Popular Science Monthly/Volume 51/October 1897/Science at the University of Chicago
| SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. |
By Prof. FREDERICK STARR.
WHILE it is true that buildings do not constitute a university, it is also true that any description of science work at a university must give considerable prominence to buildings. Museums, laboratories, and observatories must be definitely constructed for the work which they are intended to perform; if there are peculiar and individual features in the instruction, some hint of these at least must appear in the structures in which this instruction is to be given. The buildings of the University of Chicago, with the exception of its astronomical observatories, are located upon a piece of ground in the southern part of the city, between Washington and Jackson Parks. These parks are connected by the Midway Plaisance, which, since the time of the World's Columbian Exposition, has been developed into one of the finest boulevards in the city. The property of the university fronts on this handsome driveway, and consists of four ordinary city blocks containing twenty acres. The portions of the streets intersecting this piece of ground have been vacated by the city, leaving the campus unbroken. Before a single building was erected the architect, Henry Ives Cobb, drew up a general study for the mass of constructions, which it is hoped will be finally erected. Ultimately the buildings will form a series continuous around the four sides of the campus, but with entrance ways at the middle of each side. In the great court thus inclosed will be separate buildings for museums, libraries, and laboratories. While some changes in the buildings thus planned have been necessitated, the idea in general has so far been carried out, and will be in the future. Many years must elapse before the plan is completely realized, but much has already been done. One temporary and sixteen permanent buildings have been erected; of these seventeen buildings upon the campus, eight are specifically buildings for scientific purposes—Kent Chemical Laboratory, Ryerson Physical Laboratory, the four new Hull Biological Laboratories, Walker Museum, and Haskell Oriental Museum. All the buildings of the university are composed of the same material—a fine-grained gray freestone. Forming parts of one architectural design, all are built in one style, middle English Gothic. No two buildings are quite alike, but all are consistent, and produce, when taken together, a harmonious effect.
The Kent Chemical Laboratory was the first building devoted to science finished on the campus. It is the gift of Mr. Sidney A. Kent. In the hallway is a simple bronze portrait tablet bearing
Fig. 1.—President William R. Harper. the inscription: "This building is dedicated to a fundamental science in the hope that it will be a foundation stone laid broad and deep for the temple of knowledge in which as we live we have life.—Sidney A. Kent."
The arrangement and character of chemical laboratories are matters so definitely fixed by years of experience that few points of detail in reference to any one deserve mention. The Kent Laboratory is, however, well equipped for its work. In the basement are gas furnaces, seven in number, with air blasts for giving high temperatures. The ground floor contains lecture room, room for gas analysis, and rooms for advanced work in organic preparations. A chemical museum has been begun here which is to be greatly developed later. The second floor is devoted to research work and organic chemistry. Upon it also are the chemical library, combustion room, and sealed-tube room. Upon the third floor are the general laboratories for beginners, rooms for quantitative and qualitative analysis, dark room, etc. There are, of course, the usual store rooms and a balance room. In the building are six private laboratories for instructors, each completely fitted out. The head Professor in Chemistry, John Ulric Nef, has an excellent corps of helpers—Alexander Smith, Felix Lengfeld, Julius Stieglitz, and Richard S. Curtiss. The original work done by the force has been chiefly in the line of organic chemistry. Prof. Nef himself has conducted important investigations upon
Fig. 2.—Kent Chemical Laboratory.
contributions to bur knowledge of addition and condensation processes, while among the important works of Dr. Lengfeld and others of the staff are the obtaining of thiamines and other organic sulphur salts, studies upon rearrangement of molecules in compounds, hydrolitic dissociation of salts, and researches upon amydo-phosphoric acid, titanium and zirconium compounds. So far, however, nothing has been done in physical chemistry. No courses in that direction have been offered, and it is probable that none will be for some time to come. The department has no journal, but the results of the researches conducted here are published in the more important chemical periodicals, particularly in the American Chemical Journal, the Proceedings of the French and German Chemical Societies, Liebig's Annalen, and the Compte Rendu.
