CHAPTER X. LABORATORIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. NOTE. During the past 10 years vast strides have been made in this country toward a proper and adequate teaching of the sciences. With these the university has endeavored to keep pace. The development on the polytechnic side of the university has been so great during the past 10 years that the writer has thought fit to narrate separately the history of the physical, hygienic, and mechanical laboratories. The facts in the sketches following are kindly furnished by the professors in charge of those laboratories. The hygienic laboratory is unique and alone in the country and has been thought worthy of special historical mention, inasmuch as it illustrates the relationship between the university and the State, while no worthy account can be given of the development of the university without mention of its advance in technical and thorough scientific instruction. THE HYGIENIC LABORATORY. [Prepared by Dr. V. C. Vaughan, December, 1889.] In 1886 the Michigan State Board of Health petitioned the board of regents of the university to build and equip a laboratory of practical hygiene. The regents asked for an appropriation for this purpose from the legislature of 1887. This request was strengthened by petitions from the Business Men's Association and the Dairymen's Association. The appropriation was granted, and the new building was first occupied in January, 1889. There is a room for general bacteriological work which accommodates 30 students, three smaller rooms for advanced students in bacteriology, a room for gas analysis, one for water analysis, private rooms for instructors, a cold room, a disinfecting chamber, and an animal room. The objects of the laboratory, as stated in the memorial asking for its establishment, are as follows: (1) Original research on the causation of disease. (2) The examination of food and drink for the health officers of the State. (3) Instruction in hygiene. As research requires much time, and as only a few months have passed since the opening of the laboratory, it is too early to speak of the work being done in that direction. The time of one person is taken 86 up with the sanitary examination of drinking water sent by the health authorities of cities and villages. Each sample of water is tested(1) Chemically, with reference to the amount of pollution; (2) Bacteriologically, with reference to the number and kind of micro-organisms present; and (3) Physiologically, in order to ascertain whether or not the germs present are capable of producing a chemical substance which will poison animals. For this work a small fee sufficient to cover the actual expense is charged; this fee is turned into the laboratory fund. The following courses of instruction are given: (1) The elements of hygiene; two lectures per week for one semester. (2) Physiological chemistry; lectures twice a week, laboratory work daily through two semesters. (3) Sanitary chemistry; lectures twice a week, laboratory work daily through two semesters. (4) Bacteriology; lectures twice a week, laboratory work daily through one semester. (5) Research on the causation of disease; laboratory work daily. Students desiring instruction in other branches of hygiene are advised to take courses in some of the other university laboratories. Thus, for practical training as a sanitary engineer, courses in the engineering and mechanical laboratories, as well as those in the hygienic laboratory, are required. The legislature of 1889 made a further appropriation of $6,000 for the more complete equipment of the laboratory. The laboratory also undertakes work in the way of analyses and investigations requested by the State board of health. It will be seen from the above that while the hygienic laboratory is an integral part of the university and is under the control of the board of regents, the endeavor is to make it a practical benefit to the State at large. Any city or village desiring to introduce a public water supply and having two or more possible sources in view can send samples of these waters to the laboratory and have thorough analyses made at nominal fees. Any grocer or other individual suspecting adulteration in some article of food can have the matter tested in the same way. These analyses and examinations are, of course, limited to those which may be of public benefit. The analyses of mineral waters for private indi viduals or corporations are charged for at full rates, and the examination of ores is not undertaken. THE PHYSICAL LABORATORY-THE COURSE IN ELECTRICAL ENGI NEERING. [Prepared by Prof. Henry S. Carhart.] Previous to the year 1888-'89 the laboratory work in physics was carried on in rooms located on the fourth floor of the main university building. Upon his election to the chair of physics in 1886, Professor Carhart made a special effort to impress upon the regents the necessity of a physical laboratory and of additional apparatus as a prerequisite to any satisfactory work in the department. The president of the university called attention to the matter in his annual report, and the regents memorialized the legislature for a sum sufficient to erect a building for the accommodation of four departments, physics, physiology, histology, and bygiene. A bill was passed by the legislature appropri ating $35,000, which was less than half the amount needed for the four laboratories. The regents set aside $5,000 for the equipment of the other departments named above, and decided to erect with the balance a laboratory of physics and hygiene. This building was completed within the appropriation and was ready for work in the fall of 1888. It is 3 stories in height, including a high basement nearly above ground, 115 feet in extreme length, and 72 feet wide at the widest part. The basement and first floor are devoted entirely to physics, and the second floor to hygiene. The interior finish is of brick of the same quality as the exterior, and the construction was designed with especial reference to solidity. The basement floor throughout is of German rock asphaltum, insuring dryness and greatest freedom from dust. Here are located seven rooms, devoted almost exclusively to electricity, and two others for heat and light. The engine and dynamo room, 36 by 38 feet, is well lighted by nine large windows, and serves as well for a workshop. Adjacent to this is a large room for the measurement of heavy currents, and a dark room for photometric work. A small room for the storage battery is located conveniently near, and the remainder of the basement is divided into rooms for special work, each one being provided with one or more substantial stone-capped piers and some of them having sinks and city water. The west end of the building has been kept nearly free from iron, and furnishes quite a satisfactory place for magnetic work. Copper nails and anchors, and brass, steam, and gas pipes were used in this portion of the building; also lead window weights and brass hardware. The first floor above, reached by a broad staircase, contains seven rooms besides the hall and toilet rooms. Two private rooms are adjacent to the lecture room on one side. The lecture room is seated for 120 students, is lighted with five very large windows, which can be darkened by screens running down into pockets, and is provided with a convenient lecture table supplied with gas, water, electricity, and oxygen. A small turbine water-wheel and an electric motor furnish |