a 

 shoe nail, on a ring, a brass button, an 

 eyeglass, or any object that is smooth 

 and hard, and these messages would be 

 practically impossible to locate except 

 by the one who knew where to look. 



Dr. John Uri Lloyd of Cincinnati, Ohio, 

 recently contributed, for addition to the 

 historical collections of the Division of 

 Medicine, an old surgical instrument 

 which was in vogue when the operation 

 of bloodletting was more popular than 

 it is now-a-days. This instrument, which 

 is known as a scarificator, consists of ten 

 blades set upon two rotary axes and 

 operated by a strong spring. The blades 

 being set the instrument is placed upon 

 the skin and the spring released, whereby 

 ten shallow incisions are made. An 

 "exhausted cup" (one in which the con- 

 tained air has been rarified by the com- 

 bustion of a small quantity of alcohol) 

 being applied a continuous flow of blood 

 may be maintained until the desired 

 amount is withdrawn. This instrument 

 and an early type ophthalmoscope are 

 the latest donations of Dr. Lloyd, who 

 has rendered very valuable cooperation 

 for several years in developing the his- 

 torical medicine, surgery and pharmaceu- 

 tical collections. 



A recent visitor to the Division of Min- 

 eral and Mechanical Technology was Mr. 

 Henry A. Bomberger, of Philadelphia, 

 who is preparing a lecture on the history 

 of aeronautics. He was particularly in- 

 terested in the aeronautical models which 

 have been made by the Division and also 

 commented upon the many historical 

 aircraft exhibited. With the assistance 

 of the section of photography he was sup- 

 plied with photographs of the aeronauti- 

 cal collections and given data which will 

 be incorporated in his forthcoming lec- 

 ture. 



In Local Notes for June 5 it was an- 

 nounced that the Assistant Curator of 

 the Section of Wood Technology had be- 

 gun a series of talks to ten classes from 

 the Science Department of the District 

 of Columbia Public Schools under the 

 direction of Mrs. M. S. Gibson, General 



SMITHSONIAN LOCAL NOTES 



S 



assic Limestone Conglomerate Meta- 

 morphosed by Intrusive Diabase at 

 Leesburg, Virginia," by Earl V. Shan- 

 non. 



Proceedings Separate No. 2571, entitled 

 "A Further and Detailed Description 

 of the Type of Elephas roosevelti Hay 

 and Descriptions of Three Referred 

 Specimens," by Oliver P. Hay. 



Proceedings Separate No. 2574, entitled 

 " Notes on the Meteoric Stone of Colby, 

 Wisconsin," by George P. Merrill. 



Proceedings Separate No. 2575, entitled 

 "Studies on the Larvae of Crabs of the 

 Family Xanthidae," by O. W. Hyman. 



Proceedings Separate No. 2577, entitled 

 "The Genus Pentacrinus in Alaska," 

 by Frank Springer. 



Proceedings Separate No. 2578, entitled 

 "A New Meteoric Stone from Baldwyn, 

 Mississippi," by George P. Merrill. 



Proceedings Separate No. 2580, entitled 

 "A Revision of the Parasitic Wasps of 

 the Genus Microbracon occurring in 

 America North of Mexico," by C. F. W. 

 Muesebeck. 



Proceedings Separate No. 2585, entitled 

 " Revision of Bugs of the Family Cryp- 

 tostem matidae in the Collection of 

 the United States National Museum," 

 by W. L. McAtee and J. R. Malloch. 



Proceedings Separate No. 2586, entitled 

 "A Review of the Beetle Family Pseu- 

 domorphidae, and a Suggestion for a 

 Rearrangement of the Adephaga, with 

 Descriptions 'of a New Genus and New 

 Species," by Howard Notman. 



Proceedings Separate No. 2587, entitled 

 "The Dragon God (Dai-Ja) in Idzumo, 

 Japan (a Japanese Tale)," by I. M. 

 Casanowicz. 



Proceedings Separate No. 2589, entitled 

 "Two New Larval Nematodes belong- 

 ing to the Genus Porrocaecum from 

 Mammals of the Order Insectivora," 

 by Benjamin Schwartz. 



Title Page, Table of Contents, and List 

 of Illustrations to Proceedings, Volume 

 64. 



Proceedings Volume 64. 



LIBRARY ACCESSIONS. 

 museum. 



Adam, Leonhard, Buddhastatuen. 

 Britten, F. J. Old clocks and watches 



and their makers. 

 Giesecke-, Walther. Sicilia numismatica. 

 The librarian guide; general catalogue of 



Polish books. 

 New York. Metropolitan museum of 



art. The restoration of ancient bronzes 



and other alloys. 

 Newstead, R. Guide to the study of 



tsetse-flies. 

 Werner, A. G. New theory of the for- 

 mation of veins. 

 White, R. Senior. Catalogue of Indian 



insects. Pt. 3-4. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Ashton, T. S. Iron and steel in the in- 

 dustrial revolution. 

 Frobenius, Leo. Erlebte erdteile. 



OFFICE. 



Levitt, E. H. The rigid airship. 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY. 



Fox, C. E. The threshold of the Pacific. 

 Frobenius, L., and Obermaier, H. Had- 



schra Maktuba LIrzeitliche Felsbilder 



Kleinafrikas. 

 De LabrioUe, P. History and Literature 



of Christianity. 

 Parker, E. H. A Thousand Years of the 



Tartars. 



Perrier, E. The Earth before History. 

 Sonntag, C. F. The Morphology and 

 Evolution of the Apes and Man. 