The Ryerson Physical Laboratory is unquestionably the best equipped and most handsomely finished building on the campus. Built by Mr. Martin A. Ryerson, of Chicago, to the memory of his father, Martin Ryerson, it was completed January 1, 1894. Externally individual and striking, its general character and style harmonize admirably with those of the other buildings upon the grounds. It is, however, far heavier and stronger in construction than the others; the interior wainscotings are in marble; the first-floor laboratories are provided with piers of masonry in addition to the heavy slate wall shelves which are found throughout the other portions of the building. The object of this heavy construction is to minimize the jars and disturbances from outside, which would otherwise seriously interfere with the delicate manipulations to be conducted, and the minute movements and vibrations to be studied. One striking constructional feature which adds largely to convenience is the presence of ducts and channels between walls and in the floors, so that pipes can be laid from any part of the building to any other without difficulty. Elementary students work upon the third floor, senior college students on the second, while the first floor is devoted to research work. The more notable features of the department's work are naturally upon this floor. The
Fig. 3.—Ryerson Physical Laboratory.
machine shop, under the direction of an expert mechanic with two trained men for helpers, allows the manufacture on the ground, under the eye of the investigator, of instruments needed in pursuing any study. This shop is fitted up with all needed machinery, supplied with power, and has connected with it a fully stocked supply room. Adjoining it is a students' workshop, where one pursuing special lines may make up his own instruments, construct his own machines, or devise models to be used as patterns in the machine shop proper. The power for the building is furnished by three dynamos and an engine located in the basement. An air compressor and a vacuum pump form part of the outfit. The laboratories are large, intended for several students working together, or small, for individual workers. At the present time, students are pursuing investigations upon the mechanical equivalent of heat and the coefficient of viscosity of a liquid. There are eight or ten of these individual laboratories for single students, each supplied with all needed facilities. Every laboratory room, large or small, is supplied with gas for light and fuel, electricity for light and power, water, compressed air, and vacuum pipes. In one of the two constant temperature rooms is a highly interesting piece of apparatus conceived by Prof. Michelson and perfected by Prof. Michelson and Prof. Stratton. Its purpose is the direct production of standards of length. The principle involved is the determination of the length 
Fig. 4.—Prof. A. A. Michelson. of the metre in waves of light. This determination was first made by Prof. Michelson, whose original investigation was published by the Bureau Internationale des Poids et Mesures, at Paris. The instrument produces light waves, from a given substance, of known length, and then mechanically lays off standards of length, up to two decimetres, in waves of light. Another notably interesting piece of apparatus constructed by Prof. Michelson and Prof. Stratton is a harmonic analyzer, which has cost two years of work. A first pattern was quite fully developed, only to be abandoned for the design shown in the illustration on next page. The purpose of the apparatus is the analysis and synthesis of any harmonic curve (Fourier's series), provided not more than eighty elements enter into it. Every one knows the vast use made to-day of traced curves in all branches of science. These curves are frequently resultants and combinations of two or more simple curves. It is a matter of difficulty to recognize and separate the elements thus combined. The machine in question enables the investigator to effect this decomposition and to prove it by mechanically reproducing the curve in question through combinations of the elements involved. The best way of showing the 
Fig. 5.—Harmonic Analyzer. amount and character of the work done in this physical laboratory is to present a list of the researches completed or in progress during the year:
Researches Completed or in Progress during the Year.—(1) Relative Motion of the Earth and Ether—Head Professor Michelson; (2) A New Harmonic Analyzer—Head Professor Michelson and Associate Professor Stratton; (3) Production of Standards of Length by Means of Light Waves—Head Professor Michelson and Associate Professor Stratton; (4) Attempt to Measure the Superior Limit to the Size of Molecules by Capillarity—Head Professor Michelson and Associate Professor Stratton; (G) Deposition of Metals in High Vacua by the Electric Discharge—Associate Professor Stratton and Dr. Mann; (7) Study of Electric Waves by Means of the Interferometer—Mr. Hull; (8) Coefficient of Viscosity—Mr. Johonnott; (9) Resistance of Thin Metal Films—Miss Isabelle Stone; (10) Mechanical Equivalent of Heat—Mr. Smith; (11) Application of Interference Methods to Spectroscopic Measurements—Mr. Rice; (13) Velocity of Cathode Rays—Mr. Morrison.
