THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



Eelief maps, models, and photographs of 

 the Catskill Mountain -water-supply system 

 for New York City may be seen on the fourth 

 floor of the American Museum. The city of 

 New York uses 615,000,000 gallons of water 

 daily, and with the population increasing at 

 the rate of 157,000 a year and needing 100 

 gallons of water for each person, it is evi- 

 dent that the water supply is an important 

 problem. By the completion of the Ashokan 

 reservoir, the first of the artificial storage 

 lakes in the Catskill Mountains, 250,000,000 

 gallons daily have been added to the perma- 

 nent water resources which can be depended 

 upon by the city in the most prolonged series 

 of dry years likely to occur. The great en- 

 gineering project of bringing the water from 

 the Catskills to New York City was begun in 

 1907. The system ranks among the greatest 

 of Avaterw^orks, ancient or modern, and for 

 magnitude, cost, and complexity of physical 

 problems, stands with the great canals and 

 railroad systems of the world. The part now 

 completed constitutes three quarters of the 

 whole and embraces the Ashokan reservoir, 

 an artificial lake twelve miles long, the Cats- 

 kill aqueduct, extending ninety-two miles 

 from this reservoir to the city's northern 

 boundary and thirty-five miles within the 

 city's limits, including the branch to the 

 borough of Queens, Kensico storage reser- 

 voir near White Plains, Hill View equalizing 

 reservoir at the city line, and Silver Lake 

 terminal reservoir on Staten Island. The 

 water of the new system flows from gather- 

 ing grounds much higher than the city, force 

 of gravity alone providing sufficient pressure. 

 This is one of its great advantages, as the 

 necessity for costly pumjjing is obviated. 

 The large aqueduct through which the Avater 

 flows is of sufficient capacity to deliver 

 600,000,000 gallons daily. Kensico reservoir, 

 of which a model is shown, offers provision 

 for storing a large quantity of water near the 

 city. From the Ashokan reservoir the water, 

 at the average velocity, takes almost three 

 days to travel to the Silver Lake terminal 

 on Staten Island, during Avhich journey it 

 floAvs along many a steep hillside, crosses 

 several broad plains, pierces mountains, de- 

 scends beneath rivers and Avide deep valleys, 

 traverses the boroughs of the Bronx, Man- 

 hattan, and Brooklyn, and crosses the nar- 

 rows of New York Harbor. 



To emphasize the features of Dr. Clark 

 Wissler's new publication. The American In- 



dian, a special two-case exhibit has been in- 

 stalled on the main floor of the American 

 Museum near the Avest assembly hall. The 

 display is designed to portray the somatic 

 or bodily characters of the American Indian, 

 and to show his relation not only to mankind 

 in general, but more particularly to the 

 Asiatic mongoloids. This is done by means 

 of life masks, skulls, hair samples, photo- 

 graphs, and charts. The subject matter of 

 the labels is taken from Dr. Wissler's book, 

 Avhich forms the nucleus of the exhibit. 



The American Anthropological Associ- 

 ation and the American Folk-Lore Society 

 met in joint convention at Philadelphia De- 

 cember 27-29. The sessions were held in the 

 auditorium of the University Museum. Pro- 

 fessor A. L. Kroeber, now of the American 

 Museum scientific staff, presided. The an- 

 thropological department of the American 

 Museum was further represented by Dr. 

 Clark Wissler, Dr. P. E. Goddard, and Mr. 

 N. C. Nelson. A dinner was given on the 

 evening of December 27 in honor of Dr. 

 Wissler, in appreciation of his recent publi- 

 cation, The American Indian. This book 

 was the theme of the after dinner discussion, 

 Avhich Dr. A. H. GoldeuAveiser opened by 

 giving a brief analytical summary of the 

 Avork. 



Mr. Harry Piers, curator of the Provin- 

 cial Museum at Halifax, reports that the 

 specimens and labels of the Museum appar- 

 ently came through the recent disaster in 

 that city in far better condition than could 

 have been expected. Windows were bloAvn 

 in and the glass of cases was smashed, 

 Avater pipes burst, and snoAv drove disas- 

 trously in at one end of the building. Mr. 

 Piers calls attention to their good fortune in 

 haAdng used waterproof ink for labels. The 

 cases Avere boarded over soon after the ex- 

 plosion in order to make them available as 

 tables for Bed Cross relief supplies, thus pre- 

 A'enting a very careful examination of the 

 damage to date. 



That the December number of the Jour- 

 nal did not reach subscribers by the middle 

 of the month Avas due to its detention in the 

 New York Post Office, pending investigation 

 of an alleged violation of post office require- 

 ments. A telegram from Washington finally 

 released the issue. 



