8 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



for the progress of another generation. Care has been taken to 

 provide for such emergencies as time may bring and, while it is 

 quite possible that the natural growth of the institution will uncover 

 demands which have not yet presented themselves, experience has 

 taught such vivid lessons in the economy of space that it is alto- 

 gether likely we shall be equipped for such conditions. 



The accompanying plan indicates the general arrangement of 

 space alloted to the Science Division, exhibition rooms and offices. 

 The most notable feature in this arrangement is the great hall 

 extending the full length of the front, 580 feet, with a width of 

 54 feet. This noteworthy room covering fully 30,000 square feet 

 of floor space is broken only by architectural features extending 

 at intervals partly outward from the walls, sufficient to divide the 

 magnitude of the space into sections adequately adapted to the 

 diversity of the proposed collections without interrupting the vista 

 through the entire space. It is proposed to assign this space to the 

 collections in structural and industrial geology, mineralogy, strati- 

 graphy and paleontology, thus bringing together collections which 

 in this museum have been treated as homogeneous. This fine 

 chamber presents a problem in the treatment for the purposes for 

 which it is designed, as its great length and hight will tend to 

 dwarf its contents unless these are displayed with studied care and 

 with all possible assistance from approved and adequate appliances. 

 From the central architectural feature of the chamber, the inclosed 

 dome, corridors leading on either side into the north wing, open 

 into a large room 131 x 106 feet affording a floor space of 13,886 

 square feet. This room is not divided except so far as the series 

 of columns affords a basis for partition into communicating sec- 

 tions, should the materials to be installed require such treatment. 



It is the present plan to reserve this large apartment to the collec- 

 tions in zoology, both vertebrate and invertebrate, inclusive of the 

 extensive collections in economic and faunal entomology. To the 

 right and left of the corridors leading to the wing are the offices 

 Df the Zoologist, equipped with room for necessary clerical force 

 ivith dry and v^et laboratories adjoining, and of the Archeologist. 

 All the rooms thus described and apportioned are on the same level 

 but over the last two chambers mentioned are mezzanines which 

 afford space for storage of zoological material, maceration and 

 plaster casting. 



The architectural necessity of introducing trusses on the third 

 floor of the building, crossing the inner subdivision of the main 