One of the most thoroughly organized scientific departments in the university is that of geology, under the direction of Prof. Thomas C. Chamberlain, who has associated with him seven helpers. Perhaps nowhere in America is this work so carefully divided. The broad way in which it is treated at the University of Chicago is indicated by the list of workers: In geology proper, Profs. Chamberlain, Salisbury, and Van Hise lay general foundations; Farrington in mineralogy, Iddings in petrography, Salisbury in physiography and geography, Weller in paleontology. Holmes in anthropic and graphic geology, and Penrose in economic geology form a strong corps of specialists. The department aims at systematic training in its subject, either in contributing to a liberal education, or in preparing for professional and investigative work. The work is adaptable, ranging from undergraduate courses of the most elementary kind to the highest 
Fig. 6.—Prof. Thomas C. Chamberlain. lines of seminar and field study. One feature demanding specific mention is the concentration of field work. While local field work is done in connection with the several classes, it is considered incidental; field work pure and simple is concentrated in consecutive and exclusive field investigation during the second term of the summer quarter. At that time the class is systematically organized and held constantly at work under the direction of an experienced field geologist. In all courses, whether in class room, seminar, or field, prominence is given to principles and working methods; special emphasis is laid on the philosophic phases of the subjects discussed; much attention is given to the treatment from historic and genetic points of view. Constantly and always the effort is to bring the student into relation with the living questions of the science, and to make him feel it as a growing body of truth. In connection with the department the Journal of Geology is conducted. It is a semi-quarterly magazine, the actual editorship of which rests upon the geological faculty; the associate editorship is made up of the leading geologists of America and Europe. The important papers in its pages are mostly concerned with the present problems of the science. Among its most striking and valuable features are its Studies for Students, which are intended for advanced workers, and are full of the most important suggestions and help.
The department of geology is housed in the Walker Museum, a three-story and basement building donated by Mr. George C. Walker. The policy of the university is not in the direction of gathering great museum collections in any line. The Field Columbian Museum, so promisingly started soon after the World's Columbian Exposition, is located near the university. Fully organized, it is being systematically developed in every line of science. Its proximity renders the gathering of great collections at the university unnecessary, as students have special facilities furnished them by the museum. Collections, then, at the university will be chiefly formed with reference to their actual teaching value. The ground floor of Walker Museum is devoted to collections in mineralogy and geology, and the Ryerson collection of Mexican antiquities; the second floor is given up to the work of the department of geology, as already outlined; the third floor is chiefly devoted to work in anthropology. While the collections in geology present little of striking interest, they include the great series of fossils brought together by the late Prof. U. P. James, of Cincinnati, famous in American paleontology, containing great numbers of important specimens, and a particularly complete presentation of the fossils of the Cincinnati group (Lower Silurian). As stated, the work in anthropology is located on the third floor of the Walker Museum. It is fair to claim that at no other American institution is instruction work in anthropology so definite and at the same time so comprehensive, some eleven different courses in somatology, ethnology, and archaeology being offered. Part of the space occupied is set aside for laboratory work. The instrumental equipment is nearly complete, although the material upon which to work is inadequate.
Fig. 7.—Walker Museum.
The charts and diagrams prepared by Dr. Boaz in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition, representing an enormous amount of investigation upon native American tribes and presenting it in graphic form, are the property of the university, having been originally drawn up at its expense; they form valuable aid to class and laboratory work. While not boasting a museum, the department has a considerable amount of material of its own from New Mexican Pueblos, Mexico, and Peru; it also has the use of loan collections of objects from Mexico, the Aleutian Islands, the Utah cliff-dwellers, Japan, etc. The most important of these loans is the Ryerson collection from Mexico—a large series of antiquities gathered by Señor Abadiano, and forming an excellent general representation of Mexican archaeology. No journal of anthropology is published, but a series of Bulletins has been started. These will be octavo publications in pamphlet form, presenting new material or results of investigations by instructors or advanced students in the science. Two have already been published, dealing with points of Mexican archæology.
The Hull Biological Laboratories are the newest buildings upon the grounds. They are the gifts of Miss Helen Culver, and are named in memory of her uncle, Charles J. Hull. They form a group of four buildings arranged with an inclosed court. The buildings are grouped into two pairs, the members of which are connected by covered passageways or cloisters. Biology and Botany are thus united, and Anatomy and Physiology. The Biological and Anatomical Laboratories are at the front of the group and are connected by a short passage surrounded by a rather striking entrance way. The four buildings themselves, while conforming in style to the rest of the university structures, have been erected with special reference to their intended use, and neither space nor light has been sacrificed to the demands of Gothic decoration. In the center of the rectangular area surrounded by these buildings it is planned to have a pond of water of considerable size for supplying material in the direction of pond life. The Zoölogical Laboratory is under the direction of Head Professor C. O. Whitman, and consists of four floors and basement. Connected with the latter is a greenhouse arranged for supplying light and dark conditions, also rooms for animals in captivity, and various workshops. On the first floor is the general laboratory for elementary students, the general biological library, and a museum of illustrative series of life forms. The remaining floors are given up to suites of rooms for the head professor and his assistants, and to research laboratories. When the university was founded. Prof. Whitman brought with him a force of instructors and advanced workers from Clark University, at which institution he had developed the work in zoology to remarkable completeness. The work begun at Worcester has been prosecuted at Chicago with diligence. Among the important researches here conducted by Dr. Whitman and by his helpers, William M. Wheeler, Edwin O. Jordan, Sho Watase, and others, are contributions to annelid morphology, molluscan morphology and structure, and the development of arthropods and invertebrates. Important work in the line of cellular biology has also been done. An investigation now being conducted by Prof. Whitman himself will be of popular interest as well as of scientific importance—a study in pigeons. Prof. Whitman
Fig. 8.—Hull Biological Laboratories.
