January 9, 1885.; 



SCIENCE. 



27 



vided with black Venetian blinds, which, when 

 drawn, exclude all light. The polariscope. 

 spectroscope, goniometer, photometer, and 

 photographic apparatus are used here. 



On the right, next in order, is the first of the 

 three large working-rooms for students, known 

 as laboratory A. Its dimensions are thirty by 



First FLOOR. 



thirty-two feet. The work of those who are 

 in the earliest stages of their course is carried 

 on here. Fort}' students can be accommodated 

 in this room at one time without inconvenience. 

 Adjoining it is a large storeroom, in which the 

 chemicals are kept, and the solutions for the 

 reagent-bottles prepared. 



On the opposite side of the hall are the appa- 

 ratus-office and a balance-room. The office 

 is connected by a stairway with the 

 store-rooms for apparatus, which are 

 in the basement. All necessary ap- 

 paratus is loaned to students who sign 

 receipts for whatever the}' may take ; 

 and the cost price is charged for any 

 thing which ma}' not be returned in 

 good condition. 



Passing on, we enter laboratory B, 

 which was the main working-room of 

 the old laboratory. It measures thir- 

 ty by forty-two feet, and has places 

 for thirty students. Those who work 

 in this room have had some prelimi- 

 nary training. The}' are here en- 

 gaged in complicated qualitative min- 

 eral analyses, preparations, and quan- 

 titative analyses. The office and pri- 

 vate laboratory of Associate-Professor Morse 

 adjoin this room, and open into it. 



The arrangements for sulphuretted hydrogen 

 deserve special mention. As is well known, 

 this valuable gas is the chief source of dis- 

 comfort in chemical laboratories ; and chemists 

 will, perhaps, wonder and doubt when it is 



stated, that, in the laboratory under considera- 

 tion, its familiar odor is practically unknown. 

 This desirable result is reached by providing 

 for it, not a separate room, as is customary, 

 but a separate, thoroughly ventilated building, 

 immediately adjoining laboratory B, but com- 

 pletely isolated from it. It is provided with 

 a high chimney, and means are 

 taken which not only ought to, 

 but actually do, secure a con- 

 stant upward draught. It con- 

 tains a large gas-generator, which 

 furnishes sulphuretted hydrogen, 

 and which is in charge of the 

 janitor, who is required to see 

 that it is kept in order. All work 

 with noxious gases must be car- 

 ried on in the ' stink-room,' under 

 penalty of the law. The experi- 

 ence of the past year has been 

 such as to lead the writer strongly 

 to advise all who have any thing 

 to do with building chemical lab- 

 oratories to see that they are 

 similarly provided. 



Having thus taken a hasty glance at the first 

 floor, we may pass to the second. Here we 

 find the main lecture-hall, with a large prepa- 

 ration-room opening into it. Over the lecture- 

 table, extending nearly the entire width of the 

 room, is a large hood of galvanized, corrugated 

 iron. This is connected with a ventila ting- 

 flue, the opening of which is about fifteen feet 



long by three feet wide, extending upward 

 through the roof. A row of gas-jets may be 

 lighted at the lower end of this flue, thus se- 

 curing a remarkably efficient ventilation. On 

 the table there is also a closed hood, and a 

 pipe with down draught. 



The library is unusually well supplied. It 



