November 2, 1893] 



NA TURE 



21 



this room are carried to all parts of the building for experi- 

 mental purposes, as well as for use in illumination. 



The Kidder Chemical Laboratories are just as well-equipped 

 as the Rogers Laboratory of Physics. They comprise eighteen 

 laboratories, four lecture-rooms, a library and 

 reading-room, balance-rooms, &c. ; in all, thirty 

 rooms. 'There is a laboratory of general che- 

 mistry with 133 working tables, each of which 

 has under it three complete sets of drawers and 

 cupboards ; a laboratory of analytical chemistry, 

 with 108 benches ; an organic laboratory having 

 benches for twenty-six students ; two laboratories of 

 sanitary chemistry, in which, since 18S7, io,oco 

 samples of water have, been analysed for the Massa- 

 chusetts Board of Health ; a laboratory for gas 

 analysis, and three for industrial chemistry, besides 

 a number of smaller ones. 



The John Cummings Laboratory of Mining Engi- 

 neering and Metallurgy comprises laboratories for 

 milling, for concentrating, and for smelting ores, as 

 well as for testing them by an assay and by the 

 blowpipe, and a library comprising the most im- 

 portant literature of the subject. 



The engineering laboratories comprise laboratories 

 of steam engineering, of hydraulics, a laboratory for 

 testing the strength of materials, and a room con- 

 taining cotton machinery. 



The most prominent feature of the steam labora- 

 tory (Fig. 2) is an Allis triple-expansion engine, 

 having a capacity of about 150 horse-power when 

 running triple, with 150 lbs. initial pressure in the 

 high-pressure cylinder. 



The laboratory also contains a 16 horse-power 

 Harris-Corliss engine, and an 8 horse-power engine 

 used for giving instruction in valve-setting. In addi- 

 tion to these, there is a great variety of apparatus, 

 including condensers, calorimeters, injectors and 

 •ejectors, steam pumps, &c. , directly connected with 

 studies in steam, also apparatus for testing the effi- 

 ciency of transmission of power and for measuring 

 the power transmitted. 



The hydraulic laboratory (Fig. 3) contains a closed 

 tank, 5 feet in diameter and 27 feet high, extending 

 from the basement under the lower floor to the upper 

 part of the room on the second floor. This is con- 

 nected with a stand-pipe, 10 inches in diameter and 

 over 70 feet high, so arranged that the water may be 

 maintained at any desired point, glass gauges along the stand 

 pipe serving to measure the height. The stand-pipe is con 



NO. 1253, VOL. 49] 



nected with a steam pump, with a rotatory pump, and with the 

 ciiy supply. On the sides of the large tank are the connections 

 for the various hydraulic apparaius, in- 

 cluding apparatus for measuring the flow 

 over weirs ; through various sizes and 

 shapes of orifices ; through hose-nozzles ; 

 through different sizes of pipe, with the 

 several varieties of obstructions that 

 occur — namely, diaphragms, couplings, 

 elbows, T's, bends, valves, &c. Also 

 connected with the tank, or wiih a centri- 

 fugal pump, is a Swain turbine, so ar- 

 ranged that measurements can be made 

 of the power transmitted under various 

 heads and with different openings of 

 gate. 



The most important feature of the 

 biologjtal laboratory of the Institute is 

 the ^portunity of studying ferments, 

 fungi, algae, bacteria, and other low forms 

 of life. Courses are also provided in 

 general biology, microscopy, comparative 

 anatomy and embryology, physiology and 

 histology. 



The Institute possesses a laboratory of 

 mineralogy, lithology, structural tieology, 

 and economic geology, but it is neither 

 so extensive nor so well equipped as most 

 of the laboratories already named. 



A praiseworthy feature of the Insti- 

 tute's curriculum is that during the last 

 term of his course every student who is a 

 candidate for a degree spends a large 

 portion of his tim.e in the preparation 

 of a thesis upon some chosen subject. This is alwa\s of the 

 nature of an experimental research, and may be either purely 



Engiaeenng Laboratory : an Engine Test. 



scientific or technical in its nature. In many caes the 

 results of this work have been of such a character as to n erit 



