The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-07
Carrier of Dreaded Dis.
ease Portrayed in All
Its Ferocity at the
American Museum of
Natural History
"HE largest and most realistic |
model of flea ever constructed
has Just been finished at the I

'THE largest ana most realistic
model of a flea ever constructed
i has just been finished at the
American Museum of Natural
History. 1t is of wax, a foot long and
over half a foot high and shows the rat
flea, the carrier of the dreaded bubonic
plague. No such impressive and in
structive representation OF this danger
Gus pest which transmits disease germs
from the infected rat to man and from
man to man, was ever made before.
The huge model magnifies the living
flea 1,72S,O00 times. This means that
| ,72S, 900 living fieas could be packed In
the model IL 1t were hollow. To look at
this model is to see what the eye of the
entomologst has beheld in the labora-
tory with the aid of the most powerful
| microscope.
This graphic portrayal is the work OF
| Ignaz Matauch. preparation in the de-
partment OF invertebrate zoology. To
make 1t required over six months OF
palnstaking labor and study. 1t cost
several thousand dollars.
The big flea Is on exhibition in the
Hall OF Public Health. Near II will be
shown a group of the rats which harbor
the plague microbe and from which the
| flea carries 1t to man. 1t will also have
| for near neighbor an enlarged housefiy
| model, another germ carrying pest The
| installing of the flea model marks the
| beginning of a somewhat extensive plan
| for an exhibit of insects in relation to
disease. 1t is a novelty in museum work
and methods, this plan of furnishing
visual teaching In regard to practical
problems of hygiene and sanitation, and
1t was recently introduced by President
Osborn and Director Lucas. DIR. G. T..
| A. Winslow, curator of the museums
department of public health, says:
"The American museum is, l think,
the first institution of its kind to grasp
the opportunity of attacking the educa-
tional problem OF public health by the
use of museum methods. This develop
ment Is really, however, natural, al
most an inevitable one.
Man Is an animal and public health
| Is one of the most important phases
of his natural history. He is knit up
with other animals and plants in a
complex chain of interrelationships,
beneficent and malign. The plants
| and animals which serve him for food.
the microbes which cause some of his
deadlest diseases. the insects and other
animals which serve as intermediate
hosts and those which prey upon them
in turn all affect him and act as de-
termining factors in the fate of nations
and the progress of civilization.
"To show the relation of insects to
disease by enlarged models is "a par
ticularly vital and fruitful field for
museum work. The public health hall
Is our first opportunity to serve the
public schools irr their work of health
education. They bring their classes
to the museum In one of the periods al
lotted to civic biology and in an hour
with these models and diagrams learn
more than they could get from books
and lectures In a month.
president Osborn in speaking of tn,
general educational work OF the mus
cum has said, Already the child car
see here what Aristotle dreamt of bu
never saw. and what Darwin and Hulk
; ley put into prophecy hut did not live
to see SO in our hall OF public health