STUDIES ON MUSEUMS AND KINDRED INSTITUTIONS. 



433 



2. First floor with cntnuioo hull, that is used for oxhihitioii purposes 

 (ill theniiddlc a hirj^o t]^rou])()f tliuuinoocs), librarv, hcrlniriuni, bcrsidcs 

 ii lectuic room (with book sholvi's at the sides), ottices and rooms for 

 tlie park board. 



3. Second or main floor which, to^vther with the third floor, forms 

 a large hall with light from above (Phite 17). This hall has in its cen- 

 ter a room for largo animals (mammoth, glyptodon, gorilla, ])ison, 

 nmskox, American elk, groups of lions, etc.); in the cases all around, 

 the verte))rates; also some ethnographical specimens. 



■i. Third floor or galler}'^: All around the railings of the gallery are 

 horizontal cases for insects (in the illustration, Plate IT. are seen some 

 other objects in these cases, 

 the pictures having been 

 taken some years ago); in 

 the cases at the window sides 

 ai'C mollusks and lower ani- 

 mals, paleontology, geology, 

 and mineralogy. 



5. The attic, which runs 

 all around the vaulted ceil- 

 ing with skylight, perfectly 

 illuminated, and at the out- 

 side w^alls of which stand 

 storage cases with l)irds, 

 shells, lower animals, fos- 

 sils, and minerals; this attic 

 is perfectly fireproof, Avhich 

 fact I especially emphasize, as this is rarely the case in Germany. 



It would be difficult to devise a better and more practical use of 

 space. Beside the stairs an elevator runs from the })asement to the 

 gallery. 



Adopting a combination of ceiling and side light (if for any reasons 

 the first one had to ])e employed too), the main advantage of the ])uild- 

 ing lies in its being exceedingly well lighted. 



The height and width of the windows and the walls between are so 

 excellently arranged that the light flows thi-ough all the rooms, and the 

 effect of the ceiling light, which is relatively small, could almost l)e 

 spared. Besides the reflection of the horizontal cases at the gallery 

 railing, which as everywhere with ceiling lights is very annoying, is 

 diminished by the light flowing al)undantly in from all sides. I know 

 a number of similarly built museums, but they either use only or 

 almost entirely the ceiling lights, which arrangement has many dis- 

 advantages, or the side light is not made use of either so profitably or 

 so completely. 



The wooden cases and desks witli their sharp yellow wood color are 

 NAT MUS ]'J03 28 



Fi(i. 41. — Cliicago Academy of Scieiicfs. Plan of second 

 orgalk'ry floor (in part). 



