The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-07

vice for any disease.
At All DRUGGISTS-25c A BOTTLE.
than room, for the ceiling is the vaulted
interior of the dome. The walls of this
rotunda for forty feet from the floor are
of amber-tnted marble, rich enough i'm
polish and color to be mistaken at first
glance for onyx.
Opening into the rotunda on the eight
sides are alcoves, where encyclopedias,
books of reference, dictionaries, and
works for which there are almost contn-
uous use will be kept. These alcoves are
on the level of the floor. Readers will be
allowed to go into them and consult such
books as they may need. Sitting on his
high perch In the center of the rotunda,
the librarianfor his immediate representa-
tive occupies position much like the look
outs in a modem penitentiary. He not
only has every occupant of the reading
room under his eyes, but he can see into
every one of the alcoves which are open
to the public. These reference alcoves
will be the only parts of the library con-
tanning books to which readers will have
direct access. The book stacks are COM
pletely isolated
From the eight corners of the rotunda,
between the pairs of alcoves. rise the
massive marble columns which support
the golden dome. They are of deeper
forms the walls Forty feet above the
floor a spacious gallery encircles the ro-
tunda. From this visitors who come on
sightseeing bent will look down upon
the practical operation of the library
Only those persons who wish to read or
to consult books will make use of the
main floor of the rotunda All others
must go to the gallery. In this way the
librarian expects to make the reading
room a place for study without interrupt
ton, although he will have from $50 10
300 readers under his supervision when
the room is full On the edge of the gall
lery are perched sixteen bronze figures.
On one side of the rotunda, almost on a
level with the gallery, is a marble clock,
six feet across the face, From the van
tage of the gallery the visitor will gain
a comprehensive idea of the workings Of
the library. Looking down, he will see
the applicant for book come into the ro-
tunda by way of a curtained aisle and
make known his request on a slip of
paper at the great central desk. He will
follow the movement of the attendant TO
a telephone so nicely adjusted thai a
whisper will convey the order. Turning
about and looking through the heavy
plate glass into the book stack, he will
find the attendant on one of the nine
floors receiving the message at the other
end of the telephone. He will see the
attendant go to one of the book cells, take
down the volume wanted, and drop II in
a little iron box on the endless chain.
Returning his attention to the center of
the rotunda, the visitor will presently
have the satisfaction of observing the
box come up from beneath the floor In
the rear Of the librarians desk and de-
post the book there for the intending
reader.
Between the utilities and the artistic
magnifcence of the scene the visitor may
well be lost in admiration. Below will be
the busy scene of the library in use.
Around above are richly tinted marble
columns and walls extending upward to
the interior of the dome. Eight windows,
thirty-six feet across, let light into the
rotunda.
The sixteen subjects for the heroic
bronze statues which stand upon the gal
lery were chosen with the same regard
for the purpose of the great structure
which characterizes all details. They are
Newton, Henry, Solon Kent, Homer.
Shakespeare, Plato Bacon, Beethoven,
Michael Angelo, Columbus, Herodotus,
Gibbon. Moses, Fulton and st. Paul.
on the eight piers which support the
edge of the dome above the rotunda are
the emblematic figures of Science, Law,
Poetry, Philosophy, Art, History, Com
merce and Religion.
One time the government has done
something for posterity. 1t has builded
library which the nation will not out
grow in fifty probably not in 100 years.
North, east and south from the great CEN
trail reading room, open to the dome, ex-
tend the book stacks, each a building of
itself, with q network of iron interior and
with white enameled brick exterior. To
nothing can these book stack houses be
compared so well as the cell house Of the
modern penitentiaries. The book stack Is
divided into nine stories, each story seven
feet high. The floors of these stories are
Of iron. Narrow corridors run length
WISE Upon the corridors open the book
alcoves like so many cells, only they have
no doors. The shelves within the alcoves
look like so many little hunks. The rest
ing places for the books are the best that
can be devised for the purpose. The book
shelves are strips of iron. Nothing but
metal enters into the construction Of the
book stacks within the exterior walls.
There is no wood to harbor moths or
worms or moisture. In their nine-story
home the books will be as secure as the
convicts In their tiers of the most inn
proved cell house. The windows Of the
book stacks open upon great courts,
around which the main structure Is built.
The ends OF the stacks are walls, with
but few doors, and these are not for gem
eral use. Through the stacks. from bot
tom 70 top. are telephones and pneumatic
tubes and small book elevators. the car
riers of which run on endless chains.
Telephones, tubes and elevator chains
terminate at the high and massive perch
OF the librarian in the reading room.
There the librarian and his assistants re-
celve the orders for books and by tele-
phone or tube they send 70 the stacks.
The books come back beneath the floor
and are delivered at the desk.
The book carrier will be the substitute
for many steps. In the old library, and
in most libraries the attendant receives
the request for book at the central or
delivery desk. and goes 70 the alcove
where II Is and brings H. Under the sys-
fern for hooIr daltyarv in the new library