MUSEUM NOTES 



359 



Avill be rein'odiK-ed in the first fall issue of 

 the Journal). Work on tlie old bull, whose 

 head will tower twelve feet above the pedes- 

 tal on Avhic'h he is to stand, is well under 

 way. At present one of the immense sides 

 of the mannikin for him has been clothed in 

 one half of his skin and is now encased in 

 plaster until the skin hardens. The other 

 side is undergoing the process of having the 

 remaining half skin carefully molded over 

 soft clay into all the intricacies of the natural 

 folds and ■wrinkles and suggestions of tense 

 muscles underneath. Work on the head is 

 begun. The pose, depicted by Mr. Akeley, is 

 one that carries conviction as to the ele- 

 phant's massiveness and majesty. The 

 measurement from the eye to the tip of the 

 trunk is nine feet and the spread of the ear 

 is more than ten feet. Just now is the very 

 best time to see and understand the process 

 which Mr. Akeley has perfected in the 

 mounting of animals, since each step is in 

 sight — except the final one of reenforeing 

 the inside of the skin with composition and 

 wire netting. So difficult of accomplishment 

 and so vast in amount is the detailed work 

 required that it Avill be almost a year before 

 the four elephants stand on their feet in the 

 finished group. 



Mr. Henry P. Davison, treasurer of the 

 American Museum, has been appointed by 

 President Wilson as chairman of the Eed 

 Cross War Council, a body of seven members 

 created within the Eed Cross for the purpose 

 of responding to the extraordinary demands 

 which will arise from the present war. 



Dr. Frank M. Chapman also has been 

 called to Washington as assistant director, 

 Bureau of Publications, for service in con- 

 nection with the Red Cross. At present he is 

 acting as editor of the Bed Cross Bulletin, 

 a newly established organ designed to keep 

 subscribers informed of Red Cross activities. 



Of the members of the Crocker Laud Ex- 

 pedition who returned to civilization in the 

 summer of 1916 by way of a 1300-mile 

 sledge trip across Melville Bay and through 

 Danish Greenland, thence by boat to Copen- 

 hagen, Ensign Fitzhugh Green, who was in 

 charge of the cartographic and magnetic 

 work of the expedition, is again in the ser- 

 vice of the United States Navy on the steam- 

 ship "Texas." Also Mr. Jerome Lee Allen, 

 the electrician who was in charge of the 

 wireless, has reenlisted for government ser- 

 vice and is at present at W^ashington, D. C. 



The "Neptune" (see i)ages 284 and 3-46), 

 which is to be sent as a third relief vessel 

 to the members of the Crocker Laud Expedi- 

 tion in northwest Greenland, is the largest 

 of the Newfoundland sealers. Although 

 built in 1873 she is sound throughout. Her 

 sides consist of sheathing of four inches of 

 greenheart over four inches of oak, covering 

 heavy oak timbers, witli a three-inch lining. 

 The space between the inner and outer skins 

 and the timbers of the ship is solidly filled 

 with rock salt, so that the sides of the ship 

 Avill be practically eighteen inches thick in 

 all parts where contact with the ice is ex- 

 pected. The bow is further reenforced by a 

 heavy sheathing of iron plates, and is backed 

 inside Avith deadwood. The "Neptune" 

 measures about 190 ft. long by 30 wide and 

 18 deep. She will carry about 450 tons of 

 coal. Five tons of food will be carried to 

 the expedition to provide against the con- 

 tingency of another year's detention in the 

 north. Owing to the present scarcity of 

 ships, it was only after the greatest difficulty 

 that the "Neptune" was secured. The char- 

 ter price per month is $15,000. 



The Avomen of the American Museum have 

 formed a definite organization for prepared- 

 ness under the name of the "American Mu- 

 seum War Relief Association." Conmiittees 

 have pushed forward the Avork to be done by 

 the organization, and serving and knitting 

 are proceeding rapidly. Mrs. Henry Fair- 

 field Osborn very generously contributes 

 funds to the extent of thirty dollars a month 

 for the purchase of the necessary materials. 

 While certain hours are granted by the Mu- 

 seum for this Avork, each employee engaged 

 in it donates additional time as her oavu 

 jjersonal sacrifice to the cause. Red Cross 

 funds collected to date contain 205 sub- 

 scriptions, AA'ith the Avork of collecting still 

 going on. 



At a special meeting for the adult blind 

 of NeAV York City, held at the American 

 Museum on the evening of June 8, Dr. G. 

 Clyde Fisher spoke on "Wild FloAA-ers of 

 Summer." Boy Scout guides Avere provided 

 for all those Avho Avished such assistance. 

 The doors Avcre opened early in order that 

 the visitors might have opportunity to 

 handle the grasses, daisies, buttercups, 

 clovers, and A'arious other "Avild floAvers" so 

 abundant in the fields of NeAv York's suburbs 

 that i)icking them for this occasion could 

 not possibly haA'e any influence toAvard ex- 

 termination of the species. 



