170 PROCEEDINGS OP SECTION B. 



further advantage that it is very much easier to instruct and 

 superintend in one large room than in two or more separate 

 ones, and fewer assistants are required. 



A portion of the roof is left flat, for photographic and other 

 experiments requiring direct solar light; a place of this kind is 

 convenient too for experiments which are likely to give rise to 

 explosions, or the emission of offensive smells or fumes. 

 Connected with this flat roof it is proposed to have a small 

 gallery to overlook the main laboratory for supervision during 

 examinations. 



Ordinary fire places are omitted, thus causing a considerable 

 saving of space and expense, since it is intended to warm the 

 rooms when necessary by moveable gas stoves placed in the recess 

 under the draught cupboards. In this climate artificial warming 

 is only required for a few days in the year, and then only to a 

 very slight extent. In European laboratories it is necessary for 

 almost the whole of the nine months or so that they are open. 



For cheapness the walls are plastered instead of being covered 

 with glazed tiles, as is now the practice in most of the new 

 English laboratories. At the Central Institute, South Kensington, 

 the staircase is built of glazed teiTa cotta, and the pillars are of 

 the same, and at the Liverpool College of Chemistry the walls 

 are lined with cream and gold coloured glazed bricks ; certainly 

 very clean, effective and artistic, but the cost is out of the 

 question for a chemical laboratory in Sydney. 



A small asphalted yard is provided at the south-west end for 

 outdoor experiments, this will contain a large sink, and a good 

 Avater supply for washing apparatus, and especially sulphuretted 

 hydrogen generators. It is also intended to place the sulphuretted 

 hydrogen gas-holder in this yard. 



The east and west corridor is made wide, so that when any 

 extension of the building is necessary it may be placed at this 

 end, connected directly with the main building or indirectly by a 

 light bridge ; meanwhile it is intended to use the corridor for the 

 reception of glass cases to hold apparatus and collections. A 

 drain pipe runs down this and the other corridors, partly in case 

 it should be necessary to fit them with woi'king benches. 



The flooi's are intended to be of wood, except where otherwise 

 specified, as in the gas analysis and furnace rooms, and for 

 neatness and cleanliness it is intended to have them varnished 

 round the walls and benches. The ceilings throughout are to be 

 of zinc, galvanised iron, or other incombustible material, plaster 

 being unsuitable for a chemical laboratory. There is to be a 

 small lavatory and hat room in the entrance porch. 



It is intended to have all the interior woodwork varnished or 

 polished, since paint, in a chemical laboratory, unless free from 

 lead, is liable to be blackened by sulphuretted hydrogen. 



A large cistern is to be provided in the roof, or if the funds will 



