Oct. 1902. Annual Report of the Director. 



103 



the shelf is further lessened by bevelling its front edge a quarter 

 of an inch from the top. In the construction of the floor cases 

 one of the chief desiderata was deemed to be the lighting and installa- 

 tion of the small specimens which form so important a feature of all 

 paleontological collections, so that they could be easily and fully 

 examined. The ordinary style of flat or table case is not well suited 

 to this purpose; the visitor must bend over the case in a fatiguing 

 position, the light is reflected in a glaring manner, quite a number of 

 the specimens are beyond an easy range of the eye and the space 

 available for exhibition is no larger, but in fact smaller than the floor 

 space occupied by the case. Vertical cases are better lighted and 

 more economical of space, but they give a hall a crowded appearance 

 and the majority of the specimens are out of range of the eye. 

 Accordingly a case with top sloping two ways was adopted as best 

 meeting the above needs. The cases so constructed and now 

 in use are 5 feet long, 3 feet 8 inches wide and 5 feet 4^ inches high. 

 The base is 36 inches high, 8 inches of a portion of this being cut 

 away to leave legs similar to those of the vertical cases. The 

 remaining space is filled by four tiers of drawers which are utilized to 

 hold specimens supplementary to those exhibited in the case above. 

 The case itself constructed upon this base, has a truncated A shape, 

 the sides and ends being single lights. The side lights are 31x56 

 inches in size and represent the amount of exhibition space, no use 

 being made of the ends for display purposes. The end lights are of 

 ground glass and with the narrow top lights aid in illuminating the 

 interior of the case. For installing specimens each case is provided 

 with a wooden screen of the shape of a triangular prism and of such 

 a size as to leave a space of 5 inches between it and the side sashes, 

 parallel with the latter. Upon this screen the specimens are installed, 

 being either fastened immediately to it, or, for the most part, glued 

 to tablets of manila board which are then laid upon the screen. The 

 specimens are thus brought so close to the eye that they can be 

 minutely examined. The economy of space afforded by such a 

 case is shown by the fact that 25 square feet of exhibition space 

 and 25 cubic feet of storage space are secured on each 20 

 square feet of floor space. The sashes of the cases are, like 

 those of the vertical cases, supported by hinges fastened to the top 

 rail. They are fastened by locks at the bottom. To open the 

 case the sash is swung up and held by struts swinging from the floor 

 of the case. All the openings being felted, the case is dust-proof. 

 In both the vertical and floor cases the glass used is plate and the 



