Ignaz Matausch 



HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HALL OF PUBLIC HEALTH 



By C.-E. A. WINSLOW 



THE most striking feature of the 

 hall of public health is the case 

 of monster models of insect car- 

 riers of disease. These models, which 

 include the fovn' stages in the life history 

 of the fly; the flea (carrier of bubonic 

 plague); and the egg and adult of the 

 body louse (carrier of tophus fever), rep- 

 resent the last contributions of Ignaz 

 Matausch to the American Museum. 



No one who has not watched the pro- 

 cess can guess the almost infinite detail 

 involved in the preparation of these won- 

 derful models. Days of patient work 

 are first needed in studying the habits 

 of the insect and in breeding it so that 

 abundant living material in all stages 

 may be obtained. Then every part, 

 every tiny hair, every minute sculptur- 

 ing must be worked out and to scale, 

 each observation being checked up, by 

 the examination of a series of individuals 

 to eliminate abnormal variations, and 

 by comparison with living specimens 

 to avoid the distortion due to death 

 changes. Each part of the model is 

 then modeled and cast and finished 

 and fitted together, the proportions being 

 studied and compared with life at every 

 stage. I suppose Mr. Matausch has said 

 to me a hundred times, "You see, this 

 must be right in the extreme." 



When the model has been put to- 

 gether and the hairs and scales have 

 one by one been prepared and fitted 

 exactly in place, when the coloring has 

 been completed with the same exhaus- 

 tive care, it is no wonder that such a 

 model as the fly took a year of solid 

 work on the part of its tireless creator. 



The model of the flea was prepared by 

 Mr. Matausch largely outside of regu- 

 lar Museum hours, which were taken 



up with other preparation work. The 

 model of the louse was made entirely 

 in this way and was presented to the 

 Museum as the gift of Mr. Matausch. 

 It is a satisfaction to me to remember 

 that some of the last weeks of his life 

 were made happy by his election to life 

 membership in the Museum as a recog- 

 nition of this generous gift. 



Mr. Matausch worked before hours 

 and after hours, on Sundays and holi- 

 days, for the Museum and its officers, 

 for his loyalty was fervent and intense. 

 Above all however he worked for the 

 love of his work, which absorbed and 

 consumed him with a power such as I 

 have never seen equalled. He said to 

 me once, "I love this work so. The 

 only hard time in the day is the morn- 

 ing hour in the subway — for then I am 

 so anxious to get to work." Watching 

 him, one had visions of monks bending 

 over their task of pious illumination, 

 of Renaissance artists decorating some 

 chapel ceiling. Ignaz Matausch worked 

 in a different medium but he was in spirit 

 a brother to every one who has ever 

 labored with utter self -abandon for an 

 ideal of perfect work. 



The model of the Aedes mosquito, 

 carrier of yellow fever, upon which Mr. 

 Matausch was engaged for the six 

 months before his death with consuming 

 enthusiasm and which he rightly believed 

 would have been most beautiful of all 

 his contributions, was left unfinished. 

 The models already completed however, 

 will long stand as a monument to a great 

 Museum artist; and the memory of his 

 ardent and tireless personality and of 

 his complete devotion to the attainment 

 of the perfect result will remain a living 

 influence with all of us who knew him. 



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