4
YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY
fessor Marsh form the best collection
in existence of these remarkable ani-
mals. The Invertebrate fossil collec-
tion is very large and includes many
type-specimens, and a large number of
beautiful preparations made by Profes-
sor Beecher. In Mineralogy, besides
the elaborate, systematic show collec-
tion in charge of Professor Dana, there
are the Brush collection and several
student’s collections. The Petrographi-
cal collection in charge of Professor
Pirsson includes typical rocks and sec-
tions from all lands.
Besides the Museum, the laboratory
of Professor Williams, with its selected
collections of fossils, and his rich work-
ing library on Paleontology, are open
to students.
PHYSICS.
Professor A. W. Wright, in charge
of the Sloane Laboratory, is an investi-
gator of first rank in the fields of
electricity and light, in which he has
made a number of discoveries of great
practical value and theoretical impor-
tance. His studies of the phenomena
of electric discharge, their shadow ef-
fects, and the chemical effects accom-
panying it, before Roentgen’s brilliant
discoveries were announced, prepared
him to at once appreciate the full
significance of.the Roentgen rays; and
he was the first in this country, and
among the first anywhere, to confirm
the phenomena and push on beyond the
confines of Roentgen’s first announce-
ment.
His studies in the volatilization of
metals in exhausted tubes, and the ap-
plication of the method to the formation
of metal-covered glass specula, has be-
come of the highest importance in the
construction of electrodes in the vacuum
tubes employed for X-ray work. The
contributions to knowledge regarding
zodiacal light, the spectra of the sun,
the polarization of the light from the
sun’s corona, are evidence of his place
among physical investigators, and his
brilliant expositions of the X-rays
phenomena, called forth by public de-
mand upon the announcement of’ Roent-
gen’s discovery, are evidence of his
powers as a lecturer and expounder of
intricate physical phenomena. The
Sloane Laboratory is equipped with one
of the finest spectroscopes in America,
and is throughout provided with the
apparatus required for the most ex-
haustive methods of experimentation
and original investigation in modern
physics.
Professor C. S. Hastings’s researches
have been chiefly in the field of optics
and in the perfecting of optical instru-
ments, more especially the telescope.
His study of the solar spectrum and sun
spots, and the discovery that chemical
compounds exist in the sun, are some
of the more important theoretical re-
sults of his labors. His investigations
of.the laws of .double refraction in Ice-
land spar, and the principles of re-
fraction of light in general, have been
of the highest practical value in the
determination of causes of imperfection
of sharpness of detail in images, and
- spherical and chromatic aberration, and
the calculation of the forms of surface,
and the determination of the chemical
composition of the materials necessary
for the production of the most perfect
astronomical (and also microscopical)
objectives.
Professor Hasting’s laboratory covers
one floor of the spacious Winches-
ter Hall, and is admirably equipped
for general physical work and study,
more especially in its technical appli-
cations.
Professor E. S. Dana, as a contrib-
utor to the science of physics, is chiefly
known by his works on the optical
properties of minerals, and in crystal-
lography. He has also written papers
on specific heat and thermo-electricity.
These, and his “Text-Book in Elemen-
tary Mechanics,” give him 4a place
among the pure physicists as well as
in mineralogy, where his published re-
sults have been greater. :
Professor J. W. Gibbs holds a very
prominent place in the modern history of
mathematical physics, and his theoreti-
cal deductions form a goodly part of
the foundation of Physical Chemistry.
No one is more ready to acknowledge
this than Ostwald himself, the father of
physical chemistry, in whose room
hangs a large picture of Gibbs. Hardly
a single text-book on this subject but
recognizes him as both an important
contributor and one of the founders of
the same. Perhaps his most important
published works are those on the
Sub-
“Equilibrium of Heterogenous
and
stances,” “Thermodynamics,”
“Graphic Methods.”
CHEMISTRY.
The Department of Chemistry in the
University is represented by four
laboratories, in which a corps of twenty-
five professors, instructors and assist-
ants, furnish instruction to nearly one
thousand -students in about thirty
courses.
The Kent Laboratory, a large, three-
story brown stone building, the gift of
Albert E. Kent of San Rafael, Cal.,
represents the chemistry of the Aca-
demical Department of the University.