is crossing wild forms and conducting experiments upon various species in captivity; a wide range of forms is used, including species from Australia, Japan, South America, and other parts of the world. The east end of the fourth floor of the zoölogical building is devoted to the work in bacteriology. Prof. Jordan, who conducts this work, has a large laboratory and several smaller individual laboratories equipped with steam sterilizers, hot-air sterilizers, autoclavs, incubators, refrigerators, and all other necessary apparatus for culture and study of pathogenic bacteria and other germs. In connection with this work a Bacteriological Journal Club has been organized for reading and discussing the current literature of the field. On this floor, also for the present, are the quarters of Dr. Baur, Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology. The Department of Vertebrate Paleontology is under the direction of Prof. G. Baur. Before coming to the university Dr. Baur worked at Munich and afterward assisted Prof. O. C. Marsh at Yale. In 1891 he had charge of the Salisbury Expedition to the Galapagos Islands. His work at the university began at the founding of the institution in 1892. His courses cover vertebrate zoölogy and paleontology. Special reference is given to the great problems in taxonomy, distribution, and phylogeny. There are extensive collections for practical study from the South Dakota Miocene, the Wyoming Laramie, Kansas Cretaceous, and Texas Permian. No reference to Prof. Whitman's work would be complete which omitted the Marine Biological Laboratory and the Journal of Morphology, although neither is directly connected with the University of Chicago. The Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Holl, Mass., is thoroughly and favorably known. Dr. Whitman is the director and has been indefatigable in its development. The work done there during the summer months is of the best. Students work in all grades, from elementary class work to the most advanced original research. Besides the laboratory work, which is of course the chief feature, series of lectures more or less popular but thoroughly scientific in character are given. The University of Chicago co-operates in these laboratories with the institutions of learning which have preceded her in their development. The Journal of Morphology, while not a university periodical, furnishes the natural medium of the original investigations there conducted. Dr. Whitman was connected with it before the university opened, and is still associated in its editorial management with Dr. Allis, of Milwaukee.
While the university has not yet a medical department, one of the new laboratories is arranged for anatomy. It is under the direction of H. H. Donaldson, Head Professor of Neurology. Among the features of the building is the handsome demonstration room. In this building also are two special lines of work of an interesting kind—viz., the work in neurology and that in experimental psychology. The former is, of course, in Prof. Donaldson's hands. The department is equipped with all the necessary illustrative apparatus—diagrams, models, etc.; the laboratory is supplied with needed material and appliances. The courses offered are intended (a) to furnish an exposition of the architecture and functions of the nervous system; and (b) to offer opportunity for the investigation of new problems and critical discussion of current work in the subject. In the outline of courses reference is had to the importance of the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system to the student of medicine. Special study is attempted of the variations in intelligence correlated with the changes in the central nervous system (1) in the vertebrate series, (2) during the growth and development of any individual, and (3) as the consequence of disease or experimental injury; such variations have an importance which is psychological as well as biological. The study of the nervous system is capable of throwing light upon some of the questions of phylogeny, and emphasis is laid upon this fact.
