414 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 190.3. 



giii.shers, each of 4 oallons capacity, and 148 tilled ))uckets with auto- 

 matic covers — KK) of them on the roof, tilled with about 442 j;allons 

 of water. There is also available the special high-water pressure 

 system of the park, and detinite arrangements are made with the city 

 tire department for such extra service as may l)e needed. Fourteen 

 tire alarms are distributed throughout the building, which give sig- 

 nals, both in the room of the tire watch and in the distant room of the 

 director. The offices in the upper story are provided with a mer- 

 curial automatic tire-alarm system. Upon the roof a series of mer- 

 curial thermostats have been placed which, at a temperature of 175° 

 F,, give the signal of alarm in the room of the tire watch, so that the 

 situation of the tire is at once known." 



On account of the isolated location of the nuiseum, everything that 

 ingenuity can devise has been done to diminisli the danger from tire, 

 liable on account of the combustible nature of the building and furni- 

 ture, and to meet accidents that may occur. I have described this 

 svstem in such detail to show how careful people have })ecome in a 

 city which has burned down within the memory of man. But with us, 

 too, just as much care is desirable, for it is nuich more important to 

 prevent a lire in museums, or to stop it wdien tirst started, than to 

 extinguish it witii the aid of the tire department, for the water thrown 

 ])y engines is as destructive as the tire itself. A proof of this was 

 given in January, 1901, at the tire in the old pathological institute of 

 the Berlin University, in charge of Professor Virchov, where valuable 

 material was destroyed ])y the w^ater thrown to extinguish the fire. 



It impresses a German to find in America that generally no light- 

 ning rods are in use — none at all, for example, on this museum. In 

 Saxonv there are very stringent police regulations in this regard. On 

 inquiry about this matter in the United States I was told that the elec- 

 tric wires served the same purpose.^ Considering the great dryness 

 which exists in summer, together with the high degree of heat in the 

 United States— I myself, on September 5, 1S;»9, at 5 p. m., endured a 

 temperature of 98° F. in Chicago^ — I believe that in spite of all the 

 careful precautionary regulations, the expensive collections of the 

 Columbian Museum are seriously endangered in this building, and I 



« For security against burglary a watchman in the halls of gems, as well as one at 

 the entrance, must give assurance of his presence by a bell signal every (juarter of 

 an hour. There are also electric alarms in the same hall. 



'' I much doubt the accuracy of this view, for the protecting effect of lightning 

 rods can not, in many cases, be denied, though nowhere in the United States are 

 they retiuired l)y police regulations, and what is more to the point, the tire insurance 

 companies do not demand them; while on the other hand, mortgagees frequently 

 demand security of l)uildingH against cyclones. 



c This is blood heat. The highest observed temperature within a short time before 

 was 100° F., on July 16 and 17, 1887. This was first exceeded on July 11, 1901, when 

 it was 102° F. 



