In the meantime, Dr. Whitebread was an active contributor to the
literature of the health field in various periodicals, as well as in
pamphlets issued by the Museum and other governmental agencies (see
bibliography). His literary contributions, guided by the exhibits he
designed and the collections he acquired, were focused on the Division's
collections, such as primitive and psychic medicine and warnings against
reliance on magic and superstitions in treatment, medical oddities, and
the utilization of drugs of animal origin, both past and present.

Division of Medicine and Public Health (1939-1957)

After taking charge of the Division of Medicine in 1918, Dr. Whitebread
gave special attention to public health displays. His activities in this
area were accelerated after 1924 when the health exhibit at the
Smithsonian Institution was inaugurated. As the exhibits in this field
increased, the Division, in 1939, took the more comprehensive title of
Division of Medicine and Public Health. Also, in 1939, Dr. Whitebread
was promoted to the rank of associate curator.

[Illustration: Figure 9.--EXHIBIT ON METHODS OF TREATMENT of diseases
through mental impressions and psychic conditions as displayed about
1925. (Smithsonian photo 30796-B.)]

[Illustration: Figure 10.--AN EXHIBIT ON SUPERSTITIONS, EMPIRICISM,
magic, and faith healing in the light of scientific medicine, completed
in 1962, is in sharp contrast with that shown in figure 9.]

He continued his efforts to collect more specimens of interest to
medical history and to contribute to the literature. Among exhibited
specimens in 1941 were a powder paper-crimping machine, a portable drug
crusher, an odd device for spreading plaster on cloth, a pill-coating
apparatus, various suppository molds, a lozenge cutter, and an ingenious
Seidlitz powder machine. The derivation of medicinal drugs from animal,
vegetable, and mineral sources was also depicted, as were synthetic
materials and their intermediates. Basic prescription materials were
displayed, and rows of glass-enclosed cases held samples of crude
botanical drugs from almost every part of the globe with explanatory
cards giving brief, concise descriptions. The exhibition provided
medical and pharmaceutical students about to take state-board
examinations, the opportunity to study the subject in detail, especially
the enormous collection of _materia medica_ samples.[15] Also in 1941,
Eli Lilly and Company donated an