OPENING OF HALL OF PUBLIC HEALTH 195 



President Osborn presided and spoke as follows: 



"This evening we enter into the campaign to clean up the homes of six million 

 people. Has it ever occurred to you that among other inventions, man is the in- 

 ventor of dirt? In the whole of God's universe, before man defiled it, there was not 

 a speck of dirt; everything was spotlessly clean. Go into the wilds anywhere, into 

 the great deserts or in the great swamps, it is always the same. In the economy of 

 Nature wherever there is a temporary deposit of what might be classed as dirt, like 

 a decaying carcass or a pile of excrement, there is an army of scavengers — either 

 bacteria or beasts of prey — and a complete clean-up in an incredibly short space of 

 time. 



In Nature, therefore, we find the prophets and harbingers of Commissioner 

 Lederle, of Commissioner Edwards, of Mrs. Hewitt and others who are marshalling 

 this great movement. 



The part the Museum can play is to furnish visual teaching, first, of the perfect 

 way in which Nature does it, and second, of the clumsy way in which man does it. 

 The contrast is really between the work of God and the work of man, and it is certain 

 that in the advance of civilization the more close we get to Nature's laws and example 

 the more civilized we shall be. 



In the hall of public health which opens to the public for the first time this even- 

 ing, you will find the first attempt made in a pure natural history museum to regard 

 man as after all one of the most important animals. 



It is curious how long it takes man to treat his fellow-man as well as he treats 

 his animals. It is true we have societies for the prevention of cruelty to children, 

 child-beating, neglect, but there are more subtle forms of cruelty to children and to 

 grown people as well, which we are just beginning to understand and to guard against. 

 It is cruel to bring a child into the world predestined to disease and suffering, hence 

 eugenics. It is cruel to bring into our country the kind of people who will produce 

 children like this, cruel, I mean, to those already here, hence the survey of immigra- 

 tion. It is cruel to bring up children in an unclean environment, hence this great 

 clean city campaign. 



As New York goes, so goes the nation in politics. It is also the case in civics. 

 This great city, which is always decrying itself, and is too large to care for its outside 

 critics, is also the center of the most intense local patriotism and public spirit; and 

 to-night we are to see some of its best manifestations both among those who speak 

 and those who support the movement by their presence here." 



Dr. E. J. Lederle, health commissioner of the City of New York, then described 

 the plans for the spring clean-up campaign and showed slides illustrating the bad 

 conditions which exist and the forces of the city available for dealing with them. 

 Mrs. E. R. Hewitt, president of the Woman's Municipal League, in a witty speech, 

 outlined the part which women should play in this and similar movements for civic 

 cleanliness. Dr. C.-E. A. Winslow, curator of the Museum's department of public 

 health, then briefly outlined the viewpoint of the Museum toward this movement, 

 which is in fact a natural history experiment in the adaptation of habitat to the 

 human animal. The following is quoted from his address: 



"On this rocky island one of the crucial experiments of civilization is being made, 

 an experiment requiring the unremitting effort and keenest intelligence for its suc- 

 cessful conduct. Consider what would happen if the vigilance with which our com- 

 fort and safety is here guarded were relaxed for only a few days, how the forces of 

 primitive nature would rush in and take possession. The wolves and bears are gone 

 from Manhattan, but if our water and light failed, if our forces of civic cleanliness 

 and order were paralyzed for a week, destructive hosts of vermin and scourges of 

 plague and pestilence would sweep in. Grass growing in the streets has long been a 



