NOTI'JS 



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tion of the oxhibition halls of the Musimiiii. 

 Mucli intiM-est was maiiifi stcil in llic .Icsu]" 

 collci-tion of Noith Aiiit'iicaii woods, arnl 

 the Darwin hall elititcil praise for tlie skill 

 manifested in the jiri'iiaration of speeiiiieiis, 

 especially those dealing with public health 

 problems. The food conservation exhibit 

 was studied, and in the dejiartnient of eilu- 

 eation the nature study collections and the 

 method of cooperating; with the classes for 

 the blind and with the city schools and 

 libraries received special attention. The 

 members of the mission were: Dr. Arthur 

 Everett Shipley, Vice Chancellor, Univer- 

 sity of Cambridge; the Reverend Edward 

 M. Walker, fellow and librarian of (Queen's 

 College, Oxford University; Sir ileniy 

 Miers, Vice Chancellor, University of 

 Manchester; Sir Henry Jones, professor of 

 moral philosophy. University of Glasgow; 

 Dr. -lohn doly, professor of geology and 

 mineralogy. Trinity College, Dublin; Lieu- 

 tenant Robert Nichols, Oxford University; 

 Captain H. A. Smith, fellow of Morgan Col- 

 lege, Oxford Uni\ersity. 



C. S. PiETRO, Italian sculptor, whose work 

 is represented in the American Museum by 

 the busts of John Burroughs and Charles 

 L. Sargent, died of pneumonia at his home 

 in Pelham jNIanor, New York, on October 9. 

 When taken ill he was engaged on a piece 

 of sculpture intended as a gift to France, 

 believed by some to be his most important 

 work. Mr. Pietro was born in Palermo, 

 Sicily, and studied art in Rome. He came 

 to the United States ten years ago, at the 

 age of twenty-two. Other works executed 

 by him are portrait busts of John Muir and 

 Charles R. Van Hise in the University of 

 Wisconsin and of J. P. Morgan and Elihu 

 Root at Harvard University. 



Mr. Carl E. Akeley, of the American 

 Museum, has devoted all of his time during 

 the last eighteen months to matters pertain- 

 ing to the war and service to the United 

 States Government. One of the enterprises 

 has been the manufacture of the Akeley 

 Motion Picture camera, an instrument orig- 

 inally designed by him especially for use 

 as a naturalist's field camera. Photography 

 as it has had to be carried on at the front dur- 

 ing the Great War has presented conditions 

 so nearly paralleled in peace times by the 

 conditions acconijian ying big game hunting 



that it was <iuite natural for the Government 

 to turn to this jiarticular camera and adopt 

 it as an instruniciit of military service. The 

 canicra had not been manufacturcil com- 

 m('r<'ially jiroxious to the jiart icijiation of 

 the United States in the war; Government 

 orders, therefore, made it necessary to es- 

 tablish a factory, the entire output of which 

 up to the present time has been delivered 

 to the United States Army. 



Mr. Akeley, as consulting engineer in the 

 Division of Investigation, Research, and 

 Development of the General Engineering 

 Depot of the United States Army, also has 

 been called upon for service in the develoj)- 

 meut and production of many mechanical 

 devices in connection with field searchlights, 

 sound ranging instruments, and other war- 

 time appaiatus. He has been special as- 

 sistant to the Chief of the Concrete Ship 

 Division of the Emergency Fleet Corpora- 

 tion, a position for which he was especially 

 well cjualified from his experience as inven- 

 tor of the cement gun, recognized as an 

 important tool in the construction of con- 

 crete ships. In addition, an extensive line 

 of experiments with concrete has been 

 carried on in connection with the Bureau of 

 Standards at Washington for the purpose 

 of determining the combinations which 

 would result in a medium embodying maxi- 

 mum strength with minimum weight. 



While in the midst of these interests, 

 Mr. Akeley conceived, and with the sanc- 

 tion of President Henry Fairfield Osboru of 

 the American Museum of Natural History, 

 worked out the details of a plan whereby 

 the American Museum building with all its 

 tremendous resources and peculiar fitness for 

 such service might be placed at the disposal 

 of the United States Government for use 

 as a convalescent and rehabilitation hospital 

 for disabled soldiers. In the development of 

 his idea Mr. Akeley pointed out that should 

 the Government decide to accept the offer, 

 there were unique possibilities not only in the 

 building itself for easy conversion into hos- 

 jjital wards without retiring any large 

 number of exhibits, but also in the resources 

 at command through the service of the staff 

 of instructors and artists and the equipment 

 and facilities of laboratories, studios, and 

 shops, for mental entertainment of patients 

 and industrial occupation of convalescents. 

 The details of the i)lan were elaborated by 

 a special coinniittee a])]iointed by President 



