Marcu 15, 1901.] 
six. This leads at once to the number 
twenty-four, four subjects in one room be- 
ing convenient and having the advantage 
of allowing the room to approximate to the 
square form, which would not be practi- 
cable if the number of subjects be fixed at 
three or five. Twenty-four is close to 
twenty-five, the approximate number first 
determined, and being an even number it 
permits the formation of pairs, which has 
been found advantageous for certain kinds 
of laboratory experimental instruction. It 
appears also that this number commends 
itself to various professors, who have been 
consulted as heads of laboratories for his- 
tology, physiology, chemistry and pathol- 
ogy. While, therefore, no number can be 
asserted to be best, it is probably safe to 
accept twenty-four. , 
Third. The additional space to be al- 
lowed for passages, sinks, cabinets, etc., on 
the assumption that each room is to have 
an independent equipment, so that class- 
work in it can be carried along independ- 
ently of the work in the other rooms. 
Measurements of several laboratories led 
to the supposition that for each student 
some ten or twelve square feet additional 
should be allowed. The supposition was 
then tested by drawing out several rooms,» 
with varying dimensions, with detail plans 
of the arrangement of the furniture and 
fittings, until finally eleven square feet was 
fixed as a desirable allowance. 
We are now in a position to calculate the 
desirable floor area on the following basis: 
There are to be twenty-four students in 
each room. Each student is to be allowed 
for his own use a space 3 ft. 6 by 5 ft., or 
174 square feet, or in all 420 square feet, 
each student also should be reckoned to re- 
quire eleven square feet additional for the 
general use, or in all 264 square feet. 
Thence 420 + 264 = 684 square feet re- 
quired for a room. 
A room measuring 30 feet by 23 contains 
SCIENCE. 
413 
a floor area of 690 square feet (about 10.67 
meters by 5.20 m.), which is almost exactly 
the area desired, exceeding it only by six 
feet. Rooms of other dimensions have 
been drawn, but the propositions adopted 
seemed the best. The thirty-foot side 
should of course have the windows, and the 
narrower dimensions, twenty-three feet, 
correspond therefore to the depth of the 
room. - 
I offer herewith six studies of possible 
arrangements of the unit room which the 
preceding discussion establishes. The six 
plans are for convenience, though some- 
what arbitrarily, named Histology, Anatomy, 
Physiology, Chemistry, General Chemistry and 
Zoology. Little need be said about these 
plans, because they are in the main self- 
explanatory. Various dispositions of the 
windows are indicated, but possibly three 
pairs of double windows would be better 
than any of the arrangements on the plans. 
Experience has led many scientific men ‘to 
doubt whether any architect knows the 
meaning of the term ‘a sufficiently lighted 
laboratory.’ We have all seen inade- 
quately lighted laboratories, but if an 
over-lighted laboratory exists anywhere in 
the world, I have yet to hear of it. As to 
the doors, it may be suggested that, in order 
to provide for a future possible subdivision 
of the room, the wall should be so built as 
to allow two doors, one towards each end 
of the room ; one door space might be built 
up until needed. Doors are indicated by 
which adjacent rooms are directly con- 
nected. It might be preferable to arrange 
the rooms in pairs, a8 indicated by the dis- 
tribution of the doors in the plans for general 
chemistry and zoology. 
In histology the students are placed in 
four rows of six each, and a special table is 
provided for the instructor; a large black- 
board is called for on one wall, where it 
can be easily seen by all the students 
from their seats. The front edge of a table 
