36 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 127. 



THE BERLIN EXHIBITION OF HYGIENE 



IN 1882-83. 



The committee having in charge the prepa- 

 rations for, and the direction of, the German 

 exhibition of hygiene, decided wisely, it seems 

 to us, to substitute for the usual premiums a 

 scientific report upon all objects shown, and 

 possessed of real merit. At the close of the 

 exhibition in the autumn of 1883, the work of 

 preparing this report was placed in the hands 

 of Dr. Borner of Berlin . The first part of his 

 report has recently been published, and is soon 

 to be followed by a second and concluding vol- 

 ume. This report contains a number of papers 

 upon topics of the greatest interest to students 

 as well as to the interested general reader. 

 Drs.Wolffhiigel, Sell, LoflSer, K6nig,and Bagin- 

 sk}', among others, have contributed, each in 

 his own field of work, articles that have all the 

 value of special treatises upon the topics as- 

 signed to them. 



This exhibition, which came into existence 

 in consequence of the direct exertions of the 

 Deutsches verein fiir oflfentliche gesundheits- 

 pflege, was to have been opened in Ma}^ 1882. 

 A fire, however, destroyed in a few hours the 

 completed building and contents. A new and 

 more secure structure, with a larger collection 

 of articles, was ready in the following year, and 

 was opened to the pubUc on May 12, 1883, 

 under the patronage of the Empress Augusta. 

 This was not a displa}^ of new things onl}', but 

 a very complete exhibition of what has been 

 done, or is now doing, for the protection of 

 human life. Man}- of the objects exhibited 

 have been secured by the Prussian govern- 

 ment as a foundation of a permanent museum 

 of hj'giene. 



The author truly enough asserts that exact 

 science is extending constantly its territory 

 within the domain of hygiene, and then adds 

 with equal satisfaction Prince Bismarck's offi- 

 cial declaration that the best work of medical 

 science lies, not in the curing of disease, but 

 in the higher office of preventing it. A stud}" 

 of the German exhibition of 1883, and of that 

 at London in 1884, shows once more that the 

 Germans may fairty claim the leadership in 

 the scientific investigation of questions that 

 belong to hygiene, while to the English still 

 belongs the credit for the technical execution 

 that brings the results of these investigations 

 to the protection of the public health. 



Nothing in this exhibition attracted more 

 notice than the pavilion of the Imperial health 

 office, — a model building, containing a com- 



Bericht ilber die Allgemeiiie deutsche ausstellung auf dem 

 gebiete der hygiene und des rettungsv)esen. Breslau, 1885. 8°. 



plete collection of the apparatus used in the 

 investigations of the infectious diseases, and 

 in the examination of articles of food. The 

 relief plan of Berlin, prepared by Prof. H. 

 Gruner for this exhibition, is another proof 

 of the excellent work carried on in this city 

 in the department of hygiene. The plan, in 

 addition to the peculiarities of the surface 

 of the ground, gives the soil in section to the 

 ground-water level, making apparent to the 

 e3^e the great difficulties in the way of a thor- 

 ough sj^stem of drainage, now accomplished 

 under G. Hobrecht's energetic direction. A 

 visit to the very extensive and successfully 

 managed irrigation fields of Berlin was an 

 instructive addition to the plans and descrip- 

 tions of this work shown at the exposition. 

 In the years since the war of 1866, a very 

 valuable work has been done in Berlin by an 

 association of ladies, and largely under the 

 direction of Frau Lina Morgenstern, in the 

 people's kitchens, which are, in effect, schools 

 for instruction in the proper and economical 

 preparation of food. This was all well shown, 

 together with a large collection of articles of 

 food and drink in all stages of preparation, 

 and also in all degrees of adulteration. 



The best form of shoe is the subject of an 

 instructive paper by Dr. F. Beely. The vari- 

 ous forms of shoe tried in the German armies 

 were exhibited, with indications of defects and 

 merits, from the time of Professor Meyer's 

 first publication at Zurich, in 1857, upon the 

 proper shape of the shoe. The military, au- 

 thorities of Germany have made a careful 

 study of the subject. The normal form finally 

 adopted by them closely resembles a much- 

 advertised English one. 



Another public necessit}^ well represented in 

 the exhibition, and made the subject of an 

 exhaustive paper by Dr. Lassar, is that of 

 baths and laundries. Among these stand 

 easily first the public baths of Bremen, built 

 in the years 1876-77, at an expense of a hun- 

 dred and twenty-five thousand dollars, not 

 including the cost of the land. A bath here, 

 with all the conveniences of the best private 

 house, ma}" be had for twenty-five cents, while 

 one provided with all that is really necessary 

 can be had for six cents. It is not necessary 

 to add, perhaps, that a large part of the capi- 

 tal was given. 



Institutions for the care of the poor, pris- 

 ons and reformatories, were well represented 

 by plans, models, and statistical tables, nota- 

 bly the great prison at Plotzensee, containing 

 at present a population of two thousand, and 

 the workhouse at Rummelsburg, — both mod- 