Experimental psychology, which has assumed recently great prominence in the universities, is here in charge of Prof. James R. Angell. Two chief ideas are held constantly in view in the work: (a) to give thorough practical training for the carrying on of experimental investigation; (b) to directly conduct such investigation. The instrumental equipment is adequate, placing the university among the first half dozen in America. The new quarters in the Anatomical Laboratory furnish ample space for laboratory work, apparatus rooms, and lecturing. The relation between this work under Prof. Angell and neurology under Prof. Donaldson is naturally close, and the two work in harmony. In psychology proper no work in nervous anatomy is undertaken, but students are impressed with its importance and urged to pursue it in the other department. The nominal relation of the work is with the Department of Philosophy, and some of the results of research have appeared in the publication of the university entitled Contributions to Philosophy. The first number of this publication is, in fact, devoted to psychology. Among its contents the paper on Reaction Times is fundamental and perhaps the most thoroughgoing statement yet made in this direction, so far as the processes themselves are concerned. Much attention has been given to memory processes, especially the visual and auditory elements of such processes. The work upon simultaneous sensations—visual, auditory, tactile, electric—is perhaps the most careful yet made. The study of the psychology of attention has been much emphasized during the past year. An investigation, the results of which are just about to be published, upon the growth of habit is among the first on this subject to be pursued from the primarily experimental point. Both in the thoroughness of its equipment and in the interest of the subjects to be studied no laboratory on the ground surpasses the physiological. It is probably the only building devoted entirely to this purpose in America, and in the completeness of its equipment it surpasses most if not all of the European institutions of its kind. It has the ordinary complement of lecture rooms, laboratories, libraries, and study rooms. One somewhat novel feature in the lecture room deserves notice. The space behind the professor's platform is occupied by blackboards, extending almost entirely across the whole side of the room. The black surfaces, however, are at two different levels, that directly behind the lecturer's desk being slightly higher than the other, permitting it thus to be rolled back in front of the other half, disclosing behind it a screen of ground glass for projection. The work of darkening and operating in projection is done in a small room behind this glass screen, thus preventing all noise and disturbance of the class in the manipulation. Certain peculiar features in the arrangement of the laboratory deserve special mention: (a) a greenhouse of fair size, divided into two sections, is intended for the rearing of insects and plants, supplying the opportunity for extended study of phenomena of life in the lower forms of animals and plants, for physiology can never be studied simply from animals, vital processes being comprehended only from a full survey of conditions found in all living things; (b) a large aquarium for sea life; the proper stocking of this will be a matter of time, but the keeping and observation of marine forms are important; (c) a cold storage room for the study of polar effects; (d) an arrangement of dark rooms with heliostat, prisms, etc., for studying the effect of monochromatic light upon living forms. The first of this series of rooms forms practically a vast spectroscope. The light is thrown from outside by a heliostat of the greatest perfectness of construction. It is received upon a battery of prisms, which can be controlled by connections in the next room. The light, when separated into rays of the various colors, is thrown through a slit in a connecting door upon the support on which rests the animal or plant under experimentation. This is in a little room so related both to the spectroscopic room and to the hinder and third room of the series that no unresolved light can gain access to it at any time unless desired, (e) There is also a room for the study of the influence of high temperatures. These five special features are both important and novel. In addition to them there are operating rooms, rooms for experiments in metabolism, physiology, chemistry, ordinary laboratory work, etc. The two rooms where higher animal forms—dogs, monkeys, rabbits, etc.—are kept in captivity are supplied with cages of the best construction, and are carefully arranged for light, ventilation, and cleansing. All the ordinary laboratory rooms are supplied with aquarium equipment. The two chief designs of the laboratory may be categorically expressed: (1) to provide material for the extension of physiological investigation to the whole animal kingdom and even to the plant world; (2) to provide opportunity for studying the effect of all environmental conditions singly upon living forms. The importance of these is manifest. Physiologists have been too much inclined to learn their lessons from man alone, or from man and a few of the higher mammals. Certain processes, however, absent or obscure in man, are present or better defined in some other forms. Phenomena vary with types: one is at its best in one species, another in another; a wide range, therefore, of forms is necessary. In studying the effects of environment it is desirable, so far as possible, to isolate the elements of which it is composed. It is an easy matter to attribute an effect to the wrong factor in the surroundings. The Physiological Laboratory is in a sense an expression of its head, Prof. Jacques Loeb. Dr. Loeb was trained in the most important laboratories of Europe, and his investigations therein were of extreme interest. His study of heliotropism demonstrated that the tendency of plants to turn sunward was the same thing as the impulse which drives the moth to the flame; that there is no more psychical activity in the latter than in the former. His later investigations into the mechanism of geotropism, or the tendency to turn or grow toward the earth, and other kindred phenomena, amplified and further illustrated these conclusions. His curious investigation into heteromorphosis—substitution of one organ by another, transformation of one organ into another—was really an outgrowth of these studies. The importance of the results of the whole series is illustrated in a recent article by Dr. Loeb upon egg structure and the heredity of instincts. Recognition that much of what has heretofore been considered psychical in instinct is merely the necessary result of chemical actions and the mechanical operations produced by them, given external combinations of conditions being present, greatly simplifies the conception of egg structure, and relieves us of some of the embarrassingly complicated conceptions in certain of Weismann's later theories.
