The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-08-01
Frederick Haskin's Letter
ART SERVES SCIENCE.


label = plea for cleanliness. n
sharp grains, tiny a. they are, nav
do damage TO the lungs and leavs
them susceptible to the attacks Of
germs,
For another picture. Mr.. Wilde,
took tiny piece Of cotton from
the floor Of q cotton mill and 4
piece Of wool. He teased them out
to the finest possible condition ana
magnified them. The resultine
picture showed that in these fins
teased fibers there was certain
amount Of organic matter which. II
taken into the system Of . human
being, would cause serious incon.
venience. These fine atoms Of cot. :
ton and wool are hreathed In BY
workers in mills.
He also made q picture Of flosy
dust, which blows about in the cir
OF . flour mill. His picture
showed that this flour dust which
falls on the floor and then blows
up into the dry air is largely i'm.
pregnated with organic matter.
The sample pictures of dust were
all sent to Rio to show the people
that such industries may be dan
gerous unless workers are Clearly.
Artists Varied Career.
Mr.. Wilder's work takes in every
phase of art training and, he says
that II he had not had q varied ca
reer he would not be able to paint
all of the pictures that government
investigators casually request. Be-
fore doing government work, he
had Q long career as a landscape
artist, portrait painter, and teacher
- art. He studied engraving and
etching and was regarded as an ex-
pert etcher. Then scientists per-
suaded him that science needed ar
lists with 4 passion for truth and
exactness. He gave up producing
beauty and began to make his art
serve science, first at the Univer-
sity of Chicago and now for Is
years at the Public Health service
laboratory. His scientific art at
tracted attention in England and
be was made . Fellow Of the Royal
Art society.
He. choose an extremely diff
cult field. In drawing fly, magni-
fled so that it is as large as a hand,
the artist must reproduce even the
number Of hairs on the leg Of the
insect. The delicate colors of the
wings, the marking and the model
ing must be perfectly copied. and
the drawing must be enlarged ac-
curately to scale.
Much harder, however, is the
task of painting from memory.
Often a laboratory expert sends for
Mr.. Wilder to come and sketch a
rat or guinea pig that has been in
oculated with some disease. The
picture Is generally wanted to &C.
company 4 report on the expert
. mental work, and it may be neces-
sary to sketch the animal at once
because its condition will change.
The artist sefzes pad and pencil
and hurries to the laboratory. Ten
minutes quick work in the labor
atory and Mr.. Wilder goes off with
a drawing Of the points that are Pc
culiar to that particular animal. He
notes unusual or unnatural color.
swelling, and the disease symp-
toms. Then he spends several
days making an elaborate oil paint
ing.
Once he sketched a rat that had
bubonic plague. There was no way
of getting close to the animal with
out exposure to the disease. The
artist had to observe it through the
glass on top of tank.
Two things have impressed this
government artist about scientific
art. One is that the order of the
universe extends to the most min
ute organisms. The parasite such
as a mite or louise has tens OF
| thousands of parasites, perfectly
formed, preying on it. These or
ganisms in the tissues and blood
of a parasite have as much space
in which to move about as we have
in a room.
The other fact which seems to
the artist as of paramount import
ance is the war which disease
germs are constantly waging
against humanity. Most of them
are dangerous. sapping the vitality
of human beings when they do mol
rapidly destroy tissues and cause
disease.
/ In his pictures, Mr.. Wilder shows
other people as wildly as he can
Il how germs do their deadly work
Through his art he breaches silent
| " a powerful creed OF cleanliness
| and prevention of disease.