SCHOOL OF SCIENCE (SCI)
Atwood Science Hall

Astronomy

... Just before dawn Arcturus winks ruddily from above the cemetery on the low hillock and Coma Berenices shimmers weirdly afar off in the mysterious east; but still the Pole Star leers down from the same place in the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye ... H. P. Lovecraft, "Polaris."

Astronomy is unique among the sciences in that much of the work is done by amateurs and is then accepted by professionals. Observational astronomy simply requires time, patience, and good note keeping. Astronomy by the 1920's has a good idea of the distance and size of the sun, precise measurements of the year, and hosts of planetary data such as sizes and orbital years. Pluto (1930) had not yet been discovered. Earth had been known to pass through the tails of two comets so far (Tebbutt's Comet in 1861 and Halley's Comet in l9l0) without ill effect. Comets are thought to be largely gas around a meteor core. Meteors are bits of comets or long ago broken planets, and meteorites are simply meteors that hit the Earth; both are stone with some iron and may form odd alloys.

Of the eight planets, the following is known: Mercury is hot and perhaps faces one side to the sun all the time; Venus is much like Earth but with more clouds and more water vapor, and might show one face to the sun at all times, thus being a mix of desert and tropics; Mars is a desert planet which may have canals and life; lupiter has dark clouds over its lighter surface and hence looks striped, and has nine moons; Saturn is big and has nine or ten moons; Uranus has four moons; Neptune has one moon.

The Astronomy Department at M.U. consists of one full professor, Dr. Stephen Fitzroy, yet has a great popularity with the students. Although the social aspects of observing may seem to overwhelm the science, it is significant that over three quarters of the student body takes at least one astronomy class before graduating. A young undergraduate student, Morris Billings, is very active, coordinating local amateurs and running the Arkham Astronomical Society.
 

• Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941) discovered five novae; first to rigorously classify stellar spectra, or star types.
• Percival Lowell (1855-1916) theorized that the apparent canals of Mars signified intelligent life there.

Biology

They are more vegetable than animal, if these terms can be applied to the sort of matter composing them, and have a somewhat fungoid structure; though the presence of a chlorophyll like substance and a very singular nutritive system differentiate them altogether from true cormophytic Jiu~gi H. P. Lovecraft, "The Whisperer in Darkness."

Biology is the study of living things, plants, and animals (including humans). There are two main divisions, Botany (plants) and Zoology (animals), and several fields of study within these areas including Taxonomy, Anatomy/Cytology, and Physiology/Embryology. The large Biology Department at M.U. has many connections with the study of medicine, and Biology classes are required for all medical students. The early 1900's promise much about genetics and evolution, as well. Ecology is a word coined only a few decades earlier; many of the tools and concepts needed to study the web of life are yet undiscovered.

The Department also has ties to a small research post at Woods Hole, on the Massachusetts coast, for study of marshlands and sea biological systems. Originally a small Coast Guard post, the government has now closed the site, and has offered to sell it to any worthy buyer. M.U. would like to set up a marine laboratory there, but has been unable to budget for it.

The demands on the Biology Department continue to grow, and staffing is a problem. The head of the department is Dr. Conrad Miller. His focus is largely on anatomy and the implications of biological discovery for medicine. He updates the curriculum and arranges seminars, but rarely has time for his own research. His promotion of teamwork and cross disciplinary work has made the department strong, and made possible its ability to analyze unconventional phenomena
 

• Charles Elton (1900-), English biologist whose idea of ecological niches promoted ecological theory. Had expeditions to the Arctic in 1923, 1924, and 1930.
• Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), whose phrase ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny became a watchword within the discipline.

Botany

The forerunner of modern botany was naturalism. Botany is a major branch of biology dealing wholly with plants. Within it are morphologists (who study the form and structure of plants), physiologists (who study the behavior and functioning of plants), and geneticists (who breed and observe the characteristics of plants).

Dr. Homer Winside is expert on tropical varieties of many poisonous or carnivorous plants. He personally maintains the greenhouse attached to the Science Annex, caring for the rare specimens gathered during his travels.

 Miskatonic excels in two botanical specialties: algology, the study of algee, and mycology, the study of fungi. Sadly, bryology (the study of mosses) is almost entirely neglected. Robert Angley, a graduate student in algology, is often found at the Woods Hole research post.

• Ernest Henry Wilson (1876-1930), author of China, The Mother of Gardens (1929), is a prominent naturalist residing in Boston.

