210 
PHARMACEUTICAL  NOTES  OF  TRAVEL. 
this  hall  is  crowded  with  an  audience  eager  to  witness  the  ex- 
aminations, which  here,  as  in  the  University,  are  conducted 
publicly.  From  an  opportunity  I  embraced  of  witnessing  the  pro- 
cess, as  practised  upon  the  medical  students,  though  in  each  case 
in  presence  of  only  a  small  auditory,  my  conviction  is  strength- 
ened that  no  advantage  is  gained  by  its  publicity  which  is  not 
counter-balanced  by  its  unequal  effects  upon  students  of  varying 
temperaments  and  different  degrees  of  timidity. 
Besides  the  extensive  cabinets  used  by  the  Professors,  em- 
bracing each  department  of  our  science,  separately,  there  is  one 
appropriated  to  the  students  for  study,  and  used  in  the  examina- 
tions. Here  I  observed  a  method  of  displaying  specimens  some- 
what similar  to  that  mentioned  in  describing  the  English  muse- 
ums. In  flat  glass  cases  of  convenient  height,  glass  dishes  are 
arranged  containing  nests  of  crystals  or  well  selected  specimens 
of  drugs,  over  which  are  laid  plates  of  glass  for  keeping  out  the 
dust  and  preventing  undue  exposure  to  evaporation. 
The  lecture  rooms  are  twro  in  number  capable  of  accommoda- 
ting, perhaps,  300  students.  The  basement  which  was  formerly 
occupied  by  the  practical  laboratory  is  now  used  for  some  of  the 
heavier  chemical  operations  and  for  storage. 
Passing  into  a  newly  erected  wing  of  the  College,  we  reach  the 
practical  laboratory,  which  is  divided  into  several  apartments 
all  lighted  from  above,  and  perfectly  adapted  to  the  purposes 
to  which  they  are  appropriated.  There  is  a  dark  room,  with 
arrangements  for  the  admission  of  light  for  the  photographic 
experiments,  which  enter  into  the  course  of  instruction  in  physics. 
Each  apartment  accommcdates  18  students,  and  the  series  com- 
municate by  a  gallery  raised  six  or  eight  feet  above  the  floor, 
which  also  communicates  with  the  private  laboratories  and  offi- 
ces of  the  Professors.  This  gallery  affords  the  Professor  a  com- 
plete view  of  all  the  students,  and  of  the  work  tables  which  are 
arranged  in  rows  at  right  angles  to  it.  These  work  tables  are 
of  two  kinds  separated  by  aisles,  those  designed  for  testings, 
nitrations,  &c,  containing  the  appropriate  apparatus  and  re- 
agents, and  those  for  evaporation,  burning  off  precipitates,  and 
ultimate  organic  analysis.  On  the  last  named  tables,  at  suitable 
intervals,  were  closets,  inclosed  with  sash,  and  leading  into 
fines,  so  as  to  carry  off  noxious  gases,  an  arrangement  highly  con- 