Professor F. A. Gooch is at the head,
aided by Assistant Professor Philip E.
Browning and four assistants. Pro-
fessor Gooch is an analyst, and many
contributions to the practical side of
quantitative chemistry, both in the way
of apparatus and method, have caused
him to be held in high repute both at
home and abroad. The introduction
of the Gooch crucible has materially
modified quantitative chemistry, and his
method for the determination of boric
acid remains to-day the only means of
estimating boric acid accurately. Since
the laboratory was opened in_ 1888,
abaut seventy-five papers have been
published, relating chiefly to analytical
and inorganic chemistry, offering new
methods, or modifying and improving
others already known. Many of the
recent iodine methods are included in
this series, as are also the amyl alcohol
separations of Professor Browning.
The laboratory is exceptionally well-
equipped for all kinds of research, and
the recent addition of a new plant for
electrical work offers an added in-
ducement for graduate study.
The fine four-story brick Sheffield
Chemical Laboratory is the newest and
most modern building devoted to this
branch of science in the University.
An excellent corps of professors and
instructors is connected with the labora-
tory, and an ample equipment furnishes
means for a fine grade of work.
Samuel W. Johnson, Emeritus Pro-
fessor of Agricultural Chemistry, has
been an exceptionally active investi-
gator for half a century, and from a
large bibliography, mention can be
made only of his two standard works,
“How Crops Grow,” (1868) and “How
Crops Feed” (1870), which have been
translated into German, French, Rus-
sian, Swedish, Italian and Japanese.
Professor Johnson was influential in or-
ganizing the first, the Connecticut, Agri-
cultural Experiment Station, and to his
work can be largely attributed establish-
ment of experiment stations in general,
throughout the country, and the origin
of the methods used in them.
Professor William G. Mixter has
worked with success along several. dif-
ferent lines, and in addition to a ‘‘Text-
Book on Elementary Chemistry,” has
published many papers, chiefly in
organic chemistry, of which his work
on the amido bodies, and for the detec-
tion and estimation of sulphur, deserve
special. mention.
Professor Horace L. Wells is well
known for his work on the formation
of double salts, and numerous papers
on analyses of rare minerals and metals.
The laboratory has a strong representa-
tion of organic chemists, and its contri-
butions have been very numerous.
Russell H. Chittenden, Professor of
Physiological Chemistry, stands at the
head of his science in America. While
yet a student, he made the discovery
that glycocoll was a constituent of
animal tissues, and since that time has
been very actively engaged in the in-
vestigation of physiological chemical
problems, such as the primary cleavage
products of proteids, the influence of
various substances—drugs, poisons,
alcohol, and the like—on digestion and
metabolism, and the. distribution of
poisons in the body and their elimina-
tion from the system. His most im-
portant work was the investigation of
the chemistry of the digestive processes,
summed up in his book entitled, ‘Di-
gestive Proteolysis,’ published in 1894.
From these investigations much of our
knowledge upon this subject has been
derived. “Studies,” published from
1885 to 1880, presents in printed form
much of the work of the laboratory
during those years. Professor Chit-
tenden is President of the American
Physiological Society, and has just been
made Director of the Department of
Physiological Chemistry of the College
of Physicians and Surgeons of Colum-
bia University. With Professor Gooch,
he represents the chemists of the Uni-
versity in the National Academy of
Sciences.
Professor Chittenden has been well
seconded in his experiments by Assist-
ant Professor Lafayette B. Mendel,
whose work on the physiology of lymph
formations is of great scientific value.
The laboratory possesses unusual facili-
ties for research work, as is shown by
its many publications; and the excel-
lence of the undergraduate courses is
attested by the high rank which its
graduates attain in the medical profes-
sion. The laboratory is overcrowded,
and greatly in need of increased accom-
modations, presenting a very worthy
object to generous alumni desirous of
materially aiding the University.
Professor Herbert E. Smith, Dean of
the Medical School and Professor of
Chemistry, has labored chiefly in con-
nection with the State Board of Health.
Valuable investigations in the line of
sanitary chemistry, mainly the analysis
of potable waters, have given him a
reputation as an expert analyst, and his
determination of chlorine in the waters
of Connecticut furnishes the standard
for the State. A new laboratory, ex-
cellently well filled and equipped, is one
of the advantages offered by the Medi-
cal Department.