Chemistry

Modern chemistry evolved from the black art of alchemy. Chemistry, quite simply, is the study of the nature and the possible transformations of material substances. With the advent of modem atomic theory, chemistry is undergoing a radical evolution in ideas. Chemistry can be broken into two wide fields: organic chemistry, which involves carbon compounds (the basis of earthly life); and inorganic chemistry, which involves all the elements except carbon. Biochemistry examines organic chemistry within biological forms, while physical chemistry combines chemistry and physics to understand the properties of materials and devises further tools for investigation. By 1920, ninety-two elements are known, without clear understanding of the periodic table. Nonetheless, advances in physics are rapidly providing new insights for chemists.

At Miskatonic the study of chemistry focuses on practical experimentation and study, frequently involving explosives and toxins. Chemicals likely to be available in labs include hydrogen gas (very flammable), lithium (reacts with water to produce hydrogen and heat, thus exploding), sodium (an element similar to lithium in its reaction to water), sulfur (a key substance in gunpowder), chlorine (a very poisonous gas), bromine (not only chemically reactive, but a toxic gas), phosphorous (bums in contact with air or water), mercury (toxic, and very toxic if mixed with chlorine), and perhaps radium (radioactive).

There is alcohol aplenty, of the non drinkable but very flammable kind, and many acids, including the powerful acids nitric, sulfuric, and hydrochloric. Nitroglycerin, an unstable but powerful mix of glycerin with nitric and sulfuric acid, is of interest to investigators, at least to those daring enough to try to mix it themselves. Dynamite, which is nitroglycerin soaked into a material such as sawdust or wood pulp, is much more stable and usable: Dynamite merely bums if ignited, but will detonate if shocked by blast or impact.

Making homemade explosives is a plausible undertaking only for a skilled chemist. But chemists of varying skill levels are uniformly popular at parties, since they are able to turn the punch different colors and have access to almost as much alcohol and ether as medical students.

 Harmless frivolity is condoned by the department head, Dr. Harold Shear. A mischievous man himself, his leadership and dynamic teaching style have rapidly molded the department into a tight and effective group of educators and researchers. Wheneva a fire or thunderbolt or explosion happens in Arkham, someone from Chemistry soon runs up, hoping to get samples.
 

• Paul Muller (1899-1965), Swiss chemist who eventually developed an insecticide from DDT, itself known since 1874.
• Leo Baekeland (1863-1944), U.S. immigrant who sold the discovery of Velox photographic paper to Eastman, then developed the first synthetic plastic, Bakelite.

• Dr. HAROLD SHEAR, age 51, Department Chemistry Head. An infamous prankster, his jests at ways seem to come off wel, a most as compliments to those who become the b~nts of hb p acacal jokes. He b good-natumd and always has time to help students with problems.

Engineering

Engineering is the epitome of applied science, employing mathematical techniques and physical theories to create new technology and worthy structures. Although fueled by research and academic ideas, engineering involves real-world efforts which require practical results. Common branches include structural engineering, chemical engineering, and civil engineering. Ties to metallurgy and structural materials studies are strong.
 

The department is often involved in design and construction of scientific equipment for other departments, and in properly equipping University expeditions.

 When not busy designing better batteries for Arctic expeditions or better alloys for aircraft, the professors delight in solving long standing problems. W'thin the Archeology Department, for instance, the perennial debate concerning how the Egyptian pyramids were built was resolved to the participants' satisfaction when current department chairman Dr. Lawrence Abbott had his students in structural engineering build their own pyramid. They spent most of a month creating a pyramid across College Street and onto the campus proper. Using limestone that they quarried from beneath the hospital, their gleaming white edifice soared sixty feet high before it was dismantled after Homecoming, broken up, and sold to the Boston and Maine as roadbed.
 

• Wright, Orville (1871-1948) and Wilbur (1867-1912), who built and flew the first heavier than air machine capable of sustained flight.
• Hugo Eckener (1868-1954), German aeronautical engineer and pilot who flew the Graf Zeppelin and, later, the Hindenburg. Because of opposition to the Nazi Party, he was relieved of duty before the Hindenburg's tragic destruction in 1937.

• Dr. LAWRENCE ABBOTT, age 45, Maser Engineer. Day by day a pedantic man, he periodically stuns colleagues with insights of sheer brilliance. He is famous br being able to find alternative approaches to problems that have baffled other people br months.

Geology

• A. L. Wegener (1880-1930). His Origin of Continents and Oceans, 1915, proposed continental drift and showed geological links between continents, but since he suggested no reason for how or why continents should drift, his ideas were ignored for decades.

•  Mr. ANDREW LORD, age 23, Geology Graduate Student. He's always been interested in rocks; as he grew older, he focused this interest on spelunking. He's young, enthusiastic, and protective of his friends and community, a perfect example of a solid New Englander.

