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THE HESPERIAN
8V.
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.3
and effectively accomplished if more service
wore added to the library staff. Over
worked professors might also bo lightened
of some of their burden if the library assist
ants had not already more to do than they
can accomplish well.
To say that we need more money for
more books, more magazines, for binding
and repairing those wo have, is to express
theory of every library from the congressional
with itB of books down to the smallest
village library in Nebraska. In a library
the demands always work in a circle, more
readers requiro more books and larger build
ings. And a growing library always attracts
more roaders, the work never ends, and
while wo may never be satisfied, the new
building with its possibilities promises to
materially increase the efficiency of the
entire University.
THE NEED OF A BUILDING FOR PHYSICS AND
' ASTRONOMY.
That the board of regents rightly antici
pated the future demand and development in
instruction in physical science by creating
the department of physics less than seven
years ago, was undoubtedly demonstrated
some time ago by the rapid growth in num
bers and the range of instruction sought. At
no time have the facilities for the instruction
or the accommodation of students been at all
adequate to the requirements of the work.
Being the youngest general division of the
scientific departments, its wants have natu
rally been more pressing than the older de
partments in order to reach the same grade
of efficiency.
Since its inception the department has
boon, at different times, housed in all the
buildings on the campus used for instruc
tion, and the work in physics proper is now
only temporarily located in a building en
tirely unsuited and unintended for the pur
pose, the room" boing on the attiq floor
and in the basement, and the least desirable
for class purposes, while the corridor has
been partitioned off and laboratory work
crowded into this exposed space. There has
been no falling off in the departmental rate
of increase in the University registration.
"With a beginning of about fifty students,
the total departmental registration last year
was three hundred and thirteen, and at the
beginning of this year four hundred and
twenty-two, of which three hundred and sixty-six
wore registered in courses in physics
proper in Nebraska Hall, the remainder
(thirty per cent must be added to this foi
new courses in the second semester) boing in
the applied electrical courses in the engin
eering laboratory. In order to accommo
date these students two divisions must occu-
py the same laboratory at different times, .
necessitating much extra work in removing
and readjusting apparatus for another class,
while a part of it must be cleared and pre
pared for lecture and recitation purposes.
The lecture room on the attic floor, 40x22,
with fixed seats for seventy-two, and with no
ventilation system, has had to accommodate
one hundred and sixty-four students day
after day, by the use of settees and by chairs
in the aisles, which had to bo removed after
each class. How the inevitable increase of
students of another year can be accommo
dated it is utterly impossible to see. "With
such crowding it is almost impossible to
properly conduct class experiments, requir
ing many pieces of apparatus and much,
spaco, and make them visible to all present.
For such work a specially arranged lecture
room is necessary, with abundant space, so
that experiments and demonstrations may
be seen from all parts of the room. Other
wise there must be much justifiable com
plaint. "While recommending laboratory instruc
tion for beginners in the subject over the
state, the department has been compelled to
withhold this privilege from all students .be
ginning the subject. On the other side, with ,
students desiring to pursue their work and
prepare themselves for teaching, the depart-
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