Work Commenced on the Rowing Tank.

The officers of the University Boat Club have been hard at work during the vacation pushing the building of the rowing tank, in order that it might be prepared for use this winter. The old gymnasium was at first determined upon, but an inspection showed that nearly $800 would have to be expended to put the building in order. The heating expenses would also be very large. The old barracks or drill shed back of College House was next thought of, but here the cost would also be too great. Finally, the basement of the old Hasty Pudding Club building on Holmes Field was chosen, and through the efforts of Captain Finally permission was obtained of the corporation to use it for the purpose of building a tank. The building is 47 feet long by 38 feet on the inside. This will not allow a regular-sized barge to be used, but the old wooden '76 barge-the first used at Harvard and now in the boathouse-will be placed in the tank. A contract has been made with Marshall N. Stearns, a mason of Cambridge, to do the masonry work. He has commenced, and hopes to finish his work within a week, or at most within two weeks.

Three sides of the building will serve as three sides of the tank, and will only require a wall of brick four inches thick. The fourth side will be eight inches thick and backed up with earth. Each side is three feet high. There will still remain sufficient room for dressing and observing the men while they are rowing. The floor of the tank will be built of bricks laid in cement on sand and covered with Portland cement. It will be built as long as possible, but will be less than twenty-five feet in width. The tank will then be divided into halves by a plank or brick partition eighteen inches high, and above which the boat will float. In the centre of each half, but within the reach of the oars, will be another partition, extending only part way to the ends, which will cause the current to flow in the form of an ellipse. The boat will float so that it may be possible to observe whether or not the men are rowing a stroke which lifts or sinks the boat. It will require two or three small stoves, which will be kept going continually, to keep the air dry and the water from freezing. The room is not an ideal place for the tank, as the posts which support the building will interfere greatly.