SMITHSONIAN PRESS MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY Contributions From the Museum of History and Technology Papers 34-44 On Science and Technology SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION · WASHINGTON, D.C. 1966 Publications of the United States National Museum The scholarly and scientific publications of the United States National Museum include two series, Proceedings of the United States National Museum and United States National Museum Bulletin . In these series, the Museum publishes original articles and mon

This paper traces, for the first time, the history of the Division of Medical Sciences in the Museum of History and Technology from its small beginnings as a section of materia medica in 1881 to its present broad scope. The original collection of a few hundred specimens of crude drugs which had been exhibited at the centennial exhibition of 1876 at Philadelphia, has now developed into the largest collection in the Western Hemisphere of historical objects related to the healing arts. The Author :