The Botanical Laboratory, under Prof. Coulter's direct supervision, is the fourth of this striking cluster of buildings. The most notable feature is the greenhouse in the roof. From below it appears small, but it probably measures something like seventy by thirty feet. It serves two excellent ends: (a) it supplies material at every stage of growth for laboratory use; (b) it furnishes all kinds of conditions for experimentation. The arrangements for control in temperature and moisture are nearly perfect. Tropical conditions are presented at the center; desert, arctic, and aquatic conditions are arranged for at other parts. Experiments are to be conducted to determine the effect of varying conditions upon organs. One of the principal subjects hitherto pursued in the field has been the determination of effects of varying environment. This field study is fundamental to, and directly suggests, the experimental work to be followed in the greenhouse. The building is supplied with an elevator which runs to the greenhouse, so that material may be taken down with a minimum of trouble to any floor where it is needed for laboratory work or class-room illustration. The upper floor of the laboratory is devoted to plant physiology. The professor has a suite of three private rooms—one his own office, one a herbarium and library, and one a laboratory. Similar suites of rooms are at the disposal of each of the teaching force. The largest laboratory on this floor is for general elementary work upon individual life processes. Smaller laboratory and research rooms for special and advanced students are numerous throughout the building. Everywhere the work tables are set near windows, and each is supplied independently with gas and water. The chemical laboratory, also on the upper floor, is admirably arranged. On the third floor the study of cryptogamic botany is pursued. The forms are studied (a) morphologically, (b) taxonomically. The space is divided between two instructors, one devoting himself to algæ and fungi, the other to mosses and ferns. Each of these teachers has the usual suite of rooms, while there are six absolutely independent private research rooms. The second floor is occupied by Dr. Coulter himself. Here is the seed-plant herbarium. There are three large rooms for herbarium or taxonomic work, also the library and reading room, club meeting room, and laboratory for advanced work upon seed plants. Upon the ground floor are two large laboratories crowded with students at elementary work. Their purposes are (a) elementary morphology, (b) ecology. In the present unsettled condition of the building those parts actually in use are overcrowded. One hundred and five students are daily at work in the various laboratories and research rooms. The Botanical Herbarium represents almost the whole collection work of Dr. Coulter. It contains all his monographic material and the type specimens of his Western flora. It was stocked up by Dr. Gray for the work on the Rocky Mountain flora, and is notably full and rich. The library presents two features of importance in research work: (1) remarkable richness in complete series of periodical and serial publications; (2) unusual fullness in the line of old taxonomic works. Most of these came to the university in the Calvary purchase. In the early days of the university it purchased a gigantic stock of books from a well-known German second-hand dealer. In this vast mountain of printed matter a number of lines were particularly richly represented; among them was taxonomic botany, a surprising number of rare books turning up which Prof. Coulter had been watching for through years without succeeding in finding. In 1875, at Hanover College, the Botanical Gazette first saw light, and it has enjoyed continuous existence up to the present, always under Dr. Coulter's editorial supervision. At first a personal enterprise, it was taken over by the university in March, 1896. It is a monthly journal, the numbers comprising from eighty to one hundred and twenty pages, and has always been a favorite medium for the exchange of botanical ideas and for the publication of important papers. Notwithstanding the extensive arrangements for the study of botany made at the University of Chicago, Dr. Coulter writes: "But when all the space is used as planned, the demands for work in plant diseases, so extensively cultivated by the Government and at experiment stations; in economic botany, including the great field of forestry; in paleobotany, which is in sad need of being cultivated in a botanical atmosphere, are not met. It will be seen, therefore, that abundant as the space and the privileges are from a comparative standpoint, from the standpoint of the subject in relation to a great university the necessities are far greater."
