32 Report of the President 



interest aroused in these four lecture centers and the large 

 attendance have been a practical demonstration of the effec- 

 tiveness of this method of cooperation. The results clearly 

 point out the desirability of extending this feature of 

 Museum instruction to the ten local centers originally pro- 

 posed, which are situated in areas where the population is 

 most dense. 



A second innovation this year has been the placing of the 

 Museum's extensive series of lantern slides at the disposition 

 of teachers in the public schools for use in the class rooms. 

 This arrangement has been made possible through a special 

 appropriation of $2,000 by the Board of Education, to meet 

 the expenses connected with their distribution. This places 

 the very best illustrative material for geography and history 

 classes in the hands of teachers. 



The third feature of Museum Extension during the past 

 year has been the additional cooperation with the branch 

 libraries of the New York Public Library. Several special 

 collections have been prepared for circulation among these 

 branch libraries, designed to stimulate the reading of good 

 books on travel. This, of course, will be extended during 

 the year 1916. 



PUBLIC HEALTH 



Closely connected with Public Education is the matter of 

 Public Health, which is rapidly extending among the schools 

 a knowledge of both the cause and the prevention of disease. 



Our Department of Public Health, which has been develop- 

 ing gradually under the able direction of Curator Winslow, is 

 cooperating with the Museum's Department of Public Educa- 

 tion and the City Department of Health, through its exhibition 

 halls, its literature, its public lectures, and the public health 

 charts, which have been prepared for circulation in the 

 schools, while at the same time, through its Museum of Living 

 Bacteria, it is rendering a national service by its distribution 

 of type bacteria. At present the department has 695 types 

 under cultivation, of which more than 3,000 cultures have 

 been sent out gratuitously to the laboratories of universities 

 and health departments in more than 400 different institutions 