A Chemical Club, composed of in-
structors, graduate students and others
interested in chemistry, holds fort-
nightly meetings for the presentation
and discussion of papers and reviews of
recent work,
BIOLOGY.
The instruction in General Biology,
Comparative Anatomy and Embryol-
ogy, both for undergraduate and ad-
vanced students, is under the personal
direction of Prof. Sidney I. Smith and
Dr. W. R. Coe. Prof. Smith has held
the position of Professor of Compara-
tive Anatomy since 1875. He is best
known from his numerous works
describing the Crustacea of America, in-
cluding the embryology of certain
species. |
The work in Physiology, as well as
in Physiology Chemistry, is directed by
Prof. Chittenden, of whom mention is
made above. Recently a great deal of
strictly physiological work has been
done in his laboratory by Prof. Mendel,
assisted by some of the advanced stu-
dents. Some of this work has been
published in the new American Journal
of Physiology, of which Prof. Chittenden
is an editor.
_ The opportunities for the study of
Zoology are excellent in many ways.
The large collections of the Peabody
Museum, although but a very small
part is on public exhibition on account
of the lack of space, are available for
the use of advanced students, and the
location of New Haven on Long
Island Sound makes is possible to
obtain living or fresh specimens of
marine as well as other forms of animals
throughout the year. |
Prof. A. E. Verrill, who has been
Professor of Zoology since 1864, was
for many years connected with the U.
S. Fish Commission, and has described
a great number of the new species of
. direction.
marine invertebrates, collected under its
His published articles, 1O-
tices and works, exceed two hundred
in number, and deal with nearly evetTy
class of invertebrate animals. Among
the most important of them are those
on the echinoderms and corals of the
West coast of America, and the in-
vertebrates of the West Indies and the
Atlantic coast of North America. t
the present time the majority of zoolo-
gists have specialized to such an extent
that they have greatly neglected SyS-
tematic Zoology and Morphology-
Prof. Verrill is an exception to this
rule, and there is no American zoologist
whose investigations have covered sO
broad a field and, at the same time,
have been so thorough in character, Of
who is a better authority on these sub-
jects. Prof. Verrill’s private collection,
containing the type specimens of many
North American invertebrates, is also
deposited in the Peabody Museum.
BOTANY.
The Department of Botany is in
charge of Dr A.W. Evans. At the
beginning of the present year, the
herbarium of the late Prof. Daniel C.-
Eaton, who was the first Professor of
Botany at Yale, and held the position
from 1864 till his death in 1895, was
added to the facilities for study. It
comprises over sixty thousand sheets,
mostly different species, and is particu-
larly rich in the flora of North America,
and in the mosses and ferns. On the
latter Prof. Eaton was a leading
authority, and his collection is ex-
ceptionally complete.
Although hundreds of similar in-
stitutions have sprung up since the
Scientific School was started, and al-
most every State has now its State
University for the teaching of the
Agricultural and Mechanical Arts, the
Sheffield Scientific School has steadily
grown, and to-day has more students
than ever before.
Under such instructors, the oppor-
tunities for advanced work in the vari-
ous departments of science are especially
favorable at Yale. Yhe quality and
spirit of true research is kept constantly
up to the highest standard by the
monthly publication of the American
Journal of Science; a journal started here
in 1819, and for a long time the only
one of its kind in America, and always
a leading journal of the newest and
most substantial science-progress of the
country.
Special clubs in Physics, in Chemis-
try and in other branches, furnish means
of discussing current topics and keeping
alive the enthusiasm of scientific re-
search, and for the preliminary discus-
sion of new discoveries. The instruc-
tors, though busy men, and eager to
employ all the time, not required for
teaching, in their own investigations,
are .ever ready to welcome earnest
pupils in their advanced laboratories.
With the inspiration, guidance and in-
struction of such men, those who come
to Yale to get the best are not dis-
appointed.
* WALTER CAMP #
Will conduct during the coming year the
Department of Amateur Sport in
OLLIER’S WEEKLY
. . PRELIMINARY ARTICLES . .
A Review of the College Boat Race (current edition).
The College Man in War (in Two Parts).
Track Athletics of ’98.
The College Base Ball Season of 798.
At all News-stands.
Price, 10 cents.
