314 
The  New  Medical  Laboratories. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1904. 
the  preparation  of  sulphuric  acid  without  the  use  of  the  large  reac- 
tion chambers  of  the  old  method  is  shown  by  the  same  chemist. 
The  first  indigo  as  prepared  by  Baeyer  is  here  as  a  minute  sub- 
limate of  blue  in  a  broken  test-tube. 
Ostwald's  appliances,  balances  of  precision,  thermometers,  gas- 
measuring  burettes,  appliances  for  working  with  liquefied  gases, 
electric  furnaces,  Jena  glassware,  royal  porcelain,  and  in  fact  almost 
anything  that  a  chemist  might  occasionally  use  in  the  line  of  appa- 
ratus is  shown. 
Haereus  shows  his  molten  quartz  apparatus.  Small  tubes,  retorts, 
crucibles,  flasks  of  thin  quartz  are  blown  by  glassblowers,  the  only 
difference  being  that  with  glass  a  smoother  finish  is  obtained  than 
with  quartz.  These  quartz  goods  may  be  heated  to  a  white  heat 
and  plunged  into  cold  water  without  cracking. 
Goldschmidt's  thermite  has  a  separate  case.  Thermite  is  a  mix- 
ture of  the  metallic  aluminum  in  powder  with  an  oxide  of  a  metal, 
say  iron ;  on  causing  a  sudden  ignition  of  the  mass  by  a  spark  from 
the  so-called  Ziindkirsche,  iron  free  from  carbon  is  produced  in  the 
molten  state,  while  alumina  is  the  product  of  combustion.  Many 
metals  as  uranium,  tungsten,  chromium,  that  are  with  difficulty  pro- 
duced by  other  operations,  are  readily  produced  in  like  manner,  in 
a  molten  state,  and  in  large  quantities. 
THE  NEW  MEDICAL  LABORATORIES  OF  THE  UNI- 
VERSITY OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 
The  ceremonies  connected  with  the  dedication  of  the  new  labora- 
tories of  pathology,  physiology  and  pharmacology  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  on  June  ioth,  were  not  only  of  great  general 
interest,  but  the  event  was  one  of  the  most  important  in  the  history 
of  the  University,  and  has  a  direct  bearing  upon  the  practice  of 
medicine  and  pharmacy  in  America. 
"  The  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  witnessed  the  conver- 
sion of  the  teaching  and  practice  of  medicine  from  a  theoretical  to 
a  practical  and  demonstrative  basis.  This  momentous  change,  than 
which  nothing  more  revolutionary  and  beneficent  has  been  achieved 
in  the  history  of  the  intellectual  development  of  the  race,  has  been 
the  result  of  the  establishment  of  laboratories  in  which  research  in 
medical  science  might  be  conducted.    By  means  of  the  facilities 
