History of the Division of Medical Sciences

poeia of drugs used in existing authorized formularies giving "official synonyms, and tables showing the constituents and comparative strength of all preparations."[6] This undertaking is of special importance in the history of American pharmacy, since it was probably the first attempt of its kind in the United States.[7] In addition, colored plates and photographs of medicinal plants were collected, forming the nucleus of the Division's current collection of pictorial and photographic material related to the history of the health field.

Dr. Flint also put on exhibition 630 Chinese materia medica specimens from the 1876 Philadelphia centennial. These had been collected originally by the Chinese Imperial Customs Commission for the centennial and were subsequently given to this country.

In 1881, the numbered objects in the Section's register amounted to 1,574 entries. In the following year, 1,590 more specimens were added, most of them drugs in their crude state. By the end of 1883, the t