SCIENTIFIC.
11
SCIENTIFIC.
There are seven preparatory medics this year. More kittens, cats, puppies and dogs wanted, at from fifteen to twenty-five cents.
Three special students in the chemical department and four in the natural history, two taking the junior and two the senior work.
About a dozen juniors in the physics class. Although the subject of physics is hard, nevertheless Doctor Nichols makes it very interesting by illustrating his lectures as far as the present apparatus will allow, by a continued series of experiments.
From the department of chemistry, just received a very handsome suite of specimens illustrating the manufacture of common salt. The material was donated by the National Solar Salt Company, of Solomon City.
Fifteen seniors are studying meteorology. The class expect to devote special attention to the study of Kansas weather, and will probably solve some of the problems which have been puzzling the brains of scientific men for years. It is rumored that the special subject which they intend to investigate is—what effect has "Snow" had upon the climate for the last sixteen or seventeen years.
Over seventy students in the Sophomore chemistry class. At present they are studying the subject of water. The doctor thoroughly illustrates his lectures by experiments and the subject is made as practical as possible as well as scientific. Until the new chemical building is finished much difficulty will be encountered in laboratory accommodations. The old laboratory is much too small for such a vast number of acid splashers and fume generators.
Doctor Bailey has added to the specimens in the chemical department over two hundred bottles of valuable material which he brought with him into the institution. Among the many interesting donations which the doctor has for illustrating his lectures we noticed several specimens of dry wood, preparations showing the various processes and materials used in tanning, and others showing the various phases of the manufacture of zinc, iron, salt, and still many others illustrating the phenomena of chemical teaching. There were also preparations of syrups, sugars, etc., and especially a suite of specimens of alcoholic liquors which have been thoroughly analyzed and tested.
The Kansas State University Scientific expedition was conducted during the summer by Doctor F. H. Snow. He was assisted by four students and all the members of his family, of which his son Willie and his daughter Mattie were the most efficient workers. The student assistants were Miss Abbie Noyes, Messrs. Will Brown, Will Stevens and the writer. Our main camp was near the Las Vegas Hot Springs. Excursions were made, however, to a distance of fifty or sixty miles through the Spanish range of mountains. The results of the summer's work are as follows: Several thousand specimens of insects, many of which are new to the University museum, and probably as many as forty species new to science. The exact number cannot be told until the doctor has thoroughly studied and classified them, which will take some months. Also about a thousand specimens of plants, many of which are new to the herbarium. Several species of mammal skins, including eight specimens representing the white and black tailed species of deer and six skins of snow-shoed rabbits. About fifty bird skins, including some interesting representatives of the crow family, humming birds, Mexican pigeons, etc.