126 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 267 



generally recognized as advantageous, and in some States required 

 by law. It certainly seems, that, if physiology is to be taught, there 

 would be just as few evils, and much more of value, accruing from 

 the study of the principles of infection and subjects connected 

 therewith, than results from the study of many subjects now taught 

 under the head of physiology. The value of the study of bacteriol- 

 ogy in the colleges and universities is more evident, and has been 

 well shown in the letter of Mr. Theobald Smith, published in a re- 

 cent number of this paper. 



In conclusion, then, it may be said that our medical schools and 

 profession generally have been and are advancing along this line 

 of bacteriology as fast as can be expected. All of the larger schools 

 have taken up the subject in a thorough manner, and many of the 

 smaller ones are doing the same. The indications are, that a few 

 years will see bacteriology established as a subject to be taught, 

 either as a branch of pathology or otherwise, in all of the medical 

 schools whose financial condition will warrant it. H. W. Conn. 



CHEMICAL LABORATORY OF THE ALABAMA POLY- 

 TECHNIC INSTITUTE. 

 We present in this number of Scioice a cut of the new chemical 

 laboratory of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama, 

 located at Auburn. The substantial growth of this institution 

 has been such that the trustees, at their annual meeting in June of 

 last year, authorized the construction of a new laboratory in con- 









'BalaTxC.tS, 



Uij 



■>- 



Hall 



.\. 



StaitLojciato 



% ®H' 



A , Spectroscope and pola 



1 ; -5, Assistant's private working-n 



nection with the Agricultural Experiment Station and the State 

 Department of Agriculture, of which the professor of chemistry is 

 the official chemist, and for original research. At a subsequent 

 meeting in July, it was determined to erect a larger building than 

 at first contemplated, and transfer to it the chemical department of 

 the college. 



The building is a handsome two-story structure, 40 by 60 feet, 

 with a stately tower, and a rear projection 35 by 60 feet of one 

 story, and basement. The exterior is of the best quality of pressed 

 brick, laid in red mortar, with cut stone trimmings and terra-cotta 

 ornamentation. 



The main flo«r contains a central hall ten feet wide, with side 

 hall for stairway of the same width, but extending only halfway 



across the building. On entering through the large archway under 

 the tovv'er, the first room to the left is the office of the professor of 

 chemistry, to the rear of which is the library and balance-room- 

 On the right, extending the whole length of the floor, is the State 

 laboratory and laboratoiy for research. Two small rooms are cut 

 off from this, one to be used as a balance-room, and the other for 

 the spectroscope and polariscope. Leading from the rear of the 

 main hall is the door which enters the large laboratory for general 

 work. Two rooms are cut off from this, — one for combustion 

 furnaces ; and the other, a private working-room for the assistant. 



In the basement are ample accommodations for assaying and 

 storage. The main laboratory will accommodate sixty students, 

 and, when the fitting-up is completed, will contain the latest im- 

 proved working-tables, with water, gas, and every necessary appli- 

 ance for chemical work. Niches in the walls opposite each work- 

 ing-table, with hoods where necessary, connect with flues, and 

 furnish the best possible means of escape for deleterious vapors, 

 while ventilators in the ceiling furnish additional means for getting 

 rid of noxious gases. The pitch is sixteen feet in the clear, 

 with panelled ceiling of oiled Southern pine. The rooms are 

 wainscoted throughout, and finished in natural wood. The second 

 story contains a large lecture-room and room for gas-analysis. 

 Around this lecture-room, suitably arranged, will be cases for con- 

 taining crude and manufactured products, illustrating the subjects- 

 of agricultural and industrial chemistry, which are prominent sub- 

 jects taught in this institution. Since the war, the South has- 

 awakened to an appreciation of her vast industrial resources, and 

 every effort is made to educate her young men in a way that will 

 prepare them to utilize her vast deposits of coal and iron and mar- 

 ble, and other valuable minerals, as well as to maintain, and if pos- 

 sible to increase, the productive capacity of her soil. 



