In practically all American institutions of learning laboratories for studying science by means of experiment and for research have been established. In many preparatory schools, and in an ever-increasing number of high schools, elementary laboratories are included for the study of physics, chemistry and biology. Chemical laboratories for educational purposes were introduced by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Industrial Laboratories for research and testing form an ever-increasing part of many industrial enterprises. Materials are treated either chemically or physically or both at various stages of the processes of manu facture, these tests often indicating the subse quent treatment of the products. Still another is the laboratory maintained by a large firm making paper from wood pulp. As an illustra tion of the gains made by such laboratories it may be remarked that much of what was formerly cast aside in the making of pulp paper is now manufactured into products which increase the profits of the business. In the paper manufacturer's laboratory there are not only machines for testing every possible quality of the paper, such as its ability to resist fold ing and creasing and exactly to measure the weight necessary to break it, but also a com plete chemical laboratory, whose chemist, after years of experimentation, has found a means of making from a by-product of the paper a variety of charcoal much needed in clarifying certain drugs for pharmaceutical and other pur poses.
Many industries of to-day are based on proc esses devised and worked out in laboratories for research. Some examples are the great plants at NiagaraFalls, where metallic aluminum, calcium carbide, sodium hydrate and many other compounds are made. The basis of the progress in applied electricity is research in physics and chemistry. In many lines of industry scien tific research in public and private laboratories has made possible new and better processes.
Notable examples of such progress are the recent developments in X-ray theory and appa ratus, both wireless telegraphy and telephony, new alloy steels, chemical processes and prod ucts. The laboratory work done in the educa tional and technical chemical laboratories dur ing the World War aside from purely war work have been of inestimable value in making the United States independent of foreign coun tries for certain products in which this country was previously almost entirely dependent_ In those countries where there is the greatest ac tivity in research in sciences and its applica tions there is also the greatest industrial activ ity. And it may be expected with confidence that in view of recent developments that many more commercial laboratories will be estab lished and a greater degree of co-operation will be developed between the industrial and great educational laboratories.
Biological Research in the biological sciences has helped to a better under standing of life and to its prolongation. The causes of many infections and contagious dis eases have been discovered and effective methods of prevention and of combating them have been found. The Pasteur institutes in many large cities all over the world are wit nesses to these facts.
In psychology research and laboratory tests have lead to a better understanding of the lim itations and adaptability of the individual for various lines of work. This matter has been brought to the attention of the world very forci bly in choosing men for various activities dur ing these times of change and the lessons so learned will not be lost in peace times.
A general outline and some of the details of construction, equipment and uses of a few of the most common types of laboratories found in educational institutions and in industrial lab oratories of the present day are given below. Many laboratories where excellent work is be ing done are very much simpler than those de scribed; and, on the other hand, some are much more elaborate in construction and equipment Some features are common to them all, one of which is the lecture-room, where experi mental demonstrations are given before many students at one time.
Louis Agassiz led the movement in the United States in the establishment of biological laboratories, by establishing a zoological lab oratory at Harvard.
Agassiz also developed the modern marine laboratory which has led to the establishment of many such laboratories in all parts of the world. The researches in these laboratories have been of greatest value in the biological sciences. Among the marine laboratories of the world must be enumerated the great labora tory established in 1872 by Dr. Anton Dohm at Naples. Specialists from all parts of the world go to this laboratory to do research work. The United States Fish Commission has established two very important marine labora tories in the United States: one at Woods Hole, Mass., the other at Beaufort, N. C., in 1899. Woods Hole was the centre of activity in. 1871 and again in 1875. The first building of the present fish culture and experiment station was completed in 1884. This laboratory has been open to voluntary investigators, tables being assigned to them. The investigators have num bered among them men from the principal uni versities of the country, and much valuable work both of economic and scientific value has been done there. The marine laboratory estab lished at Beaufort, N. C., promises to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, biological station in the world; larger than the one at Woods Hole or the one at Naples on the Medi terranean.