THE NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS AT BERLIN. 123 



Tliloo prize, questions are in'oponiideil at tlie elose of each summer 

 term, wliich pertain (1) to a<;rieiilture, (2) landamental sciences, (M) 

 teclmic of cultivation. The award is 150 mark (.$.')7.r)0) in eacli case. 

 Essays of merit, though no't <iuite up to the stan(hird of perfection, 

 receive honorable mention. 



The Central TAhrarn. — Its object and purpose is to oi'fer to professors 

 and students of the a<>:ri(;nltural high school all necessary scientific 

 means, and in its capacity as the most complete specific library, to aid 

 ail interests. For this purpose much attention is given to its comple- 

 tion in all branches of agriculture, forestry, etc. 



The Physical Cabinet and the Meteorological Observatory. — Thecollection 

 contains the apparatus required for instruction in physics. They are 

 employed by the students in the course of lectures and in investigations. 

 A series of meteorological apparatus has been provided, which serves 

 the purpose of instruction. Three daily readings are made of the in- 

 struments prescribed for stations of the second class ; the results are pub- 

 lished by the Prussian Meteorological Institute. A number of automatic 

 apparatus register the progress of pressure, temperature, precipitation, 

 force, and velocity of wind, and these automatic records serve iu the 

 preparation of essays on climatology, etc. The entire arrangement is 

 that of a station of the second order. A regular exchange of barograms 

 has been arranged with Hamburg, Magdeburg, Wien, and Copenhagen 



The Chemical Institute. — The principal object of the institute is the in- 

 struction of the students in general chemistry, qualitative and quantita- 

 tive analysis. It is located in a building adjoining the Agricultural High 

 School, and also accommodates the laboratory of the Society for the 

 Production of Beet Sugar in the German Empire. The ground floor 

 contains a large work room arranged for fifty students, and is provided 

 with skylight; furthermore an auditory, having a capacity of one hun- 

 dred and forty. The upper floor accommodates the private laboratory 

 of the director and a few rooms intended for special investigations. 



The chemical instruction comprises: (1) In winter, lectures on inor- 

 ganic, and (2) in summer, on organic chemistry; (3) practical exercises 

 in qualitative and quantitative analyses, and other chemical experi- 

 ments, for which purpose the laboratory is open daily from a. m. to 5 

 p. M. 



The Mineralogic-Pedological Institute. — In view of the existing connec- 

 tion between mineralogy, geology, and agriculture a chair of mineralogy' 

 and pedology {-ioov, earth, soil, and X<'>yo<;) was provided at the re- 

 organi/ation, in 1881, of the agricultural high school. The occupant 

 has also the charge over the recently created niineralogicgeologic- 

 pedological museum. 



Its collections resolve themseh^es into the two classes for {a) educa- 

 tion and (/>) exhibition. 



