Septembee 2, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



291 



siderable number of elective courses, in 

 which experimental work is done. At the 

 same time, rooms and equipment for the 

 work of the students in electrical engi- 

 neering and for the already large, and 

 rapidly increasing, research work of the 

 graduate students in physics had to be 

 provided. The building may therefore be 

 regarded as made up of two roughly equal 

 portions. The upper floor and the east 

 wing and other parts of the main floor 

 are used mainly in undergraduate instruc- 

 tion. The basement and the balance of the 

 main floor are given up to the rooms of 

 the teaching staff's and of the advanced 

 students. The facilities for the former 

 include the following: four lecture rooms, 

 one to seat 305, one to seat 176 and two 

 with seats for 72 each; seven recitation 

 rooms with 27 chairs each; and specially 

 designed and equipped laboratories for 

 the general courses, and for the special 

 courses in the several branches of physics. 



Twenty-eight research rooms have been 

 equipped for members of the faculty 

 and for other men carrying on experi- 

 mental investigations. Constant tempera- 

 ture chambers, optical, photographic and 

 photometric dark rooms, a balance room, a 

 chemical laboratory, machine shops and an 

 electrical standards room have been espe- 

 cially constructed and equipped for the 

 use of any one carrying on work demand- 

 ing such rooms and equipment. 



The combined floor area of the three 

 main stories is somewhat over 86,000 

 square feet. An additional area of 20,000 

 square feet in the attic is available, though 

 not now utilized. This last space offers 

 an unbroken stretch of 160 feet, and 

 should prove invaluable for some types of 

 experimental study. 



The laboratory is a thoroughly fire- 

 proof structure and was planned to ensure 

 the maximum of stability. It is of what 

 may be termed the ' ' wall-bearing ' ' type as 



