1890-92 - University Archives and Records Center - University of ...

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admirably adapted to the purpose of instruction, but it is very evident
that it will require enlargement within a short time to accommodate
the growing classes. The boiler house, which adjoins the laboratory,
and which contains eight boilers of various patterns, not only furnishes
steam for motive and heating power, but is used by the engineering
classes in their practical work. The laboratory building proper
contains on the first floor the wood and metal shops, the engines
and. dynamos ; on the second, the mechanical laboratory, class rooms,
the reading room, the office and necessary closets ; on the third, the
draughting rooms, the electrical laboratory, class rooms and the assistants'
offices; while.on the fourth floor is the studio for blue printing,
and some space as yet unassigned. It is a source of sincere gratification
to be able to report that the work of this department is eminently
satisfactory—reflecting great credit upon the Professor in charge—
and that it has done much to enhance the reputation of the
University. /
Not less gratifying is the progress made in the department of
Chemistry. This department occupies a position different from that
held by the other technical departments, since upon it is thrown a
large part of the required and elective studies in the General Courses
in Science and the Course in Art, and it enters more largely into the
instruction of students belonging to the other technical schools. More
than 250 students are now receiving laboratory instruction in Chemistry
in periods amounting to from three to thirty hours per week. Of
this number, fifty-five are in the Course in Chemistry proper, either .
as special students or as candidates for the baccalaureate degree.
Last year these students numbered thirty-six ; in the year" before,
twenty-four; and in 1889, as shown by my last report, nineteen.
•The department has entirely outgrown the present laboratory, and it
has been found necessary to assign each desk and working space to
three students. It has been a serious question whether, under present
conditions, we can conscientiously admit more new students. A new
laboratory building is urgently needed, as it is not practicable to
handle these large classes in the present small rooms situated on three
floors of the College building. It has been found impossible to
confine the fumes and gases generated in the laboratory, and many
other departments have been put to serious inconvenience and possi- '
ble danger.
Thé reorganizatiôn of the department of Civil Engineering has '
been too recent to permit of any specific statement here. It is con- [
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