The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Among the Magazines 221 Inc museum groups of mammals in their fctural setting was born in 1878; the first ■roup was mounted in the next year and Ikhibited at Saratoga before a conven- pn of scientists in 1880. It was a group >i orang-utans and was called "A Fight |j the Tree-Tops." So well done was |iis first effort, that forty years later, in lie National Museum, it still afforded a Ihrill of satisfaction" to some of the |ien who had first seen the group at Slaratoga. I By 1887 the habitat group idea was es- tablished, and development became ex- (•emely rapid. Dr. Hornaday gives an iithusiastic and generous account of the rork of various leaders in the new field, ft the museums which made the greatest bntributions to the progress, and de- Liled descriptions of many of the more Inportant groups which have been chieved so far. The truth and reality of le effect is well shown by the remark f a Sioux Indian Chief to some of his f'iends, as he viewed the famous Bison [roup at the American Museum of Natu- al History in New York: "I know that hey do walk around in there at night, or there are their tracks, in the mud by he water-hole and on the trail." We are glad to quote Dr. Hornaday's /ords on the definite educational values chieved by our great museums: "The drawing power of group exhibits 5 thoroughly conceded by all persons, nd their value in educating the public 5 entirely beyond the domain of argu- rient. Not only do they bring the charms »f wild nature within daily reach of the ribbed and confined millions of city Iwellers who cannot go afield, but they re permanent. In comparison with their umulative value their cost is utterly trifl- ng. . . . It is impossible to appre- iate too highly these efforts to bring vild mammals and birds to the very loors of millions who cannot travel all >ver the world and see all manner of wild life in its haunts. . . . Aside from the excellence of the animals, it is prob- able that few of the observers of museum groups even half-way appreciate the many-sided skill, the labor, and the ex- pense involved in the production of the elaborate accessories that are necessary to bring the haunts of wild animals to the museum hall and within visual range of the visitor." The article is profusely illustrated. THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN (for July) gives detailed announce- ment of two inventions as likely to revo- lutionize the motion picture industry in two important respects. "Something New in Movie Scenery" describes a process, now brought to com- plete success, for enlarging an ordinary photographic negative to the extraordi- nary dimensions of 15x20 feet, still keep- ing the definition absolutely sharp and clear. This immediately renders any background desired—if it is in existence anywhere in the world—available for use in any studio. It would seem that the new method will vastly reduce the expen- ditures in time and money hitherto neces- sary in building sets. In "Aluminum Films," by the Berlin Correspondent, we read that the trans- parent cellulose film will in the future have to count with a serious, and possibly superior competitor, the opaque, reflect- ing metal film." After twelve years of work, a German inventor has perfected a method for roll- ing aluminum thin enough to be flexible and yet with a surface suitable for taking and holding permanently the emulsion. Obviously such a film has enormous ad- vantages in durability and is perfectly non-inflammable. Even the items of weight and bulk are reduced, for the film takes a picture on each side. Operators will no longer need to rewind; the pic- tures on the two sides lying in reversed