264 
Japanese Garden 
The Japanese Garden, first opened to the public in 1915, was a 
gift to the Botanic Garden from Mr. Alfred T. White, “ the father 
of t 
r 
— 
1e Botanic Garden.” Designed by the Japanese architect, Mr. 
*. Shiota, 1t represents truly the Japanese idea of a garden. From 
the tea house (near the east entrance) one can see the machiai or 
“rest house,” the island with the drum bridge, bronze storks, stone 
and wooden lanterns, the waterfalls, and the wooden Torii standing 
in the lake. For details and explanations of the meaning of the 
various features see “The Japanese Garden of the Brooklyn Bot- 
amc Garden": Guide No. 4. (Brooklyn Botanie Garden Record 
19; 197-234. July, 1930.) 
Non-Botanical Educational Features 
Meridian Panel.—In 1931 there was placed in the paved walk 
in front of the main west entrance to the Laboratory Building a 
Terrestrial Position Panel, briefly referred to as the “ Meridian 
Panel.” This panel, of black Italian marble terrazzo, is 21 feet, 
2 inches long, and 5 feet wide. It contains a brass strip 20 feet 
—_ 
long and % inch wide laid along the geographical meridian, the 
location of which was accurately determined by Mr. Weld Arnold, 
then of the School of Surveying of the American Geographical 
Society, but now of the School of Geography, Harvard University. 
Another brass strip, 1844 feet long and 54 inch wide, marking 
the magnetic meridian, crosses the geographical meridian at an 
angle of 11° 11’. The data at the ends of the meridians are as 
pa 
follows : 
At the North Enda: 
Magnetic north. Variation 11° 11’ west in 1931 
Annual increase 4 
Alt the South End: 
Altitude above mean sea level, 115 feet 
North latitude, 40° 40° 06” 
Longitude west of Greenwich, 73° 57’ 48” 
Yo the North Pole, 3416.7 miles 
To the Equator, 2798.2 miles 
This feature is proving of much public interest, and the data 
are constantly being copied by classes and others. 
