944 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 285. 



balance room, which is equipped with an 

 outfit comprising a set of screens, cameras 

 and a selection of anastigmatic and planar 

 lenses which provide for almost every con- 

 tingency of indoor and outdoor work, in- 

 cluding photomicrography and projection. 

 The adjoining dark room opens directly 

 into the hallway and contains the appa- 

 ratus necessary for developing the printing. 



The basement floor of the museum con- 

 tains two rooms devoted to laboratory pur- 

 poses. One is planned for the storage of 

 chemicals and other supplies, for glassblow- 

 ing and general preparation work. The 

 second is a constant temperature room, 

 thirty-four by twenty feet, furnished with 

 double walls, doors and windows; this is 

 designed to be separated into several 

 smaller chambers in which different tem- 

 peratures may be maintained. A series of 

 thermographic tests of the temperature re- 

 sulting from outside and inside causes are 

 now in progress, from which the final fit- 

 tings necessary for absolute control of the 

 different temperatures may be determined. 



The worker who comes to the herbarium 

 or laboratories is supposed to have already 

 demonstrated his ability to carry on inde- 

 pendent research work, and after he has 

 been provided with the necessities for the 

 prosecution of the work he has only so much 

 of advice and consultation with the mem- 

 ber of the staff under whom he has elected 

 work as to insure its successful prosecution. 

 Ko facilities are given for elementary in- 

 struction. All the members of the staff 

 and the workers in the laboratories meet 

 once every week to listen to the presenta- 

 tion of results accomplished by one of their 

 number, or by some visiting botanist. The 

 opportunity for the discussion of newly 

 found results has been found most stimu- 

 lating to the persons concerned, and inter- 

 esting to all attending. 



The library consists of a large reading 

 room or rotunda under the dome, of a stack 



or book room to the rear in the square cen- 

 tral wing and two small store rooms for 

 pamphlets and duplicates. 



The stack room is admirably lighted by 

 three west, four north and three east win- 

 dows, and by a long central skylight. The 

 reading room is lighted both from the win- 

 dows in the dome and from the stack room, 

 and is furnished with chairs and large oak 

 tables. 



The book stacks are forty in number, 

 arranged along both sides of the book room. 

 They are constructed by steel plate of one- 

 tenth inch in thickness, are double-fronted, 

 made in sections four feet long, two feet 

 deep and six and a-half feet high, with solid 

 ends and tops, but no fronts or doors, the 

 lowest shelf being about three inches from 

 the floor. They are painted a dark olive- 

 green in japanned finish. Each stack is 

 provided with five movable shelves with 

 adjustable space or holes on the inside of 

 the cases about one inch apart, through- 

 which small bolts are thrust to catch the 

 shelves. For the folios there are four large 

 metallic double-fronted cases, three feet 

 high with a table top five by three and a 

 half feet, in the center of the stack room. 

 Each case has two sections on each front, 

 one with three plain shelves and the other 

 arranged with a system of roller shelves for » 

 the easier handling of the heavier folios. 



In accordance with the agreement with 

 Columbia University all the botanical books 

 of this institution, amounting to about 

 5000, are deposited here. The Garden has 

 acquired about 2000 volumes since its or- 

 ganization. The general character of the 

 library may be known when it is stated 

 that an invoice, February 1, 1900, showed 

 127 volumes of general dictionaries and 

 non-botanical reference works, 100 vol- 

 umes on general science, 200 volumes on 

 geology and paleontology, 1733 volumes 

 of periodicals and proceedings, 52 volumes 

 of collective and historical works, 495 vol- 



