OPENING OF THE HALL OF PUBLIC 

 HEALTH 



[Report by the department] 



The exhibits of the department of public health which were sent to the Inter- 

 national Congress of Hygiene and Demography in Washington last fall, through the 

 generosity of Mr. Felix M. Warburg, dealt with the problems of water supply and 

 waste disposal and with the bacteria. After their return from the Congress, where 

 they were awarded the highest honor in both sections of the exhibit in which they 

 were included, these models were installed in permanent fashion in the west corridor 

 on the third floor. During the past year the department has been at work on the 

 preparation of material bearing on the problems of insect-borne disease; and the 

 completion of half a dozen of these exhibits and in particular of the model described 

 in the daily press as "the house fly 1 as big as a cat " was selected as an auspicious 

 occasion for the formal opening of the new hall of public health. In view of the 

 fact that the movement for cleaning the city inaugurated by Health Commissioner 

 Lederle this spring is largely based upon the danger to health from insect-carriers 

 of disease, it was felt that our exhibition might be made of assistance in this important 

 public work. The friends of the Museum were therefore invited on the evening of 

 Wednesday, April sixteenth, to take part in a public meeting in the interest of the 

 campaign for civic cleanliness instituted by the New York City department of health 

 as well as to assist at the opening of the hall of public health. 



The large lecture hall was well filled and on the platform besides Dr. Henry 

 Fairfield Osborn, president of the Museum, and Dr. Frederic A. Lucas, director, 

 the Museum was represented by Dr. Walter B. James and Mr. Felix M. Warburg 

 of the board of trustees. With them sat Dr. Livingstone Farrand, secretary of the 

 American Public Health Association, Mr. H. deB. Parsons of the Metropolitan 

 Sewerage Commission, Dr. C. Ward Crampton, director of physical training of the 

 department of education, Prof. Charles Baskerville of the College of the City of New 

 York and Dr. N. E. Ditman of the American Museum of Safety. 



1 The first step in constructing the model was the study of the fly itself. It was found 

 necessary to make the studies upon living flies stupefied with chloroform, or from freshly 

 killed specimens since within half an hour after death much of the original color of the fly as 

 well as the surface modeling changes. The chitinous armor is distorted either through the 

 contraction of soft parts or the collapse of the air-tubes or trachea?, while the limbs are drawn 

 up into unnatural positions. Even the color of the eye changes a short time after death. 

 Hence each specimen is useful only for a short time. About two hundred flies were used as 

 models for the preliminary studies and as guides during the work of construction. Careful 

 drawings enlarged to scale were made by Mr. Matausch of all anatomical details and these 

 are on file in the Museum to vouch for the accuracy of the work. The head, mouth parts, 

 body and legs were modeled separately in clay, cast in wax, smoothly finished and polished 

 and accurately colored. The construction of the compound eyes was a problem in itself. 

 Each one contains more than twelve hundred separate little eyes or ocelli. These are so 

 arranged that they stand in perfect rows, when looked at from any one of three directions. 

 In the model each eye is a separate glass bead, accurately placed in its proper position. 



The most difficult and trying process was the construction and insertion of the hair^ with 

 which the body is covered. Since there are several kinds of hair on the fly varying in size, 

 shape, and direction of insertion, and since these bend in characteristic positions often of 

 importance to the economy of the fly, it was a serious matter to portray them accurately. 

 This was finally accomplished by constructing each hair separately of german silver wire, 

 fifing it to its proper shape, bending it according to its peculiar character, and placing it 

 carefully in its proper position. The wiDgs were modeled in celluloid. The halteres (a 

 rudimentary second pair of wings) the plumelike antennae, the club-shaped palps or tasting 

 organs were all accurately modeled and articulated into position. The fly is mounted on 

 a base representing a magnified rectangular crumb of bread. [Notes by Mr. R. W. Miner 

 of the department of invertebrate zoology.] 



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