no Report of the President 



History of Man. Such an exhibit would represent the natural 

 and logical development of two obvious tendencies. On the 

 one hand, the leaders in the public health campaign are realiz- 

 ing more and more fully that the success of their cause depends 

 upon the education of the public and that effective education 

 demands the use of the best exhibition methods. On the other 

 hand, Museum authorities are feeling year by year a keener 

 responsibility for broadening and humanizing their activities 

 and making the Museum of the greatest possible service in the 

 upbuilding of the daily life of the people. 



These two tendencies could not unite more fruitfully than 

 in the preparation for the American Museum of an exhibit 

 which would deal with man as an animal, with his life history 

 and environment, the dangers which beset him and the methods 

 by which they can be warded off. It should emphasize par- 

 ticularly his place in the general scheme of natural history, his 

 relation to sunshine and rain and other meteorological factors, 

 to the parasites which cause disease and to the animals and 

 plants which serve him for food and clothing. It should aim 

 to give a survey of the cycle of human life, its dangers and 

 safeguards, sufficiently comprehensive to satisfy the curiosity 

 of the ordinary man and to teach him what he needs to know 

 in order to keep sound and well. 



Such an exhibit could be made the center of inspiration for 

 the graphic teaching of public health, not only in New York 

 but for the nation ; and it would constitute the most vital link 

 in the whole chain of Museum activities with the curriculum 

 of the school child and with the life of the average citizen. 



The Exhibit of the Natural History of Man should include 

 the following main sections : 



i. A simple demonstration of the known laws of 

 heredity as they govern the initial life capital with which 

 the individual begins his career. (To be prepared in 

 cooperation with the Department of Invertebrate 

 Zoology.) 



2. Demonstrations by models of the workings of the 

 human body to emphasize the physical and chemical 

 laws which govern it and the necessity for observing 



