ADeVemberi;wo6m"}        United  States  Army  Laboratory.  563 
was  it  Harvard  ?)  and  an  accomplished  chemist,  who  had  been  my 
assistant.  It  would  doubtless  be  interesting  to  give  a  description 
of  the  manufacture  of  ether,  chloroform,  etc.,  and  the  apparatus 
employed,  but  these  were  essentially  the  same  as  those  then  prac- 
ticed and  in  use  in  the  laboratory  of  Dr.  E.  R.  Squibb,  and  probably 
still  in  use,  and  have,  I  believe,  been  sufficiently  described  heretofore. 
I  shall  therefore  confine  myself  to  a  description  of  the  operations  in 
the  so-called  furnace  room,  which  practically  composed  the  sum 
total  of  my  experience  in  the  U.S.A.  Laboratory. 
THE  FURNACE  ROOM. 
This  was  situated  in  the  one-story  structure  initially  mentioned 
as  constituting  the  northern  boundary  of  the  laboratory  site,  extend- 
ing eastward  from  Sixth  Street  for  a  distance  of  possibly  85  or 
IOO  feet,  and  occupied  about  50  feet  of  the  extreme  eastern  side  of 
this  structure.  I  have  prepared  two  sketches  (Fig.  1  and  2),  the 
one  showing  the  arrangement  of  this  room,  and  the  various  furnaces 
in  flat  perspective,  the  other  in  elevation,  which  may  serve  to 
elucidate  my  description  of  the  various  operations. 
Around  a  central  stack  (A) — not  however,  central  in  its  position 
towards  the  encircling  walls — four  sets  of  furnaces  were  grouped  as 
shown,  the  purpose  of  which  will  be  explained  as  we  reach  the  oper- 
ations for  which  they  were  constructed.  A  smaller  stack  (/),  situated 
in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  room,  admitted  the  flues  from  a  set 
of  furnaces  on  the  interior,  and  also  from  another  set  on  the  exterior 
of  the  building.  Along  the  eastern  wall  there  were  several  solid 
leaden  tanks  (mf  m,  mf)  for  sulphuric  acid  mixtures,  while  large 
wooden  tanks  (ny  n,  n,),  of  various  capacities,  were  ranged  along 
the  blank  northern  wall  of  the  room.  The  general  work  table  (T), 
for  small  operations  requiring  gas  as  fuel,  for  filtrations,  etc.,  was 
placed  against  the  blank  western  wall — a  wardrobe  (W),  fitting  a 
space  in  the  corner,  while  along  the  front  (southern)  wall,  between 
the  two  doors,  were  the  sinks,  water  supply,  and  various  vessels, 
such  as  earthen-ware  crocks,  etc. — for  such  use  as  might  be.  The 
room  was  lofty,  well-lighted,  paved  with  brick,  but,  so  far  as  I  can 
now  recall,  was  not  provided  with  facilities  for  ventilation  other  than 
the  doors  and  windows. 
Before  giving  in  brevity  a  description  of  the  uses  to  which  the 
different  furnaces  and  appliances  were  put,  I  should  mention  that 
