Oct.  1895. 
Annual  Report  of  the  Director. 
21 
impossible  to  heat  the  four  great  courts  with  their  height  of 
seventy-eight  feet,  and  it  was  an  almost  hopeless  undertaking  to 
warm  the  eighty  spacious  doorless  halls.  But  the  necessity  for  it 
compelled  a  means.  The  entrances  to  the  halls  leading  from  the 
courts  and  leading  in  and  out  of  the  long  and  narrow  annex  passages  were 
fitted  with  large  movable  partitions  filling  the  entire  space,  in  which 
doors  were  constructed.  By  this  means  all  the  exhibition  halls  were 
enclosed,  and  being  provided  in  each  case  with  ample  steam  radia- 
tion, a  minimum  temperature  of  about  55  degrees  was  ordinarily 
maintained  throughout  the  building.  The  boiler  plant  being  located 
at  the  West  Annex,  it  was  feared  that  steam  in  sufficient  quantity 
could  not  reach  the  East  Annex.  But  the  construction  was  so  excel- 
lent and  the  return  system  so  capable  that  all  of  the  halls  maintained 
about  the  sams  temperature  except  on  very  cold  days.  The  courts 
are  treated  as  streets,  and  visitors  seem  to  readily  adapt  themselves 
to  this  condition  of  affairs.  This  arrangement  practically  closes  the 
Department  of  Botany  during  the  colder  months,  for,  except  on  the 
few  warm  days  of  the  winter  season,  it  is  impossible  to  view  the  col- 
lections there  with  any  satisfaction.  Covering  the  grille  work  around 
the  sky-lights  of  the  halls  with  asbestos,  of  which  15,000  square  feet 
was  used,  aided  very  much  in  creating  an  agreeable  temperature 
throughout  the  building. 
The  only  occasion  for  lighting  the  building  is  for  patrol  purposes, 
as  the  Museum  is  never  open  to  the  public  after  dark.  A  judicious 
disposition  of  the  forty  arc  lamps  has  amply  illuminated  the  interior 
of  the  building  and  given  six  lamps  for  the  patrol  of  the  outside  of 
the  structure. 
The  question  of  light  and  heat  naturally  assumes  an  entirely 
different  phase  during  the  hot  months,  when  the  sun  driving 
down  upon  the  sky-lights  creates  an  intensity  of  heat  and  a  glare  of 
light  that  at  times  become  unbearable.  To  obviate  this,  sun  curtains 
of  unbleached  muslin  were  hung  under  all  of  the  ceiling  lights 
throughout  the  building  and  under  the  great  sky-lights  in  the  main 
roof.  This  lessened  the  heat  rays  very  noticeably,  and  softened  the 
theretofore  blinding  sunlight. 
Installation,  Re-arrangement  and  Permanent  Improvements. 
— The  largest  amount  of  work  under  this  bead  has  been  performed 
upon  the  roof.  The  eight  gables  on  the  East  and  West  Annexes, 
have  been  covered  with  tin.  Two  domes,  have  been  covered  with  tin; 
3,000  square  feet  of  corrugated  iron  have  been  put  on  the  roof,  while 
aprons  to  keep  out  the  snow,  and  six  new  fire-proof  scuttles  have  been 
constructed  and  covered.  Wall  strips,  gutters,  ridge  strips  and  stair 
domes  have  been  repaired  and  constructed  to  the  extent  of  about  5,000 
