128 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. IV., No. 80. 



THE HARVARD PHYSIOLOGICAL 

 LABORATORY. 



The physiological laboratory of the medical 

 school of Harvard university presents some 

 peculiarities of arrangement and appointments 

 which seem worthy of a brief description. The 

 rooms occupied for this purpose include about 

 one-fourth of the available space of the second 

 floor in the new building of the school at the 

 corner of Boylston and Exeter Streets in 

 Boston. The disposition of these rooms is 

 shown in the accompanying plans (figs. 1 

 and 2). The large lecture-room, it will be 



( WP) , to which the overflow from any appa- 

 ratus may be conducted. This pipe runs into 

 a small open sink lying below that portion of 

 the table, and having also its own water-supply. 

 Near the middle of the table are the binding- 

 posts of a pair of electric wires (E) coming 

 from the general laboratory, and close to these 

 is the air-pipe (A) from the respiration appara- 

 tus, to be presently described. The course of 

 the wires and pipe beneath the floor is shown 

 bjf a dotted line in the plan. At the same end 



P.M. 



1. — General plan of laboratory and lectuee- 



Lettering to plans of laboratory. — BC, battery-closet (gallery); BL, blast- 

 lamp; Bl, balance; Bn, basin; CC, clothes-closets; CI, closet (under seats); 

 CT, chemical table; DA, digestion apparatus; Dk, desk; I)r, chest of 

 drawers; FP, filter-pump; GC, glass case; Gm, galvanometer; //, hood; 

 US, heliostat shelf; I A, injection apparatus; IC, interrupter case; Kn, kymo- 

 graphion; L, lathe; LT, lecture-table; JIC, meat-cutter; MT, mercury- 

 table; 01, operating instruments; PC, portfolio-case ; PJI, pendulum myograph; It, refrigerator; It A, respiration apparatus; SA, 

 soldering apparatus; SxB, steam-bath ; ^.steam-engine; Sh, shelves; Sfc, sink; SP, seconds pendulum; ST, saw-table; 77, tele- 

 scope; VA, varnishing apparatus; VS, ventilating shaft; WB, work-bench ; W T, working-table. Lecture-room. —A, air-blast;. 

 B, blackboards; E, electricity; G, gas; PT, pneumatic trough; W, water; WP, waste-pipe. 



seen, has also an ante-room leading to the 

 chemical laboratories, which occupy the re- 

 mainder of the floor, the lectures of both de- 

 partments being given in this room. It may 

 be mentioned here that the stories of the build- 

 ing are in general quite high, permitting the 

 frequent use of mezzanines with great economy 

 of space. 



In the lecture-room itself the table is the most 

 interesting feature. When ready for use, it is 

 merely a plain black walnut table, with a thick 

 top about 5 metres long, 90 centimetres wide, 

 and 86 centimetres above the floor. On this are 

 water and gas cocks ( W, (r), and a waste-pipe 



of the table is a movable cover over a large 

 pneumatic trough. Here, as elsewhere on the 

 table, the water-supply is from a tank at the top 

 of the building, so that the pressure is constant. 

 As the pipes are independent, the necessary 

 conditions of the water-supply for hydraulic 

 experiments are satisfied. The middle half of 

 the table presents more novel features. It is 

 movable, running on wheels, and exists in du- 

 plicate, each of the two departments using the 

 lecture-room being thus provided for. This 

 section can be run off into the laborator} T , and 

 there loaded with any apparatus or material 

 required for the lecture. It is thus possible to 



