Perhaps the greatest innovation made by the Institute in the early days was in establishing a laboratory for the teaching of mining and metallurgy. Previous to 1871 metallurgical work was done in the chemical laboratories, but in that year the mining and metallurgical laboratory was put into operation through the efforts of President Runkle, Professor Richards and Professor Ordway. Prior to this date, there were assaying or metallurgical laboratories at the École des Mines at Paris, the Royal School of Mines in London, the German Mining Schools at Freiberg and Clausthal and Berlin, and also in several technical schools in this country. The German mining schools were situated beside smelting works, but the plants could not often be used for experiments by professors or students in a way to alter the usual method of running. In all these laboratories, however, the apparatus was designed to treat quantities of ore not exceeding a few ounces for each test. The Institute laboratories were the first in the world which were designed for the treatment of ores in economical quantities of from five hundred pounds to three tons, and used entirely for purposes of instruction. They are now known as the John Cummings laboratories, in memory of one who for many years was treasurer of the Institute and one of its most devoted friends. They now occupy the entire basement of the Rogers Building, and include laboratories for milling, concentrating and smelting ores, as well as for testing them by assay and by blowpipe. The development of these laboratories from the small beginnings of 1871 has been mainly due to the efforts of Prof. R. H. Richards, past president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, whose contributions on methods of ore dressing are well known to mining engineers. The staff of this department also includes Prof. H. O. Hofman, well known for his researches in metallurgy. [Illustration: THREE STAMP MILL IN MINING LABORATORY.] Mention should here be made of the department of geology, which is under the direction of Professors Niles, Crosby and Barton, and which now occupies commodious quarters comprising the greater part of a floor in the Henry L. Pierce Building. The collections of this department number many thousands, and are supplemented by those of the Society of Natural History, which are available for purposes of instruction. As would be expected in a school of applied science, the economic aspects of geology are kept closely in view, and the work is adapted to the particular object to be attained. The student in architecture, for instance, receives a course in geology in which the study of building stones is a prominent feature.