Evening star., 1935-06-09

A FROLICKSONfE youth about 10
~ years old, browsing about in
~ the old Museum of the
4 \ Smithsonian the other day.
stopped short in front of an
exhibit the like of which he had never
seen before. 1t was an enormous glass
case, about : feet tall, 81 feet wide
and nearly 3 feet deep. fastened to a
wall in the east gallery.
At first glance the exhibit resem-
hled a dolls house of some glorified
sort. But closer inspection hinted at
something like a combination of a
puppet show and one of those old
fashioned magic lantern outfits that
grandpa used to adore. Except that
none of the numerous wee models of
human beings were actually moving
Quick. ma, come over here" gasped
the astonished youngster And when
his mother did arrive, she, too, was
fascinated.
Please, mister. could YOU tell us
what this is?" they asked a genial
White-haired man standing nearby.
Very glad to-" was the reply He
vas rather we'll qualified for the job of
explaining. being none other than Dr.
Charles Whitebread, assistant curator
division of medicine. who supervised
the installation of the exhibit.
You are looking at a so-called
'dlorama,' very latest thing in the new
science Of visual education. Now.
diorama is neither a picture nor a
model, but combines the essential
characteristics of both in order to
visualize for the observer the making
of certain things. or perhaps the
chronological development of some
thing of importance to mankind. The
models themselves seem to be in action
and three dimensions are shown,
blending perfectly into picture in
the background.
Looking directly at a diorama, the
observer gets very fine perspective
His eye can take in all important
points without having to bother about
bobbing up and down and peering this
way and that"
This particular diorama. attached to
q wall, depicts 40 scenes showing
how medicine making has progressed
and offers glimpses of a typical
pharmaceutical manufacturer plant
to indicate the hundreds of highly
specialized operations that are re-
quired and the careful laboratory test
ing of each ingredient that is necessary
to make the medicines of the present
day.
FASCINATED the observer sees un-
folded before his eyes the entire
chronological story of the making of
cod liver oil from the time the fish
are caught until the oil is tested on
white rats for vitamin strength In
similar fashion is shown how pills,
capsules, tablets, emulsions and oint-
ments are prepared-in fact. every
thing secured at the corner drug store
In the way of medicine.
Several historical scenes are de-
picted. One represents monastery
apothecary shop of the seventeenth
century. Oftentimes in those ancient
days monks were apothecaries, who
ministered to the physical as we'll as
the spiritual ailments of their fol-
lowers.
Another Seene shows control lab
oratory in a modern medicine making
plant. In the rear two chemists are
analyzing specimens of products taken
at,various stages of the manufacturing
process. In the foreground a finished
product is being checked for accuracy
of formula and also physical charac-
teristics, such as appearance, disin-
tegration and solubility. Everything is
modelled to scale and resembles the
original to the minutest detail. Even
the bottles, wee as they are. look real
One research worker is using tiny
scale. You seem to see him actually
fitting it.
The truly fascinating diorama is
only one of the newly acquired treas
ures of the Smithsonian. most OF
which are now on exhibition. The
heavens, the earth, the sea and the
very air we breathe have been searched
by the institutions scientists and
their mysteries brought to light.
Continuing our visit to the "Old
Museum" we find that in the division
of history the most important recent
addition to the priceless costume COL
lection is a green satin dress, pair
of white kid gloves, pair of satin Slip
pers and a silver lorgnette and neck
lace worn by Mrs. Herbert Hoover at
the White House during the admins
tration of her husband. These OBJ
jects were a personal gift of Mrs.
Hoover. To the costume collection
there also has been added a gold
iocket once owned by Mrs. Jane Irwin
Findlay, the wife of Gen. James Find
lay and one of the White House host
esses during the administration OF
President William Henry Harrison in
1s41.
DROBABLY the most outstanding
l. new accession representing the
Colonial period is the original spinning
wheel owned by Thomas Jefferson and
used at Monticello, the ancestral
home, by the ladies of Mr.. Jefferson's
family. This is in an excellent state
of preservation. 1t may be viewed in
the north hall of the "old building"
Along with numerous other objects Of