Mathematics

The department of Mathematics  includes arithmetic, algebra, geomenty, analysis, applied math (probability and statistical analysis), information and game theory. It provides a liason with other departments, but its creativity tends toward topology and extradimentsional explorations. Its funding from the Benjamin and Athena Astor Trust Fund has given this department the power of being considered an independant and prestigeous school. Dr. Hiram Upham (chairman of the Dept. of Mathematics)
    He plans to expand the department and uphold his position. He is particully interested in expanding the departments interests in topology, non-Euclidian geomenty, adn multi-dimentional geometry.  
(Submitted by: Dr. Hiram Upham)
 

• W. W. Rouse Ball (1850-1925) is the brilliant British author of several books on mathematical recreation, including unsolvable problems, astrological solutions, and theories of hyperspace.
• Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), primarily a philosopher, also writes prolifically on mathematical philosophy and the relation between mathematics and mysticism.

Metallurgy

The science and technology of metals includes refining methods, the analysis of metallic structures, and the techniques of alloying metals. A few metals such as gold and silver are non reactive and thus found as pure deposits, but most metals combine with other elements, and occur in nature as minerals. Alchemists and metallurgists have long sought better techniques for the extraction of ores and creation of alloys. Their successes define historical periods such as the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

 Dr. Dewart Ellery is the current department chair. His latest interest is the investigation of meteorites (meteors that survive passage to the ground). A chance reading of an old text has suggested to him that rare ores might be earned to Earth in this way, enabling production of mythically strong metals, as claimed in stories of swords that were unbreakable. In the course of his investigations he has come up with novel improvements in smelting and steel welding; the University is content to fund his continued research and reap the rich benefits of his commercial discoveries.

 

• Leonard Strong Austin (1846-1929), American metallurgist based in San Francisco who published extensively and was familiar with most of the great precious mete discoveries in the American West.
• Paul Bergsoe (1872-1963), Danish scientist who extensively studied the metallurgical techniques used by pre-Columbian Indians.

Physics

... For who could foretell the conditions pervading an adjacent but normally inaccessible dimension? H. P. Lovecraft, "The Dreams in the Witch-House.

"Physics evolved from philosophy, blooming in the Renaissance with the growth of mathematics. The physics of the 1920's is strongly based on the ideas of Newton, but twentieth century developments such as relativity and quantum theory have shaken long held beliefs that all phenomena can be described and understood.

Physicists are traditionally skeptics, disbelieving that which cannot be measured or replicated. But subtle and startling events around Arkham suggest astonishing conclusions: While most American universities neglect occult physics, Miskatonic soon will be at the forefront.

The current chairman, Dr. Manly Hyde-Simmons, favors studies in meteorology instead of diversions into particle physics or quantum mechanics, and is supported in this by Dr. Donald Atwood. There will be no course in radioactivity until Hyde Simmons and Atwood retire. The department is also famous for keeping its graduate students for seven to ten years, almost as indentured servants, before grudgingly granting their doctorates. Consequently, older graduate students are dispirited and gloomy about their futures. But there are not many jobs for physicists anywhere in the world, and so they stay, disconsolate.

The younger graduate students are vital and enthusiastic, and have witnessed for themselves some extraordinary recent events in the area. When Atwood retires, the department will suddenly blaze with activity, and become famous among its American peers.

• Marie Curie (1867-1934), French physicist. She and her husband discovered the elements radium and polonium in 1898 and shared a Nobel Prize in 1903, and she received another Nobel (solo) in l9l 1.
• Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Swiss theoretical physicist who emigrated to the U.S. He has published the General and Special Theories of Relativity, and received partial experimental vindication by the Michelson-Morley expedition results.

Zoology

Physiological experiment on animals is justifiable for real investigation, but not for mere damnable and detestable curiosity. Charles Darwin (1809-1882), private letter.

An area of biology, zoology is the comparative study of animals. Zoologist Dr. Percy Lake is well connected in Boston society, and is able to fund frequent expeditions to various parts of the world. Graduate zoologists at Miskatonic are thus able to get extensive field research, and they routinely co-author important papers in international zoological journals.

Class Schedules

Classes at Miskatonic are organized as either as one hour and twenty minute sessions on each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or as two hour sessions on each Tuesday and Thursday. Both schemes result in four hours of instruction per class per week. If a student can schedule every class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he has five unscheduled days per week, and this is thought by many Miskies (members of the University community) to be a significant benefit.
  The classes themselves are given numbers as well as names. These numbers serve as informal rankings according to difficulty and esotericism. Class size gets small as class topics become more specialized. Keepers can easily make up any courses desired. (Indeed, if the Keeper can think of it, some professor at Miskatonic probably offers it.) Students (and thus Keepers) generally refer to their classes by general number, for example, "I'm late for my English 301 class", thus sparing the listener any need to understand the meaning of the class title, or what the enrollee hopes to achieve in it.