While the work of the Departments of Sociology, Philology, and Philosophy perhaps deserves mention here, our aim is rather to present those lines of science which by instrumental equipment, museum collections, or rigidly scientific methods of instruction occur immediately to the mind upon the mention of the word science. It is hardly possible, however, for us to omit reference to the University School. Closely connected with the Department of Philosophy and under the same direction is the Department of Pedagogy. The work is both theory and method. To illustrate principles and to furnish opportunity for scientific study of a well-balanced curriculum in the earlier grades, a school is conducted. Something over thirty pupils are in attendance. Prof. Dewey's own statement regarding this school may well be quoted:
"The conception underlying the school is that of a laboratory; it bears the same relation to work in pedagogy that a laboratory bears to biology, physics, or chemistry. Like any such laboratory, it has two main purposes: (1) to exhibit, test, verify, and criticise theoretical statements and principles; (2) to add to the sum of facts and principles in its special line.
"As it is not the primary function of a laboratory to devise ways and means that can at once be put to practical use, so it is not the primary purpose of this school to devise methods with reference to their direct application in the graded school system. It is the function of some schools to provide better teachers according to present standards; it is the function of others to create new standards and ideals, and thus to lead to a gradual change in conditions. If it is advisable to have smaller classes, more teachers, and a different working hypothesis than is at present the case in the public schools, there should be some institution to show this. This the school in question hopes to do, and, while it does not aim to be impractical, it does not aim primarily to be of such a character as to be immediately capable of translation into the public school.
"The hypothesis underlying this experiment is that of the school as a social institution. Education outside the school proceeds almost wholly through participation in the social or community life of the groups of which one is a member.
"The work here outlined is based on the assumption that the more formal education of the school does not depart from the same general course that the unconscious adjustment follows, but organizes it. The school is a special social community in which the too complex social environment is reduced and simplified; in which certain ideas and facts concerning this simplified social life are communicated to the child; in which, also, the child is called upon to undertake not all kinds of activity, but those specially selected on the ground of peculiar adaptation to the child."
The Haskell Oriental Museum is a three-story and basement building erected by Mrs. Caroline E. Haskell to the memory of her husband, Mr. Frederick Haskell. At the present time the second floor only is devoted to museum collections, but in the near future the whole space of the building will be so occupied. While the most extensive collections are in Egyptology, there are other series. A biblical collection has been begun; the Assyrian collection consists almost wholly of reproductions; the Buckley collection, illustrating the religions of Japan—Shinto and Buddhism—was secured by Dr. Edmund Buckley during a long residence in the Island Empire. This last deserves more than passing notice; while rich on the Buddhistic side, it is notable in Shinto. Shinto is a religion of a barbaric people held by a nation in full civilization; it is profoundly curious and interesting. There is probably nowhere so complete an exhibition of this native Japanese cult as in Dr. Buckley's collection, containing as it does sacred objects, votive offerings, scriptures, prayers, and cult implements. Dr. James H. Breasted is in charge of the work in Egyptology and brings to it an unusual enthusiasm. Recently the Chicago Society of Egyptian Research has been established, with a threefold object: (1) to assist in Egyptian excavation, (2) to bring to Chicago a just share of antiquities so discovered, and (3) to inform its members concerning the ancient civilization which these discoveries represent. The society was organized March 13, 1897, and is the outgrowth of two movements—the interest shown for some years by Mrs. Charles L. Hutchinson in securing subscriptions to the Egyptian Exploration Fund, and the later interest shown in the same by the Woman's Club. The society raises a considerable sum yearly, one half of which is given to the Exploration Fund, and the balance to the Egyptian Research Account, both of which are practically under Mr. W. Flinders Petrie's direction. Mr. Petrie has sent a considerable quantity of valuable, recently discovered material to the university, which, with the material already secured by Dr. Breasted, forms the Egyptian collection of the Haskell Museum. It comprises a representative
Fig. 9.—Haskell Oriental Museum.
