Oct. 16, 1879] 



NATURE 



589 



with a second room for the Library, has been generously 

 placed at the disposal of the executive committee, by the 

 council of the College, until such time as a separate 

 building can be provided for the museum. The articles 

 exhibited are arranged in six classes, and a brief descrip- 

 tion of these will serve to indicate sufficiently that the 

 museum is likely to be of great service to those engaged 

 in studying the sanitary construction of houses and other 

 branches of hygiene. It should be stated that the classi- 

 fication is only a temporary one. 



In Class I. (Engineering) will be found plans, sections, 

 and models of systems of drainage for cities, towns, and 

 villages, including the whole of the contract drawings 

 used in connection with the construction of the present 

 system of drainage in the metropolis. Maps, &c., illus- 

 trating the physical geography of this and other countries, 

 plans of existing and proposed means of water supply 

 for towns, sections of geological formations, and views of 

 the position and surroundings of places noted as health 

 resorts, apparatus in connection with water-supply, and 

 the sinking of wells, are also included in this class. 



Class II. (Architecture) consists of general designs for 

 dwellings, hospitals, and other buildings, together with 

 examples of the details of construction. This is by far 

 the largest and most complete section of the museum ; 

 already it includes hundreds of models, or specimens of 

 mechanical appliances, and modes of building construc- 

 tion — illustrating in detail the several parts of a well-built 

 house, from the foundation to the roof — bricks, concrete, 

 and other material for walls ; artificial stone as a fireproof 

 substitute for timber, &c., so commonly used for heads 

 over door and window openings ; also water-closets of 

 every description ; baths ; stoneware, lead, and iron 

 pipes ; syphon and other traps ; yard gullies, and con- 

 trivances for disconnecting the main sewers from the 

 house pipes, may be seen and compared. Windows 

 and doors so arranged as to give ventilation to the 

 apartment in which they are fixed, stoves of various 

 kinds, ventilating gas lamps, cowls for chimneys, and 

 soil pipes, and other mechanical appliances designed to 

 promote health in connection with architecture, make 

 up this department. 



In Class III. (Furnishing) are arranged specimens of 

 school and household furniture presenting features of 

 hygienic interest, including English and foreign oil lamps, 

 specimens of wall papers, arsenical and non-arsenical ; 

 and here it may be interesting to state that the library of 

 the museum has been decorated throughout with the 

 new paint, in which zinc white is used as a substitute for 

 white lead. 



Class IV. (Clothing) is intended to include fabrics of 

 various kinds used for clothing, with explanation of their 

 properties and uses ; but at present this class is only 

 represented by some specimens of army clothing, and 

 a few articles of dress coloured with arsenical pigments. 



Class V. (Food) has been largely contributed by the 

 authorities at South Kensington and Kew. It includes 

 a number of large diagrams illustrating the component 

 p.irts of food and the adulteration of articles of food in 

 common use ; samples of gluten bread and other foods 

 for invalids ; preserved fruits, seeds, &c.; different kinds 

 of filters, and samples of water. 



Class VI. (Preservation and Relief) is composed of all 

 that relates to the hospital, the prevention of accidents 

 or diseases peculiar to certain trades or occupations ; 

 disease charts, means for safety and rescue in case of 

 fire, or accidents at sea ; stoves for disinfecting purposes, 

 Turkish bath apparatus, &c. 



A library is being formed of books rekiting to hygiene. 

 Exclusive of pamphlets, about 350 volumes are now 

 deposited in the museum for reference, and in addition 

 to these the reading-room is supplied with periodical 

 publications and reports. 



It will thus be seen that the Parkes Museum is fairly 



established. Owing to the limited means at the disposal 

 of the Committee the museum is only opened to the 

 public free on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from 

 10 to 2 o'clock. This is perhaps a convenient time for 

 architects, doctors, and other professional men, but it 

 would be more completely supplying a public want if so 

 beneficial an institution were opened during the evening, 

 or at some such time when artizans and those actually 

 engaged in building construction and sanitary work, 

 might best avail themselves of the opportunities for gain- 

 ing that enlightenment and knowledge which frequent 

 and studious inspections of the contents of this museum 

 of Hygiene would naturally afford them. 



NOTES 



The building of the U.S. National Musenm is approaching 

 completion at Washington. It stands in the close neighbourhood 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, but is of so different a style of 

 architecture that it will not seem to dwarf the older structure by 

 comparison. The area required for the museum. Science Neivi 

 informs us, is 327 feet to a side ; in all, about 100,000 square 

 feet, which is a somewhat greater space than the ' ' Government 

 Building" covered at the Centennial Exhibition; but is intended 

 to be capable of holding and satisfactorily showing at least twice 

 as many objects. The building is a square, with ornamental 

 towers at the corners. It rises by a succession of clerestories to 

 a centre surmounted by a dome. The height of the roof at the 

 outer edge is 27 feet ; the central room covered by the dome is 

 90 feet high. Exclusive of the towers, there are seventeen rooms 

 in the interior, and of these apartments five are 65 feet square, 

 four are 6$ by 52, four are 91 by 52, and four are loi by 65 ; 

 the last mentioned being 45 feet high, and the rest of lesser 

 heights except the one under the dome. The corner towers 

 contain about 160 rooms, of which sixteen are 30 feet square, 

 sixteen are 30 by 20, and the remainder are abont 13 feet square, 

 but arranged in suites of twos and fours. The larger of the 

 tower-rooms will probably be kept for distinct collections, open 

 to the specialist but not to the pubUc. In the general exhibition 

 rooms, there will be 5, 000 feet of dead v all against u hich cases 

 can be placed, and these if set end to end would extend over 

 8,000 feet. The total length of shelving in these cases will be 

 28,000 feet ; the area, 74,000 square feet ; a visitor who examines 

 all the cases will traverse a circuit of nearly three miles. The 

 museum will contain all that the Government displayed at Pliila- 

 delphia ; all the exhibits of foreign countries which were presented 

 to the United States at the close of the Centennial show ; the accu- 

 mulations of the national surveys ; the collections which are now 

 overrunning the Smithsonian and the Patent Office, and a verj- 

 extensive and complete exhibit of our fishing industries. Not a 

 particle of wood will be used in constructing the building; hence 

 it will be fireproof. It is to be warmed by steam in winter, and 

 perhaps will be cooled in summer, so as to give a uniform tem- 

 perature throughout the year. 



The death is announced of Dr. Eduard Fenzl, of Vientu, 

 Professor- of Botany and director of the Imperial Botanical 

 Cabinet. Dr. Fenzl was a member of the Vienna Academy of 

 Sciences and vice-president of the Vienna Horticultural Society. 

 He died on September 29 last at the age of seventy-two years. 



At Baden-Baden the German geologists held their meeting after 

 that of the German Association was over, viz., on September 26 

 and 27. Prof. Knop, of Karlsruhe, presided. There were some 

 sixty members present from all parts of Germany and Austria. 

 Mineralogical, geological, and paloeontological papers were read 

 by Professors Beyrich, Knop, Beneke, Iliiusler, Baumhauer, 

 Eck, von Mojsisovics, and Tschennak. 



The American Association have selected Boston for their 

 meeting next year, a pressing invitation from San Francisco 



