64 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 



From the entrance a short flight of stairs gives access 

 to the first floor, and a door to the right leads into the 

 physical lecture room. This is a large room, with seats 

 arranged in the form of an amphitheatre, capable of 

 seating about one hundred and eighty students. The 

 lecturer's desk is furnished with a solid pier for delicate 

 experiments, with electrical connections by which any 

 force of current can be instantly turned on, with stop- 

 cocks controlling supplies of oxygen and hydrogen, as 

 well as blast and vacuum, a small turbine for running 

 light machinery for experiments, and a handle connected 

 with a water motor which raises heavy wooden shutters 

 to darken the room for various purposes. A more per- 

 fect equipment could hardly be imagined. The rooms 

 to the rear of the lecture room and on the west side of 

 the hall are occupied by the Physical Laboratory, 

 and contain a great variety of interesting and valuable 

 physical apparatus. The second floor of the building 

 is occupied by the department of chemistry and miner- 

 alogy. The room for blowpiping is on the west, fitted 

 with tables covered with glazed porcelain, and a fine 

 student's collection of minerals. The chemical lecture 

 room is next east, similar in construction and con- 

 venience of arrangement to the physical lecture room. 

 From this room doors lead into the main hall, across 

 which another hallway leads to the eastern end of the 

 building to the mineralogical museum. Visitors not 

 unfrequently fail to see this, not knowing where it is 

 located. The museum contains the Silliman collection 

 of minerals, and is rich in rare and beautiful specimens, 



