Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1898 [PAGE 350]

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•350

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

[Oct. 31,

for a plankton trip too cumbersome for an ordinary boat. The total weight of the boat when manned and loaded with the outfit and water samples is not less than one thousand pounds. The increased attention given to winter work has necessitated the adaptation of the boat to the exigencies of that season. The bow and sides are protected with a sheath of zinc, and while the ice prevails the bottom is shod with two steel runners. With the boat thus equipped it is usually possible by rocking the boat and skillful manipulation of the icehooks to beat a wray through the thin and rotten ice which will not carry the weight of the load, while the runners allow the boat to slide easily over the surface of the smooth ice wherever this is strong enough to bear the weight. The greatest difficulty attending transit in the field in the winter occurs at times when the river is low and access to Thompson's lake must be had by portage across the bottomlands at the southern end of the lake. A pair of "wheels has been rigged up for this work, but in wet weather or after heavy snows they are hardly adequate to the task. In the fall of 1896 the rented quarters which the Station had occupied in town were given up, and the property there accumulated was placed on board the laboratory boat. When the Station was opened the following summer it was necessary to secure storage elsewhere for property of a bulky nature or that for which there was only occasional use, and by the courtesy of the Illinois State Fish Commission we utilized a corner of their warehouse on the river front until the burning of the building in September. We suffered no loss of consequence, and our property, some of it in a damaged condition, was then returned to the laboratory boat for the winter. In 1898 the problem of storage was temporarily solved by the purchase of a cheaply constructed cabin boat twelve by twenty feet. Although no formal opening of the Station to students was made during the summer of 1897 and no advertisements of its facilities was undertaken, a few applicants for places were accommodated under the conditions attending the opening of the Station to such persons in previous years. The following is a list of those in attendance and the lines of work pursued. H. C. Beardslee, A. B., Instructor of Science, University School, Cleveland, Ohio. Fleshy fungi and Mycetozoa. Miss Bertha V. H. Forbes, B. S., Teacher of Biology, High School, Austin, 111. General biology. H. M. Kelly, A. M., Professor of Biology, Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Trematoda parasitic in Unionidge. S. D. Magers, B, S., Principal of High School, Houston, Texas, Algae and general biology. H. L. Roberts, Superintendent of Schools and Principal of High School, Farmington, 111. General biology. The following year a summer school of biology, with regular courses in botany and zoology and offerings of advanced work in zoology was planned, and authorized at the March meeting of the Board of Trustees. The school was well advertised in the educational journals, and preliminary and final circulars were distributed as far as possible among the teachers of the State. Extended advertising in the neighboring states was not attempted. The Station staff was mainly responsible for packing and shipping the equipment sent over by the University and the State Laboratory and for its return, for the registration of students, and for the financial management of the school. No effort was spared to make the equipment of the Station of use to the school. The board of education of Havana placed the high school building at our disposal for the summer school, and the teachers' institute in session during the opening days was transferred to one of the churches by the county superintendent, Mr. M. Bolan. The following is a list of the persons in attendance and their present positions: Miss Anna L. Baldwin, Science Teacher, High School, Pittsfield, 111. T. L. Cook, Superintendent of Schools, Mt. Pulaski, 111.