01-99 LEVEL
These courses are remedial. There are few of these classes during the 1920's, typically only English, a Romance language, high school level mathematics, and perhaps an introduction to a science. After World War 11, such classes become more common. These classes cost tuition money, just as any other class does, but they confer no academic credit.

100-LEVEL
Typically taken by freshmen or by people interested in a topic but majoring in something else. Some examples are English Composition 101, Elementary Mathematics 103, or Biology 101. Most majors require a variety of 100-level classes in disparate topics in order to fulfill the ideal of a well rounded education. For very common classes such as basic Biology lectures, the lecture class may number a hundred   or more people, while the corresponding lab sections may be a fifth as large. The professor lectures, and his graduate assistants run the labs. When they can, most professors will approach teaching such a class like a factory assembly line, with an unvarying written lesson plan and regular tests that haven't changed in twenty years. As the semester advances, a 100 level class that falls much below twenty students is in danger of being merged with another class at a different time and perhaps on a different day.

200-LEVEL

For students interested in the topic, or required in that major, for example Russian Folklore 220, Euclidian Geometry 202, or Basic Anatomy 203. Essentially sophomore level, so that although anyone is allowed to join, the workload is higher than for a 100-level class, and the topics are somewhat less general. Because these classes are more difficult, they are smaller in size and professors can begin to spend time with individual students.

300-LEVEL

These and 400-level classes often require one or more prerequisite classes within the department, to establish the student's credentials as a scholar and to make sure that foolish freshmen do not consume valuable class space. More advanced topics might be Babylonian Literature 302, Non-Euclidian Geometry 304, or Human Dissection 359.

400-LEVEL

At this rarified level, classes are typically small, attended by some mix of juniors, seniors, and graduate students. Topics are totally dependent on what a professor decides to teach, and can be very specific, such as Cuneiform Variations in Aleut Decorative Bordas (Anthro 429), Architectural Similes in the Later Speeches of Samuel Smiles (English 404), Modern Forensic Pathology (Mea 410), and so on. Since the class size is small (usually fewer than ten students), professors may choose to evaluate each student personally before allowing him to take the class, to make sure each student has enough background to be able to contribute to the class.

500- AND 600-LEVEL

These are for graduate students, but intelligent seniors may petition to join, and are usually accepted on the basis of their G.P.A.'s in the department. Some of the 600-level classes are very small seminars, involving a specialty of the professor's, or perhaps amounting to cooperative research on a particular problem. Most 600-level classes are independent study, involving only one student and a guiding professor. Depending on the major, one or two papers may be required per semester, but reading, research, and conferences between student and teacher may be intense.

AUDITORS

By arrangement with the professor, intelligent outsiders may be able to sit in on a certain class without registering with the University. The professor may decide to require papers and class discussion from an auditor, but rarely mid-term or final exams. The University prefers that all such transactions be formalized, and officially charges half of the class's regular tuition for an audited class. Paid audited classes are shown on the scholar's transcript, but add no credit hours. Informal arrangements with a professor do not appear on the scholar's transcript. An auditor could later take the course for credit, but not from the same professor.

Core Curriculum

Every Miskatonic student must take certain classes. These are few, and talented students can opt to get one or more of them waived by passing tests offered at the beginning of each semester. The classes are English Composition, Survey of Mathematics, and American History. In addition, all students must take either History and Appreciation of Art or Introduction to Melody, Rhythm, and Orchestration, or register for private instruction by a recognized art or music instructor.
  Since these required courses must be taken by the great majority of all entering students, the respective departments are allowed many instructors and huge numbers of students without discussion. Required courses represent a departmental sinecure, and the departments involved remain powerhouses in M.U. academic politics, because they command so much manpower and resources.
  Beyond the infamous required courses, the different schools within the University have additional requirements. For example, in Language, Literature, and the Arts, all majors must take at least two years of a foreign language (Latin and ancient languages are acceptable), usually French. The School of Science requires one year of either German or French, and at least two science courses in subjects outside the major department. Law and Business, showing true New England spirit, require all students to participate for at least one season in a club sport or a varsity team (and special attention is meted out to wise students who choose hockey, the law professors' consensus favorite). Pre-med students must serve at least one semester in the night shift of the hospital as an orderly or nurse's assistant before they can graduate.

Courseload and Workload
 Students are expected to be enrolled on a full-time basis, taking four classes each semester or three classes and a music lesson or club sport. Special permission is needed to take five courses. So a student's of ficial class workload is a mere sixteen hours of lectures each week. Add in twice that for homework and study time, and even a diligent freshman or sophomore is busy less than eight hours a day and still gets Saturday and Sundays off. For upperclassmen in technical subjects the study load increasesslightly, but this is balanced by the opposite being true for LLA upperclassmen.