Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-10-03

New YORK, sept. cZ, l9ll'
There arc q few other items OF my
short stay In New York City that may
be- of slight Interest 10 my North
Dakota readers. Monday afternoon
visited the American Museum Of Nat.
ural History. Museums used to be
embarrassing, or If interesting, only
negatively so. This nseum Is be.
coming m0dernizcd and portions of It
have definite human interest TO nor.
nal human beings. There are var.
ious reasons for this change. a discus.
sion Of which would not increase the
interest of this letter. | will endeav.
or to tell about interesting things,
as they struck me.
A feature was n calendar and al.
manac In graphic form. A large
globe. with the proper inclination OF
the orbit was slowly every "a honrs)
revolving upon It's axis and more
slowly (cvery 3G5 days travelling in
ar orbit. From the center OF The or.
bit a light was directed upon the
earth showing the progress of day
and night.
Down stairs was the s~cismograph,
the earthquake machine. ] waited
awhile for n to take place but final.
ly gave 1t up In despair. It was very
unaccommOaating, indeed the muse.
INN authorities should see to it that
earthquakes are regularly provided
for their part0ns.
The American Museum has taken
an active interest in the Peary eX.
plorations and largely in consequence
Of this, 40 doubt, the Eskimo exhibits
are large and comprehensive. Very
many of the exhibits showed wax fig.
ures OF the inhabitants, life like in
character and size, carrying on their
daily occupations. 1t seems quite
real to see before one some OF the
natives dressed in their furs, appar.
entity mending their actual sleds to
which are attached the real (stuffed)
Eskimo dogs. The ground and back.
ground looked quite genuine snow but
! would not guarantee the actually
of that.
In the daily papers of that day one
IL lAuC Iiots otOluiIoooH NIuSc !
spelled it right?) had just returned
rom the Parry Sound Land, where he
had been sent by this museum, with
wonderful tales Of a new race Of men.
He had discovered blond Eskimo with
red hair. The ordinary ones, as we
know, are dark and swarthy. 1t is
conje ctured, l believe, that the com
:, b. INpDiSSrn mn thn Vnyr,nfar NJ q
very primitive race that once occu-
pied Europe ages ago, far beyond
history, before man had emerged from
the Stone Age
There is one room devoted 10 in
vertebrate animals. The exhibits are
only partially prepared, but they are
of interest, even @as they are. Former.
ly this SETON of the museum would
exhibit a few corals, some sponges, a
few sea urchias and that would be
all. Nowadays things are different.
An increased amount Of money is one
cause Of the change. In a small case
devoted to some OF the protozoans, s
specimens wVre: mounted in good
microscopes. The market valne of
the microscopes in this case was
about $500. At least 8 of the micro.
scopes were exhibiting the Slipper
animalculea" a beautiful little ami
NAL, very abundant everywhere IN
stagnant water. There were models
of some of the marine p]rotozoans
first animals), showing a high de.
gree Of complexity for single cells.
The exhibit Of Anopheles (the ma
jleria mosquito) was of prime interest.
The good people OF North Dakota are
not troubled with malaria. but they
doubtless have friends and relatives
who are. A malaria mosquito was
shown life sIze-at least. 1T was
about 1S inches from Tip to tip,
truly horrible in appearance and like
the bug in "the City Of o." highly
magniied. 1t must have been from
Jersey. The life history OF the ma.
aria germ was shown graphically by
a series of wax models. The parasite
as it comes from the saliva Of the
mosquito is long and slender. It
penetrates the human blood corpuscle
and so on from stage to another,
hru various chil!s and fevers until
finally it gets back again into the
mosquito. One naturally hopes that
the mosquito suffers as much as the
human. There have been many rea-
sons assigned for Me downfall Of
Rome. There we're many contribut-
ing factors, no doubt, but at the pres.
ent day authorities state. that the
prevalence Of malaria in Italy was
one of the most potent. Thanks to
modern science that need not be a.
cause Of the downfall ofythis country
Ono exhibit showed evOlutionzin ac-
ton. Some poor meadow mice were
seeking to get their honest living, but
hey we're hard beset. A. snake was
crawling over the. ground with one
iof tho mice in his mouth. Three owls!
all stuffed of. various species were
lowering here and there, waiting for
! meal; q hawk was on the qui vive,
not desiring to be- left out; a. weazel
was emerging from the rocks, his.
Fnouth watering for, a meadow mouse;
1 cat was slyly creeping over the
brush intent on getting it's share anu
Mepldtis, the skunk, did not intend
20 be forgotten. All that the mics.
had, on their side were underground.
burrows and a nest Of humble baes.
a little about the bird exhibits and
IA am thru with this letter. The *.
libits Of stuffed birds certainly sur
,o., nny,thinr II ovot nyyn,A; S,aou IN