846 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLII. No. 1094 



ieal laboratories planned for the depart- 

 ment of chemistry at Harvard University, 

 it was designed with especial care. Red 

 "Harvard" brick with Indiana limestone 

 trimmings, and Deer Isle granite founda- 

 tions, constitute its external dress ; the archi- 

 tectural details, due to A. W. Longfellow, 

 are simple, effective and in good taste. It 

 covers an area of 71 by 41 feet, and is 48 feet 

 high. The construction is extremely solid 

 and substantial, so that it is unusually free 

 from vibration. Within, it is built of 



one, two or more investigators, according to 

 the character of the work. There are many 

 balance rooms, dark rooms and other neces- 

 sities for accurate chemical experimenta- 

 tion, as well as rooms designed for both 

 chemical and physical laboratories, because 

 the work to be done lies on the border-line 

 between chemistry and physics. Pipes are 

 laid for hot and cold water, distilled water, 

 steam, compressed air, oxygen and vacuum, 

 as well as for gas; and electricity of many 

 voltages is available at suitable plugs 



WOICOTT GIBBS MEMORIAL 

 lABORATORY- FOR THE OmSIOIJ 

 OF CHEMISTCT-HARVARO UNIVEKSDlT 



brick and reenforced concrete; and al- 

 though there is some woodwork in doors 

 and furniture, the building is practically 

 incombustible. Hollow bricks and doubly 

 glazed windows with tight weather-strips 

 protect it from heat and cold, and the tem- 

 perature of almost every room is auto- 

 matically regulated. The ventilating plant 

 provides filtered air, hence the building is 

 extraordinarily free from dust throughout. 

 Because the laboratory was designed and is 

 used wholly for research, it contains no lec- 

 ture room, but is divided into many rather 

 small rooms of different sizes, intended for 



throughout. An automatic electric lift is 

 used for transferring the apparatus, and 

 telephones connect all the important rooms. 

 The building has six floors available for 

 work: three regular stories, a very light 

 and convenient basement, a sub-basement 

 for especially constant temperature work 

 entirely underground, and a practicable 

 roof. Perhaps the most important feature 

 in its design is the arrangement of the bal- 

 ance rooms, dark rooms and laboratories in 

 suites, so planned as to give the greatest 

 possible usefulness to each, in the manner 

 illustrated by the right-hand side of the 



