22 CHEMICAL DISCOVERY AND INVENTION 



at the plans of the several floors which are shown in Figs. 2, 

 3 and 4, which show respectively the basement, the ground 

 floor, and the first floor. 



From the main entrance stairs descend on the left to the lower 

 ground floor, upon which level are found the chief lecture theatre, 

 the large chemical laboratory, with separate places for 144 

 students, and the series of laboratories for physical chemistry. 

 The balance rooms for the big laboratory extend along each 

 side of the building, access being provided at five points on each 

 wall. The lecture theatre provides comfortable sitting space 

 for 150 students, but there is a large floor at the back and con- 

 siderable room in front, so that about twice that number of 

 auditors can be provided for when occasion requires. At the 

 back of the table are blackboards, means of hanging diagrams, 

 and two screens for projected pictures or lantern views of 

 experiments. There are several wide pipes leading downwards 

 from the surface of the table by which even copious fumes can 

 be sucked away and prevented from reaching the audience. 

 There are also numerous connections, visible in the picture, by 

 which water, gas, electric current, and vacuum can be at once 

 utilised for experiments to be shown on the table. The room 

 can be rendered completely dark, when necessary, by the pro- 

 vision of black blinds to all the windows. 



In addition to these there is a spacious store for physical and 

 chemical apparatus, of which a large quantity in the form chiefly 

 of glass flasks, beakers, and other necessary vessels is always 

 kept in stock. Close at hand is the freezing room, in which there 

 is a machine, electrically driven, for the production of liquid air. 



Ascending to the floor above there is a series of apartments 

 which provide a lecture room with seats for about fifty students, 

 chiefly occupied by the professor of physical chemistry, a library 

 of reference furnished with the principal chemical periodicals, 

 dictionaries, and other large special treatises. Adjoining this is 

 the private room for the professor of general chemistry, who is 

 also director of the laboratories, and this leads to his research 

 laboratory, where there is room for about eight or ten workers. 

 The floor above this, called the first floor, is occupied almost 

 entirely by the professor of organic chemistry who has a separate 

 research laboratory. A room, also close by, is occupied by the 

 technical artist who prepares diagrams. 



The laboratory devoted to organic chemistry is over the large 



