File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17974151759).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo14amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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THE NEW AFRICAN HALL 183 give opiiortunity for particularly striking scenic effects. Lack of care in museum exhibition has come about in part at least because of the lack of permanence in the specimens exhibited. Now that we have reached a point in the development of taxidermy technique where we can say without reservation that our preparations are permanent, permanent to a degree only dreamed of up to within a couple of years, we feel justified in taking extreme measures to insure the future care and preservation of these preparations. The elephants and rhinos can be made as permanent as bronze for endurance vmder all conditions, but the other animal groups with rays of hght. The space between these two skylights will be a cooling space — that is, air will circulate through this space, modify- ing the heat of the summer sun or the cold of winter. Each group will be in fact within an individual compartment, and allowed to "breathe" only the air of the alleyway, which is filtered and dried and kept at a uniform temperature throughout the year. The day- light admitted through the skylight is under automatic control so that after the amount of lighting of an individual group has been de- finitely determined upon, it is kept at the proper amount by automatically controlled shutters which open and close with the changing light, maintaining a uniform light
Text Appearing After Image:
Lion and Buflfalo — A model for bronze by Carl E. Akeley their backgrounds and with accessories necessarily made largely of wax, cannot be thus exposed. That they shall not suffer from excessive light and from changing atmospheric conditions, they will be placed in these two great alleyways on either side of but practically outside the hall, in fact hermetically sealed off from the hall proper and also from the outside atmosphere. Thus each group will be absolutely protected from changes in temperatufe and humidity. The lighting of the groups will be a combi- nation of daylight and artificial light. Day- light will be admitted through a skylight beneath which a second skylight will serve as a ray-filter to cut out the actinic or fading on the group under all conditions. The amount of light required on these groups will be relatively small because of the fact that they are to be viewed from a rela- tively dark central hall. We shall be looking from the hall into the source of light rather than from the source of light outward. Also reflections can be reduced to a minimum and practically eliminated, owing to the fact that the groups are the source of illumination, by having the glass in the front of the case in- clined at such an angle that it reflects only the dark floor of the hall. The effect as we pass through this hall will be that of looking out through open windows into an African out of doors.

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