Dear Conchlers,

today on our national feast day in Austria most of the museums are open to
show their
collection to the public without payment. There are also guided visists and
I had
the oppurtinity to show a small part of the mollusc collection of our
museum, not in
my office at the natural history department, but on large table. I had also
my microscope
with me and showed also microshells to the people. Also some of the newest
donations
I presented to the public. The interest to see the museum and it's
collection was
great and we had more than 1 300 people today, which is enormous for
Innsbruck.
The people were really impressed of the shells and didn't really know much
about
them. Most of the shells, especially the micros, were unknown and they
caused
asthonishment. About 800 - 1000 people viewed through my microscope, many
of them children and pupils of different schools. A kid of 4 years looked
through
my large standing - light magnifier, which I installed too, and looked
below it
and saw the small shells under it (some Rissoidae) and cried: "Pa, look,
how small
the shells are" (in that sense).
It was exciting how interested will get the people in nature.
with best regards from Innsbruck and tired of that day
Helmut

Helmut "Helix" Nisters
private:
Franz-Fischer-Str. 46
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
phone: 0043 / 512 / 57 32 14
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
website: www.netwing.at/nisters
office:
Natural History Department of the
Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum Innsbruck
Feldstrasse 11a
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
phone: 0043 / 512 / 58 72 86 - 37
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
website: www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at