Tour the Smithsonian After its First Fifty Years

This general division includes "every form of human activity," says Mason, "which demands a material upon which to operate and implements for its prosecution": in other words, everything made or consumed by man. The theory of the study is that of progress from the simplest to the most complex,-from rude to perfect. "The motives operating in the works of men are two-the beautiful and the good, the one resulting in art, the other in handicraft. The two can hardly be separated except at their extremes, where the mere tool has no symmetry or beauty, and where the chef d'oeuvre has no useful function. Both sorts have come over the same journey to their highest perfection."

Under this head, therefore, are to be found some of the most conspicuous and fully furnished departments in the museum, namely, Foods, Materia Medica, Fisheries, Navigation, Textile Fabrics, Ceramics, Architecture, Musical Instruments, Historical Relics and others in a greater or less condition of completeness.

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