series of pottery and household utensils, chess board and men, matrices or molds for ornaments and charms, talismans, gods, rings, pendants, etc. A full series of the pottery of the remarkable people discovered by Mr. Petrie opposite Koptos in the winter of 1894–‘95 has been sent by that explorer. Among recent additions of interest from the same investigator are many of value because bearing royal names; thus, a sandstone tablet shows Thothmes IV worshiping Amon, with a line of inscription commemorating his' overthrow of the barbarians. Several sun-dried bricks are stamped with royal names, and a fine series of jar tops are signed and sealed. Some pieces of gold foil also bear signatures. There is some good carved work in stone, among other pieces a magnificent bust of the goddess Sekhmet. Of wooden tablets, two bearing scenes representing the deceased before Osiris were exquisitely done. In the last shipment received was a fine lot from the old empire representing the fifth dynasty; limestone portrait statues with the original colors still visible and bearing inscriptions; coffin and mummy of the lady, Mery; an inscribed wooden head rest; and a unique painted board with figures of servants cooking for the deceased. This work of collection so well begun will be prosecuted vigorously, and in time the university will possess a notable Egyptian museum. In one sense the Haskell Oriental Museum is the outgrowth of the Department of Comparative Religion, which is under the direction of Prof. George S. Goodspeed. Courses are offered by Prof. Goodspeed and his helpers in a considerable range. The religions of China, Japan, India, ancient Persia, Greece, Rome, and northern Europe are studied historically and in the light of modern science. A unique feature connected with this department is the establishment of two lectureships on the Relations of Christianity to the other Religions. These lectureships were endowed by Mrs. Haskell, and are known as the Haskell Lectures and the Barrows Lectures. The former are given yearly at the university, the latter are delivered in alternate years in cities of India. Both lectureships are held by Rev. John H. Barrows, President of the World's Parliament of Religions in 1893. The first course of Barrows Lectures was given last year in India, and created a considerable stir.
Presented last, from the fact that much of the work is done at other places than the university proper, is the Department of Astronomy. A small observatory on the campus supplies opportunity for elementary work in practical astronomy by undergraduate students. The Kenwood Observatory, situated in the city about one mile north from the campus, furnishes facilities for practical work by more advanced students in physical astronomy, practical astronomy, and astrophysics. Its astrophysical equipment is complete. The Yerkes Observatory is just being completed, and will soon be in operation. This, the gift of Charles T. Yerkes, is located about seventy miles from Chicago, at Williams Bay, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The site occupied comprises about fifty acres of timbered land. The buildings are located upon a gently sloping hill about two hundred feet above the level of the lake and twelve hundred feet above the sea. The place has been especially selected for freedom from dust and tremors. The building is T-shaped, the great dome being at the foot of the letter and the smaller domes at the other extremities, the latter being for sixteen-inch and twelve-inch telescopes. The greatest length of the building, which is from east to west, is three hundred feet. The central body contains library and lecture rooms, laboratories for physical, chemical, and photographic work, computing rooms, and offices. The building is of the best construction. The great telescope is the largest refracting scope ever constructed, having a forty-inch objective made by Alvan Clark & Sons. The focal length of the instrument is sixty-four feet. The mounting is similar to that of the great Lick telescope, but is heavier, more rigid, and improved. One important advantage introduced for the first time in this mounting is the system of electric motors, by means of which the various motions are effected. By simply touching buttons upon a little keyboard the astronomer may produce any one of ten different results, changing the position of the instrument or of parts of the observatory itself. In this simple way the great instrument may
Fig. 10.—Yerkes Observatory, Lake Geneva.
be moved, the clock may be started or stopped, the shutter of the dome may be opened or closed, the dome itself may be revolved, or the floor may be made to rise and fall. The dome covering the telescope is about ninety feet in diameter, with an observing slit twelve feet wide extending from the horizon to beyond the zenith. Two spectroscopic attachments are connected with the great telescope: (a) a spectroheliograph for photographing the solar chromosphere, prominences, and faculæ by monochromatic light combined with a large solar spectroscope for photographic and visual study of solar phenomena; (b) a stellar spectroscope for photographic and visual investigation of stellar spectra, and determination of motion in the line of sight. The world has a right to expect results from such an instrumental equipment, and the Department of Astronomy has in view important researches. Among these are micrometrical measurement of double stars and faint nebulæ; observation of planets, satellites, and comets; photographic and spectroscopic investigation of conditions of the sun; researches on the spectra of fixed stars and nebula?; motion of stars in the line of sight. The Yerkes Observatory will, of course, be used only by advanced students capable of undertaking
Fig. 11.—The Telescope, Yerkes Observatory.
important and original investigation. The ordinary instruction for undergraduates and elementary students will continue to be given in the city at the university itself and at Kenwood Observatory. It would be a mistake to imagine that up to the present time the university has made no contribution to astronomical science. Important studies have been conducted by Prof. Hale, Prof. Burnham, and Dr. See; and a journal of high value, the Astrophysical Journal is published through the University Press, under the editorship of Prof. George E. Hale, of the University of Chicago, and Prof. James E. Keeler, of the Allegheny Observatory. In its pages will be found many valuable observations and investigations conducted by the university force.
