22(36 Journal of Applied Microscopy 



of the urgency and value of the protection, asked for, to municipal authorities 

 will secure for the museum this desirable concession. 



In this section on the Interior of the Museum a few words may be profitably 

 devoted to the subject of interior ornament. Many will recall the suggestive 

 symbolism of the Pavilion of the Fish Commission at the Chicago World's Fair, 

 and the mention of ornament, mural, decorative, and architectural, will remind 

 the visitors of the Natural History Museum, London, while the more pretentious 

 introduction of ornament is seen in the Vienna museums. 



A sweeping prohibition of all such adventitious accessories is desirable. 

 What advantage is gained by these rudimentary effigies of natural objects on 

 walls and columns, friezes and pedestals ? Even the larger and more serious 

 use of mural painting, presumably, under ordinary circumstances, should also 

 be discouraged. 



The interior of a museum should be the most easily subjected to all cleans- 

 ing processes, and processes of renewal as well. A variety of ornament furnishes 

 nests, retreats and skulking corners for dust and dirt, and painted walls are so 

 easily defaced that the avoidance of this sort of illustration is commendable. A 

 grace of architectural structure with simple surfaces is alone to be aimed at. 

 This disposition is pleasing to the eye, and admits of renewal and cleansing, and 

 almost inevitably precludes expense in maintenance. 



Finally, ventilation is most important, and a system which may preclude the 

 opening of windows, or demands only a minimum of such aeration, should be 

 installed in large museums. The double window in use on the Continent is 

 generally useless. As Dr. Meyer points out, it interferes with the light, and in 

 cold weather they form an outer screen of frosted panes. It seems feasible, 

 under the most arctic conditions, to keep halls warm with single windows ; the 

 resources of modern art are ample enough for the most severe exactions in this 



respect. 



The flooring of museums is preferably made of tiling than of wood. The 

 former can be cleaned and washed with care, and dust thus sensibly eliminated. 

 The latter is itself a source of dust, wearing away by the attrition of use into a 

 fine powder; it is not always successfully cleaned, and retains moisture after 

 mopping. 



In styles of tiling there seems to be no especial reason for choice. The 

 small square blocks of the Pompeian tile seem durable and certainly in art 

 museums have an artistic congruity that is attractive. The larger squares of the 

 encaustic tile are also excellent, but, as a matter of good taste, they should not 

 be too varied in color, nor should patterns of much complexity be adopted. 

 Simplicity is usually a safe guide. Three colors are used with good effect, a 

 buff and black and red. There is needed a certain forcefulness and beauty in 

 the tiling of a great handsome hall, but the limits of moderation may be easily 

 overstepped. There is no necessity of strict uniformity in tiling throughout a 

 museum ; the different floors and even the different halls may vary, as the car- 

 peting of a house may vary from room to room, but pretentious contrasts are of 

 course objectionable. Foreign tiles seem generally more durable, and less absor- 

 bent of water, L. P. Gratacap. 

 American Museum of Natural History. 



(For many figures illustrating the sections, so far published, of this paper, 

 the author is indebted to the Memoirs of Dr. A. B. Meyer, of Dresden.) 



