Oct. 1895. Annual Report of the Director. 21 



impossible to heat the four great courts with their height of 

 seventy-eight feet, and it was an almost hopeless undertaking to 

 warm the eight}- spacious doorless halls. But the necessity for it 

 compelled a means. The entrances to the halls leading from the 

 courts and leading in and out of the long and narrow annex passages were 

 fitted with large movable partitions filling the entire space, in which 

 doors were constructed. By this means all the exhibition halls were 

 enclosed, and being provided in each case with ample steam radia- 

 tion, a minimum temperature of about 55 degrees was ordinarily 

 maintained throughout the building. The boiler plant being located 

 at the West Annex, it was feared that steam in sufficient quantity 

 could not reach the East Annex. But the construction was so excel- 

 lent and the return system so" capable that all of the halls maintained 

 about the sama temperature except on very cold days. The courts 

 are treated as streets, and visitors seem to readil}^ adapt themselves 

 to this condition of affairs. This arrangement practically closes the 

 Department of Botany during the colder months, for, except on the 

 few warm days of the winter season, it is impossible to view the col- 

 lections there with any satisfaction. Covering the grille work around 

 the sky-lights of the halls with asbestos, of which 15,000 square feet 

 was used, aided very much in creating an agreeable temperature 

 throughout the building. 



The only occasion for lighting the building is for patrol purposes, 

 as the Museum is never open to the public after dark. A judicious 

 disposition oj the forty arc lamps has amply illuminated the interior 

 of the building and given six lamps for the patrol of the outside of 

 the structure. 



The question of light and heat naturally assumes an entirely 

 different phase during the hot months, when the sun driving 

 down upon the sky-lights creates an intensity of heat and a glare of 

 light that at times become unbearable. To obviate this, sun curtains 

 of unbleached muslin were hung under all of the ceiling lights 

 throughout the building and under the great sky-lights in the main 

 roof. This lessened the heat rays very noticeably, and softened the 

 theretofore blinding sunlight. 



Installation, Re-arrangement and Permanent Improvements. 

 — The largest amount of work under this head has been performed 

 upon the roof. The eight gables on the East and West Annexes, 

 have been covered with tin. Two domes, have been covered with tin; 

 3,000 square feet of corrugated iron have been put on the roof, while 

 aprons to keep out the snow, and six new fire-proof scuttles have been 

 constructed and covered. Wall strips, gutters, ridge strip*s and stair 

 domes have been repaired and constructed to the extent of about 5,000 



